What is the greatest Australian single of the last 25 years?

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Now THAT'S a tough one. I'll start:

The Angels - Take a Long Line

― moley (moley), Monday, 1 August 2005 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

ac/dc - "you shook me all night long"

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 1 August 2005 05:56 (eighteen years ago) link

The Liars - Room on the Broom

Idont know if the Liars count

― Voodoo Child, Monday, 1 August 2005 06:00 (eighteen years ago) link

no we don't claim them

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 1 August 2005 06:01 (eighteen years ago) link

The guy is from Australia, and he lives there too. so it should

― Voodoo Child, Monday, 1 August 2005 06:03 (eighteen years ago) link

thug, "dad".

― haitch (haitch), Monday, 1 August 2005 06:21 (eighteen years ago) link

it invented noise dudes!

― haitch (haitch), Monday, 1 August 2005 06:21 (eighteen years ago) link

suck his undies

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:07 (eighteen years ago) link

I Should Be So Lucky.

― A Mouse Called Nonny, Monday, 1 August 2005 07:26 (eighteen years ago) link

so excellent - kylie mole?
can we claim ben folds five "brick" ?
seriously sherbet "howzat".

― talcum kid, Monday, 1 August 2005 07:30 (eighteen years ago) link

"Howzat" was 1976 and therefore ineligible under the "last 25 years" proviso. Otherwise I would have gone for "Sun Arise" by Rolf Harris.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:47 (eighteen years ago) link

that angels song has gotta be more than 25 yrs old - hasn't it?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Sadly the 25-year rule also rules out "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" by Guy Marks.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:51 (eighteen years ago) link

haha! i had no idea howzat existed outside australia but i shoulda known better - as a kid i used to think dreadlock holiday ws australian too, but theyre both obv products of the international federation of cricket loving nations (um aka the commonwealth)

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:53 (eighteen years ago) link

see, we should do a what was...for morethan 25 yrs. the golden age.

my folks took a trek to engalnad for dad to work when i was in third form and i had to go to school (southbourne btw) and howzat was no.1 in england. i had to explain the meaning of the word "spunk" as i recall. to a guy named steve ridout. on a bus.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Actually Howzat only got to #4 in the UK. It was kept off the toppermost spottermost by Pussycat's "Mississippi."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:58 (eighteen years ago) link

i must've been in aussie denial m!!! maybe it was second form actually. it was pre punk. i was the only boy in the whole school without platforms. there was one cooler than thou guy with an old army jacket and dyed hair who liked bowie. i wonder if it was marcello?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:58 (eighteen years ago) link

actually fuck maybe my pretensions are rewriting my memories - what year was it marcello?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 07:59 (eighteen years ago) link

ah 76. ok ok. good.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:02 (eighteen years ago) link

the answer is release the bats

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:02 (eighteen years ago) link

If we're only talking the last 25 years, then my pick from each eligible decade would be Release The Bats, Confide In Me and Frontier Psychiatrist.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link

or take away their blues by chads tree

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:04 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't think we got that one. What was it like?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:09 (eighteen years ago) link

ah its a sentimental thing. kind of triffids-y with a glockenspeil running through it. deep faux booming sensitive guy voice. not incendiary just nice

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:21 (eighteen years ago) link

another nomination: say goodbye - hunnas!!!!

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:25 (eighteen years ago) link

when were the great chisel singles? i'm lazily guessing more than 25 years.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 1 August 2005 08:28 (eighteen years ago) link

god, "my pal"!!

― haitch (haitch), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:33 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/kimi_i/images/prtcmpny.gif

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Itch-e & Scratch-e "Sweetness & Light"
Antenna "Come on Spring"
The Go-Betweens "Spring Rain"
The Go-Betweens "Cattle and Cane"
Gerling "Enter Space Capsule (Remix)"

― nicholas de jong (nicholas de jong), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:42 (eighteen years ago) link

You're not really nicholas de jong and I claim my £10.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:43 (eighteen years ago) link

do re mi, "standing on wires". especially the bit where everything dissolves into the bell noises near the end.

― haitch (haitch), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:43 (eighteen years ago) link

You Am I, "Purple Sneakers"

― Deluxe (Damian), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:43 (eighteen years ago) link

hmmm, this is a tough one. new zealand would be easier. i mean, it would obviously be Monte Video's "Shoop-Shoop, Diddy-Wop, Cumma-Cumma, Wang-Dang", right? But Australia...."Say Goodbye" and "Cattle & Cane" are good choices, but I'll have to think it over."Just Like Fire Would" is another fave.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 1 August 2005 09:56 (eighteen years ago) link

Joe Dolce's 'Shaddup You Face'.

Unquestionably.

― Michael Collie (Sans Sushi), Monday, 1 August 2005 10:56 (eighteen years ago) link

do re mi, "standing on wires". especially the bit where everything dissolves into the bell noises near the end.

omg i love this song

― gem (trisk), Monday, 1 August 2005 11:17 (eighteen years ago) link

Again ridiculously difficult, but right now these sound good inside my head:

The Stems - "At First Sight"
God - "My Pal"
The Triffids - "Beautiful Waste"
Plus what Alba said.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 1 August 2005 11:46 (eighteen years ago) link

"Otherwise I would have gone for "Sun Arise" by Rolf Harris"

and rightly so!

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Monday, 1 August 2005 12:06 (eighteen years ago) link

You're not really nicholas de jong and I claim my £10.
-- Alba

wtf, bro? course i am!

― nicholas de jong (nicholas de jong), Monday, 1 August 2005 13:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Severed Heads - "Hot With Fleas" or "Big Car"

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 1 August 2005 13:17 (eighteen years ago) link

"Can't Get You Out Of my Head"

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 1 August 2005 13:27 (eighteen years ago) link

ya fuckin rockist pigs

best single and best cover in wetsuits = Say Goodbye by Indecent Obsession

― QUeen Gonne love you for the rest of my night, Monday, 1 August 2005 13:38 (eighteen years ago) link

scott, how the hell do you know that song? (the monte video one)

― cb, Monday, 1 August 2005 15:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Kylie, "Love At First Sight"
INXS - "Original Sin"
Icehouse - "Electric Blue"

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 1 August 2005 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link

which Space Capsule remix? the Josh & Lara one pwns the Avalanches or in-house jobbies.

I can see the bass player from Ch@d's Tree from my desk! if I stand up

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:50 (eighteen years ago) link

ya fuckin rockist pigs
best single and best cover in wetsuits = Say Goodbye by Indecent Obsession

-- QUeen Gonne love you for the rest of my night (da...), August 1st, 2005.
love this cd and the cover.were they sponsored by mambo for queensland tour ?

― life puller, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:17 (eighteen years ago) link

indecent obsession - tell me something
roxus - stand back
no justice - lately
jo beth taylor - 99 reasons

loved melodian records.

― life puller, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:20 (eighteen years ago) link

hi molly

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought this one was going to be easier. But it's not.

GoBs, 'Cattle and Cane'
Do-Re-Mi, 'Man Overboard'
Craven Fops, 'Mustard / When A Whiskey Buys a Whiskey'
Severed Heads, 'Goodbye Tonsils'
Australian Crawl, 'Reckless'
Tactics, 'Coat-tails'
The Church, 'Almost With You'
Thug, 'Dad'
Paul Kelly, 'Sweet Guy'

But, actually, the real answer is 'Samurai Stomp' by Samurai Trash.

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:50 (eighteen years ago) link

i would like to see an anthology of tex perkins' musical works. "dad" sandwiched in between cruel sea and bush oysters next to his latterday crooner outings...

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:56 (eighteen years ago) link

down under

― michael burble, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:21 (eighteen years ago) link

i would like to see an anthology of tex perkins' musical works.

this is a fantastic idea. who owns the rights to the black eye stuff?

― haitch (haitch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:46 (eighteen years ago) link

a part of me worries that it's probably polydor

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:46 (eighteen years ago) link

The James Baker Experience, 'Can't Control Myself / Born to be Punched'

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

god, "my pal"!!

Haitch OTMFMFFMFM!

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:52 (eighteen years ago) link

cartwheel "how to put one foot on the foldback whilst the other works the wah wah"

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:53 (eighteen years ago) link

But greatest ... "Throw Your Arms Around Me" by the Hunnas? Seems to be the essential drunken pub song, really. Kind of an Auld Lang Syne for bogans.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:54 (eighteen years ago) link

OK Jim your song wins on title alone, heh :D

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Seems to be the essential drunken pub song, really. Kind of an Auld Lang Syne for bogans.

in a better world, "dad" would have this status.

― haitch (haitch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:56 (eighteen years ago) link

can you imagine a room full of people chanting it at the top of their voices? awesome. HE'S LOOKING GOOD!! DO IT NOW!!

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:58 (eighteen years ago) link

just needs the right people, in the right pub. (with the right jukebox.)

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:58 (eighteen years ago) link

i think the tote jukebox has it in

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:59 (eighteen years ago) link

(FAP?)

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Hmmm! Theres an idea.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:00 (eighteen years ago) link

i assume you know the lyrics trayce?

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Heh actually no, I dont =)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:03 (eighteen years ago) link

they're here

loose shoes, tight pants, mongrels and sheepfuxors

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I think I'll YSI it when I get home, for the greater good.

― haitch (haitch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:07 (eighteen years ago) link

I just read that whole thread and laffed... but I managed not to see any lyrics :/

Yer H, giss the song! trayce at gmail thingy.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:15 (eighteen years ago) link

dad wins

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 07:29 (eighteen years ago) link

cheap wine and a three day growth, keh sahn, breakfast at sweethearts, flame trees etc etc

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 07:36 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know, but I know what it isn't. It isn't 'You're the Voice' by John Farnham.

This was absolutely huge when I was in Australia in 1988-89. There are more annoying songs, but not many! (Noooooo! Make it stop!)

― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 09:30 (eighteen years ago) link

as promised, here is "dad". it was an indie chart #1, you know!

― haitch (haitch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 10:55 (eighteen years ago) link

*eerie silence*

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 11:42 (eighteen years ago) link

I'd not previously noticed this "suck his undies" bit, and am not sure I'm better off with this knowledge.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 12:26 (eighteen years ago) link

But, actually, the real answer is 'Samurai Stomp' by Samurai Trash.

-- scriblerus

It has a good bassline, as I recall.

― moley, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Samurai Stomp is up there. Can't decide on the greatest.

― Telegram Sam, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Lime Spiders - "Slave Girl" without question! "Nick the Stripper" would be second.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 22:01 (eighteen years ago) link

judging by what i've been listening to the past week, I'd say the Saints - "I'm Stranded" - actually that might be '78.

― jon pruett (jon pruett), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 22:06 (eighteen years ago) link

What about any of these? Although I'm not 100% sure they are all after 1979 and if they were all released as singles.

Tael of A Saeghors - TMOTDTF
Gargoyle - The Lighthouse Keepers
The Sad Clown - The Singles
Bitter Desire - Kids In The Kitchen
Charity - Sekret Sekret
Dancing In The Moonlight - Coloured Stone
A Long Story - Tactics
Witchen Kopf - People With Chairs Up Their Noses
Win Or Lose - Whirly Wirld
All The Birds Fly Past My Window - Smart Music
Taking Shape - The Flies
The Monster - Shower Scene From Psycho
Stumbling And Falling - The Introverts
Beautiful Waste - The Triffids
That's The Way - Deckchairs Overboard
The Trumpet Song - The Particles

― Telegram Sam, Wednesday, 3 August 2005 02:38 (eighteen years ago) link

otm with 'Gargoyle', and I'm pretty sure it was a single.

I've been racking my brains trying to remember how 'My Pal' goes. Was God one of Ollie Olsen's projects?

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 03:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I liked "Get Free" by the Vines.

― Jack, Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:03 (eighteen years ago) link

It's hard to get free of a vine, especially one of those passionfruit ones. They wind around you like a serpent or a cobra, and it's extremely hard to get free. So it's certainly a good call by The Vines, that song title.

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Was God one of Ollie Olsen's projects?

you're thinking of No. God was Joel Slbersher, the late Tim Hemensley, and two other guys (one of which is apparently a very good teacher of various musical instruments)

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Unguarded Moment- Church

― Cunga (Cunga), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:32 (eighteen years ago) link

To confuse matters, No had an album called 'Once We Were Scum Now We Are God'. Sonically, it was sort of pre-Reznor and post-Foetus.

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:38 (eighteen years ago) link

scattered order - escape via cessnock

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link

tiny town - drop by drop

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Unguarded Moment- Church
-- Cunga (visionsofjohann...), August 3rd, 2005.
i nearly posted church " under the milky way"

― aorta, Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:45 (eighteen years ago) link

two of our greatest songs were done by scots:
easy beats"friday on mind " and men at work "down under".
another great single is inxs "devil inside".

― life puller, Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:48 (eighteen years ago) link

don't think either of the scots ones fall within the 25 years criteria life puller. maybe down under i guess. otherwise i bet lots of people would rate friday on my mind though. so catchy!

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 04:50 (eighteen years ago) link

shine headlights: I wasn't sure if it was 'escape via cessnock' or 'Remember may 12' which was the single from that album, but, yes, definitely. Either. one.

and, I think it was the 'Once we were scum now we are gods' title which was making me confuse No with God.

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

twas cessnock (i have the 45). 'king of blip' was their other volition 7", not as good but still up there

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:43 (eighteen years ago) link

The Cicada That Ate Five Dock, by Those Cunce That Did That Cicada That Ate Five Dock Song!

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:38 (eighteen years ago) link

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