126 •Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM
THE RETURN OF".4-3#.6-:
REMEMBERING AUSTRALIA’S
MUSICAL DIVERSITY
/L]*LXIIUHThe ABC’s"K@RRHB"NTMSCNVMVHULHV DSSHDUV DW ĺUVW WR MXVW EH
a nostalgia piece. Broadcast during"NTMSCNVM’s original timeslot
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remember what it was like sitting in front a television at a particu
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YouTube. It also prominently features nods to those who like to ‘re
member when’ – each episode is themed around a year of the clas
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the bands featured and voiceovers providing context about Australia
at the time. Interestingly, when you look up the"K@RRHB "NTMSCNVM
listing on the ABC’s website, the show is categorised as ‘comedy’
rather than ‘music’ – seemingly nodding to the idea that this quaint
little show is, today, something to be embraced with humour rather
than taken too seriously.
To see"NTMSCNVMpurely as something of a funny museum
piece is to miss the point, however. Although lighthearted in its
construction, the series goes a long way to reminding contempo
rary viewers just how progressive the Australian music industry,
and Australian broadcasting more generally, once was. Importantly,
"K@RRHB "NTMSCNVMhas been carefully curated to include clips, links
and notes about musicians and segments of the industry that, so far,
have not made headlines or featured in the many ‘best of’ compila
tions. For example, the ‘1980’ episode shows a segment featur
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You might think this is relatively unimportant, and that her pres
ence – compared to that of the iconic and rightly adored Ian ‘Molly’
Meldrum – was mere garnish. This presumption, however, is imme
diately challenged when we see her talking to Paul McCartney, then
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LVWLF DUWLFOHV DERXW"NTMSCNVM, thoroughly researching the show’s
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RI}0HOGUXPLQWHUPVRIHPSOR\PHQWDQGoQDWLRQDOWUHDVXUHpVWDWXVbeing given access to popular music icons of this calibre reveals
that this woman was certainly a big deal once.
Meanwhile,"NTMSCNVMSURGXFHUV OLNH 0LFKDHO 6KULPSWRQ DQG
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unsurprisingly, the cult of Meldrum only continues to swell. This is
not to understate the importance of these men, but rather to high
light how"K@RRHB "NTMSCNVMpV LQFOXVLRQ RI WKH ORVW ĺJXUH RI &KHUU\
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narratives of Australian history. With just a few little clips, all of a
sudden the contemporary viewer is shown that therewerewomen
contributing to the music scene at the time – even if they have sub
sequently been left out of the history books.
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mances shown in"K@RRHB "NTMSCNVM. While icons of Australian
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and solo entertainer Peter Allen show the diversity in Australian
audiences’ music taste. Allen’s appeal has been widely acknowl
edged, of course, particularly in a recent biographical miniseries
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was then, like now, a musical and ideological challenge to what has
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showed a daring that, these days, still has the capacity to shock.
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known singles also revisited in the episode – making it even more
curious that the band has not been remembered in the same way
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All of this poses questions regarding the industry as it stands
today. The beauty of the contemporary music scene is that it is
fragmented and able to cater for a variety of niches – but this is
the scene’s weakness, too. Audiences who are not already familiar
with an artist may have trouble just ‘stumbling across’ them, and, in
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incubation hub like"NTMSCNVMto help develop their work. Much
like we saw after the,NKKXminiseries concluded its broadcast run,
there are many now asking when Australian television will again get
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sooner rather than later.COUNTDOWN