365. I'll Make You Happy by The Easybeats 1966

Easyfever indeed. This was another great song from the Easybeats who I couldn't stop listening to in the late 70s. And I find their sheet music in a the same music shop I bought my Fender telecaster. Clements in Russell street. Actually at first I bought a 12 string electric but it wouldn't stay in tune so I took it back and swapped it for the six string. Always wanted a 12 string electric but it still hasn't happened. When I went back to the shop I also picked up the Easybeats sheet music. Immediately I went through the pages looking for chords I could handle. I'll Make You Happy looked the easiest so the week after I convinced Little Murders to cover it. It turned out to be an absolute blast to play and the kids seemed to like it too. A few months ago we were mucking about with songs in the garage when we started playing this song. It was back in the set a few days later when we played the Lyrebird Lounge in Ripponlea.
Listening to the Easybeats and those brilliant songs it just makes me wonder how come they weren't up there with the greats. Their records sound so good.

364. I'm A Boy by The Who 1966

The first time I heard the Who out of their popular context. Growing up in the late suxties and early seventies my idea of The Who was a loud bombastic band who released heavy records like Who's Next and  Live At Leeds. Except for My Generation and maybe Substitute I wasn't aware of their mid sixties Mod origins. I didn't buy their records. I liked stuff like Baba Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again but as a band they didn't appeal to me.
Fortunately my mate's brother Phil was a few years older than me and he loved making mixtapes which included great sixties songs I wasn't aware of. When he played me this song it was my first inkling that there was more to The Who than I first thought. At the time this was so out there for me that Pete Townshend was writing this kind of stuff in the mid sixties. That there was so much more I hadn't heard was incredibly exciting. I began my search for all those songs I hadn't heard from bands I didn't know. I became obsessed by sixties tunes and then sixties art and fashion. Because I had started travelling to the city on my own in the early seventies to visit record shops.  And with the little money I earned from part time jobs plus how cheap second hand records were I was able to gather a very groovy collection. These records would serve me well for the next decade or so and really come into their own when I started DJing at Rubber Soul in the 80s.

363. Five Years by David Bowie 1972

Listening to my IPod on shuffle when this came on and it transported me back to 1972 and when I first got this album. Picked it up in Blackburn at the Newsagents near the station. $5:99. Carefully put it in my schoolbag and rode carefully home. RCA records tended to be very thin in those days. I bought it because I loved the Starman single. It was just too good. So I was nervous as I put the needle in the groove of my Mum's record player and started listening to Ziggy Stardust. Instantly I was in another place with 5 Years seemingly set out a scenario where all that was to come would happen. It definitely came across as a concept album. I would listen to it start to finish in order. When I took the album to friend's places I would sit my mates down and force them to listen to Five Years. Check out the words. The sounds. The 12 string guitar. That drum beat. Willing them to follow Bowie on this trip too.
We didn't have cars. We had big brothers and parents to drive us round. Most Saturday nights we'd go to someones place and just listen to records. Boys and girls trying to impress others with their musical tastes. Maybe there would only be 8 of us. We were seventeen. They were some of the best parties I ever went to.  It was all about the records.

362. Blue Monday by New Order 1983

Because in 1983 Blue Monday by New Order was inescapable. Actually for the next few years it was inescapable so that after a while you didn't really want to hear it again. It became an instant dance floor filler which meant that every club you went to the DJ would put it on to get the level of excitement back up again. There's no denying it though. It's absolutely brilliant. And the sound was just so modern and futuristic and made other records sound dated. It was also only available on 12 inch and not on an album so it ended up being the first 12 inch record I ever bought.
Did I dance to it? I guess everyone has danced to this song at sometime. There was this club in North Melbourne called Therapy that a bunch of us used to go to. It must of been 1984 because the band was starting to fall apart and I had begun hanging discos and been doing a bit of DJ work. We wore Levi 501s and crisp white shirts. I still wore my Doc Martens. The place was always packed. My mate Jimmy often did some DJing there. They were crazy nights. New Order's sound got everyone on the dance floor. Even me sometimes and I'm not the greatest dancer. But one has to get out there! And Blue Monday had the beat that was dead easy to move to and get lost in.
It's been a long time since I listened to the song now. All those years I played it in nightclubs kinda wore me down. But now that I haven't DJed regularly for such a long time I can now hear these songs with fresh ears. And they're so damn good.

361. All or Nothing by the Small Faces 1966

One of the classic Small Faces singles "All or Nothing" was the only Small Faces song that Little Murders ever covered. We looked at some of their others but in 1980 the Small faces were in vogue with our peers and quite a few bands were doing their songs. Anyway I don't think you can cover more than one of a bands songs in a set. Although thinking I could come anywhere near to Steve Marriot's soulful voice means I must have been dreaming. But our Mod audience liked it and playing the song was always memorable.
Mainly it makes me think of the great Easter Mod Weekend of 1981 when all the Sydney Mods came down in the Magic Bus and invaded Melbourne. On the Thursday night before Good Friday we were playing the Jump Club and one moment we were sitting in a quiet venue with maybe 30 punters when suddenly over a 100 Mods came through the door and the place went mad. Stage invasions the lot.
2 days later we had the big Mod night at the Crystal Ballroom with us and the Sets and Division Four and The Moodists. A sea of Mods dancing to All or Nothing.
The whole weekend was like Brighton in 1966 with the town alive with Mods on scooter runs, in cafes and at Luna Park nursing hangovers while still trying to ride the amusements. And despite a fire bombing when some hoons decided to throw a petrol bomb at the scooters lined up outside Macy's and some spirited arguments between Mods on the last night, a great time was really had by all and for a certain few the weekend is truly legendary. You can read a lot more about it in the book "Stark Raving Mod"

360. Ooh La La by Normie Rowe 1966

I arrived here in Australia in July of 1965. Flew over in a QANTAS jet. One of the 10 quid deals. The first place we stayed was the Nunawading Migrant Hostel on Rooks Road. Lived in a Nissan Hut which was basically the shape of a tin can. 3 rooms. 2 bedrooms and a lounge room. 5 kids. Pretty crowded. Luckily the hostel had a communal dining room and bathrooms.  I remember having a great time in the hostel. There were just so many kids around it was fantastic.
And the radio seemed different. It seemed to be all about sunshine. The announcers were lively and excited and yabbering away. Pretty exciting. And there were all these great pop songs by Australian artists. All of them are just as good as the ones littering the US and English charts and I could never understand why some of these songs weren't massive overseas.
One such song was Ooh La La by Normie Rowe. Number one in December of 1966 when Go-set started publishing the first National charts. It was knocked off the top by Friday On My Mind by The Easybeats. Normie recorded the song in England. Just as any band that got big in Australia had to go to the UK to make it so Normie followed that path.
Always loved this song. Never get sick of it. Just reminds me of those first few years of loving in Melbourne. Seemingless endless sunshine although I am reminded of some torrents of rain. And mud so deep one day I lost my boot in it and never found it. Walking to school through the bushland and seeing snakes and bull ant nests. It was another world.

359. You've Got A Lot To Answer For by Catatonia 1996

In the mid 90s when Britpop was all the rage there seemed to be a thousand bands like Catatonia coming out of England. A little bit of indie guitar music descended from the Smiths. Catatonia were from Wales which is where my Dad came from so I was always open to Welsh bands. Not that I can remember any before this. Well there was Tom Jones. And Manic Street Preachers and a couple of others came through at the same time as Catatonia. They had a few big hits and I bought there second album International Velvet which had some great tracks like "I Am The Mob".
One night I was watching a series on Channel 2 called "The Lakes" Excellent series. Each episode seemed finished with a current indie pop song. One night it was this song. I'd hadn't heard it before but I recognised the voice. And what a great song. Couldn't wait to go searching for it in the record stores. Because it was over a year old before I'd even heard it it took me a while to hunt it down but I finally found it in some second hand record shop for 50 cents. CD singles really seemed to be worthless after a while. They don't even come close to have the same allure as 7 inch singles.
A few years ago at work I got talking with one of my colleagues at work who came from Wales about what good things at come out of that small country. I mentioned Catatonia and my fellow teacher Mark told  me how he used to go to school (same year too) with Cerys Matthews the lead singer. How no one knew she even sang before they saw her on Top of I don't think anybody famous ever came out of Box Hill High School where I went.

358. The Ballad Of John and Yoko by The Beatles 1968

I was in Form 1 at Box Hill High School when this song came out. To say the Beatles were big is quite an understatement. They were like the center of the universe. And when Yoko came along and then they released songs like Revolution #9 and kinda rocked the boat. Lunchtime discussions of what the Beatles were doing and where they were taking music were very heated. and it did feel like they were always leading the way which in retrospect is not entirely true and influences from then current music scenes are very prevalent in their later records. Whether it was pastiches of the UK Blues boom (Yer Blues) or cod reggae (Obladi-Oblada) and then there was the whole Yoko thing. Was she and did she really break up the Beatles?
But no matter the opinion of a bunch of 12-year-old boys on the cusp of teenage wildlife there was no denying that despite the strange and personal subject matter of this single it really rocked. And if Paul was so dead against Yoko how come he plays almost every instrument. We had these visions of Paul and John rocking out together while the rest of the lads were on holiday. Brilliant song. And when John says "Christ you know it ain't easy" it seemed a really hard edge for pop radio.

357. Venus by Shocking Blue 1970

A one hit wonder. But such a brilliant single and a fantastic song. Covered by Bananarama and by Melbourne's own Blue Ruin in the eighties, there was one night at Barbarella's when we played all three versions of the song. we would often make up a playlist to be published in Beat and the week after that I made our top ten Venus-centric with all three tracks and a bunch of made up ones. I was trying to be funny by adding Venus de Milo by Television and other songs with Venus in the title.
When I first started DJing the early 80's this was one of the first songs I ever played. And it's been in my DJ sets for ever. I first heard it or saw it back in 1970 on the chart show Channel 2 used to run on a Saturday afternoon. I religiously watched the show every week. When they took it off the screens I took up soccer.
And speaking of Blue Ruin, when I started up Swerve Records label in the mid nineties, their lead singer Quincy McClean was our fourth signing. Quincy Mclean and The Smooth Bastards. Not sure about the name at the time but like it now. But the albums he (and they) made with us were fantastic. The first one "Friends In Low Places" got so much coverage and was highlighted in Penthouse magazine, FHM and Rolling Stone.  I got calls from all over Australia asking about touring. The band was reluctant to leave Melbourne though. I guess it was just a hobby. Still on record and live they were just great.

356. Temple Of Love By The Sisters Of Mercy 1992

The version with Ofra Haza on it. This was a re-release of an earlier single remixed mainly for the American market. They added Ofra to the mix and made it one of the great Gothic singles. I first heard the single when I was down at the Lizard lounge on a Thursday night. Thursday nights at the Lizard lounge were free entry so apart from getting some of my DJs to work there or give new DJs a trial by giving them some slots I didn't really have much to do with it. Oh and they used my lights, turntables and I included the night in my advertising too. No matter that it was completely packed every Thursday I was lucky to get a free beer. I couldn't complain really because Fridays and Saturdays had gone through the roof so I was kinda successful. But here I am complaining. We started Thursday nights off at $5 entry but no one turned up. So we made it free and bang! it was off. So it was just there. And I guess it helped promote Lizard Lounge. Oh well.
Anyway I digress. from the opening chords of Temple Of Love it's just an exciting rock record. It really moves. Forget the Gothic label, this is a rock record completely. And then when the middle eastern vocals of Ofra Haza come in it takes it up to a whole higher level. It's made for the dance floor. Colour, flashing lights, smoke. Incredibly dramatic stuff.

355. Once Bitten Twice Shy by Ian Hunter 1975

1975. I've got my first car. A Datsun Bluebird 1965 Model I think. $400  in Springvale. It's got a loud stereo thanks to my mate Alan who put big speakers in the back. It's got a cassette deck for playing my tapes. Not that I've got many yet. I haven't mamaged to afford a cassette recorder yet. So I listen to the radio a lot. Driving down Whitehorse Road towards Balwyn to visit my new girlfriend. Past the house I used to live in opposite the old glassworks. Coming up to Elgar Road. Bam! This explodes from the radio. Ian Hunter sings. Mick Ronson on guitar. Like a dream come true.
I loved Mott the Hoople. And I loved Mick Ronson 's guitar on Bowie's hits. Here  they come together on a song that takes off from the first "Hello" When I first started trying to sing (and try to sing is a fair description of what I do now) I tried a lot to sing like Ian Hunter. Some say I'm still leaning heavily on that particular influence. Though I wish I could write a song as good as this.
One of the best driving songs ever.

354. If You've Gotta Make A Fool by Freddie and the Dreamers 1963

I started listening to music for all intents in 1963. That my ears pricked up to the sound of electric guitars just as Merseybeat exploded was actually quite timely. Just like with the punk explosion there were new bands on the charts every week. Some good some bad. But a whole lot of guitars. None of them really had the class of the Beatles who stood out completely. But then you can't have a whole chart full of Beatles Records though in the US it seems they nearly did for a while.
The Beatles were going to record this song but Freddie got there first. Part of the legend of the track was he actually copied the Beatles arrangement after seeing them at The Cavern. Whatever the truth is was actually quite a good version. And when I was 7 it was one of those songs I just wanted to hear again and again. And they were great on the Telly because they were so silly in their dancing. We'd go to school and do the dance in the schoolyard. They called it the Freddie and it went down big time in the US. There next two hits alright too. "I'm Telling You Now" and "You Were Made For Me". In a novelty singalong way.

353. A Song From Under The Floorboards by Magazine 1980

When I was living in Fitzroy everyone I know was into Magazine. Personally I couldn't stand them. Well mostly it was Howard Devoto's voice I didn't like much. The first single Shot By Both Sides was magnificent of course but after that I wasn't interested. It was all a little depressing. And you couldn't get away from them. I was doing a Little Murders interview on 3CR with Michael Lynch and he kept going on  about Magazine too and their latest album. I had to check it out because this love of Magazine was doing my head in. And I found this single on it. And it was totally brilliant. I didn't buy the album . I bought the import single. Basically for almost the same price as the local version of the album. I was going through a phase of just having singles and pruning the albums. I was singles mad. If I could find all the singles off an album I would buy them and sell the album. I guess I got a little too excessive in my pruning and I've since bought many of those albums again when they came out on CD.
I loved my singles. Once I went down for a holiday at Lorne at my girlfriend's beach house. Along with clothes I loaded up two boxes of singles and a portable record player I bought from school. Loaded them into the back of her Valiant. That night after spending the day avoiding sunburn at the beach we sat around playing records and drinking wine. Brilliant!

352. Damaged Goods by Gang Of Four 1979

Picked this up in 79 after reading great reviews in NME. Didn't have a clue what I'd be hearing when I put it on the record player but hell it was a great single. It was just so dynamic, lean and muscular with a minimum of sounds. You could hear each instrument clearly. And Damaged Goods was the highlight for me. Though on certain days I'd be singing along to Armalite Rifle just as loud. Fantastic stuff.
Later on the song was covered by Melbourne's Wet Ones, a girl band, who did a great job of it. The Wet Ones released their records through Paul Elliot's Polyester Records. The first single release on Polyester was 100 Drugs by Little Murders. So far a short time there we were on two labels. At the same time we released the Stop album on Au Go Go records.
This came about because the Murders used to hire Paul Elliot's sound equipment. One night a bunch of his stuff was stolen while we doing a gig at the Prospect Hill. I don't know all the details but after the Murders broke up I found out we still hadn't paid him back. So we brokered a deal where I have game him the master copy of 100 Drugs & Beat Goes On plus a thousand bucks to put it out and everything was sweet. 100 Drugs managed to get my worst record review ever in The Age Weekender. It just said "Of the soporific kind"  I had to look that one up in the dictionary. It meant sleep inducing drugs. Funny guy.