Rebellious Musicians Not Allowed in Modern Australia

Over the last 60 or 70 years, musicians have often been at the forefront of counter-culture movements, challenging societal norms and authority. Think of the 1950s and 60s rock ‘n’ roll era, or African American hip-hop culture, or the punk rock movement of the 1970s with lyrics typically revolving around anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian themes. These musicians pushed the boundaries of what was socially acceptable, using their music to challenge norms and express dissent.

I remember a time on ABC’s live Saturday-morning music TV show, Recovery, a G-rated time slot, where American punk rock band Green Day were being interviewed by the host Dylan Lewis, and then one of the members started reciting some of their more controversial lyrics, “Dickhead, f**k-face!”, I believe he said. The host tries to stop them and then stands up on his chair and shouts, “It’s all over! Oh well, it’s been good having Recovery on air.” Green Day responded by hijacking instruments from the show’s house band, with Dylan looking rather despondent, while the band performed an impromptu rendition of their song “The Grouch”, swear words and all. And just when Dylan was trying to wrap things up, one of the band members went on camera and shouted out, “You just got knocked the f**k out!”, with a dejected Dylan looking into the camera saying, “We’re going to get taken off air more now”, as the band was escorted offstage. Understandably, many people rang up and complained, and the ABC had to issue an apology. Unsurprisingly, punk rockers Green Day never saw the need to apologise to the Australian Government-run ABC.

The BBC had a similar run-in with American alternative rockers Rage Against the Machine in 2009. The BBC had asked the band not to swear during a live performance of their song Killing in the Name. They kept their word for a few minutes, and then lead singer Zack de la Rocha started to repeat the line, “I won’t do what you tell me”, a number of times before he started screaming, “F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!”, over and over. He even provided his own sign language in case you were hard of hearing, or the BBC muted him. He managed to repeat this line four times on a live broadcast before a producer can be heard in the background saying, “Get rid of it! Sorry, we needed to get rid of that, because that suddenly turned into something we were not expecting. Well, we were kind of expecting it, and asked them not to do it, but they did it anyway.” Who would have thought, a band called Rage Against the Machine (not Comply With the Machine), that is notoriously against censorship, and oppressive social and political structures, tells the BBC to f**k off?

And now fast forward to modern-day woke Australia. Here’s a band called The Jezabels, which I used to listen to on ABC’s Triple J. Recently, lead singer Haley Mary caused some controversy by posting a picture of herself wearing a Make America Great Again cap. She used the post to express her concerns about Australia’s awful Misinformation Bill, but the MAGA cap led to assumptions about her political stance and sparked a backlash. Her other band members quickly distanced themselves from Mary’s comments, stating that they do not support far-right language or ideologies. She’s essentially been cancelled in the Australian music industry, for wearing a hat. Oh yes, if you’re Australian and a musician, you have to toe the line. Dissenting voices are not allowed! Mary labelled the music industry as “super woke” and said she had been living in “self-censorship” for far too long.

And finally, just to give you a taste of the state of play of the Australian music industry, just a couple of days ago, the 2024 ARIA Music Awards were held. 2024 music pretty much comes down to identity politics. Troye Sivan, who is openly gay and an advocate for LGBT rights, considered a Pride icon, won the Album of the Year and Best Solo Artist. G Flip, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, won the Song of the Year.

Aboriginal band 3% won the Best Hip Hop Release and Best Cover Art. Lead singer Nooky said, “This is the year the most blackfellas have been nominated and we’re taking them all home! We made this album at a time when Australia said our people shouldn’t have a voice. Well it looks like they f**king heard it!” Other Indigenous artists who won awards include: Troy Cassar-Daley, Emily Wurramara, Nathaniel Miller, DOBBY, and JK-47.

So basically, as long as you don’t show any support for Donald Trump, and you identify as something other than a straight white man, you’ll fit right in to the Australia music industry! Rebellious musicians, musicians that want to speak out against woke culture, are not allowed. Toe the line and keep your mouth shut!

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn