120. Where Do I Begin by Chemical Brothers 1997

1997. Lizard lounge was really happening and I was DJing every Friday and Saturday from 9pm til 3am. I more often than not would pop down on a Thursday night for a drink. I didn't have to get to work in the morning because I had my own company by now. Nevermind Promotions and also Swerve Records both being really one man operations. So a lot of drinking and getting up really late. Often I'd get home about 4 am in the morning and then play FIFA soccer for a few hours. All well and good but I could never get an anchor on it all. It didn't really do my first marriage much good either. Where do I start and where do I begin indeed.
I would spend quite a bit of time riding along the St. Kilda foreshore listening to my Walkman more often than not with the Chemical Brothers blasting away as peddled into the wind. When the wind was behind me I drifted along to this song. I have this image of this song playing while the seagulls hovered above me. Listening to headphones was like having your own soundtrack. It's not often I get a chance at the beach to listen to music now with 3 kids. Oh well!
Chemical brothers were big at the Lizard but if I got the chance I would play this early on while people were just arriving. It's even better in wide screen through massive speakers.

119. Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs 1981

1981. I was doing the Mod thing and listening to a lot of sixties stuff and soul and Stax but I always kept my ears out for other stuff. With the album Talk talk Talk I kinda got into the Furs for a short while. Seduced by Pretty In Pink and it's wall of sound and Bowie leanings I found myself on the singles lookout once again for more of their stuff. Unfortunately some of their other stuff was a tad boring so they never got too close to my musical heart.
But at the time I listened endlessly to the lyrics in my small flat in Fitzroy North. some of them were so off the wall but at the same time made perfect sense.
But 1981 was a particularly hot summer and on Thursday nights we'd go to the Underground night club where with a bit of persuasion the DJ would play the Furs and we'd dance around in what was by all intents and purposes a cage. We were getting a little bit mad and crazy. Smashing glasses for fun was obnoxious behaviour but one of our group liked to do it. When he kicked a hole in my car that was going a bit far. Still we were dressing up and wearing eyeliner and the world was ours and the Psychedelic Furs provided a good soundtrack. I had a new girlfriend and the band was taking off as we prepared to tour Sydney and parts of northern Victoria (or was it southern NSW). Good times.

118. Sexuality by Billy Bragg 1991

This song came out when I was in London in 1991. I remember billy being on one of those breakfast shows live at Covent Garden talking about his new single "Sexuality". I missed the performance but I thought it was a crap title and didn't promise anything. A big Billy Bragg fan I wondered why it was releasing this kind of nonsense. After I few listens it grew on me pretty quick. Then I went to an indie club downstairs in a pub in East London. Actually the guy at the door thought I might be a bit old for this alternative stuff. I told him I ran and DJed at one of these clubs. The UK can be so ageist. The club didn't open until 10 so Miriam and I drank in the bar until around 10ish everyone started heading towards this door to the side. 5 quid and we're in. Down a narrow stairway to god knows what the club was called. But I;m a sucker for underground venues.

Anyway down in the pit I drank and danced to the usual suspects and then this song came on. Amongst the  gloomy Gothic sounds of My Bloody Valentine this was a blast of sunshine. Johnny Marr's guitar ringing like a bell.
I picked up the 12 inch and the 7 inch in Tower records in Piccadilly Circus and Sexuality was a big song at the Lizard lounge.

117. Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade 197

Christmas day. My favourite Christmas song though sometimes my loyalty leans towards the Pogues "Fairytale of New York". This brings back a strange New Years Eve party I ended up at in 1974. It was somebody I can't remember but I got on well with him because he came from the North of England too. The party was a few young people and a bunch of oldies which was a crap mixture. however the magic thing about the party was that it was the most English party I'd ever been to. This song was playing and it hadn't been released in Australia yet. (we missed out on most Xmas songs because of timing). Pork pies, Guinness beer, grannies with fags, dancing to Gary Glitter. It was a real Lancashire knees up. For a party that looked horrible from entrance by the end I was having a real laugh. It was like a house in Blackpool had been beamed over to Box Hill North just for one night. Even the vinyl singles had massive holes in them for the spindles.
Anyway now Merry Xmas is the opening song on all mix Xmas CDs I make.

116. American Girl by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 1977

1977 and it's year zero for punk rock (well in Blackburn south anyway) so I start chucking out some of the crap from the last few years because all i want to hear is the new stuff like The Clash and The Jam or old stuff like Iggy or The New York Dolls.
Then I'm driving in my Datsun Bluebird which cost me 400 bucks from a car yard in Springvale Road and would eventually sell for 20 bucks. (when I sold it a piece of chewing gum was keeping the carburettor working). Driving to my girlfriend's place in North Balwyn when the radio starts blasting out that guitar. like ringing a bell just as Chuck Berry said. American Girl. Then the bass in time with the drums and then...oooooh! here come the vocals. Brilliant. The vocals end and then it keeps going. Woah ho! And then driving the car is so much better. I've been putting this song on my car mix tapes for over 30 years and it never gets boring.
But he wasn't punk. He sounded like a power pop version of The Byrds. Here I was torn between punk and this great new sound from the USA. Long hair and flares indeed. Then The Fiction played a gig at the Crystal Ballroom (then Wintergarden Room) with Two Way Garden. And they did a version of Breakdown by Tom Petty. Year Zero hadn't lasted too long in my house. But with songs like these I was creating my musical identity.
I had held back, but that week I invested in the album.

115. Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult 1976

Definitely a one hit wonder. I bought the album just to get to this song and the rest of their stuff is just rubbish. I was alerted to this song by my mate and original Subway band member Chris Hunter ( not to be confused with Chris Hunter who joined Little Murders). When he played me the song I was totally gobsmacked. Of course he went on about the suicide imagery and the baroque references but I was really just digging the the way the song just moves along with that repeated riff. The single left out the guitar solo which made it even better. It also had great harmonies. It was a big influence on the way I write music and I've used it's characteristics a number of times. Just rolling patterns.
There was a great version of the song in "The Executioner's Song" the story of Gary Gilmore. I've tried to get it for so long I'm now not even sure it exists. I'll have to rent the movie.
Chris joined Subway when I decided to go punk (which sounds a bit a shallow) It didn't matter that he was still learning guitar, so was I. The 3 of us Vic, Chris and I played one gig where the bass player didn't turn up. We cleared the room. Later when Rob Wellington joined the band and we became The Fiction and  had to let him go. We had our first major punk gig playing the Pulp benefit. Rob could carry the guitar parts by himself. We decided to streamline the band. We were kids though and didn't actually tell Chris he was out. He drove past the rehearsal rooms on the first night and heard us playing.  I felt bad about that for a long time.

114. Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads 1980

One night after Kommotion had closed a bunch of us decided to keep the party going all night. It was hot and we'd had a few drinks. So there were six of us packed into a Mazda 323 I think it was called. We're in Richmond but one of the girls had to pick up some stuff from home before we kept going. So there were a group of happy campers burning down the Princess Highway to Noble Park. Which was miles away! Of course I made the long drive because I fancied a girl. But the tyranny of distance killed any romantic notions. I couldn't foresee myself driving all that way for a date because it would most likely incur the trip times 4. Anyway not a big Talking Heads fan at the time but I think it was the only record she had. I loved Once in A Lifetime though.
I got to like them a lot more later on and they released a killer greatest hits album.

A few years later and a mate of mine was DJing at Therapy in North Melbourne. I helped him put together a killer set list and included this song. It was great dancing to it. Therapy had a raised dancefloor. It was just so eighties. I used to go there a lot but only got thrown out once. Later on we took over the place and opened Kaos there but it wasn't very successful. About the only good thing to come of it was a Smiths special where I managed to score a set of the CDs

113. Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles 1979

 

Christmas 1980  I was staying at my brother's house in Lytham St. Annes just outside of Blackpool. There was lot of pop songs playing in the house. the British are very tuned in to the hit parade. Earlier in 70s I remember staying at my Auntie Sheila's and every Sunday night the whole family would sit around the radio listening to the weekly chart.
Anyway this was a song that takes me back to that Christmas spent at David and Brenda's house with my nieces Sharon and Sarah. Just kids then but grown up now Sarah told me this year that this song always reminds her of that time too. It was a lovely time with snow outside and plenty of Xmas celebrations. Relatives popping in for a drink. meeting a bunch of fellow students from Burwood Teachers College who crashed at David's.
Leonie and I hired a car to drive to Edinburgh. Brenda had one of the new electric stove tops with a glass top. One of us forgot to turn it off when we left in the morning. Yikes!
Later this song became a regular on the set list at Barbarella's Beehive and The Lizard Lounge. A very Eighties song that managed to keep it's own special coolness. Maybe because it's a bloody good song.

112. Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix 1968

I missed the Hendrix phenomenon in the late sixties being too busy with The Monkees and The Beatles. And as a Bowiephile in the 70's I never understood why Ziggy Stardust was based a little on Hendrix. By the time punk came along I was totally removed from knowing anything about his music.
however around 1981 I was at a party in Carlton, slightly drunk and not altogether when someone put this on the stereo. I was in one of those long hallways that Carlton homes seem to have supping a can of beer when it hit me. Bang! I didn't know he was so good. I was gobsmacked. What a sound. I couldn't get over it and started chasing down his albums.

Admittedly it was his run of hit singles that I really got into. Later there was a show on the ABC about Vietnam and the war. One night I was waiting to go out with my bass player Chris Hunter to see someone quite big at the Prospect Hotel. After the show I had a few drinks and put on Hendrix really loud.  sometimes you can have a really great time playing loud music and waiting for the night to begin. When Chris got there we set off. By the end of the road we realised I wouldn't be driving that night.

111. The Kids Are Alright by The Who 1966

Tonight I ran into Paul Stewart from The Painters and Dockers. It was good to catch up and he mentioned how he remembered how Little Murders used to do a great version of this song. I remember the first time we played the song. It was at the Jump Club in Collingwood. The Murders were a Jump Club regular. We played there a couple of times a month there either headlining or supporting bigger bands. The first night we played this song was the first night of the Mod Easter Invasion of 81. The place was packed with Mods. It went off and initiated a flurry of stage dives. It was the beginning of a legendary weekend.

At the time of the Mod revival of the early 80's The Who brought out a film "The Kids Are Alright" which was there history on film. It was always teamed up as a double with Quadrophenia. We went to a number of screenings as a mob. I even managed to get a button. It's pinned to my coat on the back of the Dance Set single. That picture was taken in the Jump Club band room. The photograph on the rear of She Lets me Know was taken out the front of The Jump Club too. the Jump Club was a big part of my life back then.

110. Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie 1981

In 1986 I decided to take a trip back to England for Christmas. The weather was cold and when I got to London after spending some time in Blackpool the snow really began to come down. The tube was closed down at one stage so staying just off Piccadilly Circus I often walked through deserted streets. I spent New Years Eve at Trafalgar Square and got a few drunken kisses but it was starting to get a it lonely. A couple of days later I was off to Paris intending to train around Europe eventually meeting a friend in Italy. But the Ferry was closed and Italy was iced in. I managed to get to Paris the next day to find a state of emergency with the railway workers on strike. I was stuck in this horrible hotel next to the Gare Du Norde with French TV and misery descending like a black cloud. It was horrible. The trains were coming back on by the third day but it was too late. I packed my bags walked over to the train station and sat on the platform until I could get back to England. And as soon as I got to Victoria and jumped on a train to Blackpool. Sometimes you just need to get back to family.

I've never missed Melbourne so much. I remember standing outside the jump club in the heat of summer just before I left talking to two beautiful girls in summer dresses and thinking "Why am I leaving?" when I got back home I immersed my self in music and this track just seemed to sum it all up.

109. Virginia Plain by Roxy Music 1972

1972 and 73. Glam was really starting to happen and each copy of NME I bought had top twenties full of songs I'd never heard of and some I wouldn't get to hear for many years. I didn't get to hear Virginia Plain for a long time after I started loving Roxy Music. Although the cover of the first album was brilliant I was too infatuated by Bowie to take notice. But with "For Your Pleasure" their second album  I was well and truly hooked. I tracked down the first album on import but Virginia Plain wasn't on it. (Later releases would add it). My best mate at the time Pete J was an avid music fan. he got me into the import shops at Monash and Melbourne Unis. And the import was a gatefold.

Roxy Music was very glamourous. I loved the sleeves of the album. The first four album sleeves are burned into my memory. I wanted to be a part of Roxy world.When I finally got round to hearing the single it was just magic. It still holds it's power now. As for all those singles I missed out on back in the early 70s. Most were rubbish. Some were classics that Australian radio ignored. But I kinda miss all that searching for records I did until the advent of Napster I guess. Now a song is a click away. So the hunt is on for the obscure. And the b-side "The Numberer". I wonder how long it would take for me to hear that.  Found it on the internet and started listening to it in less than 30 seconds. What a world!

108. Going to a Go Go by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles 1965

The drums . The horns. For me one of the definitive Mod epics. It just makes you want to get up and dance. Clouds disco, Edinburgh 1980 and I was on the dancefloor pounding my feet to this one. I can't say I'm a natural dancer. But Jesus when a record is this good, Secret Affair had their version out (which I kinda liked too) but the original was the greatest.

Hundreds  of Mods dancing to the old beat but somehow making it new. 1980 in the UK everywhere you looked there were pop art styles on young girls and sharp suited men on Vespas. The English loved their Motown and the stores were full of Motown and Stax records which sent me into a buying frenzy.
Really the only way I was going to hear this kind of stuff was if I played it myself. So when i came back to Melbourne first of all I pushed for a disco at our gigs. and when my friends Chris and Michael opened Kommotion I was always pushing for guest spots on the turntables, Same with the Venetian Room. It took the end of Little Murders in 1985 for me to take a regular DJ job at Rubber Soul. And from then until 2001 I DJed nearly every Friday and Saturday. Gigs and romantic dinners aside.

107. Chicago by Sufjan Stevens 2005

2005. I've got three children and it's getting mighty crowded in our little house in Elwood. This was to be our last summer there and I had this album on constantly in the house, in the car ..like everywhere.  Two songs really stood out for me and this was the first. Chicago. Amazingly, listening to the orchestra swell up, it's just Sufjan playing most the parts in his bedroom. Or taking his laptop around to friends places to get their contributions. Snow Patrol even mention this song in one of their songs so their writer must of loved it too.

It seemed like the perfect summer. Totally unlike the one we're having now. It was great living in Elwood. we lived next to the bike path that took you down to the beach. I can't say I spent a lot of time on the sand but I made good use of the bike path for a time. I first moved to Elwood around 87/88. At the time it was known for an article in the Age where the spotlight was focused on the 7-11 store as the only bit of nightlife. It was terribly uncool for a while despite cool people living there but they walked down to St. Kilda. Then over the last 20 years it became a Melbourne hotspot. Even our local shopping strip in Tennyson got a few bars.

A few years back I moved out. It's good to change positions now and then.

106. Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealers Wheel 1972

1972. Box Hill High School. The art room was a kind of escape from all the crap going on in the school grounds. Art was an elective subject so only those kids who like art were in there. The pyschos who liked to lean over and destroy your artwork for fun had drifted off. One went to play football for hawthorn. At lunchtimes a few of us would be in the art room just hanging out while the teacher worked on her tye dyes and batik prints. And the music was generally loud. This song takes me back there because I remember first hearing it amongst the incense and colour.

1972 was a crap year. Nothing was going right and I hated school. My friends had kind of moved on and I was totally obsessed by music. But not the music my peers were listening to. They hated stuff like T. Rex. I loved it. Slade. No way. I grew my hair and the principal grabbed it one day and asked if it was a handle! Other kids were getting sharpie haircuts.

For a couple of months I crossed over Middlesborough Road to hang out with the sharpies. They dug my music but I after falling asleep in a telephone booth one night after drinking warm beer I knew it wasn't for me. So I began staying at home. But things were about to turn around. And thank god for my record player. and my ever expanding record collection.

105. Tainted Love by Gloria Jones 1964

In 1975 I was in Blackpool for Christmas. I had just turned 18 and my cousin Neil and his friend Phil would be going out almost every night. It was the middle of the winter but we would always just go out in shirts no coats. "No where to put yer coat and I'm not paying for cloak room". I learned a lot in those few months. Hold back from taking a leak as long as possible because once you crack open the seal you'll be goin every pint. If it rains it's better because it will be warmer.

Anyway I digress.

One place we went to was the Blackpool Mecca. I was totally unaware of Northern soul but I soon learned. They wore baggy pants threw talcum powder on the dance floor and leaped and spun. No wonder the girl I liked made fun of the way I danced. These were tough guys who loved to dance. This song was one of the many unknown songs they played.

Becoming familiar with the Northern soul version when i finally got my hands on it Igot Little Murders to cover it. First time we played it was the Continental in Sorrento and the surfers loved it.

Oh and I was foraging in a box of artifacts the other night and found my Mecca membership card. Cool!

Of course my memory is also tied up with the Soft Cell mega smash of a few years later and the rerelease of the single just after that. But for me the song fits perfectly in sync with mecca dancing so it's found it's place in my musical history.

104. Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley 1995

This one goes out to Dan. It is it still one of his favourite songs? I guess so. Dan was a Lizard regular who really wanted to have a go at DJing. One night I gave him a set at the Lizard. He never looked back. He became part of the Lizard gang and it's hard to think of a time when he wasn't there. (although there was!) A popular DJ who was there through the good and the bad times. And always supportive. He became such a good friend that he was best man at my wedding.  He'd play this often near the end of the night. Then he'd moved his head from side to side in his own world. And let out a cloud of smoke. What was he thinking of?
Now he rides his huge skateboard down my street. One night I followed him slowly in my car. He gave me the dirtiest look known to man. He didn't know it was me!

Liz and I saw Jeff at the Palais. Great concert but it seemed as if Jeff was a little bit out of it. this song was the highlight. Really it's the best song he ever did. It was enough to build a legend on. Though I haven't heard anyone mention him for a while.
Dan and I are still in discussions about a Lizard reunion. Meanwhile we've got tickets to Roxy Music.

103. Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead 1995

In 1995 every time you went to someones house for dinner they would be playing The Bends by Radiohead. Dropping into a friend's house for a drink you would get The Bends. Slowly it spread like a virus through the inner suburbs. After Creep Radiohead were kind of dismissed because of their average debut album. Now they were omnipresent.
The night I fell in love with Radiohead. My girlfriend at the time was living with Lee S. She was living in Elwood. It was a hot night and we were having a few drinks. Lee put on the Bends. Four songs in this song came on. It was such a new sound. It took my breath away. Of course before that came High and Dry.
Those two songs were enough for me. I was a fan. from then until Kid A I tracked down every single to collect all their B-sides. Went Napster was big I found tons of rare stuff.
Then they got a little bit too clever.

 It just builds and builds. Fantastic song.

102. Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen 1975

Just listening to this song you want to get out on the highway and blow this town. This song is really that exciting. It was my second radio win as I also wrote to the station about this being one of the greatest songs ever. This time they had a go at my English accent! No prizes for migrants.
I bought a Telecaster after seeing those early Bruce filmclips. Actually my girlfriend bought me the Telecaster. I originally got a 12 string electric guitar but the tuning was crap so I took it back and got my Tele. A bit more money but a real guitar. I bought it at Clement's music store in Russell Street.

In the early 80's Bruce came Melbourne. He played at the Showgrounds. It was the first time in Australia and I went there with a few mates. We were all drinking a lot before the show and when Bruce came on the crowd really did go wild. he played for 3 hours with all the people packed on the showgrounds oval. And there wasn't a boring minute. But it was long time and the toilets were far away through a hell a lot of people. My friend had to go. He didn't want to fight his way out and then in. He was desperate. So he went in the middle of the crowd hoping the darkness and the crush of people would cover him.
I couldn't believe it!
A group of guys to our right started to get really angry. So we moved far away.

101. Eton Rifles by The Jam 1979

1979 London. Victoria Station. It's just bloody exciting to walk into Virgin records and see Eton Rifles at number 4 on the charts. Did the Jam chart in Australia. Probably not until Malice. As a chart junkie Australian charts had long ago lost their hold on me. And here I am in a country where The Jam and The Clash are battling it out in the the top 10. And I'm in a train station. It's just so English.  I had already bought Setting Suns but seeing the picture sleeve of the Jam single I knew I had to get that too. I brought back a lot of picture sleeves singles from the UK that winter. There were a lot of sales on. And a lot of the stuff was the new Mod bands. So I came home with a big collection of mod singles. But also a lot of new stuff which had dropped out of the charts.

A couple of years ago I saw Paul Weller at the Forum. He played Eton Rifles. It rose the roof. A few months before that Little Murders supported From The Jam. Bruce and Rick from the Jam. Eton Rifles. Big song. Even better live.

100. There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths 1985

For my 100th post I had to go with something magical.  Many times we'd save this song until last at the Lizard lounge. Many are the times I've danced to it. Especially when the Friday nights weren't going too well and we put on these kinda sad brilliant songs on to complete the night. Whoever was there would get up though and dance.

I was driving a girl back to her house in Elwood one night after Rubber Soul had finished and we had gone for a few drinks at the Jump Club in Collingwood. I was driving along the Upper Esplanade towards Elwood (a suburb I didn't know existed at the time!) when I asked her where we were going. This song was on my car stereo. She said  quietly "I don't want to go home!". It just fitted in perfectly with song. Though it did produce an air of melancholy to the night. I felt like I was in a Smiths film clip.

99. Ascension Day by Third World War 1971

Not many people would have heard this song!

Earlier this year I wrote my first letter to a music magazine. Uncut were asking readers to put forward their great lost records. I wrote in about the Third World War album released in 1971. A proto type punk album 5 years before it all happened. And I picked up the magazine one afternoon and there was quote from me. Cool.

I picked up this album at a Brashes sale. 99 cents. Probably around 73. It was so different to anything I'd heard before. Sten guns in Knightsbridge indeed. This song was the highlight of the album. A bit of Clash a dash of Stranglers.
This is one of those songs drove my mum mad. "That's not music our Robert!"

98. Runaway Boys by The Stray Cats 1981

A rockabilly hit from the early eighties that reminds me of the first Mod club Kommotion which was in the back room of the Prince Alfred Hotel in Richmond. Sometimes when I wasn't playing a gig on a Wednesday night I 'd be a guest DJ. I guess this is where all my DJing started.
Anyway although a Mod club there was always room for good music. And in early 1981 this song was roaring up the charts but was also beloved of all the cool cats including the Mods. Maybe because it was different to the soul and new Mod and sixties it stood out.

The Kommotion was started by Michael and Chris in a room the size of a living room. Huge speakers. A couple of turntables and a little window where you bought your beers. You danced until you couldn't breathe because of the heat and then you went into the back courtyard where all the scooters were lined up ready to be admired. smoked cigarettes and planned your weekend. It's where the Melbourne Mod scene finally found it's legs. Brilliant summer nights.

97. I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds 1971

February 1971. I was a regular buyer of Go-Set the Australian pop magazine. I loved the charts and began making my own charts at home. This song might have only reached number 4 in Australia but it was number one on my charts for ages. It was another one of those unique sounds that seem to have been plucked from space. Later I was to find out he played all the instruments himself. But it was all this reverence to the fifties shared by Roxy Music et al. At the time I couldn't stand fifties music.

I would buy my Go-Set weekly at the Houston Newsagency which was just across Middlesbrough Road from Laburnam South where I lived. I worked 3 shops up at the chemist delivering medicine to old people. Sometimes I took them nappies. Piled up on the back of my back. One day a rain came down and washed the nappies away.
The newsagent also sold Rolling Stone but it looked odd and it was folded up. I preferred Go-Set. Sometimes it had posters. So I began decorating my half of the room.

96. Fairytale of New York by The Pogues 1987

The kids are getting excited because they're putting up the Xmas decorations down Koornang Road. Not so long to go now.. And this is the best Xmas song ever!

Last night we were driving to the city to have dinner for my sister in law Irene's birthday. Coming off the freeway and onto Batman Avenue we passed the banks of the murky Yarra and saw all the groups of people having barbeques in the warm spring night. Liz said it's been a long time since she did that. "Me too" I said. In the eighties there would be regular barbecues by the river. A bunch of friends with an Esky and a supply of beer wine and sausages. sometimes the girls would put together a salad. And bread and tomato sauce. More importantly music. I always had a ghetto blaster tucked in the boot of my car for emergencies. At one of the Xmas barbecues this song had just come out. Leanne S turned up singing the lines from the song. And we kept on singing all night long!

You´re a bum you´re a punk
You´re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy christmas your arse I pray god it´s our last.

brilliant!

Later I would take Xmas mixes to dinner parties. Amongst yer Wham et al this song stood out. Everyone loves it. Or so I hope.

Maybe I should get myself together and organise a BBQ by the river. My kids haven't done that yet. and it's getting mighty close to Christmas.

95. Rock On by David Essex 1973

I was playing tennis one Saturday. My team was in the church league or whatever it was called. we were playing in Croydon. Of course in a team you get breaks and during the break I would lean up against the weatherboards on the tennis rooms and listen to the transistor radio. !973. And this song came on. It was just so off the wall, The congas and bass seemed to be the main instruments or was it a synth. There were huge gaps in the music. It was like an alien singing about James Dean.
I had to wait ages to hear it again. Sitting at home on a Saturday night waiting to hear this song. Hoping it would come on before you went to the drive-in or a friends place.

I liked a few of David Essex' songs. But apart from this song he was never cool. girls had a soft spot for him though. I'd often find a David Essex album lurking in the album collection of girls I went out with around that time. And he was great in "That'll Be The Day" and "Stardust"
Nothing he released after this sounded anything like this song. It really is a one off.

94. Ain't That Enough by Teenage Fanclub 1995

One of the best bands of the 90's and maybe the best outright I first heard this son in a record store in Athens while on a Greek holiday. This is what I call power pop but what it is is great music. When I wrote Andy Warhol Retrospective I was listening to this album. harmonies melodies and guitars. Perfect.

I had one of those mini disc players while travelling around the islands so I didn't get to hear the CD until about 3 weeks after I bought it but I had lots of their earlier stuff. We gave ourselves 3 days in Athens but really there wasn't much to do other than see the Parthenon and check out all the stray cats in the park. And god there were a lot of those. In the end we sun baked on the roof of the hotel.

When I got back to Melbourne and started playing this album I was knocked out. And especially this song. Often if I feel crap I can check out the sunshine. Well ain't that enough! typically Melbourne as been missing a bit of the sunshine lately.

93. Cum on Feel the Noize by Slade 1973

Tonight I finally got to see Slade in Flame. It took me 35 years to hunt it down. A great rock and roll film. When I first heard about it I was a massive Slade fan. In 1971 they released a song called Coz I luv You and then kept having hit after hit. Bowie was still a few months off releasing Starman.
I loved Slade. They made prime singles. I had a poster of them on the back of my bedroom door for years. Later on when making the video clip for "Stuff Like That" in 1999 I had a poster of them behind me while I sang the song.
Of all their songs, this was the most exciting. It had number one written all over it. It begins Noddy wailing then a flurry of descending notes and a rush of drums. After that it's the song you know Noel Gallagher wished he could have written.

One night I went to church dance. It was rubbish until they started playing Slade songs. My mate from school was there. he had cut his hair like the guitarist Dave. Long hair, short fringe..looked cool. I tried the same haircut and lost my girlfriend.

92. Picture Book by The Kinks 1968

One of my earliest memories of this song was playing my tennis racquet to it in the front room of our house in Blackburn South. The song was perfect for standing in front of the mirror and making shapes. Everyone else was doing it to Cream and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath but for me it was the great rhythms of Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and Mick Avory.

That it came from an album I couldn't get my hands on made it even better. This was the kind of song I wanted to write. It just moves. And it's got those great harmonies that turns out were partly Ray's wife singing.
I guess this was around 1969 that I first heard it. In music at Box Hill High School we had to bring in a record and talk about why we liked it. I took this in. I stood alone.
It took a hell of a long time for the Kinks to be really appreciated for what they are. One of the really great bands of all time.
...and some people still don't have a clue who they are!!!

91. Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles 1967

I was living in Elwood in the late 80's when one day I was listening to the radio which is an incredibly rare occasion for me. Commercial radio at that! I don't know the name of station but is was around 105 FM. Anyway they had a competition where you wrote in and told them the best song ever and if they picked you you won 105 dollars and went in the draw for a sports car.
One day at work, teaching in Footscray, the cleaner came into my class and told me they were saying my name on the radio. I had 40 minutes to ring, 35 minutes ago. I quickly got someone to take my class , ran up to the Principal's office and rang. So I was on air talking about Strawberry Fields and the Beatles and they were making fun of my accent and I won my 105 dollars.

It is one of the greatest songs ever recorded. It is in a class of it's own. I love this period of the Beatles.I can't believe that they didn't include it on Pepper. Singles were that important in the sixties you wouldn't dream of doubling up.

90. It's The End Of The World as we know it by R.E.M. 1987

Writing this article I've realised I'm going to have to get myself a time line together. What year did the real Lizard Lounge end?
Anyway, throughout the 90's the Lizard Lounge was pretty much packed every night. Thursday to Saturday crowds would dance to a whole smorgasbord of musical delights which ranged from Killing in the Name of... to Kyle to The Gambler. Our DJs were fearless and were there to entertain. And it worked so well.
It was also a friendly vibe. One girl said to me once that it was the only club in town that you could go on your own to and feel comfortable.
After 10 years however the numbers started to drop a little. The Union Hotel in which the club was situated (which was run down and needed a overhaul) decided not to just tart up the place but actually revamp it and make it upmarket. That was the end of the Lizard Lounge.

We celebrated with a final night that saw about 600 people in a club that was licensed for 200. It was the end of the world as we knew it. This was the theme song for the night. A truly great song that was constant on my DJ list from the moment it came out.

89. Some of Them Are Old by Brian Eno 1973

In late 1978 The Fiction started to play a lot of gigs and decided to bring in a second guitarist. I didn't play guitar in The Fiction. Rob Wellington didn't think lead singers should be playing guitar and singing. So our manager Nigel Rennard put an ad in the music rags for a new player. We only auditioned one and that was Joe Clarke. He was English, looked cool and reminded me of Brian Jones.

During quiet times in rehearsals he would play this song quietly to himself. I thought it was great and didn't realise that Brian Eno was making such good music after leaving Roxy Music. So I chased down the album and just loved it. Especially this song which leads into Here Come The Warm Jets. I was going to call my next band The Warm Jets but there was already another band with that name.

In the end Joe only played a couple of gigs. But the last one was where we headlined upstairs at The Ballroom. It was very major and a lot of people turned up. It looked like The Fiction might go somewhere. We celebrated at my share house in Oakleigh.
Then I got real sick and was out of action for months and The Fiction lost their momentum. Rob went off and formed International Exiles but we came together for one weekend in summer and recorded Things will be Different. By this time Joe had already gone back to England. The Fiction did 3 shows at The Champion in 1979 and then it was really over

88. Another Girl Another Planet by The Only Ones 1978

One of the classic songs of the punk/new wave era. I hear this sing and I'm in Carnaby Street, London. I was about to pick up my Union Jack Coat from the tailors and this song was blaring out the speakers in front of the record shop. The sun was blaring, the heat intense and it was just a fantastic moment. I'd heard the song before and there was even a band in Melbourne who played it. (probably more than one) But this was the moment.
I started buying all the Only Ones records. I was well into them but it was hard to get anybody else interested in them except for this single. A bit depressing they would say. Then again with titles like "Why don't you kill yourself" I could see their point. But I listened relentlessly.

One night Little Murders were supporting The Church and we all went for a meal in Chapel Street. (except Kilbey). The list of influences on the Church were bands like this and Doctors of Madness and Cockney Rebel. All the stuff I'd been listening to. Then the guitarist mentioned something about The Church is not like a church but The Church and lost me.

87. Down Down by Status Quo 1975

In 1975 I was in England on holiday having just finished my HSC and waiting to go to college. in Blackpool I hung out with my cousin Neil and his mate. Phil Green. We basically went out nearly every night drinking and dancing and also ice skating.
Next to the Pleasure beach was The Casino where would dance to northern soul but next to that was the Ice Rink. Every Wednesday we'd go skating. Round and round the rink chatting to girls. I always remember one girl saying she had a cousin in Weebee. (Werribee).
The DJ played the Top Twenty as we went round and round. When this song came on we all seemed to hunch down lower and go faster. Round and round.

We'd catch the bus home stopping for a fish and chip supper on the way. One night I was keen on this girl Susanne. At the bus-stop I asked her if she'd like to go out with me. She said she fancied both me and Phil but since I asked first she would go out with me. I started going out with her for a few weeks. She only liked songs that had fade outs at the end. Strange.
 When I got home to Australia my cousin sent me a mix tape with a lot of Status Quo on it.

86. Roadhouse Blues by the Doors 1970

In the Eighties I DJed at a nightclub called Rubber Soul which was in West Melbourne at the Spencer Hotel. With the closing of the Venetian Room Ronnie and Michael came up with the idea of running a sixties club.  The opening night was massive but for the next six months or so it was kind of touch and go. It was at a meeting round at my flat one night when we came up with the idea of theme nights. One Friday a month we'd highlight a sixties band.
By far the biggest result came from The Doors nights which were legendary. We'd play a Doors song every forth song which was the policy we came up with. Roadhouse Blues was a big hit For a club that held 200 tops we had 900 in one night. In the end no one would leave and the cops had to come and bust up the crowd.

From the first night of the Doors Rubber Soul never looked back and there were queues snaking around the building each Friday. Gradually we took over the whole building. But the DJ turntables were always on top of the billiard table. Until the last days in 91.
On a different note the first time I heard this song it was by Status Quo on their Piledriver album.

85. Wake up Boo by The Boo Radleys 1995

In 1995 I took a European holiday by myself, firstly to go to my niece Sharon's wedding but mostly to have a break from Melbourne and all the horrible stuff going on in my life. I decided to go to the Running of The Bulls in Pamplona (or the Festival of San.Fermin as it's really called). I took a bus tour with a bunch of young Turks, although at the time I was still a few years over the under 35 ruling(but I wasn't the oldest)
We stayed in a small town  about 30 minutes from where the Running takes place. The running starts very early in the morning and I knew there was no way I could enjoy the nights and then get up a 6 am and be able to be chased by massive bulls. But every morning I went! But didn't run!
There was always people trying to get their tapes played on the bus sound system. The first morning I got mine on and it started with this song.

The early morning sun streaming through the windows. The bus speeding in to town. A mild hangover and Wake Up Boo. Perfect!.

84.Still Feel the Rain by Stex 1990

This song was introduced to me by Lisa M. Lisa has been a friend of mine for a long time. I think we met through Paul C but I'm not sure. For a while she pretended to live in the spare room of my flat in Meredith Street, Elwood. Later she became a DJ on Thursday nights at the Lizard Lounge.

I used to throw parties for Robtober, it being my birthday month. however because I DJed every Friday and Saturday they were always on a Sunday. So one year I decided to have my party on Melbourne Cup Eve. Lisa was planning her own party so we threw in together along with Peirre Baroni and Rob Craw from the Huxton Creepers to have a combined party. Actually Rob could have been the year after. It was at what is now Bridie O'rielly's in Chapel Street.  It went down a treat. Eventually we drank the bar dry and used up all their change. Little John from the Lizard had to go and get beer and change to keep the night going because they want'ed to shut it down. We argued furiously with them to keep it open. They weren't expecting so many people.
For a while Cup Eve Parties with Rob and Lisa were an institution. Of course we started having kids and lost enthusiasm. And so we stopped. but maybe next year we might bring it back for an encore.
This song never took off at The Lizard. However it's a brilliant song and Johnny Marr plays on it. You can dance to it! what more do you want?

83. Debaser by The Pixies 1989

A Lizard Lounge favourite and played almost religously every night (or so it seemed) The Pixies "Debaser" never failed to get the crowd going crazy inevitably coming on around midnight. I first started playing Pixies music at KAOS which was situated in North Melbourne at what used to be Therapy!.

But it was the Lizard where the music of The Pixies felt right. As the Lizard Lounge really started to take off in 1991 the Saturday only club took over Friday nights and then Thursday nights. Thursday nights were free entry and became packed drunken nights with punters rolling in from The Armadale down on High Street. 

We stopped the free lollies mainly because people would spit them out and they would stick to the floor. We bought UV lights and painted signs everywhere in day glo. And we mixed up the music more. Then the queues started. And it was all just so groovy.

82. There's No Other Way by Blur 1990

I used to buy records from Relic Records in High street Prahran. Craig Gawthorne was behind the counter. One of my favourite record shops full of great stuff that I would spend ages looking through. There is nothing like big 12 inch album covers.
The last vinyl album I bought as a new release was the Blur album. I remember trying to make the decision between vinyl and CD. This was the last time I went vinyl. A few months later I was regretting it as the CDs started to take over. Now I wish I had bought more vinyl.

 There's No other way was a big hit at the Lizard Lounge. It was part of the whole baggy scene with bands like the Stone Roses, the Charlatans etc. Indie rock with a James brown beat. It was a great time with great songs. Eventually it turned awful with bands like Candy Flip doing Strawberry Fields forever. With a dance beat. Then came Nirvana and blew it all away.

81. Gonna See My Bay Tonite by the La De Das 1970

3xy where No Wrinklies Fly. 1971 and I'm in my bedroom in Blackburn South listening to the radio when this record comes on and it sounds fantastic. I'm not a big fan of Australian rock. I look for stuff coming from England. But this is such a great song.
My bedroom is divided into my side. And my brother Steven's side. My side is covered top to bottom with rock posters. I'm a regular buyer of Go-Set and any posters on there go straight on the wall. So there's pictures of Creedence, the Beatles and the kinks but also Melanie & Janis Joplin. I didn't care. It was all music. Then there were my football pics like George Best and Bobby Charlton.
I lived in my bedroom after dinner time. Devouring music papers and listening to the radio. This was my world.
Dumb teenagers. Bored out of minds one summer afternoon we collected 30 dead flies and sent them to 3XY.

80. Tin Soldier by The Small Faces 1967

In the first few months of punk (year zero) there would be lots of parties to go to where all the new wave luminaries would turn up. Even in those days I was always trying to control the music and I would bring along a mix tape in my pocket. There wasn't much punk music about so inevitably I would be carrying round a pack of sixties songs. After a while I would get a few moans from the partygoers when I got my tape on. They were burning the sixties where I though I was actually recreating it. It was time to move on.

One of the sixties greatest songs by one of the sixties greatest bands. It was a constant presence on my mixtapes. The Small Faces just explode on this song. This is what a band sounds like. A highlight in a career of highlights. And they were the pinnacle of Mod cool so as I moved from punk to Mod they were the band I looked to. Naming the band Little Murders because in a drunken state it resembled their name. Just brilliant.

79. California Uber Alles by The Dead Kennedys 1979

Blackpool 1979. Me and my brother were going to the pub for a drink. The radio was on. Bang! Suddenly the Dead Kennedys filled up all the space in the car. What were they doing coming out of the radio that was previously playing the Buggles. My brother didn't notice. In England everything is expected.

And what a brilliant sound!. Tough melodic punk rock. On the radio. and I didn't have a clue who it was!. The next day I was going to Paris and I knew there wasn't a chance of finding out there. It took me 2 more months and a trip to Missing link records to find out about this song. And it was only because I heard Holiday in Cambodia that I could match the sounds and track down California Uber Alles.

nowadays I would google or hold up my iPhone. Back then it took detective work.

78. Girl Don't Come by Sandie Shaw 1964

As a kid I had a big crush on the sixties pop singers like Cilla Black and Lulu but the only one that really stayed with me was Sandie Shaw. It was something about her hair and her mini dresses and her penchant for always singing minus her shoes and stockings.

When I came back to her in the late Seventies it was through an Astor compilation that featured her on the front cover holding a union jack. Which fitted in with Little Murders and the way we draped flags over our amps. The song on the album was "Girl Don't Come" basically Sandie singing to a guy whose date hasn't turned up. As a record it's almost as evocative as Waterloo Sunset with it's distant bells chiming nine.

On my album "We Should be home by now" I wrote an homage to Sandie and this song.

Later she did 3 wonderful songs with the Smiths including "Jeane" a lost Smiths treasure. When I was in England a couple of months ago I saw she was playing live again. Unfortunately I couldn't make it but I would have loved to go. Except she would probably have played Puppet on a String and blown the atmosphere.

77. I Wanna be Adored by The Stone Roses 1991

I was DJing at KAOS in North Melbourne when the promoter Ronnie Williams turned up with a bunch of singles that had been recommended by to him by a hip record shop in Chapel Street. The only one that didn't work was The Stone Roses "Made Of Stone" I had heard he hype but I just couldn't get it from the single.
Six months later it seemed they were the coolest band in the world. And listening to the album  made it all make sense. Just playing tracks off this album at Lizard lounge made you feel cool.
This is my favourite track off one of my favourite albums. It transports me to another place. Once I put this song on I have to listen to the whole album. It's one of those albums that makes you want to be part of a band and just play guitars all night long.

They toured Australia after the release of their disappointing second album and unfortunately they were pretty bad. I saw them at the Metro and Ian Brown couldn't sing for toffee.
Later I contributed to a book about this album for the 331/3 series where they interviewed me about it's influence. And it did. It made me want to pick up an electric guitar again. And write tunes.

76. 52 Girls by The B52s 1979

In 1980 I finally got to Paris, France and started wandering the cold streets of the French capital looking for something new. I managed to try out a few words even if it was only lying in bed ordering 'le petite dejenuer'.

We posed by the Eiffel Tower, by rivers and bridges. At night we ate and drank in small cafes. Heading home one night full of wine and atmosphere I heard this strange sci-fi guitar sound coming from a record shop. It was just so different to what was going on in my Mod/punk world. When the singer started singer his voice was so bad I gathered they were French. I've discovered a band no one knows about.

I went into the record shop and it turned out to be an American band. I was disappointed they weren't French. But I couldn't wait to get back to Melbourne with my ska and B52s records. When I got home Rock Lobster was everywhere. Independent radio and Countdown. The Specials had taken off. I had nothing to show.
They played Festival hall not long after. The people I knew who went complained they didn't wear their wigs. By that time I was over the sound of the B52s. Radio played them to death.
And I still can't listen to Rock Lobster.

75. Blitzrieg Bop by The Ramones 1976

Living in the suburbs in the Seventies I didn't know where any independent shops were so I would ride my by my records from a newsagent in Blackburn near the train station or ride my bike to K-Mart on the corner of Blackburn Road & Burwood Highway. Or I would take the bus to Box Hill and go to Brashes. This is where I bought this record. A regular reader of NME I heard about the Ramones and it seemed exciting just the words they used. Buzzsaw guitars and drills and machinery to describe the sound. I had to buy it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it in the record racks. I shelled out 10 bucks and took it home.

The first song Blitzreig Bop knocked me sideways. It was everything they described and more. It had great pop tunes. It was sixties and seventies and the future but it was minimal and fierce and prehistoric. I had just begun writing songs. Suddenly I had a model. Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls had laid the groundwork but this was it! This was the model for punk rock. And one of the best opening songs ever.
Not long after I saw Nick Cave and his band the Boys Next Door play some church hall in Mount Waverley. They did a great version of this song.

74. Young Girl by Gary Pucket and The Union Gap 1968

My brother Steve had a portable record player that he kept between our beds. I would often wake to him playing a 20 happening Hits or something similar. I loved those mornings. Usually Sundays. I loved those albums full of the great and the terrible pop songs of the era.

My kids love Glee. One night the Glee cast sang Young Girl as part of a medley. Or mash up as they call it. I had to find the original. I put it on. And I was back in bed on a Sunday morning where weekends went forever and we didn’t get up until bacon and eggs were ready. Fulton road, Blackburn South. One day I rented a horse and rode it all around neighborhood. What was I thinking? Nowadays I wouldn't get on a horse if you paid me.

73. My Pal by God 1988

I started the Lizard lounge in 1990 behind the Union Hotel in Chapel Street Windsor. When I first opened the club it was only on Saturday nights. The first DJ I got to work with me was Jason Underhill. I’d known Jason since the days of the Venetian Room in the early 80’s when he was a young teenager. I even remember the first time I met him in the kitchen there. Then for years he was always around. Doing this or that. He tells me he even DJed. I must know this. I got him to DJ with me.

So we became a team on Saturday nights and brought along is great sense of humour and a bunch of rock tracks. He liked to play the Cult and he liked to play this song. Released 3 years earlier I had kind of missed the boat on this one. But it’s a classic from the descending guitar lines to the great chorus of

 “you’re my only friend
you don’t even like me

At first the Lizard went nowhere. We’d make enough to pay for a couple of records. We’d play half hours sets. I’d wander down to the big video store opposite Windsor Station . It was huge. And they sold CDs. I loved hanging out there between sets. And the small numbers were enough to keep us going. Later it took off. In a big way.  And they listened to dance and pop and hip hop and My Pal. It was fantastic.

And later Jason and I took off to the USA together. And we hung out in LA and got drunk in San Francisco. My pal.

72. My Sweet Lord by George Harrison 1970

Early 70s. Living in Blackburn South. Before girls figured in my life there was one thing I liked to do more than anything else and that was to listen to music. We had an old stereo that had a compartment to keep my limited supply of albums in. Every album I owned was a Beatles record. Before I could own anything else I had to have all the Beatles albums. I would listen to music incessantly. In the living room . On the couch.

But then one day my brother took his portable record player outside. He started to play all of the triple album All Things Must Pass by George Harrison. Listening to music outside in the sun. Lying on the grass. Drinking lemonade. Brilliant.

71.Groove is in the Heart by Dee Lite 1990

In the 90’s the Lizard Lounge exploded with packed houses every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights. It got so popular I had to give up my day job and just run the night club. The Lizard lounge was the backroom of the Union Hotel in Chapel Street Windsor. When we first opened it I tried to copy a few of the ideas I had read about from overseas magazines. I hung up sheets and projected slides and colours on to them. I had videos going on little screens. We gave away wrapped lollies at the door. Kind of sixties dance vibe. And we played records to dance to.

“Groove is in the heart” was one of our anthems. You would save this until around 11:45pm and bang it on to send the dancers crazy. We played this song off and on from the beginning. The song came out in late in 1990 just as the Lizard started to take off. People just loved it.

When I got to England, the year after I was surprised to see Lady Miss Keir’s outfit in a museum. It seems she had become a bit of an icon in Britain whereas in Australia they were nothing but a one hit wonder.