Off the cricket field, on which they are all utter c*nts without question, and given a guitar, the Aussies make some great music. Echoing my homie VdM, my favourite band of all time bar none was The Go-Betweens and my favourite songwriter Grant Mclennan. The Triffids are in my top 10. They have also produced Nick Cave/The Birthday Party, Ed Kuepper/The Saints/The Laughing Clowns, Died Pretty, The Dirty Three, The Church, Crime and the City Solution, The Hummingbirds, The Necks, The Blackeyed Susans, Dave Graney/The Moodists, The Cruel Sea, The Apartments and The Reels. A staggering hit rate for a country full of snaggletoothed soap dodgers.
NZ has punched ahead of its weight - both it and Oz have produced as much memorable music as we have in recent times. The aforementioned Clean and Straitjacket Fits, but also The Chills, Verlaines, Look Blue Go Purple, Bailterspace, The Able Tasmans, Snapper, Chris Knox and the massively, massively underrated (in the northern hemisphere any way) Mutton Birds. Almost enough for me to forgive them Ian 'Smuth' Smith. Almost.
