The Entroporium

All props to the plucky Socceroos! Italy is leading a charmed life.

Here is something I’ve been wanting to know for a long time. I lived in Los Angeles during the great mid-80s PR push for Australian pop; Australia was the Seattle/Montreal/Omaha of the moment. (Midnight Oil! Men At Work! InXS! Aaaaargh!) One of these new import bands — I believe it was Mental As Anything? — was offered by KROQ as a contest prize to come to your house do your yardwork if you won. I always loved the image of these guys getting off their tour bus at some San Fernando valley tract home and being ordered to cut the lawn and haul the trash by some 14-year old.

Was this real? Did the band actually show up? Were they hung over? Please if you know anything about this, I’m dying to know. Suffice to say, Mental As Anything did not make much of an impact in the US. (…and, wow, what an awful band name. I can only imagine the discussion in the record company board room: “We need a band like Men At Work!” “How about Mental As Anything?” “Never heard ‘em, but sign ‘em!” This did happen back in the day: A-Ha was signed because of the band’s photogenic looks without the record company ever having heard their music.)

The Church – Too Fast For You.mp3
Long before the wonderful but overplayed “Under The Milky Way,” The Church already had their sound and aesthetic down pat. They made several great records and are still putting out moody albums, but if you live in the US, you’d never know it.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (with Kylie Minogue) – Where The Wild Roses Grow.mp3
Extracted from the vaguely insane “Murder Ballads” album, this is easily one of the creepiest records I’ve heard, not least because in listening to it I’m forced to imagine Nick & Kylie’s love life.

The Saints – (I’m) Misunderstood.mp3
“(I’m) Stranded” was the hit — and possibly the finest single out of the first wave of punk, but it’s been profiled by World Cup bloggers elsewhere. At least I go with the “(I’m)” in the title by selecting this tune.