boomers

In Australia, the word Boomer initially was used to describe a fully grown male kangaroo. It has taken on a multitude of meanings over the years such as; a hoon in a hotted-up car with a booming sound system - Macquarie Dictionary.

Up until this century the sound system of choice involved a compact cassette player that played selected songs often from Australian artists. There are many miles between Australian towns and signs with boomers on them to warn that as sunset stretches and strobes the shadows of the gum trees, you may be hit by a kangaroo, even if you are carefull.

It all began with a prelude. songs of another generation that got handed down through repetition then handed on engraved into well worn vinyl…

World of our own by the Seekers was a particular song from a voice that was familiar through repetition. from another you to the carnival is over you would be forgiven for thinking they’re British.

Onto Johnny Farnham and my first annoyance of media. His version of raindrops keep falling on my head was not the ear worm that Sadie the cleaning lady was, but a seven year old could not fathom why we didn’t get the same version of the song as was in the movie. Butch Cassidy was the first screenplay I ever read, but not the first time i compared two different representations of the same piece of media and came away perplexed.

Auntie Jack was my favorite television show which spawned a long time affinity for the character Norman Gunston. Farewell Auntie Jack was the theme song for the end of my childhood and my road to youth. It was the first pop song I taped off the radio and the first picture disk, and like a lot of other things an australian invention.

Dave Warner (singer) was just a suburban boy from W.A. With his punky attitude he felt like someone from Newcastle but generally spoke for a generation of angsty Australian manboys.

When I got out of the navy the 70s had turned into the 80s and adjusting to study was difficult, My friends older brother owned a game shop and I worked there on the weekends. I used that money to go out and see bands in pubs, the weekend rockstars were the best local band in Sale. they had cutting lyrics with a dry laconic wit and accomplished musicianship… they just couldn’t get on Countdown.

What about you? This version of the frost penned song performed by moving pictures the band not the Rush Album was one of those moments in Aus history when we all felt like a bit of a winge, it brought out the bogan in all of us. I’d just incompleted year 12 and remember standing shirtless in a vast pub in Western Sydney sweating like a horse and screaming with a few thousand other punters What about Me… I don’t love this song and I don’t hate this song it’s just a souven-ear of some guilty pleasures from a more innocent time and place.

when the boys next door moved away, they released this single. Horror, vampire, bat bite…

One of those clever uni bands that do a joke about making a Ktel record, that everybody loved, satire is wasted on the ignorant and the unwilling, I’ve got the album as well it was that good.

This was a fun little song from a fun little melbourne band that I saw live at a cool venue when I was going to cool venues and listening to now bands, the single was on sale on the night and I bought it after the gig as a souvenear. yet another cover of a song from my childhood at the end of my youth.

So this E.P. was released in april 1987 and in February 1989 they played the St Kilda Festival, I’d recently got a 16mm film camera and we went out to film the festival, we got to the beach with about one minute of film left in the camera, the sun was setting over the bay and Hunters bounce on stage to do their set, This was the first song and it was hot hot hot, no irony, just appropriateness.