AustLit

'In canonical narratives of rock music emanating from the global North, the music of Australia and New Zealand continues to be overlooked. This article considers the international critical reception of a range of 1980s bands from Australia and New Zealand, both at the time and subsequently. The analysis shows how the music of the Antipodes largely has been rendered historically irrelevant in canonical terms, highlighting the general importance of subverting conventional narratives by giving voice to marginalized cultures and foregrounding alternative critical arguments.' (Publication abstract)

'Nick Cave is a hugely successful rock musician who has progressed from post-punk outsider in the 1980s to widely lauded singersongwriter in the twenty-first century, while simultaneously enjoying critical recognition in fields such as literature and film. This article uses Cave’s 2022 book of interviews Faith, Hope and Carnage, as well as his ongoing blog The Red Hand Files, as a stepping-off point to consider his career trajectory in the context of longstanding accusations of misogyny, his extensive public commentaries on grief (stemming from the 2015 death of his son), and Cave’s latter-day excursions into conservative political commentary.'

Source: Abstract.

'From the ill-fated explorations of Leichhardt and Burke and Wills through to the Beaumont children, Azaria Chamberlain, and the backpacker murders in New South Wales, the history of Australia is peppered with tales and images of people going missing. And, as the First Peoples might well have been able to warn us, few of those stories turn out well.'  (Introduction)

'It begins with the admission that my entire life is a facade. I teach but am not a teacher, write but am not a writer, edit but am not an editor, take photographs but am not a photographer. On occasion I have attempted to make art or play music, yet I am the mere simulacrum of an artist, the bare chalk outline of a musician. Moreover, I hold no claim to scholarly influence, nor do I pretend to boast any kind of public reputation. The ultimate confirmation of this – if you enter my name into Wikipedia, it responds: Did you mean: dead bison?'  (Introduction)

'For the most part, the burgeoning 1980s nostalgia industry in Australia tends to overlook the fact that back then the states seemed to be engaged in a kind of Sheffield Shield of venality, competing to see which would prevail as the most politically debauched. One might have thought of the Queensland of Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Terry Lewis and the New South Wales of Abe Saffron and Roger Rogerson as topping the table, but Western Australia, like its cricket team of the period, was definitely no slouch.'

(Introduction)