Music
10 WTF Aussie songs you'd probably forgotten
Because some slices of Australian musical history are stranger than others, here are the weirdest and most wonderful bangers from the 90s and 00s.
Australian music has given us a lot to be proud about, especially in recent years. But that doesn't mean every song that comes from within our borders is a work of art.
Over the years, there's been plenty of downright bizarre tracks from homegrown artists -- particularly in the 90s and 2000s, when oddball humour, parody and political satire were king. So what are some of the wackiest Australiana moments from decades of yore? From Chopper Read's rap career to that iconic Pauline Pantsdown blast, here are 10 truly WTF Aussie tracks worth remembering.
#10. Chopper Read – Machete (2006)
You may know Chopper Read as one of Australia's most infamous convicted killers and gang members. But did you know he also released a rap album?
That's one of the strange facts Australian scene stalwart 24 Karat Kev unearthed while getting ready to launch Red Bull Rap Royale, the new game show that tests the hip-hop knowledge of our favourite homegrown artists.
“I won't say it was impactful, but Chopper Read had a really random rap album back in the day with some of the biggest hardcore hip-hop figures in the country,” Au says. “He had international guests on there, and a lot of local formative hip hop acts from back in the 90s and 2000s. Acts like Brad Strut and Lyrical Commission were on there. Bias B was on there. Phrase was on there.”
The album was titled Interview With A Madman, but the single you might remember is Machete.
“I remember watching the YouTube video for it years back. When I was researching that we looked it up again, and it's pretty random. It's just Chopper Read standing there and a ballerina dancing in the street with some Japanese gangster. The concept was kind of weird, but I liked it.”
#9. Rubbery Figures – The Recession Rap (1991)
Only in Australia could rubber puppet versions of Paul Keating and Bob Hawke rapping about the 1990 recession make the ARIA Charts. And that’s exactly what happened during the spring of 1991 -- it was like our very own version of Monty Python. Now, surely it’s time for a Rubbery Figures comeback?
#8. Machine Gun Fellatio - Pussy Town (2002)
The Aussie band with the best name in alternative rock, Machine Gun Fellatio always sat a little left of centre, and this 2002 ode to getting freaky between the sheets still stands out as one of their most WTF moments.
#7. Chris Franklin - Bloke (2000)
Looking back, it boggles the mind that Chris Franklin’s bogan parody of Meredith Brooks' feminist anthem ‘Bitch’ managed to hit #1 on the charts. Sure it was funny, but also an uncomfortably accurate portrayal of a certain sector of the male population.
#6. The 12th Man - Marvellous (1992)
Much like the bizarre political satire of Rubbery Figures’ ‘The Recession Rap,’ only in Australia could a comedian who built his career impersonating the Aussie cricket commentary team manage to score a hit single about… the Aussie cricket commentary team.
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#5. Southend - The Winner Is... (1994)
Who’d have thought a Hi-NRG dance song and the Sydney Games would make such an on-point pairing? In 1994 local house outfit Southend's idiosyncratic chart-topper captured the elation felt across the city when then IOC chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch announced the fortuitous news of Sydney 2000. This track should forever soundtrack the image of John Fahey leaping out of his chair.
#4. The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist (2000)
Built entirely from music and spoken word samples of other songs, ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ attains its bizarreness from a sketch of the same name by comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, and it’s completely off-the-wall video clip.
#3. Sonic Animation - Theophilus Thistler (1999)
Sonic Animation always had a penchant for injecting their music with humour. 'Theophilus Thistler' was easily their wackiest, with the duo taking a hip-hop-come-dance-track and layering it with lyrics from a nursery rhyme used to help children with speech impediments, before finishing it off with a hilarious film clip starring two oversized Techno Tubbies dubbed Robert Roley and Theophilus Thistler. Well played, Sonic Animation. We miss you.
#2. TISM - (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River (1995)
No strangers to controversy, nor the bizarre, alternative rockers TISM embraced both with relish on this, their most successful track, which houses the infamous lyric, “I’m on the drug that killed River Phoenix.” The title references the song ‘Ol' Man River,’ indicating that River Phoenix will never be an old man because he died at Johnny Depp’s L.A. haunt The Viper Room at age 23. As the legend goes, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea was so upset by the song that he was left “wanting to kill” TISM.
#1. Pauline Pantsdown - I Don’t Like It (1998)
Seriously, how could this not be our #1 pick? ‘I Don’t Like It’ - the ridiculously hilarious parody of the One Nation party leader - has come full circle since its release in 1998, due to Hanson’s surprising political comeback. The genius of this song not only lies in the lyrics (created from Hanson’s own vocal snippets), but in who made it; i.e. Australian Senate candidate and son of a retired Chief Judge, Simon Hunt. The truth is always stranger than fiction.
