Now I think it is fair to say that Abba and anything emanating from the Emerald Isle apart, the majority of music that I grew up listening to originated from the UK or the US of A. However as the 80s progressed my horizons started to widen (Unlike these days when it is just my waistline that broadens, ho ho) and I discovered that one of the countries that was producing great music was the land of Oz (And I ain't talking about Dorothy here). So much good stuff in fact that it'll take a few blogs.
I appreciate that I often come across as a lover of the wilfully obscure so I thought I would kick off matters Antipodean with two of their most commercially successful exports, INXS and Midnight Oil. I only own two of INXS' Six 80s albums, 1985's "Listen Like Thieves" and 1987's Planet Eating Monster "Kick", the albums which marked both INXS' mutation from a more New Wave act into a more traditional Rock band and their achievement of huge commercial success beyond Australia's shores.
INXS' career may seem strange in these days when a Band is listed as a "BBC Band to Follow in 2015/16/17 ad infinitum for ever" before they've even released an album in anger and then sells a shedload simply because they're deemed as fashionable irrespective of the records' merits. The first two INXS albums did bugger all outside of Australia. The next two albums started to make inroads into America and then they broke big Stateside with their 5th album "Listen Like Thieves". And it was at this point that I discovered them. I will no doubt come back to this fact in later 80s blogs but I was a regular listening to Paul Gambachini's American Top 30 show on "The Nation's Favorite" Radio 1 at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon (As a Burnley fan, I was scarcely going to listen to Radio 2's football coverage, we were as likely to feature as Ian Duncan Smith is to be mistaken for Mother Teresa) and it was here that I encountered "What You Need", a Top 5 hit. When I encountered a copy of the album for £2.50 in a secondhand shop (I was a student at the time!!) , I'll thought I'll have a bit of that!
To my mind, "Listen Like Thieves" is INXS' finest album and still stands up as a cracking record playing it now. Taste makers are the same whatever year you live in, they are always trying to foist the next "insert name of popular artist in here" on the masses. I have lost touch of the number of "next Adele's" I've run away screaming from (And, of course, Amy herself was the "Next Amy Winehouse"). When INXS started to breakthrough in the States, I can recall that they were immediately lauded as the "New Duran Duran". This was at a stage when any band that was remotely photogenic and good looking was lauded as the "New Duran Duran" (A-ha would suffer the same fate a little later in the year). INXS fitted that bill, particularly in the form of the ridiculous handsome Michael Hutchence. Musically, the taste makers were trying to make a comparison with the funk-rock (should such a hybrid exist) of "Wild Boys" or "View to a Kill" rather than the more New Romantic material of Yore.
Certainly listening to "What You Need" and the title track, you can see they have a point. However from thereon in the album to my mind is more new wave influenced than Duran Duran and certainly, at its best, more melodic. The strongest part of the album is the next 5 tracks. Just great Pop/Rock. "Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)" is, in my view, INXS finest hour. The 80s were full of singles that should have been massive but weren't and here's another one. "Shine Like It Does" wasn't far behind. "Good + Bad Times" feels Stones influenced (something that would come out even more on "Kick", "Biting Bullets" has a great straight ahead rush to it and "This Time" is the closest thing that the album has to a ballad (and it ain't that close) and another "hit that wasn't".
To be honest, the album tails off a bit after that, "Three Sisters" in particular is a quirky instrumental that feels out of place. But overall it's still a cracking record.
Next up came "Kick" which took INXS into the stratosphere and finally broke them in the UK. It contained 3 Top 5 US Singles "New Sensation" "Devil Inside" and "Need You Tonight" which also went Top 3 in the UK. The album went 6 times platinum in the US and 3 times platinum in the UK. and it took them into the stadiums.
Personally (the contrary old bastard that I am) I have always thought that "Kick" was a lesser album than it's predecessor. It was both much funkier in places and more Stones influenced in others. It seemed less subtle and less melodic. I could never work out why it succeeded in lieu of "Listen Like Thieves". who knows? The late 80s were certainly a time that rewarded the obvious and acts that aimed for the stadium were certainly de jour. All I know is that prior to embarking on my 80s journey, I hadn't played "Kick" for years!
What struck me though is that it's a fine record, actually quite varied and not really a duff track thereon, although I never really "got" "Never Tear Us Apart". "Calling All Nations" is probably the best track and should have been a single, although frankly they had a good return from the ones they released.
Listening to both records, there were a number of things that struck me. Firstly in the UK, INXS have been largely forgotten. You occasionally hear "Need You Tonight" on the radio but in musical histories of the period they rarely merit a mention, not even a derogatory one (Although the lack of criticism is probably linked in with the sad fate of Michael Hutchence). That could be down to the fact that, for all their merits, they were quite a derivative act and they didn't really influence any one in turn. In addition, listening to these two albums, they don't really sound as if they are from the 80s. Leaving aside any proustian rush that goes "Ooh I snogged to "Never tear us apart"" you would be hard pressed to exactly date these albums, particularly "Kick"
Lastly, I think it is fair to say that neither record sounds particularly Australian. In fact I once had an argument with someone who swore blind they were from New York!! Now, this is not a charge you could label against Midnight Oil and the album "Diesel and Dust". Midnight Oil released a number of records in the 80s but this is the only one I own. I have heard both "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1" and "Red Sails in the Sunset" but both are too spiky for my tastes and lack enough strong tunes.
"Diesel and Dust" however has tunes in spades and is a great record. For once the general public agreed as the album broke Midnight Oil outside Australia and was a hit in both US and UK, spearheaded by "Beds are Burning".
Now, I have heard INXS and Midnight Oil lumped together (as of course they have been in this blog!) but whilst they are both Australian guitar bands who were successful at round about the same time and both have hugely charismatic frontmen, that's where the comparisons end. To all intents and purposes, INXS were a good time rock and roll band but Midnight Oil were a deeply political concern. Indeed "Diesel and Dust" is one of the most political albums of the second half of the 80s and certainly one of the most successful. Largely concerned with Aboriginal rights, it is direct and pulls few punches, especially on "Beds are Burning" and "The Dead Heart".
Of course, you mention politics and most people roll their eyes and think "Arrgh! Worthy Alert!". However "Diesel and Dust" comes armed with the tunes to carry the message and the whole album bristles with vitality and energy. Again, betraying true perversity, I actually think "Beds are Burning" isn't the best track on the album. That's "The Dead Heart", a staggeringly brilliant track that's both anthemic and mesmerising. It's one of my Top 30 songs of the 80s.
That may be the best track on "Diesel and Dust" but there's some other crackers on there to, "Sometimes", "Dream World" and "Wakaruma" are all personal favourites but there isn't a duffer in sight.
Again, outside of Australia, Midnight Oil have been written out of Musical history, brushed aside as the "Band fronted by that angry bald bloke who went into Australian politics and sold out". Inside Australia "Diesel and Dust" is still rated as one of the best Australian albums of all time". My knowledge of Australian music is not as great as it should be but there is no doubt that "Diesel and Dust" is hideously under rated. Again it doesn't sound like an 80s record and has a timeless quality.
All three records well worth investigating. !
brilliant - forgotten all of these but will listen now!
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