SOUND AS EVER – A celebration of the greatest decade in Australian music 1990-1999 (Melbourne Books)
By Jane Gazzo & Andrew P. Street
Book review by Ian McFarlane
Every generation of music fanatics has its own era. By that I mean they came of age at the time, they saw their favourite bands playing live for the first time, they formed their own bands, they bought the records, they lived the life. For broadcasters and journalists Jane Gazzo and Andrew P. Street it was the 1990s, which saw the explosion of Australian alternative rock. So Sound As Ever is essentially a celebration of the bands and events of the era.
Gazzo got her start as a teenager presenting an indie show on 3RRR, and is best known for her work with the ABC’s Triple J and Recovery at the time, and subsequently as presenter of The Sound. She also fronted her own indie band circa 1994/95, Rubher, so is well placed to commentate on the era. Likewise, Street was a regular contributor to the street press and Rolling Stone, and in his own words is a “failed indie rock superstar”.
Their book Sound As Ever grew out of the Facebook community page that Gazzo and Scott Thurling (of Popboomerang Records) set up in 2020. Of course, the title is taken from You Am I’s 1993 debut album. Nostalgia retains a pull on the emotions, and often it’s that 20 year cycle that ignites the memories. The FB page became so popular that it spawned CD collections of unreleased tracks from the era, as well as a series of Sound As Ever gigs. A book was the logical next step.
If names such as You Am I, The Cruel Sea, Ratcat, Something For Kate, Tumbleweed, Sidewinder, Gaslight Radio, Spiderbait, Holocene etc, plus events such as Big Day Out, Meredith Music Festival and Push Over resonate then this book is perfect for you. Just don’t expect a full recounting of the era’s history and developments, as the book presents a snapshot via photographs, gig posters and flyers, reflections, lists, diary entries and other ephemera.
I like rock ’n’ roll ephemera so have no issues with the content. Also, while I started out seeing pub gigs at 18 in 1978, I was still a regular gig goer and record buyer throughout the 1990s so I saw many of the bands addressed here. In fact, I have contributed to the book in a small way but I’m not beating my own drum because it’s Gazzo and Street’s deal.
Gazzo says her abiding memory of that era is one of freedom and joy. “Freedom to run around pubs and clubs at night inhaling the local inner city sounds and the joy of discovering new bands and seeing old ones do what they do best - play music to appreciative audiences. There was also the joy of listening to community radio and hearing your mate’s bands on the air and that sense of community. It was strong and everyone seemed to help everyone. I felt it was a time of unlimited potential. I was young and felt that we could all conquer the world - and some of us did just that!”
The design replicates a scrapbook approach to presenting the era, so it has an occasionally grainy, fanzine look which might be distracting for some eyes but really does represent the emergence of indie rock and grunge in the day. Still, one might be tempted to quip that it also reflects that generation’s short attention span. Okay, I just did that but like a lot of teenagers Gazzo made her own scrapbooks based around her favourite bands.
“One of my favourite bands of the 1990s was and still is Magic Dirt. I think Adalita is one of our greatest songwriters and most of Magic Dirt’s music has stayed with me through the years. I also love early You Am I. My fave song? So many... but right now it’s Roland S. Howard’s ‘She Cried’ from his criminally ignored, 1999 album Teenage Snuff Film. I want to be buried with that record.”
Did you know that the members of Sydney indie band with the unpronounceable name of SPDFGH derived it from their high school physics exams (SPDFGH corresponds to the orbitals of electrons within an atom)? And did you know that the night The Cruel Sea won five ARIA awards in 1993 one of the shiny objects was pinched from under their noses, only to turn up 27 years later in a skip in Darlinghurst then offered for sale on Facebook Marketplace? (You’ll have to read the book to find out how that story ended.)
As for the subtitle, A celebration of the greatest decade in Australian music 1990-1999: what is it that makes the 1990s “the greatest decade in Australian music”?
“It’s a bold statement isn’t it?!” Gazzo affirms. “And it is meant to be bold! It’s the greatest for so many reasons: the breadth and scope of artists - many of whom are still playing today; the amount of bands that were signed in the great commercial record label signings/swallow up of independent bands; the songs, the festivals, the charismatic personalities of our front men and women. I think the ’90s is the last decade of innocence in a way. It was a time without mobile phones and the internet was in its infancy. We relied on radio and TV to help us choose our anthems and the journo’s word in the street press or newspapers was gospel. I think the internet and mobile phones changed everything for Australian music. Some of it’s good of course, but some of it not so good, but as Screamfeeder’s Tim Steward said: ‘It wasn’t to last and why should it? The future was beckoning’.”
