CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 3, 1995, Girl Power before the Spice Girls existed

1995 was the year of seminal works and debuts from bands that we have come to obsess over. Oasis released '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?', the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had 'One Hot Minute', and every girl had a copy of 'Jagged Little Pill' by Alanis Morrisette. Myself included; that being the first CD that was bought for me. Australian favourites Regurgitator and You Am I were first getting recognition and local fame, but I wasn't quite into them yet (but oh boy would I be into them). One thing I was getting into was Björk, and I bought her 'Post' record on cassette tape, the first album I ever bought with my own money. A lot of first for me in 1995! IN FACT, BJÖRK IS FIRST ON THIS LIST! HA!

Björk - "Army Of Me" (#83)

When this song came out, I could NOT get it out of my head. I spent a few days humming to it constantly until I tried to seek out who she was and how I could get her music. I had seen "It's Oh So Quiet" on Rage and soon linked the two together and soon I was fascinated by this insane backflipping pixie-ish lady. I never stopped being fascinated really. At the time I thought the lyrics were "And if you complain why I'm small, you'll meet an army of me" not "If you complain once more"... and since I was going through a "I'm the shortest person in my class and for that no one takes me seriously and it sucks" phase, it suited me very well. 

Supergrass - "Alright" (#79)

I thought this song was really old when I heard it the year it came out, and couldn't understand why it was being played everywhere. It became the soundtrack in the back of my head for fun holiday days and weekends of activities and adventure (not that many really, I was a pretty shy kid).  

N-Trance - "Stayin' Alive" (#64)

I was super surprised to see this song by "lets recycle a famous song and turn it into a clubbing piece of shit remix" collective N-Trance, make the countdown. It must have been PRETTY BIG considering it was PRETTY SHIT. I did like it though, because I was a 90's kid of the age of 9. Now it reminds me of the scene in 'Romy and Michele's Highschool Reunion' where they do a synchronized dance at a club, which is awkward and deadpan and hilarious. So the song has been good for one (1) thing. 

U2 - Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me (#57)

Let me be frank, I am not a U2 fan, and will never be one. But BATMAN, guys. The last couple of Batman movies ('..Forever', and '..And Robin') before Christopher Nolan got his hands on the franchise, were complete rubbish. But goddamn did they have excellent soundtracks. It's almost as though Joel Schumacher had to find a way to make the films worth anything, so threw a bunch of money at some decent artists to make some decent songs. This is one of them, with a pretty absorbing videoclip. God I loved watching those movie soundtrack video clips, especially if I hadn't seen the movie yet. I had seen the whole movie by the end of the clip though.


Skunk Anansie - "I Can Dream" (#41)

No one remembers this band I bet, and I have no idea what happened to them, but I really liked this song. It's very rock and screamy and loud and rough, but I think mostly I was enamoured by the lead singer. I loved how she was bald (omg she was bald!) but still beautiful and had such a powerful voice and presence, and to me that was pretty out there. 1995 may have been my total girlpower year.

Alanis Morrisette - "You Oughta Know" (#39)

SPEAKING OF. HERE SHE IS. THE QUEEN OF THE 90's FEMINISTS, ALANIS. I can't really pick a favourite song from this era because I played her album on repeat for months, but this song was the first to grab my attention. Alanis was so mad and crazy and sang with so much snipe and passion, and she had long hair and thrashed it around a bit. What more could you want, really? Unfortunately the best thing she did after this album was play God in Kevin Smith's 'Dogma'.

Pulp - "Common People" (#38)

I remember really liking "Disco 2000" more than this song, which was released in November that year (so perhaps too late in the game to get enough followers to vote). I grew to love this song pretty soon after it made the CD and it's still a classic. You may have all forgotten about the William Shatner with Ben Folds (feat Joe Jackson) cover of this song, but let me refresh your memory. I know you hate me right now but I'm not sorry. 

Swoop - "Apple Eyes" (#32)

This song was ridiculously catchy and bright, and just like most catchy bright songs of the time, was a one hit wonder of sorts. The film clip was half the appeal... I love how they discovered Green Screen in the worst possible way, so now it is so 90's it's gone past there to the 2000's and back to the 80's. The "I think I love you" bit made me cringe back then and it is making me cringe now. 

Jill Sobule - "I Kissed A Girl" (#18)

FUCK YOU KATY PERRY, JILL KISSED A GIRL BEFORE YOU DID, AND SHE LIKED IT BETTER THAN YOU DID. You thought you were so out there and taboo making a song about an occasional lapse into lesbianism (whether permanent or not) when it is OLD NEWS. It's not taboo anymore Katy and Jill didn't need fluro blue or pink hair and crazy outfits to pull it off. Where are you now Jill, to punch this girl in the throat? THIS IS GIRLPOWER, DAMMIT.

Mindless Drug Hoover - "The Reefer Song" (#12)

One of those novelty songs that was forgotten about in a year, and was truly pretty terrible. I had to get a friend who knew better to fill me in on what 'reefer' was, and once I knew, it was so deliciously naughty to sing along to. I had it soon memorized even though I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on in the song. For someone so impressionable I never developed much of an interest in actually trying reefer.

T.I.S.M. (This Is Serious Mum) - "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" (#10)

Baklava (or wine cask bladder)-clad TISM may have SEEMED like a novelty band, but they were actually very good musicians with quite a bit of songwriting wit. They can even transfer their hits on to traditional greek instruments. Their real identities were never to be revealed, with rumours that they were members of the Wiggles or Machine Gun Fellatio, but eventually were (proving all rumours incorrect). This song was one heck of an earworm and even though I only heard it a bunch of times on the radio/Rage, I heard it a million times more in my head.

Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue - "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (#8)

Possibly one of the worst Nick Cave songs ever, with some of the most compromising and cringey lyrics: "...BUT MY NAME WAS ELIIIISA DAY". Ok, Elisa. But Kylie got some serious indie cred from this (which carried over from her earlier indie-er offerings), and it was pretty mega. The song was a pretty basic 'murder ballad' (guess which Nick Cave album this is on??) and enchanted me for many months... even the terrible filmclip had me watching intently. Ok so there are some much less feminist works in this countdown... this song definitely balances out the angry lady rock songs. 

Custard - "Apartment" (#7)

For starters, this song is freaking brilliant. For seconds, I loved it to bits. For thirds, it is the first song I played on my first very own CD player. In my room. Imagine it. It was the awesomest thing ever at the time. Never mind I also purchased Hit Machine 14 to go with that CD player, let's just forget that ever happened. Lastly, I still love this song and have a great time listening to it. CLASSIC CUSTARD. NEVER FORGET. 

Presidents of the United States - "Kitty" (#4)

I was originally a cat person before we got a dog, and then I became a fence sitter. So while our family had a lovely grey persian cat named Geno, this was a song I enjoyed. (I only just realised now, as he was a very old cat, that at the time I thought cats got grey like humans did. ANYWAY) It's definitely not the Presidents' best work, and it's as novelty as they come, but I got lots of fun out of singing this song (except I never said the f's.) Goddammit I was such a boring child. 

Oasis - "Wonderwall" (#1)

And now for the song that blitzed the entire world and made Beatle-esque music totally cool and in. My parents bought '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' not long after it came out and I got heavily, heavily into it. It is an excellent album, no one can really deny that, and had a lot of staying power. I remember in that year after the countdown, mum enrolled me into a drama group nearby, and for one of our activities we had to get in a line and sing some of our favourite song. I started in a tone way too low for me "TODAY IS GUNNA BE THE DAY THAT I'M GUNNA THROW IT BACK TO YEWWW". It was horrible, and the group leader was a little taken aback. I'm still blushing from it. Anyway, this song was destined to be number one, and the fact I loved it made it all the sweeter. 

For the full list see HERE! HAVE FUN LISTENING TO THE COUNTDOWN TODAY GUYS! I'VE ACTUALLY NOT GOT SUPER UPSET YET (Except for maybe Lana Del Ray and Of Monsters and Men getting in, you really have to be kidding me.... shhh steph) BUT THERE IS STILL TIME! SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR 1996! 

Custard (as part of the Brisbane Festival), Brisbane Powerhouse, Saturday 17th September, 2011.

Last year I caught a few acts presented as part of the Brisbane festival (Dan Kelly and Ed Kuepper), and consequently ended up in one of those focus groups for cash. The group wanted to know how we thought the rather un-famous Brisbane Festival could be improved. I was the youngest and gen-y-est of the group, otherwise consistently largely of people into theatre, art, and the combination of the two (performance art) dance, cabaret, medieval role play, and circus type dealio stuff. My contribution consisted of my love of the Brisbane music scene, and how I think Brisbane festival would bring in some extra punters (particularly my demographic) if they showcased a history of Brisbane musical artists bringing to light how the Brisbane scene formed and developed. I included examples such as the Saints, LaughingClowns, Go-Betweens, Riptides, Custard, Grates, Regurgitator, and a trillion others, yes even Violent Soho. No one seemed to really care for what I was talking about, as early on in the piece many of the contributors passed off this ridiculous "alternative indie hipster" music as being ho hum and boring. But I do feel like perhaps maybe someone thought that one of the bands I mentioned would be a good idea to get involved in the festival. Because lo and behold, when this years Brisbane festival itinerary was announced, Custard was on the bill! You are welcome.

So, Custard, if you don't know, were formed not far from my current residence, and were lead by the everyman vocalist Dave McCormack, Matt Strong on guitar, Glenn Thompson on drums, and Paul Medew on bass. They left an amazing legacy behind (if you ask me) which Dave has attempted to continue through consistent projects such as the Titanics, the Polaroids, and just plain Dave, which are all great things. However it is hard not to long for that excellent combination of musicians that brought together Custard.

Custard have put on a few reunion gigs, one at the Q150 celebration (early 2010??) and the Float On Flood Benefit gig early this year. I couldn't attend either due to a clash and also a flash of ticket sales. With no clashes, and shitty advertising, I was able to safely secure a ticket for myself and parentals, to their Brisbane festival show.

Naturally due to said parentals, things had to be more complicated than they should be, and we arrived there within a few minutes of the band making it onstage. I felt quite young again! Hooray! My parents fit in like a couple of pensioners on a citytrain from Maryborough. We were seated on a grandstand which had been set up especially on the side of the Powerhouse, which filled up nicely with a bit of room to move (and dance if you were up the top). The band kicked off with Goofinder, and seconded with Pack Yr Suitcases, and it was all onwards and upwards from there, just how I imagined them to be live.

The hits came thick and fast, in between brief relaxed banter from Dave and Matt, well as relaxed as could be within the 60 minute timeframe. "Anatomically Correct", "Nice Bird," , "Pinball Les" "I Feel Like Ringo", "Alone", "Apartment", "Hit Song"... they were all there, blazing with energy and all the charm they exuded in their heyday, as if time had never passed. "Girls Like That (Don't Go For Guys Like Us)" began as fresh as the day I saw it on 'Rage', and, listening for it, I was amused by Dave changing the line "For I am considering/A move to South America" to a more relevant "A move to Wooloongabba". Nice one Dave.

I hadn't fully realized what excellent musicians they are until watching them in action together. Matt is true to his namesake as an exceptionally strong guitarist, and murdered each song with power and complete enjoyment. Glenn Thompson was equally brilliant on the drums and even David did a good job on the drums during their brief instrument swap for "Music Is Crap". And bassist Paul was superb, camping it up to perfection during their disco-esque songs to groove the audience.

swapsies!

As their last song before their rushed encore, Dave began to sing the familiar words "In discos...", the opening lines to "Caboolture Speed Lab". And so I was able to fulfill my childhood dream of rocking out in the audience to this song, sing loudly to "GET BACK INTO THE HERE AND NOW" until the end of it, then stick two fingers up in the air and scream "CABOOLTURE REPRESENT!"*. I so thoroughly enjoyed hearing such a prominent song from my younger days. Not only is it the best named song in the universe, but it is also one of their most satisfyingly catchy best.

Ending the set with a much older favourite "Bedford" and "Pluto", from their last album 'Loverama', they left the audience with broad smiles and the huge desire for more. You could see that the band themselves were also leaving with smiles and the vibe that they absolutely loved playing these songs again, and would have been happy to continue. It would have been so nice to have got a bit more than the tight set they were allowed, but the feeling of immense elation and satisfaction of such a well played, pleasing performance, took over this thought. I was so happy to have my first and perhaps (but surely not) only Custard live experience, so for that, I am grateful. The fact it was also amazing makes me a very, very, pleased young gen-y-er.

9 bowls of jelly out of 10.

*No I didn't.