Alright. It's time to stop this nonsense.
Before I launch into what promises to be a massive tirade on popular songs I dislike, it's time to defend Australia's greatest ever rock band.
It seems to me that it is very trendy to dismiss Cold Chisel as a band. This is just not on. For mine, they remain Australian music's best ever "rock" band.
Don Walker is a brilliant song writer. Ian Moss a fine guitarist. Many people dislike Jimmy Barnes, but I think his voice is a very distinctive instrument which gives Cold Chisel much of its power and force.
Sure, Khe Sanh has been flogged to death by commercial radio and people in pubs. But it's still a fantastic lyric, conveying more in three minutes than most of today's pop music does in three years. I find it a moving story of a man (and the group of people that man represents) being displaced from a place that he used to know. I think it speaks volumes for a lyric that has no true chorus (the "last plane out of Sydney" refrain only comes at the end, as a footnote rather than a repetitive "hook") to be such a popular sing-a-long tune.
But Khe Sanh wouldn't rank in my top ten favourite Chisel songs. Consider these classics:
My Turn To Cry
Four Walls
Standing On The Outside
Ita
Forever Now
Tomorrow
When The War Is Over
Star Hotel
Bow River
Flame Trees (absolutely magnificent, a true pop classic)
Merry Go Round
... and the list goes on.
And the recorded output isn't even the strength of the band. The strength of the band was its brilliant live performances, honed by playing up and down the country for more than a decade, through the most competitive and creative period in Australian music history. For Cold Chisel to come out of the period as arguably the number one band of the nation I think speaks volumes for the impact, importance and talent of the band.
No, Chisel are no longer fashionable. But to dismiss them entirely seems wrong to me.
But, it's your call - rate the Chisels.
Before I launch into what promises to be a massive tirade on popular songs I dislike, it's time to defend Australia's greatest ever rock band.
It seems to me that it is very trendy to dismiss Cold Chisel as a band. This is just not on. For mine, they remain Australian music's best ever "rock" band.
Don Walker is a brilliant song writer. Ian Moss a fine guitarist. Many people dislike Jimmy Barnes, but I think his voice is a very distinctive instrument which gives Cold Chisel much of its power and force.
Sure, Khe Sanh has been flogged to death by commercial radio and people in pubs. But it's still a fantastic lyric, conveying more in three minutes than most of today's pop music does in three years. I find it a moving story of a man (and the group of people that man represents) being displaced from a place that he used to know. I think it speaks volumes for a lyric that has no true chorus (the "last plane out of Sydney" refrain only comes at the end, as a footnote rather than a repetitive "hook") to be such a popular sing-a-long tune.
But Khe Sanh wouldn't rank in my top ten favourite Chisel songs. Consider these classics:
My Turn To Cry
Four Walls
Standing On The Outside
Ita
Forever Now
Tomorrow
When The War Is Over
Star Hotel
Bow River
Flame Trees (absolutely magnificent, a true pop classic)
Merry Go Round
... and the list goes on.
And the recorded output isn't even the strength of the band. The strength of the band was its brilliant live performances, honed by playing up and down the country for more than a decade, through the most competitive and creative period in Australian music history. For Cold Chisel to come out of the period as arguably the number one band of the nation I think speaks volumes for the impact, importance and talent of the band.
No, Chisel are no longer fashionable. But to dismiss them entirely seems wrong to me.
But, it's your call - rate the Chisels.
