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In 1990, Boxcar released their first album, Vertigo. Central Station Records in Sydney was one of the leading retailers of dance music. The Sydney street press became half and half dance music and rock. Highlights in rock from people of ATSI background were Archie Roach's Took the Children Away, Christine Anu's Party and her version of My Island Home and Yothu Yindi's World Turning. Fans of early punk band The Saints were excited when Ed Kuepper reunited with members of The Saints and played and recorded as The Aints. Kuepper was at the time receiving praise from the critics for his album Today Wonder, that featured simply Kuepper singing and on guitar and Mark Dawson on drums. In 1991, the band Necrotomy played live on the Peter Couchman talk show special Couchman on Heavy Metal during a period of media controversy about Heavy Metal music. ( Metal as a form of music around the world underwent a massive stylistic evolution after this,with the emergence of many new styles such as black, doom, melodeath etc. in which Australian bands such as Alchemy, Armoured Angel, Abominator, Lord chaos, to name a very few, played and are still playing, a part in.) Another acoustic act of the late nineties was Machine Translations. The nineties was famous for not only grunge but also eclecticism with Machine Gun Fellatio and Def FX being popular cross-genre acts. Also for continued criticism and hostility from a baby boomer-me generation aged aged music press that continued to deny anything that it wasn't familiar with (Every journalist source cited in this article for instance). Cranky was well known for the song "Australia, Don't Become America". Gerling, an alternative rock and electronica band, formed in 1993, as was the pop–punk band Noise Addict featuring Ben Lee, who went on to be a prominent singer and songwriter into the following decade. Peril was an attempt to make the self-styled avant garde music of the Tzadik Records label. Musicians and music fans of the nineties tended to be less nostalgic for pre-punk rock compared to those of previous decade. The Cruel Sea and Divinyls were exceptions, showing the influence of the music of the sixties. Dave Graney and TISM continued to be popular with their irreverent commentary on contemporary culture. Baby Animals, a noisy band with a feisty female singer, released their eponymous debut album in 1991. They were briefly successful, however Australian music lovers preferred their feisty women foreign,(a very highly opinionated point) for instance interest in Americans Courtney Love and L7. (it is also fair to point out that Baby Animals were much more commercial and big hair glam rock oriented). Commercial rock radio stations and, in spite of their SNAG image, Triple J have fostered a music scene that allows female singers to mainly be mawkish, bland and demure(a very highly opinionated point) Examples are Frente! and The Waifs. At the time, groups like Frente! and The Waifs were a welcome relief from the dourness of grunge and the many alternative acts espousing angst, choofers (stoners), the Slacker work ethic, fashionable cynicism and sarcasm, heroin chic and the idealised suffering artist. The Screaming Jets was a popular hard rock act from Newcastle. Having a down to earth image,(some would say both screaming jets and baby animals were commercial glam rock) they and Divinyls were examples of bands that survived the backlash against so called Hair Rock of the Eighties (i.e. Warrant, Poison, Europe, Cinderella). In 1993 the Melbourne rock band Horsehead also gained popularity after garnering interest internationally from Madonna's Maverick Records and had a hit single 'Liar' reaching the weekly top 40 ARIA charts and was performed televised on MTV's 'Take 40 Australia'. The band stylistically shared affinities with the huge American grunge scene at the time, drawing from the likes of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. The band also had a second hit single and video 'Oil and Water' which won the Australian Kerrang! award for best rock video. Their debut album was mixed by the legendary Mike Fraser. In 1994, hard rock band The Poor charted at #30 in the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks with "More Wine Waiter Please". The Candy Harlots' 1990 Foreplay EP reached 17 in the ARIA national Top 100 chart. Paul Capsis was one of the few rock acts to work with a theatre director, Barrie Kosky. Killing Heidi had a hit song with "Mascara" in 1999. Raja Ram was one half of Shpongle and their debut album in 1999 was Are You Shpongled?. Roots music continued to have a strong appeal, with acts such as Blues band Bondi Cigars and Zydeco band Psycho Zydeco. The comedy quiz show Good News Week was regularly signed off with Paul McDermott singing his rendition of Hunters & Collectors' stodgy classic "Throw Your Arms Around Me". Alternative rock Throughout the developed world, alternative rock of various kinds became more popular during the 1990s, especially grunge. As in other countries, independent music festivals also saw a resurgence in popularity, notably the Big Day Out (which began in Sydney in 1992) attracted and helped build the careers of many Australian acts as well as showcasing international artists to a local audience, and the Woodford Folk Festival, attracting large crowds in South Eastern Queensland. Notable Australian independent acts of the time included the Falling Joys from Canberra; Diana Anaid from Nimbin; Magic Dirt from Geelong, Tumbleweed from Wollongong; The Superjesus from Adelaide; Regurgitator, Powderfinger, Screamfeeder, The Sallyanne Hate Squad and Custard from Brisbane; Something for Kate, The Living End, Dirty Three, The Paradise Motel, Rebecca's Empire, Bodyjar and The Meanies from Melbourne; Jebediah, The Blackeyed Susans from Perth, RatCat, The Clouds, You Am I, Vicious Hairy Mary, Caligula, The Whitlams, The Crystal Set, The Cruel Sea, Crow, Nitocris, Front End Loader, Skulker, Frenzal Rhomb,and Pollyanna from Sydney; Spiderbait from Finley, New South Wales and Silverchair, who began as a teenage combo in Newcastle, were discovered by Triple-J and have since become one of the most successful Australian bands of all time. The changes brought about in this period and the aforementioned bands are discussed in the book The Sell-In by music journalist Craig Mathieson. Frank Bennett covered many of the fashionable alternative rock bands in big band mode. His version of Radiohead's Creep was his most well known recording. His music was less danceable than overseas Retro swing acts Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Brian Setzer Orchestra. Frank Bennett was deeply ironic and only had moderate success with audiences who were attracted to the romanticised Harry Connick, Jr.. Music in the style of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett was unfashionable in the Alternative rock scene, stigmatised by the derisive term Lounge Lizard. Singers Dave Graney, Tex Perkins and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (particularly for their album The Good Son), also drew on the styles. By the end of the decade there was renewed interest in Lounge music from elements of the club scene, the interest being in both the composition and the campness. The nationalisation of Triple J was well received across the country where there was little in the way of Australian radio content that was not crassly commercial, stale or blatantly sexist, racist or homophobic.(Very highly opinionated,many would say this is blaming the effects of predatory marketing on anybody on the other side of a demopgraphic line in the sand)[citation needed] Triple J also embraced political incorrectness, playing songs such as "Backdoor Man" by Pauline Pantsdown, "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River" and All Homeboys Are Dickheads (New jack swing style) by TISM, "Closer to Hogs" a song about bestiality (also a parody of Nine Inch Nails' song 'Closer', and tendency to try and shock, and therefore patronize the audience with sado sexual postures) by the Nine Inch Richards and unashamed displays of inner-Western Sydney cultural chauvinism (very highly opinionated point). 2000s–2010s Triple J's Come Together festival Several Australian rock bands saw international success in Europe and the US. Notable examples include The Vines, who rose to prominence in the UK before becoming known in Australia, and Jet. Jet, influenced by seminal 1960s acts such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, had their single "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" used in an Apple iPod commercial, and consequently have sold 3 million copies in the US alone. Another band which had great success is Wolfmother, a hard rock band, very influenced by 1960s/1970s psychedelic rock and heavy metal bands, like Black Sabbath. In 2007, Wolfmother were awarded a Grammy for best hard rock performance for their extremely successful single "Woman". Apart from those bands which achieved international success, one of the well known Australian rock bands of the first decade of the 21st century was Grinspoon. They first achieved success in the music industry in 1995 after being Unearthed by Triple J, and have been a mainstay of festivals such as the Big Day Out ever since. A wave of female fronted, PJ Harvey-esque bands emerged in Australia during the early 2000s, most notably Little Birdy and Love Outside Andromeda. And with the phenomenial success of Missy Higgins, artists such as Sarah Blasko and others have found themselves a strong following. There has also been an abundance of modern rock bands who have been influenced by the alternative and progressive scenes. Bands like The Butterfly Effect, Karnivool, Mammal and Cog have all seen success, with Karnivool probably gaining the most international attention. Roots music and indie Domestically, roots music, seemingly a catch-all term for somewhat more laid-back acoustic music covering blues, country and folk influences, came to some prominence, including Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, The John Butler Trio, and the plaintive harmonies of The Waifs. A number of "blues and roots" festivals have sprung up and are attracting large audiences. As well as these uniquely "Aussie Bands", the mainstreaming of alternative music led to a shift of focus in indie rock in the 2000s. Post-rock indie band Art of Fighting, recorded their debut full-length album, Wires, in 2001. The album was successful and went on to win an ARIA award for Best Alternative Release. 2005 in particular sparked many brand new Australian "indie rock" bands such as End Of Fashion who won ARIA awards for their debut self-titled album and hit song "Oh Yeah" (as well as performing at the Homebake festival and appearing on talk show Rove Live several times). There is also Kisschasy who appeared in concert on 2 October 2005 with teen favourite Simple Plan. Another band to appear on the scene at this time were John Smith Quintet wielding their new brand of funk onto the Australian charts and music scene. Melbourne indie rock artist Gotye achieved considerable domestic and international success in 2011/12. Hardcore punk Main article: Australian hardcore Australian hardcore punk is an active rock music subgenre with a dedicated following. Many bands never tour outside their home state but enjoy a relatively large local fanbase. Recorded material of their work may be hard to acquire as live shows are the mainstay of the scene. The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic is strong with local distributors and small record labels active in most capital cities. Unlike the United States relatively few bands are straight edge or influenced by particular political views or religious convictions. The strong sense of DIY ethics supported by independent street press and community radio stations mostly in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth forms a breeding ground for creative artists who wish to explore the audio spectrum, as seen in Sticky Carpet rockumentary of Melbourne music scene. In recent years, Australian hardcore bands have been growing in fanbase and success, the most notable being Byron Bay's Parkway Drive signing to American punk/hardcore record label Epitaph Records. Pendulum bassist Gareth McGrillen. The band mixes numerous genres, including electronic.[53] The first popular Australian rock song to resemble contemporary dance music was the funky The Real Thing (1969) by Russell Morris. The high beats per minute blip of mainstream Electronic music in Australia appeared in the early 1980s with Severed Heads' Lamborghini. Severed Heads formed in 1979 and were the first electronic group to play the Big Day Out.[54] The band achieved long term success, winning an ARIA Award in 2005 for "Best Original Soundtrack" for The Illustrated Family Doctor, where lead singer Tom Ellard said the band would never fit into mainstream music.[55] Electronic rock Traditional rock bands such as Regurgitator have developed an original sound by combining heavy guitars and electronic influences,[56] and rock-electro groups, most notably Rogue Traders, have become popular with mainstream audiences.[57][58] However, Cyclic Defrost, the only specialist electronic music magazine in Australia, was started in Sydney (in 1998) and is still based there.[59][60] Radio still lags somewhat behind the success of the genre—producer and artist manager Andrew Penhallow told Australian Music Online that "the local music media have often overlooked the fact that this genre has been flying the flag for Australian music overseas".[61] In the late 2000s and early 2010s indie-electronic, indietronica and synthpop music rose in popularity, with Cut Copy, and Midnight Juggernauts being notable Australian exports and touring internationally. |
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