Ushers to Ashes: Alternative 80s

We look back on an album that turned 40 in July 2020: Joy Division's second album Closer is a wonder of durability, continuing to influence, continuing to inspire. It has even survived the evangel of its most worshipful fans and at this temporal distance remains strong, fresh ... and listenable.

Having reminisced about the impact and legacy of the Young Ones in the last episode, we turn our attention to Australian comedy in the 1980s. Sketch comedy dominated Australian television during this time; From the political satire of the Gillies Report to undergraduate shenanigans of the D-Generation, Australian comedy revelled in taking the piss out of cultural stereotypes. That said, insipid situation comedies like Hey Dad were also popular during the latter half of the decade. In this episode, we focus on two strains of alternative humour in the form of Australia You’re Standing in it and Wogs Out of Work, the latter paving the way for a new brand of non-Anglo comedians.

Comedians like Rik Mayal, Alexie Sayle, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were an integral part of alternative culture in the 1980s. And In many ways, these figures were as innovative and iconoclastic as their cousins in the post-punk music scene. While groups like The Goons and Monty Python testify to a satirical and surreal strain in British comedy that preceded the alternative comedy scene of the 1980s, most television comedy in Old Blighty was dire. For the most part, comedy on the tube trafficked in broad stereotypes: shrill harpies, dumb bimbos, and hapless migrants from the subcontinent and the Caribbean: Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language, Are You Being Served and so on. In short, mainstream comedy from the 1970s was pretty low brow. It performed the cultural work of normalising sexist and racist prejudices that were prevalent during the 1960s and 70s. The Alternative comics of the 1980s consciously defined themselves against these immediate precursors.  In this episode, we revisit The Young Ones, arguably the most exemplary televisual manifestation of the anarchic ethos of the alt 80s zeitgeist. So, let’s all go on a summer holiday to Thatcher’s Britain with Rik, Vyvyan, Neil, and Mike, the chaotic, dishevelled, unruly, slothful Young Ones.

Glenn and Peter talk about one of the most influential albums of the 1980s, released at the very start of its first year. The unassuming trio from Cardiff formed from the local scene and played local-sized gigs with patterns from a home-made drum machine on tape. Two songs on a neighbourhood compilation album later they were heard and signed by Geoff Travis for his eclectic hi-cred Rough Trade label. This, their only LP continues to influence bands at the indie end of town. 

This episode pays tribute to Melbourne's eclectic alternative music scene in the 80s. COVID 19 has put a temporary halt to the city's normally vibrant artistic pursuits, so we thought we'd devote this episode to our adopted home. As regular listeners will know, we are interstate blow-ins, from Perth and Brisbane respectively, which is why we provide an outsider's perspective on the big city sounds of old Melbourne town by recalling and resurrecting them from the ashes of the decade that taste, apparently, forgot. Hey, this is serious, mum!

1984. Newspaper columnists were playing Spot the Orwellian Overtone. Hawke in Australia but Thatcher in Britain and Reagan in America. A young filmmaker fresh from the U.K. punk scene found a new one in L.A. which only gave him ideas.  The result is Repo Man, a powerful bird-flip to the powers that be, the rise of the religious right and the insult of trickle down economics. Oh, and it's also bloody funny.

If you stood in the margins of culture in the early 80s you marvelled at the sound of the ragged punk larvae metamorphose into an atmosphere of new creatures or electronica, mangled rock and industrial noise. But even if you pushed no further into that evolving biosoup than your toe, chances are that you stepped knee deep into the realm of arthouse cinema. Call it indy, underground, art or just second run. It was the hallway off to one side from the cinema franchises (which you also went to) and led down dark turns to the same place that let you know that the band you liked looked and dressed like you and was you but for one or two special ideas.

Arthouse cinema was part of the education as much as long discontinued movie marathons on tv or community radio. Whether it was the dark and powerful weirdness of Eraserhead, the quirky hilarity of Repo Man, the solemnity of Paris Texas the title was on your list or on your lips whenever you met with your tribal others. The mainstream exploded with Spielbergianism which you also knew about and chewed popcorn to but down there in the gummatted carpet of the arthouse you went in tanked on goon because you never knew how much protection you were going to need. Arthouse wasn’t just cool it was scary. This episode focuses on Liquid Sky (1982), a cult film about sex, drugs and aliens! Directed by Slava Tsukerman and starring Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard, Liquid Sky has been digitally remastered in 4K and was released as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on April 24, 2018.

Peter talks about his experiences coming to a monocultural Brisbane ruled by a repressive government and politicised police force where the dissent was not just fashion but a necessity. The dress code was op shop and the music was anti-rock played at DIY gigs at found venues. The earliest alternative radio station in Australia (4ZZZ) provided a lifeline of culture and news that got under the wire of the mainstream. It was fun but it was tough. It was tough but it was fun. And if it faded and got absorbed by the great white whale of normal it was never without resistance.

Presented by Glenn D'Cruz and Peter Jetnikoff, this episode focuses on Perth's alternative music scene in the 1980s. In a city dominated by cover bands, Glenn believes that the most enduring music produced in the West Australian Capital came from its 'underground' bands. While paying particular attention to The Triffids, this podcast includes extracts from recordings made by some of Glenn's favourite 80s groups including The Scientists, And An A, Chad's Tree and Martha's Vineyard among others.