Finns top list of our best songs
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Songs by Neil and Tim Finn took out the top five spots in a poll of the best Melbourne tunes of the past 40 years
Source: News Limited
THEY might have been born in New Zealand, but Melburnians are claiming Neil and Tim Finn as their own.
Songs by the Finn brothers’ bands Crowded House and Split Enz took out the top five spots in a poll of the best Melbourne tunes of the past 40 years, voted by Herald Sun readers and Triple M listeners.
The Top 40 can be heard in a special Oz Box jukebox in the Melbourne, Music & Me exhibition that opens at RMIT on Tuesday.
Crowded House, who formed in Melbourne in 1985, are No. 1 with their international classic Don’t Dream It’s Over.
As well as Kiwi Neil Finn, the band featured Melbourne musicians Paul Hester and Nick Seymour.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Scroll down to see the top 40 list. What do you think? Tell us what your favourite Melboure tune of the past 40 years is.
At No. 2 is Four Seasons in One Day, which Neil Finn wrote in East St Kilda about Melbourne’s weather.
Hunters & Collectors’ Throw Your Arms Around Me is at No. 6; ironically the song gained major attention when covered by Crowded House.
Throw Your Arms Around Me was released in 1984 but only charted when reissued in 1990, peaking at No. 34 on the ARIA chart.
Hunters’ other anthem, Holy Grail, is at No. 10.
The song has had a second life as an unofficial footy anthem – the re-formed Melbourne band performed it at this year’s AFL Grand Final.
Melbourne is one of many territories to have embraced AC/DC – we even have an AC/DC Lane.
Though they formed in Sydney and late singer Bon Scott lived in Sunshine before moving to Fremantle they spent many of their formative years living and playing in Melbourne.
Their most popular song on this list, 1975′s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock`n’Roll) famously features a video made for Countdown in February 1976 with AC/DC on the back of a flatbed truck driving up Swanston St, accompanied by members of the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band.
Eagle Rock is at No. 12 – while the song, written by Ross Wilson, was a hit in 1971, its popularity was so enduring it was reissued a decade later and returned to the Top 20.
Adopted musical son Paul Kelly has five songs in the Top 40, including the pro-Melbourne From St Kilda to Kings Cross, but strangely not the MCG-referencing Leaps and Bounds.
Melbourne rock band Skyhooks are represented by hits Horror Movie, Women in Uniform and Ego is Not a Dirty Word.
Melbourne band Skyhooks.
Source: News Limited
Melbourne’s newest favourite songs by Melbourne acts are The Temper Trap’s 2008 global hit Sweet Disposition, which peaked at No. 14 on the ARIA chart, and Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know.
Gotye wrote the break-up ballad at his home studio on the Mornington Peninsula; it has gone on to reach No. 1 in 23 countries and sell more than 13 million copies.
Men at Work’s 1981 US No. 1 Who Can It Be Now? is at No. 30, while Melbourne-based John Farnham’s You’re the Voice, recorded in South Melbourne, is No. 17.
Melbourne music fans have also claimed Rick Springfield (whose family grew up in Ormond), Natalie Imbruglia (who lived in Melbourne filming Neighbours) and Divinyls (singer Chrissy Amphlett was born in Geelong) for the list, as well as embracing Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave.
The Melbourne, Music & Me exhibition features memorabilia from the past 40 years of Melbourne music.
YOUR TOP 40 MELBOURNE SONGS
1. Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House
2. Four Seasons in One Day – Crowded House
3. I Got You – Split Enz
4. Six Months in a Leaky Boat – Split Enz
5. I See Red – Split Enz
6. Throw Your Arms Around Me – Hunters & Collectors
7. Fraction Too Much Friction – Tim Finn
8. It’s a Long Way to the Top – AC/DC
9. History Never Repeats – Split Enz
10. Holy Grail – Hunters & Collectors
11. Before Too Long – Paul Kelly
12. Eagle Rock – Daddy Cool
13. How to Make Gravy – Paul Kelly
14. To Her Door – Paul Kelly
15. I Touch Myself – Divinyls
Chrissy Amphlett and Mark McEntee of The Divinyls.
Source: Supplied
16. Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye ft. Kimbra
17. You’re the Voice – John Farnham
18. Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy – Billy Thorpe
19. Horror Movie – Skyhooks
20. Solid Rock – Goanna
21. The Horses – Daryl Braithwaite
22. Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield
23. From St Kilda to Kings Cross – Paul Kelly
24. Torn – Natalie Imbruglia
25. Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue
26. The Boys Light Up – Australian Crawl
27. Where the Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue
28. Say Goodbye – Hunters & Collectors
29. Women in Uniform – Skyhooks
30. Who Can It Be Now? – Men at Work
31. Ego is Not a Dirty Word – Skyhooks
32. Reckless – Australian Crawl
33. The Ship Song – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
34. Jailbreak – AC/DC
35. Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
36. High Voltage – AC/DC
37. From Little Things Big Things Grow – Paul Kelly
38. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap – AC/DC
39. Shine – Vanessa Amorosi
Vanessa Amorosi.
Source: News Limited
40. Prisoner of Society/Second Solution – The Living End
MOLLY MELDRUM’S MELBOURNE TOP 10*
Up There Cazaly – Mike Brady
Toorak Cowboy – Skyhooks
Four Seasons in One Day – Crowded House
Howzat – Sherbet
The Boys Light Up – Australian Crawl
Holy Grail – Hunters & Collectors
You’re the Voice – John Farnham
Down Under – Men at Work
Absolutely Everybody – Vanessa Amorosi
Where the Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue
* In no particular order.
PS – Also Russell Morris’ The Real Thing because I’m never going to live it down.
PPS – Renee Geyer, The Bitch is Back. Sorry, that was Elton!
