Friday, July 04, 2008

Now for the Aussie independent Top 50

Hot off the email:

Over three months the Australian Independent Record Labels Associaition (AIR) consulted musicians, songwriters, journalists, radio announcers and music industry folk in order to create a shortlist of 50 nominated albums. The resulting shortlist is a snapshot of our musical heritage. Five decades of independent music in Australia has influenced the social and cultural fabric of this country and others. We're proud to call them all independent and even more proud to call them Australian.

The Top 50 was presented to the music loving public for voting and after collating thousands of votes over the past month, here we announce the winners of our poll. The Greatest Australian Independent Albums of All Time, from one through to 50.


1. The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
2. The Saints - (I'm) Stranded/No Time
3. Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos
4. The Go Betweens - Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
5. Midnight Oil - Midnight Oil
6. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
7. Ed Kuepper - Honey Steels Gold
8. Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
9. Sunnyboys - Sunnyboys
10. AC/DC - Back In Black
11. Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
12. The Go Betweens - Before Hollywood
13. INXS - INXS
14. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
15. Dirty Three - Horse Stories
16. AC/DC - Highway to Hell
17. The Drones - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By
18. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son
19. Silverchair - Diorama
20. The Whitlams - Eternal Nightcap
21. Ed Kuepper - Electrical Storm
22. The Birthday Party - Prayers On Fire
23. Gotye - Like Drawing Blood
24. The Laughing Clowns - Mr. Uddich Smuddich Goes to Town
25. The John Butler Trio - Sunrise Over Sea
26. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In
27. Flowers - Icehouse
28. The Go-Betweens - Send Me A Lullaby
29. Hilltop Hoods - The Hard Road
30. Magic Dirt - Friends In Danger
31. The Necks - Sex
32. X - X-Aspirations
33. Beasts of Bourbon - The Low Road
34. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Eddy Current Suppression Ring
35. Mondo Rock - Chemistry
36. AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Cheap
37. Archie Roach - Charcoal Lane
38. Cosmic Psychos - Go the Hack
39. Cog - The New Normal
40. AC/DC - High Voltage
41. AC/DC - TNT
42. The Loved Ones - Magic Box
43. Died Pretty - Free Dirt
44. The Hard Ons - Yummy!
45. Tumbleweed - Tumbleweed
46. Snout - Circle High And Wide
47. Scientists - You Get What You Deserve
48. Jeff Lang - You Have To Dig Deep To Bury Daddy
49. Spencer P. Jones and The Last Gasp - Last Gasp
50. Kim Salmon and the Surrealists - Just Because You Can't See It. Doesn't Mean it Isn't There


AIR would especially like to thank everyone who left comments and suggestions. We received a lot of love from a lot of people and it made us feel great. We also received some vitriolic abuse which was hilarious, informative and occasionally downright insulting, but thanks for that too... Love it.

We won't mention any names, but anything by The Ramones and Nirvana wasn't in contention. Sorry. Midnight Oils 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 isn't independent and INXS's first two albums were indeed independent. AC/DC are independent and have been on the family owned Alberts record label since Angus Young actually belonged in his school uniform. General consensus says that Bon Scott was a far superior vocalist compared to Brian Jones but why has Back in Black smashed it's nearest AC/DC albums?

For those interested. Born Sandy Devotional recieved 10% more votes than The Saints - (I'm) Stranded. The top two were streets ahead of their nearest competition. Positions 3 to 13 were seperated by only 3 percentage points. In some cases the albums were seperated by one vote! Clearly the 1980's was a golden era for Australian music, with more than a third of the nominated albums being released in that decade and 7 of the top 10 coming from the 80's.

A lot of voting ran along state lines. Queenslanders love anything that Ed Kuepper has ever touched (although he's entered the top 50 with 2 bands and a solo artist, he's in the top 10 twice! He's pretty damned popular everywhere). Victorians dig Eddy Current Supression Ring... a lot. The Avalanches represented for the Dance/Electronic/Sample based acts coming in at an incredible 6th while the oldest album on the list, The Loved Ones - Magic Box, made 42nd.

Also, special mention should go to non - Australian fans of Australian music. Lime Spiders are big in Austria and Germany!

Also, please continue to help AIR support the Australian independent music by checking out the Independents Day 2008 Auction on eBay. We've received some generous donations in the lead up to July 4th, they're online now. Items include rare vinyl and CD's, signed merchandise, unlimited entry into some of Australia's premier music venues, recording time at Australia's best studios, mastering with our leading mastering engineers as well as vinyl pressing and CD manufacturing. Get yourself a bargain and some music history! All proceeds will be shared by AIR and Worldwide Independent Network an funnelled directly back into independent music.

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