Stilgherrian » countdown

Weekly Poll: How do you feel about Supernaut re-forming?

Stilgherrian — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:32:52 +0000

Three polls in a row about Australian politics is enough. There are more important issues than defending the constitution or the PM blaming an interest rate rise on state debt when there is no state debt — and then spending taxpayer’s money to advertise the lie.

No, what concerns us this week is the news that Supernaut has reformed for the Countdown Spectacular 2…

I’ve written about Supernaut before. But for readers younger than… well, for younger readers, here’s a quick refresher.

Supernaut was one of the finest musical acts of the 1970s. Watch the video of their number 1 hit I Like It Both Ways and you’ll agree. You’ll naturally want to see She’s Too Hot to Touch and Kids Art Out Tonight as well.

Tonight on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Debate, the sublime Paul McDermott recalled that I Like It Both Ways was his favourite song as a child.

“I like it both ways.” I was 7 years old at the time. I didn’t know what it was about…! It was 3 years before I found out what it meant. And even then I would have preferred it was from someone my own age, rather than a 45-year-old postal worker with tight, tight shorts who went by the name of Saddle Face.

As I say, Supernaut has reformed. Please, go to the website, vote, and tell me how you feel about that. And do add your comments…

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Take my hand…

Stilgherrian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:28:39 +0000

It’s totally safe. Our journey involves YouTube, a cleanskin Cabernet Merlot and that blurry hour before the sleeping pill kicks in. There is no need for alarm. Let us begin…

All systems are go!. And once you learn the lyrics, sing along!
Play the Countdown version and/or the Bandstand version, and explain which you prefer.
Discuss whether the follow-up single release was a mistake or not.
Should I admit to owning an autographed copy of that band’s album, or explain how it came to be in my possession?
Does the knowledge that the album was produced by Ian “Molly” Meldrum change your answer to the previous question?
Are cover versions ever acceptable?
Does Adam Richard speak the truth?
Come to Daddy.
Grand Finale.

You may now each ask one question related to the above. I shall answer truthfully.

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“Whose ABC?”: the first 100 pages

Stilgherrian — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:58:29 +0000

I’ve just read the first 100 pages of Whose ABC? The Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1983-2006. I’m enjoying the journey, but I’m wondering if “eminent historian” K S Inglis is talking about the same organisation where I worked from 1984 to 1991.

You see, at my ABC we used to make programs.

Inglis’ ABC is a boardroom, a managing director’s office, and the occasional brawl with politicians.

So while I half-recognise what he’s talking about — someone called Geoffrey Whitehead as MD, the re-naming of Radio Two to Radio National and all that — very little of what he’s saying seems to reflect the day-to-day reality of broadcasting.

Here’s all he has to say about Mother and Son, one of Australia’s most successful TV comedies:

The adroit drama series, Mother and Son, a ’situation comedy’ written by Geoffrey Atherden and performed by Ruth Cracknell as foxy old mother and Garry McDonald as outwitted balding son, happened to be housed in the department of music and entertainment.

That’s it. Nothing about the style of the program or its success, just the politics of it not being produced by the drama department.

And the next two sentences are all he has to say about one of Australia’s most important cultural institutions:

That conglomerate [the music and entertainment department] put out a variety of items from symphony orchestra concerts to the venerableCountdown, an hour of pop music in which rock stars mimed to their own recordings. This was the only program outside the department of children’s and education created for young people, and remained by far the most popular ABC program with viewers from ten to seventeen years old.

And that’s it. Presenter Ian “Molly” Meldrum doesn’t even rate a mention, nor does the ill-fated Countdown Revolution resurrection attempt of 1989.

You’d think that maybe a paragraph, gosh, perhaps even a page about each of these more-than-successful programs might be warranted? Perhaps something about how they reflected and shaped Australian society? You know, those… what do you call them? Yes, the audience.

Somehow it seems far more important to mention which school the presenters went to.

Geraldine Doogue, a vivacious and glamorous presence in Nationwide… had been educated in Perth by Sisters of Mercy and teachers at the University of Western Australia…

So quaint. So terribly old-school establishment.

Also rather quaint is Inglis’ reference to radio “sessions” which are “conducted” by someone. Even back in the 80s we talked about “programs” which had “presenters”.

While a history of the ABC does need to cover its management, strategies and political governance, surely there should be just as much importance placed on the programs, the program-makers and the audience?