Kylie Minogue and Molly Meldrum during celebrations for TV show 'Neighbours' 500th episode. Source: News Limited
MUSHROOM records is inextricably linked to the history of the Melbourne music scene.
Founder Michael Gudinski was a dance promoter with a dream to cement his position in the music industry he loved.
The company formed in 1972, and Mushroom's first major release was a triple live album recorded at the 1973 Sunbury Pop Festival.
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE LIST - THINK OF A SONG WE MISSED? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.
The label was struggling until Gudinski signed a band with whom he'd become obsessed - Skyhooks.
The Melbourne band clashed with everything around them in the early '70s - wearing make-up and capes when everyone else was in jeans and T-shirts.
Singer Renee Geyer with music promoter Michael Gudinski in 1976. Source: Supplied
"They were doing what Kiss were doing before Kiss," Gudinski says.
By 1975 they were the best-selling band in Australia - their album Living in the 70s selling more than 240,000 copies, at the time was the biggest selling Australian album.
Mushroom would sign an array of Australian acts, but had a special bond with Melbourne.
Gudinski started an alternative arm, White, in 1980, which released albums by Hunters & Collectors, Kids in the Kitchen, and Painters and Dockers.
Always a fan of developing an artist, Gudinksi's faith in Split Enz (who'd relocated from New Zealand) was repaid with when 1980s True Colours reachinged No. 1 and opened doors internationally.
Crowds at Sunbury Pop Festival in 1974. Source: News Limited
While much of the Australian music business was Sydney-centric, Gudinski operated his record label and live music arms Frontier and Premier Artists from Melbourne.
He'd sign Kylie Minogue in 1986, with her Mushroom single Locomotion becoming the highest-selling Australian single of the decade.
Mushroom would go on to sign Minogue's boyfriend Jason Donovan and sister Dannii, as well as a string of pop acts including Toni Pearen and Peter Andre.
The label's roster was incredibly diverse - Renee Geyer to the Chantoozies, Jimmy Barnes to Frente!, Models to Yothu Yindi.
Skyhooks (L-R): Freddie Strauks, Red Symons (back), Bob 'Bongo' Starkie, Greg Macainsh, Shirley Strachan. Source: Supplied
Gudinski sold Mushroom Records in 1998, with the resulting Festival Mushroom Records operating until 2005.
He relaunched Liberation Music, whose recent success stories include Melbourne acts Vance Joy, The Temper Trap, Dan Sultan, Husky, British India, The Rubens, Cloud Control and Bliss n Eso.
The label's Dundas Lane offices in Albert Park have become known as the headquarters for the music industry in Melbourne.
"The MCG is my favourite venue,'' Gudinski says. "I'm very lucky to have had a few shows there, including The Police, the Mushroom 25th anniversary concert and Madonna. Melbourne's been really good to me, it's my home and it's the music capital of Australia."
The Music, Melbourne + Me exhibition has been a labour of love for Gudinski.
Dannii Minogue at the Mushroom Records 25th Anniversary concert at the MCG. Source: News Limited
"So many Melbourne artists have also achieved success both nationally and internationally, and it seems only fitting to have many of them represented in this exhibition," he says.
"Melbourne is certainly one of the greatest cities in the world to enjoy music and this exhibition is a great way to celebrate the past and preview the future."
SORRENTO MOON
Tina Arena
Tina wrote this song as an ode to family holidays and romantic beach time in Sorrento. Released in 1995, the song made No. 7 in Australia and No. 22 in the UK, as well as being a hit throughout Europe.
THE BOY WHO LOST HIS JOCKS ON FLINDERS STREET STATION
Painters and Dockers
Melbourne's own band write about Melbourne's own transport hub and an unfortunate chap who stood too close to platform three and lost his underwear in the resulting force as a consequence.
Tina Arena after a one of her four wins at the 1995 Aria Awards ceremony in Sydney. Source: News Limited
14 YEARS IN ROWVILLE
TISM
The missed Melbourne band sang of a 14-year sentence in Rowville. Other lyrics in this tune include "Why shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Go down to the casino to see a deadened eye, it sure won't be Lloyd Williams who hears the judges' will 'citizen for obedience, I sentence you to Rowville'."
CROWN TOWER BLUES
ROOT!
Members of TISM are in this country-themed act and offer this geographic fun: "I'm going back to my family, I left them somewhere in car park level three." Other lyrics include "Whoa! The Pokies! That's what it's all about".
WESTGATE
Mark Seymour
The voice of Hunters & Collectors, Mark Seymour wrote this about the West Gate Bridge's collapse in 1970. The lyrics include: "Sometimes I lie awake at night and think about the ones who died, the riggers and the chippies and the boilermakers, the boys who had nowhere to hide."
Hunters and Collectors at the MCG. Source: HeraldSun
NORTHCOTE (SO HUNGOVER)
The Bedroom Philosopher
Hipster rock parody with the chorus "Riding around on the 86 … gonna go down to JB Hi-Fi, flick through indie". Also includes a shout-out to the mythical but believable Fitzroy Anti-Social Club.
CARLTON (LYGON STREET LIMBO)
Skyhooks
Skyhooks songwriter Greg Macainsh pins down '70s era Carlton full of "pizza places and spaced out faces". How little things change.
TOORAK COWBOY
Skyhooks
Has shout-outs to a South Yarra hairstylist and also a pub where the "village playboy" in question scored some herbal help.
BALWYN CALLING
Skyhooks
Sure it may have been a good rhyme, but Skyhooks were one of the first Australian rock bands to put geographical references in their lyrics.
FROM ST KILDA TO KINGS CROSS
Paul Kelly
As well as accurately noting the 13-hour bus trip, it's Melbourne 1, Sydney 0 when Kelly surmisesdeclares: "I'd give you all of Sydney Harbour, all that land, all that water, for that one sweet promenade."
Skyhooks. Source: Supplied
FOOTSCRAY PARK
Bob Evans
A gorgeous piece of psychedelic power pop that namechecks the Edwardian-themed park on the south bank of the Maribyrnong River.
GASWORKS PARK
Icecream Hands
One of Melbourne's most beloved songwriters, Charles Jenkins, sings of letting the cool breeze blow at night in Gasworks Park in downtown
Port Melbourne.
OLD FITZROY
Dan Sultan
This is one of Sultan's live highlights. He talks about the struggles of his life, noting his mother's words "little boy you're my pride and joy, the only good thing about old Fitzroy".
THE FRANKSTON LINE
Youth Group
Best known for their No. 1 cover Forever Young, here Youth Group talk about one of our most notorious train journeys: "The Frankston line's full of teenage crime and the cops can't do no more, hooded tops, cigarettes at stops …" They do point out, however, "the sea's so beautiful".
CHARCOAL LANE
Archie Roach
Roach wrote this about a socially minded restaurant in Gertrude St which trains Aboriginal youth, with mentions of the Builders Arms and McWilliams Port.
Singer Slim Dusty performs in 1984. Source: News Limited
GREY SKIES OVER COLLINGWOOD
Strange Tenants
The Melbourne ska band released this track in the early '80s. It would later be covered by Weddings Parties Anything, with the lyrics mentioningdescribing "grey skies over Collingwood, it's a typical summer's day".
THE MELBOURNE CUP
Slim Dusty
Our country hero pinpointsdescribes the excitement generatingpumping out of Flemington: "There's a bustle in the city, there's excitement in the scrubs, there's a drone of rowdy voices in every Aussie pub."
BRUNSWICK
Weddings Parties Anything
No stranger to writing about Melbourne, here Mick Thomas recalls early days in Brunswick: "The footpaths stank with the refuse of overfed alsatians, the air was rife with Tip Top Bread, the baker's morning load."
CHAPEL STREET, ETC
Something For Kate
Frontman Paul Dempsey would later write about the bats that flew around the Arts Centre spire (in Bats). This song takes its name from the street where the band's drummer Clint has two restaurants - Yellow Bird and Woods of Windsor.
Something For Kate: Clint Hyndman, Paul Dempsey and Stephanie Ashworth. Source: Supplied
No comments:
Post a Comment