It used to be a thing.
A Split Enz badge or two on your school jumper. We were different, what a joy!
I never met another one of us back in the day. If we had had a forum then, we could have met those geeks with a general knowledge of popular music and slayed them because WE HAD THE KEY. Supposed devotees of the possibilities of beautifully turned, baroque melodies in pop music, those other fools who considered themselves aligned to mainstream musical conceits knew nothing.
The Beatles. The Kinks. The Zombies. Mervyn Peake. 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'.
The Finns. Judd. Rayner. The Chunns, Griggs! Mal Green (those fills that Elroy still plays now!), Gillies, Crowther, Hester (the nicest person I ever met in the industry, and I worked in the industry.) NOEL CROMBIE, the 'scientistist of taste'. I love every single second of their music, it has invigorated and inspired me, kept me centred and sane for over thirty years now. Put the headphones on and I can recount every bar, every fill, melody and harmony recorded from '72-'84.
Schnell Fenster created two of the best albums of the turn of the last century. Crowded House is another matter. How could we fans of the old paradigm not have been proud and happy of the huge, deserved success of the new iteration? The hits were amazing and yet I felt cold, left as an ignored acolyte by their commercial appreciation. (Yes, I know, I know.)
I saw Liam Finn recently and thought he was the bomb.
Anyways, the rambling purpose of this missive was to farewell the Forum. Many thanks to Deb, whom I understand has been the facilitator of this platform for a long time for the love of it, and for that I am grateful, and to Peter Green. I never go to Melbourne without standing outside the old Prarahan post office and say: "PO Box 333" !
Yours in Frenzship,
Ailsa (Bandie)
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