On July 5, some fifty years ago Johnny O’Keefe released The Wild One and Aussie rock was born. To commemorate the event The Age assembled a panel to come up with the top 50 Australian albums of all time. Votes were cast by critics, music journos, musicians, record shop owners, and band managers. The only criteria was this – they had to choose the finest albums by Australian musicians.
Sadly they didn’t ask me. But maybe that’s a good thing. It makes it easier to point out the flaws and the glaring omissions. These lists are never going to be perfect after all, but they do inspire debate.
Midnight Oil, Skyhooks, INXS, and AC/DC all earned their places in the top 10. I can understand Midnight Oil claiming the top spot, but I would have given it to Cold Chisel’s East. I certainly can’t imagine why it’s limped in at number 23. Lyrically, musically, and vocally, Cold Chisel are first class and this album is their best.
But rather than quibble about the folks who should have scored higher, I’m more interested to see who didn’t make it. The list is about blokey rock. Australians might do this well, but it’s certainly not all we do.
There’s no Savage Garden. There’s no James Reyne, not even in his Australian Crawl days. There’s no Divinyls. There’s no Renee Geyer. There’s no Kylie. There’s not even any Farnsy.
But there is plenty of good music there. Maybe the omissions show us just how rich our musical landscape is. Browse the top 50, and tell me what you think of it!
- 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Midnight Oil
- Radios Appear – Radio Birdman
- Living in the 70s – Skyhooks
- Hi Fi Way – You Am I
- Stoneage Romeos – Hoodoo Gurus
- Gossip – Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
- (I’m) Stranded – The Saints
- Kick – INXS
- Diesel and Dust – Midnight Oil
- Back in Black – AC/DC
- Magic Box – Loved Ones
- Easy – The Easybeats
- Born Sandy Devotional – The Triffids
- Crowded House – Crowded House
- Human Frailty – Hunters and Collectors
- High Voltage – AC/DC
- Sunnyboys – Sunnyboys
- Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies will Float By – The Drones
- 16 Lovers Lane – Go-Betweens
- Prehistoric Sounds – The Saints
- Circus Animals – Cold Chisel
- Hourly, Daily – You Am I
- East – Cold Chisel
- Doughboy Hollow – Died Pretty
- Goodbye Tiger – Richard Clapton
- Daddy Who – Daddy Cool
- Prayers on Fire – The Birthday Party
- Charcoal Lane – Archie Roach
- Rose Tattoo – Rose Tattoo
- Less is More – Even
- Let There Be Rock – AC/DC
- Since I Left You – The Avalanches
- Icehouse – Flowers
- Toward the Blues – Chain
- Anthology – The Easybeats
- The Good Son – Nick Cave
- Highway to Hell – AC/DC
- The Low Road – Beasts of Bourbon
- The Swing – INXS
- Lovetown – Stephen Cummings
- Face to Face – The Angels
- Post – Paul Kelly
- Woodface – Crowded house
- Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express – Go-Betweens
- Tu Plang – Regurgitator
- Eternal Nightcap – The Whitlams
- Diorama – Silverchair
- Starfish – The Church
- A Toast to Panama Red – Masters’ Apprentices
- Get Born – Jet
Image source: Lex @ Wikimedia Commons