On the days when I’m trying to entertain you people with the blogging, I get a little depressed sometimes about American music. Spend any amount of time looking through music coverage in daily or weekly newspapers or trade magazines, and it’s hard to see a bright side as miserable acts fly up the charts. On the other hand, Australia’s MTV Awards were this weekend, and their popular music seems to suck more than ours, so chin up, buddy!
Meet Delta Goodrem (whose name unfortunately sounds like a Scientology term), a 23 year old former soap star who dominates the Australian charts and who won the Video of the Year award for “Believe Again”. The track was apparently inspired by classical music and modern adult contemporary music, and the video was the most expensive in Australian music history. Goodrem is engaged to a former member of banal British boy band Westlife, which seems just about right. Apparently, she’s looking to make a break into the American market, and with that horrible Leona Lewis song everywhere, her success seems more plausible everyday, so be forewarned.
I should have made a spoiler alert earlier for anyone planning to catch tonight’s broadcast featuring stars such as Mischa Barton on the satellite, but the Australian artist award went to the Veronicas, an duo made up of identical twins who are sort of a less interesting version of t.A.T.u.
Is there a country left with a musical output I can look to wistfully as being so much better than America’s? France? The Philippines? Togo? Anywhere?
Stars turn out as Pop reigns at the MTV Australia Awards [New Zealand Herald]
Is Delta Goodrem an anagram of “nice Roger Dean video artwork”?
No?
Try Senegal or Mali. Australia is hopeless. Although that Archie Roach/ song about the Kevin Rudd apology to the Aboriginies for the “Stolen Generation” was kind of moving and had a nice comeback this year thanks to the Kevin Rudd apology:
“duo made up of identical twins who are sort of a less interesting version of t.A.T.u.”
I take it they aren’t nihelists. Beautiful, beautiful nihelists.
@Clevertrousers: Did I mention the Kevin Rudd apology? That’s what happens when actual work interrupts my timewasting on the internets…
I’m not your buddy, fwend…
But The Church does rule.
@GhostOfDuane: I’m not your friend, guy!
Midnight Oil rules.
Without TISM working on anything new, I can’t even be bothered to care about Australian music.
When I was a kid, i wondered why our bands here sounded like they were in b&w compared to the rest of the world, especially the dull meathead world of ‘pub rock’.
Anything that gets a big push by the record companies here is stuff they consider commercial enough to be played overseas, which means less polished imitations of American (never English) acts. Anyone from the ‘artistic’ side of rock emmigrated to England at the first available opportunity.
Aside from my Go-Betweens and Triffids records, and my Augie March cds, that’s about it for Aussie music in my collection, since Split Enz were from New Zealand.
@HomefrontRadio: Iron On out of Brisbane are good, as are Bernie Hayes/The Shouties out of Sydney. Whatever Pinky is working on is usually worth a few listens. But asides that, yeah, Aus music is a pale imitation of the rest of the world.
And galt forbid one of these acts actually breaks it in the US (to any degree at all) - they will be hailed as YOUR NEW MUSICAL SAVIOURS (regardless of talent).
as all this Aussie talk is making me miss Ratcat.
that was the prettiest douche commercial i’ve ever seen.
Veronicas weren’t too shabby when they first came out. They were more punky/pop. Now they’ve sold out too. *sigh*
Your Veronicas quote is amazing - and yes, Aus does have pale pop simulations of many overseas acts, often far ‘nicer’ like Delta. We also have a habit of recruiting innumerable pop stars from television soaps, like Delta. But apart from that there is some amazing pop and more alternative stuff here - pop you’ve got Silverchair, umm… But yeah, underground stuff too many to mention. And we’re like the king of that terrible electro crap you Americans still seem to think is highly original - Presets, Midnight Juggernauts, Muscles, etc.
“Goodrem is engaged to a former member of banal British boy band Westlife”
Westlife are Irish, not British. Tsk.
They certainly are banal though
Easybeats
Coloured Balls
AC/DC
Dead Can Dance
The Saints
Midnight Oil
Hoodoo Gurus
The Church
Nick Cave
Go Betweens
Triffids
Paul Kelly
..Oh, and recently
Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males
Sleepy Jackson
Augie March
The Drones
Midnight Juggernaughts
Come on idiots, that’s off the top of my head, and I don’t even live there!!
Melbourne is a music capital of the world, isn’t it??
Easybeats
Coloured Balls
AC/DC
Dead Can Dance
Midnight Oil
Nick Cave
The Saints
The Church
Go Betweens
The Triffids
Paul Kelly
Hoodoo Gurus
oh, and recently
Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males
Augie March
Sleepy Jackson
The Drones
Midnight Juggernaughts
come on idiots, that’s off the top of my head, and I don’t even live there!!
Melbourne is a music capital of the world, isn’t it?
strange this double post bug init?
Mental As Anything could outdo them all.
@okiedoke: Ha, INXS anyone?