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The Music of Australia Portal
Australian music is the name given to music originating in Australia. Whilst most modern trends in Australian music are based on similar trends from the United States or United Kingdom, traditional indigenous music dates back more than 60,000 years to the prehistory of Australia, and continues the ancient songlines through contemporary artists as diverse as Jimmy Little, Warumpi Band, Yothu Yindi, Tiddas, Wild Water, Christine Anu, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Saltwater Band, Nabarlek, Nokturnl, the Pigram Brothers, Coloured Stone, Blek Bala Mujik, Kev Carmody, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter.
Rock music in Australia first became popular in the 1950s, with artists including Johnny O'Keefe topping charts around the world. This tradition was continued into the 1960s, by groups such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Easybeats, and The Bee Gees. Throughout this time, Indigenous Australian music and Australian jazz remained consistently popular.
Pub rock was immensely popular in the 1980s, and the era was typified by Mental As Anything, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Icehouse. INXS and Men at Work also achieved fame worldwide, and the song "Down Under" became an unofficial anthem for Australia. Australian hip hop began in the early 1980s, primarily influenced by overseas works, but by the 1990s a distinctive local style had emerged, with Hilltop Hoods achieving international acclaim for their work.
The 90s saw an increase in the popularity of indie rock in Australia. AC/DC and INXS continued to achieve commercial success in the United States, whilst a multitude of local bands, including Regurgitator, You Am I, Powderfinger, Silverchair and Something for Kate, were popular throughout the country. A small electronic music scene emerged around Sydney and Melbourne, with Severed Heads, Ollie Olsen's No, and Foil all peaking in the 90s.
Australian music experienced somewhat of a rock renaissance in the 2000s with groups such as The Vines, Jet and Wolfmother charting internationally. Hilltop Hoods were the first Australian hip-hop group to reach the top of the ARIA chart. Channel 10's Australian Idol program was highly popular locally, as were the many "idols" produced.
Selected article -
Australian Crawl (often called The Crawl by fans) was an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass guitar), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David Reyne (drums) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough (vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.
Australian Crawl appeared to perform only hedonistic surf music, they represented the 1980s surf culture and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance.
After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up reached #4, Australian Crawl had two #1 albums; 1981's Sirocco and 1982's Sons of Beaches. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten; their best performing single was #1 hit "Reckless" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics EP.
Upheaval within the band occurred from 1983 onwards, first Bill McDonough left, then his brother Guy McDonough died in 1984, various other members left. Their 1985 release Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive but sales were disappointing; and they disbanded early in 1986. The band's status as an icon on the Australian music scene was acknowledged by induction into the 1996 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. (more...)
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The crowd at the Big Day Out 2006, in Melbourne. The Big Day Out is an annual music festival that tours Australia and New Zealand which originated in Sydney in 1992. As of 2003, it has featured seven or eight stages (depending on the venue) accommodating popular contemporary rock music, electronic music, mainstream international acts and local acts. (more...) Things you can do
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Related WikiProjects
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Crowded House
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Did you know... -
- … that Transfusion was the first EP by Powderfinger to receive significant commercial airplay, and was their first work to top the ARIA alternative music chart?
- ... that the 2008 Hillsong United album The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts as One was released as a USB flash drive containing the MP3 files of the songs, embedded into a rubber wristband?
- ... that Daddy Cool’s 1971 single "Eagle Rock" was Australian National #1 for a record ten weeks? It was replaced by "Daddy Cool", for which they were named, in Chipmunks style by Drummond (became Little River Band)
- … that Faker's debut studio album Addicted Romantic includes a track written by lead singer Nathan Hudson eight years earlier?
Australian Aria charts
- The number-one Australian single in Australia in 2009 is Like It Like That by Guy Sebastian [1]
ARIA Charts (12/10/09) - The number-one single in Australia is "Sexy Bitch" by David Guetta featuring Akon.
- The number-one album in Australia is The E.N.D. by the Black Eyed Peas.
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AC/DC · Bernard Fanning · Crowded House awards · Dream Days at the Hotel Existence · Internationalist · "I Don't Remember" · Kylie Minogue · Kylie Minogue concert tours · Odyssey Number Five · Powderfinger · Powderfinger discography · Powderfinger awards · Silverchair awards · The Wiggles- See also: Good articles
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- The Australian music WikiProject is a project that helps to assemble writers and editors interested in the Music of Australia.
- The aim of this project is to standardize and improve articles related to the various genres of Australian music, as well as to create missing articles.
- To become a member of the Australian music WikiProject (anyone may join), simply click here - and add {{user|username}}.
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