Playlisted: Everything You Need to Know About Australian Music Right Now

239 Pages·2009·2.456 MB·English

by  Craig Mathieson

Playlisted
Craig Mathieson has been writing about music since the
age of 17. The author of Hi Fi Days: The Future of Australian
Rock (Allen & Unwin, 1996) and The Sell-In: How the Music
Business Seduced Alternative Rock (Allen & Unwin, 2000), he
has also served as the editor of Juice and Max magazines and
spent six years as the film critic for The Bulletin. Mathieson
currently writes about music for The Age, The Sydney
Morning Herald and Rolling Stone, and lives in Melbourne. See
www.playlisted.com.au for further details.
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 1 21/08/09 11:21 AM
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 2 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Everything you need to know
about Australian music right now
P l ay
l i s t -
e d
Craig Mathieson
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 3 21/08/09 11:21 AM
A New South book
Published by
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
www.unswpress.com.au
© Craig Mathieson 2009
First published 2009
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without
written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Mathieson, Craig, 1971–
Title: Playlisted: everything you need to know about Australian music
right now/Craig Mathieson.
ISBN: 9781742230177 (pbk.)
Subjects: Popular music – Australia.
Dewey Number: 781.640994
Design Josephine Pajor-Markus
Cover Design by Committee
Cover photo The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard by Daniel Campbell
Author photo Stephanie Ashworth
Printer Ligare
This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or sustainably
managed forests.
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 4 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Transformer 3
Kylie Minogue’s digital symphony of self-control
The daze after tomorrow 9
Why did Silverchair let a bad album
happen to a great single?
This is this 15
Going the distance with The Drones
Sonic youth 21
Growing up in public with The Veronicas
He that plays the king 27
Michael Hutchence, INXS and the
lost art of the frontman
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft 38
Blasting off with Midnight Juggernauts
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 5 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Same as it ever was 43
Jet and the short, strange life of the New Rock
Plugged in 49
The rise and rise of T he Presets
Lost 59
The strange afterlife of Australian Crawl’s classic single
Breaking the waves 65
Sarah Blasko’s frontier life
Exile on Main Street 74
Powderfinger’s tenure as Australia’s leading rock band
After the fall 85
How Underground Lovers put an end to the 1980s
Growth spurt 92
Eskimo Joe’s quest for size
Take two 98
Frente’s goodbye to an enduring first impression
Generation vexed 103
How Regurgitator hit the reset button
Going home 112
Missy Higgins and the practicalities of growing up in public
Starting all over again 119
The Living End and just how little a rock song needs
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 6 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Freedom of choice 125
Decoding Craig Nicholls and The Vines
The princess diaries 133
The never-ending journey of Delta Goodrem
Answers first, questions later 144
It’s a case of ‘Look, but don’t touch’ with The Church’s
signature hit
Accessibility options 149
Finding your way inside the precision engineering of My Disco
The second coming 155
Luke Steele and the genius narrative
Teenage kicks 162
Australia’s struggle to make great pop music
‘1, 2, 3, 4’ 169
Eddy Current Suppression Ring are a reminder that not all
gigs are created equal
Too old for school, too young for real life 175
Exploring the gap between adolescence and adulthood
with The Grates
I want you 182
Honesty is a dangerous weapon for a songwriter like Ben Lee
Once in a lifetime 187
Baby Animals took pub rock to new heights on their debut
album
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 7 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Do look back 195
You Am I’s Hi Fi Way remains the great Australian album
National anthems 204
The impossibility of trying to define an Australian Sound
Endings and beginnings 216
How much can be held within 3:45 of music?
Credits 220
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 8 21/08/09 11:21 AM
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Elspeth Menzies for her patience and
support in commissioning the book and then remaining
positive even when I talked to her about the drum sound
in ‘Reckless’; her many colleagues at UNSW Press who’ve
helped immeasurably along the way; the editors and
colleagues whose assignments, remarks and occasional
jibes started the dialogue that resulted in this book; David
Vodicka; the Mess+Noise community who provided fresh
ears and comic relief; Craig Kamber; Stephanie Ashworth,
for the portraits; Margo Webster, who was a great help in
the final hours; the exacting and helpful editing of Emma
Driver; Paul Dempsey, who enthusiastically answered my
oddball technical queries along the way; my family.
This book is dedicated to Clare and Jules, who com-
pleted my unfinished life.
ix
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 9 21/08/09 11:21 AM
PlaylistedNewv2.indd 10 21/08/09 11:21 AM