Gay Your Life Must Be?

I've gotta apologise for my lack of blogging action...

Sorry...

It's because over the last two weeks I've been too busy avoiding swine flu and gangland murders... seriously, all the good shit happens 10 minutes north of Melbourne CBD.

Anyway, for todays blog you'll be treated to my unbiased award-winning journalistic expose on a court battle. Native birds of Australia take on a classic Australian song in a class action law suit.

Men At Work Vs Kookaburras of Australia

Exhibit A.


Remember this song?
How could you not? If you grew up in Australia, you sang it... we ALL sang it. Quintessential Ozzie nursery rhyme. A "seminal" song in all our lives.

Exhibit B.


Remember this song?

If you were a sailing fan in 1983 you would know that Australia II won the America's Cup. The fist time a non-american boat had won The Americas Cup in 6,000 years.

The boat had a SICK sound system.

After they won, they pumped "The Land Down Under at full volume across San Francisco Bay. It was an historic sporting moment and "Land Down Under" became the historic boat's official anthem.

That very day, Prime-minister Bob Hawke made it a public holiday and the whole country got wasted while listening to the song. Whistling the flute line stupidly with some serious national pride.

The song reached number one on Australia, US and UK charts... It made soooooooo much cash for it's songwriter Colin Hay and the rest of the boys in Men At Work...




BUT!!!!!!

There's a line of the flute theme is "allegedly" direct musical quote of the opening line of the Kookuburra laughs theme song. It enters the song about half a dozen times.

It's something that I've noticed for years but it's something that the publishers of the nursery rhyme only just noticed. Apparently after watching an episode of Spics and Specs. Now they're takin it to court.

It's quite possible that the publishers of the nursery rhyme will receive a payout of millions and millions of dollars...

So, since you're the jury.
Ask yourself these questions...

Does the flute line copy the nursery rhyme?
Is it obviously recognizable as a copy?
Does the flute line constitute a significant part of Men at Work's song?

If you ask me the answers are all... "f*ckin oath, yes"


But now it's your turn...
"TRIAL BY ILLEGETIMATE CHILDREN" requires you to leave a comment underneath this blog with the word GUILTY or INNOCENT.

If the answer is overwhlemingly "guilty" then I'll submit it to the supreme court of Australia and they'll tell Colin Hay (Men at work singer) to give a bunch of cash to every Kookaburra in Australia...

Don't be shy... if you get this blog via email, log into the site and leave a comment. Guilty or Innocent? Kookaburra or Colin? Patsy Bisco or Men at Work?

I've just been told i'm too old for Triple J

I feel like I did when I first read The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Someone has just told me something that I knew in my heart all along. But they put it so succinctly that it's like turning on a lightbulb in my head. It could change my life.

Remember back in my first blog post? (it got 150 gazillion internet hits so i'd suprised if you hadn't! read it now if ya want.)

It was about how sh*t Australian Hip Hop is and how Triple J lost the plot. (and how many other people also think they've lost the plot).
Check out the facebook group dedicated to bringing down Triple J if you need reminding...

Well, here's a really succinct, insightful response to my increasing frustration with the station on the blog called "parables for wooden ears"
If you feel a little alienated by triple j these day's then I think you should read it...

This article was sent to me by a mysterious friend who's alias is "brew" He sends me heaps of links all day, it's good to have link sending friends. He also made the raddest comment on this blog.

"adios"

So... Triple J doesn't suck. The station isn't crap.
It doesn't even have to lick my balls!

In fact it can just keep on doing what it does best. Playing music for teenage kids who like electro, hip hop, rock and indie.

The problem is with me, and maybe you. It's with us, not the station.

It's because I'm getting old. I'm out of the loop. I'm not the target demographic. I've outgrown it. Triple J is for 13 to 25 year olds dammit!
It's built to ween kids off Nova, Fox and Triple M.
But it wont take you into serious niche territory as your music tastes become refined.

I'm at peace with this. I can listen to Vega, 3AW, Gold 104, Magic 693, SEN Sports and other far more adult stations now.

I can let triple J go... and it'll give me freedom, my life will change for the better.
In the same way reading The Alchemist made me quit psychology, change uni's, dump an ex ex ex ex girlfriend and start diggin life heaps more.

This is a big moment for me, but it's been a long time coming.
I'll look back fondly, but I won't miss you triple j.
I'll tune in and vote for the hottest 100 though.

Product Placement: This Blog's less tight than ABC's RAGE

I'm not sure if you've realised, but Illegitimate Children (henderson's blog) is a hotbed of commenting activity.

It certainly has caught me be suprise. That's why it took me ages to see this comment. I want to thank 'anonymous' for this. This is what I want. Informed discussion about cool music, the state of the Australian music industry, interspersed with the odd swear word (like 'f*ck', 'sh*t' or 'Carnivorous rUNT').

Here's the comment... it was after Illegitimate Children's rant about ridiculous funding for Olympic sports compared to music and culture which gets sweet f*ck all.

hey while you're havin a bit of a bang on about the govt, something just came to my attention which freakin irks me to no end. the abc - now i'm a massive fan of aunty but bugger me they've gone a bit too far. i just heard that the new kram clip for 'silk suits' is not allowed to be aireed on the abc because they shot it at the rod laver arena (just to tie into your sporting theme here) and there are sponsorship ads in the background. what a load of fucking horse shit. have the abc lost the plot?? do they seriously think that their clips don't have brand endorsed product placement all the way through them? what about when the Hoods wear DC shoes or the Finger wear connies - do they thyink they just went out and bought them so they could look cool in their film clips? Get fucking real abc - nearly all of the bands yoiu play on triple jtv or rage have some kind of endorsement deal in place. perhaps they should stop any band playing who's drummer is sponsored by pearl or the guitarist has a gibson deal. dickheads

Wicked. Thanks anonymous! I wasn't aware of this. It's a great comment. And I reckon right on the money. Very perceptive. Great Insight. If I may... just a few comments on that comment.

1. "irk" = Great word... gotta use it more
2. Appreciated this bit "what a load of fucking horse shit"
3. Clearly this clip is filmed on one of the show courts at Melbourne Park... Not Rod Laver Arena... get it right.



It sounds like Kram always does, fun but not much depth... ZING. The redeeming feature is that it confirms my long held belief that (former WTA Ranked World Number 8 Alicia Molik - thanks wiki) was rather attractive. Underrated as a tennis player and underrated as a looker!

Also, check out the rally from 1:40 to 2:00. Krams cross court winner is freakin epic. LOVE IT!

So, how do feel about Garnier, KIA, The Herald Sun, Australia Post and Adidas and MOTORHEAD T-Shirts?
This blog whole-heartedly endorses all brands appearing a KRAM video clip...

If RAGE won't play it, I will. I don't have any code of practice or editorial policy. This is a niche for this blog.

ALSO HUGE HUGE UPS TO CONNOR BEAVS FOR HIS SICK PIGEON PHOTO... THANKS DUDE.

IS AUSTRALIAN HIP HOP SHIT?

I got sent a link to a Facebook group a couple of months ago, i know this is old news for a lot of people... sorry!

Split JJJ into Two Competing Stations

2 JJJ's would allow you to change the channel to another version of the station if you’re sick of the same old boring songs. Coz, let's face it, the playlist is shit. They site the BBC as a good model to copy because there’s a whole bunch of BBC’s.

Just ask Austin...




But the BBC analogy isn’t very thought out. Actually, it’s shithouse. We’ve got the BBC model anyway. ABC 1 (ABC local radio, 774 in Melbs), ABC 2 (Radio National), ABC3 (Classic FM), ABC 4 (Triple J).

(side note) It makes me feel good that people are disgruntled with the J’s! I thought it was just something that musicians and music industry people bitched about. Its good to see that punters are getting tired of the playlists, the programming, and the default power of the music department when it comes to making or breaking a band.

Anyway. Check out this compilation of comments from the facebook group
It's amazing how this debate about triple J's playlist has turned into a bitchfest about Ozzie Hip Hop. (i made the quotes colourful in case you're getting bored of my writing style)

"jjj so rarely plays anything worth hearing, unless you're into aussie hip hop... blagh, get me a bucket. "

"what the hell is with all the aussie hip hop? If listening to that crap all day makes you feel like a wanna be gangster go try act tough you meth addicted wiggers somewhere down town Bronx and see how long you last"

" I agree, lets split the station up so hip hoppers can listen to hip hop and rock and rollers can listen to rock and roll."

" I don't mind hip-hop in general, but the aussie rubbish they constantly play makes me want to turn off the radio. It's so vapid and obnoxious."

"THERE IS WAY TO MUCH OF IT. How can you ask people not to talk about this subject when it is oviously the largest prick in the ears of listerners."

"Every time I flick across to JJJ there seems to be a nasty whiff of Oz Hip-hop being played and I honestly can't tell one group/MC from the other."

"Instead thy starting play Aussie Hip Hop!!! I grew up on JJJ, the J-files, 3 Hours of Power, Tunnie, Mikey & Helen! Now i am ashamed and bored when i listen JJJ"

I’m not gonna play the blame game here. IN fact I’m not gonna mention any names… but 360, Pez, True Live, Bliss N Esso, Muph & Plutonic or almost every one signed to obese… you’re to blame. Use some imagination dammit! I’m sick to simplistic choruses (chori: plural?) gimmicks and slow, aggressive, monotonous rhyming.


So you, at home and you at triple j... play some cool hip hop, show some taste and don’t ever play the festival song again. Ever. Never again. Ever. Or Jimmy Recard… ever.


I'm gonna give some examples of great ozzie hip hop. Nothing underground or wanky. Just stuff I reckon is good for you, good for me and good for our sunburnt country.

Starting here... tomorrow...