I arrived at prac this Monday night only to read the tragic news of Chrissy Amphlett passing. I was shocked and sadened. Just the week before I had pulled out my Divinyls greatest hits album to show my flatmate one of my favourite tracks, following which she promptly asked if she could borrow it to have a full listen. The effect of the music Chrissy made speaks for itself. For me though it was the loss of my greatest idol. Chrissy meant a lot of things to a lot of people and she holds a special place in my journey to being the woman I am today.
The first Divinyls song that I fell in love with was "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" and it happened to be on the soundtrack to a film that will always be associated with a defining moment of my childhood - the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film.
Not only was it on the soundtrack but it was the song that accompanied one of my favourite training montages of all time. Forget Rocky, go and watch this... Ok so i intended to put a link here but I actually can't find that particular clip anywhere online so instead go here and buy the movie, watch it and you'll see the part I mean ;)
When the movie came out I was 7. My parents had not long divorced and as most kids who split their time I had a whole different schedule at my fathers house, part of which included watching 90210 on a friday night, which my mum would never have let me watch. Now I was a young girl watching 90210 so of course I had a crush on Luke Perry and upon seeing that he was in this movie my father took me to see it. I think he vastly underestimated the psyche of a 7 year old kid because even though I loved the movie I had nightmares for a week. However clearly the movie worked because I remember this as being the first time I realised they were my nightmares and I could control them, the monsters didn't have to be scary, I could fight back!!
Plus this scene in the film is where Buffy really goes from ditzy cheerleader to ass kicking slayer so a song by The Divinyls was a perfect choice. That song always made me feel amazingly powerful, as though I wasn't some helpless damsel in distress but I could rescue my own damn self.
I remember asking my mum about the song and about the band. I distinctly remember this being the first time where I consciously thought, "I should remember that because now I know that I like that band". Ahhh 7 yr old epiphanies.
I will undoubtedly write an entire separate post about that moment also kicking off my Buffy/Whedon discovery arc but for now that will have to wait.
Chrissy was the first person that I really admired, though at the time I was probably too young to truly appreciate her impact, and I held on to that first impression of raw female rock power. It took years before I found my true musical home and because of bad timing I just managed to miss the riot grrrl movement of the early-mid nineties. Where I ended up was in the local punk rock scene and while I deliberately sought out female bands, such as The Distillers and Tsunami Bomb, sadly they were few and far between. This leads directly into how I moved from watching bands to photographing bands to being in one but again I think this deserves its own post so it will have to wait.
Suffice to say that whenever I need to be reminded of what it meant to be a strong, independent woman on stage listening to or watching Chrissy was the perfect reminder.
I really don't know who else I would have had to look up to if it wasn't for Chrissy being who she was. Which brings me to my final point. Australia has so many amazing musicians. We've known this for decades and every now and then we remind the rest of the world of it too. Recently I've lost count of the number of times I've read or heard international artists who are touring here praising us on our rich rock heritage, of ACDC. Yep, they might be the only band they know but they're also a flag-post, one that reminds us that Australian music heritage has a long and distinguished line of rock and roll icons and yet we seem to have become caught up in the rather Americanised glamour of pop music. Or are we?
Here I will take what may seem like a slight segue to make my point. Pink sold out 58 shows in Australia in 2009 on her Funhouse Tour. It broke the record for the biggest tour in the history of the country. Over 660,000 people attended the shows and it grossed over $80 million. She did 12 shows in North America.
So how did she sell out 58 shows here? Because she's the closest damn thing to a female rock icon that contemporary music has produced since Chrissy Amphlett. Now i'm not discounting the amazing spectacle of her live shows, the quality of her songs or her talent (which she has in spades). What I'm pointing out is that we as a country really LOVE women with attitude. We love attitude and rebelliousness in general which is why love rock and roll. We know it deep down and yet we seem to have openly forgotten.
I think we're way overdue for a reminder.
R.I.P Chrissy Amphlett - You paved the way for strong, sexy, outspoken women, and we haven't forgotten.
