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.