It’s a tough call when anyone tries to outline the most important Aussie songs, but for author Glen Humphries, it’s clear he likes a challenge.
Humphries, who’s also a journalist for The Illawarra Mercury, is an author whose name adorns numerous books on topics such as sports, beer, and music. The latter has seen him write volumes such as Healer: The Rise, Fall And Return Of Tumbleweed; Lull City: The Wollongong Music Scene 1955-2020; and Little Darling: Daryl Braithwaite and The Horses in the last few years alone.
For his latest effort, Aussie Rock Anthems: The Stories Behind Our Biggest Hit Songs (Gelding Street Press, $39.99), Humphries has taken a wider look at the music and the memories that make up the fabric of our cultural history. While Humphries was raised on a steady musical diet, it was names like Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, and The Angels that proved influential, and ultimately led to a desire to pen this new book.
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Inspired by his writing of Little Darling in 2023, conversations with publishers suggested that a look at an iconic song like Horses was worthwhile, but also worth expanding further.
“They said, ‘what if you expanded it into 40 Australian songs and the stories behind them?“ he remembers. “I was interested in that idea because having an interest in music, I do love discovering things like, ‘what was the inspiration for that song? What does that line mean? What were they thinking when they wrote it?’”
The result is a book that takes 40 of Australia’s biggest songs and goes deep into the weeds, looking at their importance, their popularity, and the interesting things you might not know. Alongside classics like Hunters & Collectors’ Throw Your Arms Around Me and INXS’ Don’t Change, there are also enduring tracks such as Redgum’s I Was Only 19, and plenty of photographs along the way.
It’s a difficult task, of course. After all, imagine your own list of 40 Aussie anthems and how it might compare to Humphries’. Restrictions were in place, however, to ensure only one song from each artist appeared, though Jimmy Barnes is the lone exception to the rule.
“You could almost make a list of the songs that didn’t make the cut,” he admits. “Olivia Newton-John didn’t make it and you could probably argue she might have deserved a spot; Slim Dusty, the Little River Band, Savage Garden, and you could argue The Saints’ (I’m) Stranded could be in there.
“I just made a list of all the iconic, legendary songs that I could think of,” he says.
“And from there, it was just a matter of culling them down.”
It’s a list that will certainly result in as much acclaim as it does debate, though Humphries was also cautious to ensure mind was paid to those often overlooked in such lists. While the proportion of women and First Nations musicians could certainly be higher, he notes some of it comes down to how we define an anthemic song.
“For so long – from the ‘70s and to a degree, the ‘80s – the music scene was very white and male,” he says. “I think if someone writes a book like this in 15, 20 years time, the makeup would be quite different.
“There would be more women in there, more First Nations artists in there, and I think an anthem needs at least 20 years to work out whether it is an anthem or not, because it needs that staying power,” he adds. “I think now there’s more First Nation artists and more women performing and putting out great stuff, those songs will stand the test of time.”
While Humphries already has more books in the pipeline (including one about AFL), he notes an excitement for readers of Aussie Rock Anthems to discover more about the classic songs that Aussies love so much.
“I’m not sure how many people understand [The Presets’ My People] is about asylum seekers,” he explains. “Once you’re given that information it almost acts like a key to unlock the song because then you can go back and look at the lyrics and understand it.
“Australian Crawl’s The Boys Light Up was played on FM radio at the time and was quite a big hit in Australia,” he adds. “When you drill down and look at what it’s about, there’s some pretty risque lyrics that had, say, Countdown, knew what they were about, they probably wouldn’t have aired the song.”
Thankfully, we’ve got Glen Humphries on hand to uncover Aussie rock’s big secrets.
Glen Humphries will also be launching Aussie Rock Anthems (Gelding Street Press) in conversation with Jeff Apter, as Ryans Hotel Thirroul (31 July 6:30pm). Entry is FREE, bookings essential via Collins Thirroul.
Aussie Rock Anthems by Glen Humphries (Gelding Street Press) is out now and available at all good bookstores. Find out more here.
