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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Oz Punk

Sends a permanent shiver down my spine

The Boys Next Door, 1978 Michel Lawrence. © Michel Lawrence

Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met as students at the University of Queensland in 1975. Brisbane ‘had a hayseed image’ back then, Forster says, ‘lacking the cosmopolitan groove of Sydney or Melbourne’. Yet it was Brisbane that gave rise to The Go-Betweens (formed by Forster and McLennan in 1977) and The Saints – bands whose originality was as unforeseen then as it is venerated now.

1 The Saints, London, 1978 Gary Ede. Courtesy of the artist. © Gary Ede. 2 The Saints, CCAE (Canberra College of Advanced Education), 7 March 1980, Chris Bailey (vocals), 1980 'pling. Courtesy of the estate of the artist. © Estate of 'pling.

For Ed Kuepper, a founding member of The Saints, Brisbane was a stimulus: ‘You’re forced into a situation where, okay, if you want to do something, you’ve got to do it yourself’. In 1976, without having been blooded on the Sydney or Melbourne pub circuit, The Saints recorded a single – ‘(I’m) Stranded’ – and distributed copies themselves locally and overseas. With its grungy, unadulterated guitar riffs, it was described by the UK’s Sounds magazine as the ‘Single of this week and every week’, and earned The Saints the distinction of releasing a punk single before The Sex Pistols did.

1 Radio Birdman (cover shot for Radios Appear album), 1977. 2 Radio Birdman, 1977. 3 Radio Birdman, 1977. All Bob King. Courtesy of the artist © Bob King

Meanwhile, in Sydney, Radio Birdman – formed in 1974 by Rob Younger and Deniz Tek – had garnered mainstream distaste with their unpredictable, almost visceral, performance style. In 1977 though, once punk had become a thing, Radio Birdman were signed to record their first LP, Radios Appear. Earlier that year, Nick Cave had seen Radio Birdman and The Saints live in Melbourne. For Cave, as writer Clinton Walker says, the Saints gig ‘was living, breathing confirmation of what was possible, even out of little old Australia’s supposed backwater’.

1 Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard (of The Birthday Party), 1983 Bleddyn Butcher. © Bleddyn Butcher Bleddyn@Tenderprey.com. 2 Nick Cave, 1999 Howard Arkley. © Estate of Howard Arkley. Licensed by Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art. 3 Dave Graney, 1996 Bleddyn Butcher. © Bleddyn Butcher Bleddyn@Tenderprey.com. 4 Dave Graney and Clare Moore, 1996 Bleddyn Butcher. © Bleddyn Butcher Bleddyn@Tenderprey.com.

"Sends a permanent shiver down my spine" taken from ‘Shivers’. Written by R Howard (Mute Song Ltd / Mushroom Music)

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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