Known Pleasures

In this special episode we discuss the New Wave Bandwagon Jumpers. Be it a post punk appropriation by genuine fans, a dabble in the New Wave by former wave makers or an opportunists opportunity to sell records. We went in hard and found our top ten recording artists who dared to try their hand at new music in the early eighties. Our bandwagons are in a circle. Let the gunfire commence.

If the Tears For Fears story ended after their first album we would gladly induct them into our own Post Punk Hall Of Fame, no hesitation. But in 1985, they went out to rule the world with well crafted, hook laden pop songs that America fell 'Head Over Heels' for and MTV heralded them as one of the bands at the forefront of the 2nd British Invasion. So, after that first album do Tears For Fears qu...

It’s fairly safe to say there’s never been another Australian band, before or since, like The Birthday Party. While it would be unfair to blame these Boys Next Door entirely for the subsequent invention of Goth, they were most certainly grave-side when the body was being exhumed. We give you the lowdown on the wild ride of how St Nick got his start – and more. Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotif...

When talk turns to legendary bass players of the punk and post punk era, one name always surfaces near the top: JJ Burnell of The Stranglers. We caught up with the Euroman himself ahead of their 2020 Australian tour.   People Are The Enemy Interview:  http://peoplearetheenemy.libsyn.com/people-are-the-enemy-episode-104?fbclid=IwAR1rcBC-g_eUj8hGXlDBs12boxxl8jS3J5Fu8g3q5Hincs9yO2HG96lrol0  

At first glance, The Cars might seem an unlikely choice for a post-punk dissection, but they’re just as much a part of the US conversation as Blondie, Talking Heads and Devo. So, put the top down, your pedal to the metal and take a spin with The Cars. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20wz3mYLp8xwxhV0pEpOQX?si=9I4-Nfb_QaKI-81mVYkbxg  

Ever wondered what the best 5 albums of the post-punk era were, as defined by three self-appointed experts? Well, wonder no more as we’ve got you covered.

Gang of Four were at the forefront of post punk and no one did more to influence the sound of post punk guitar in particular, than Andy Gill. We spoke with Andy before he toured Australia in 2020 in one of his last recorded interviews.

When their single Vienna reached #2 in the UK charts in February 1981 Ultravox became popstars overnight, but overnight had been a long time coming. In the 7 years since their formation, shedding a lead singer on their travels, they’d evolved from New York Dolls and Velvet Underground wannabes to become standard bearers for innovative, sometimes epic electronic pop. They were never the darlings of...

I had no idea what a mod was. I didn’t know about Lambretta scooters, Chelsea boots or cashmere jumpers. So when I first laid eyes on The Jam I was confused. Where is the spikey hair, the ripped t-shirts, the bondage trousers and the safety pins? Who was this well-dressed trio in Union Jacks playing music like The Who on speed? In this podcast we discuss their six studio albums from when they were...

Were The Stranglers an ageing punk band who Got A Grip On Themselves before turning Golden Brown, or just a bunch of brass-necked bovver boys with a yen for karating their way into trouble? Are they punk, post punk or are they just…The Stranglers? Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/6KIehdHVAKygkExz42zRgQ?si=dJcn7vn2SOmsnshYIADeqA

From the 'Rubber Capital of the World' - Akron Ohio, these Spudboys in Ziggurat hats carved out a career in popular music by making the most uncompromising, angular, robotic tunes that really had disaster written all over them. But their rise to prominence coincided with the New Wave movement where to be unusual was the cool thing to be. So, what happened when they were through being cool? Spotify...

A group that persistently divided the critics, to some Bauhaus were brooding masters of edgy but elegant, choppy guitar-riffed bass-grooved masterpieces that spoke to the pain they felt amidst an uncaring world. To others, Bauhaus were wallies. But while the band’s pitch-dark lyrics and highly charged theatrics were just a bit too preposterous for some to swallow, over the course of four diverse a...

Formed amid the frenzy of the Melbourne new-wave music scene, the brutal hypnotic tribal funk of this six-, or eight-, or 10-piece band (depending on when you saw them) was as massive and thrilling a sound as we’d ever heard.  So, what was it all about? Pub-rock legends, or as big a disappointment as Australian post-punk has witnessed? Here we discuss the life and times of Hunters and Collectors....

The Clash, perhaps more than any of the rest of the Class of ’77, seemed to be looking for a way out of punk almost from the start. In an era where it felt like music could actually change the world, they set about making themselves “the only band that mattered”. No band since has fought the law and won, like The Clash. Spotify Playlist Link :  https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/5L5...

During the punk years there were many rules to follow. What to wear, what to listen to and what you should avoid listening to. Punk was an all encompassing lifestyle. But one band with one song proudly proclaimed that they played pop music and it opened the gates for many punk and new wave artists to embrace the catchy melodic chorus while still retaining a bit of aggression, a bit of quirkiness a...

Despite their success, Talking Heads made a career out of never really fitting in. With no discernable image or direction apart from a desire to stand out, they emerged at the dawn of US punk, played the game their way – and won. How did these very original outsiders eventually Stop Making Sense and go on to triumph in their own Revenge of the Nerds? Spotify Playlist Link:  https://open.spotify.co...

Forget the waitresses, forget the cocktail bars, forget the brilliantly simple chorus that ensured Don’t You Want Me would be a number one single around the world. While it’s understandable that many people’s memories of The Human League revolve around their global smash hit, for the real story we needed to go back to The Future. How did a bunch of sci-fi loving non-musicians from a grim industria...

When it comes to influential bands coming out of Liverpool, they don’t get any bigger than Echo & The Bunnymen. (Except for one notable exception). From the reptilian snap of Crocodiles, the other-worldly Heaven Up Here, the sharpened spine of Porcupine to the pop deluge of Ocean Rain, the Post Punk output of Echo & The Bunnymen cemented their place in the pantheon of New Wave greats and for these...

Killing Joke emerged from the squats of Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove during what became known as the second wave of punk in late 1978. They cast a long, dark, influential shadow over bands as diverse as Metallica and Nirvana but it is their early works that set the template and reconfigured what the noise left by the end of punk could be. Spotify Playlist Link:  https://open.spotify.com/user/12...

Flowers (or Icehouse as they came to be known) and Models might seem like strange bedfellows, but both bands sprang from the same highly concentrated influence the explosion of punk had over the Australian music scene before going on to the wider commercial success they are perhaps better known for today. Spotify Playlist Link:  https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/0z6CF7WXufgzeNmcz5S...

The eighties, unlike any other decade, started with music being created on instruments that had never before existed. Sure, the Moog had appeared in the late sixties and showed up in various recordings throughout the seventies, but by the turn of the decade there were many drum machines, sequencers, analogue & digital keyboards that began to change the musical landscape in many ways. And this elec...

To the derision of many in the punk movement, The Police would go on to become the most successful new wave band of all. Their sparse, insistently rhythmic, impossibly catchy songs simply took the world by storm, and within three years they were arguably the biggest band on the planet. So, with the benefit of almost four decades’ hindsight, how does the legacy of The Police stack up? Pleasant, but...

In 1977 John Joseph Lydon (nee Rotten) made his name defining punk. 12 months later he arguably went one better to invent post-punk. A mere 9 months after breaking up the incendiary Sex Pistols the first output from his new band Public Image Limited arrived in October 1978 in the perfect form of the single Public Image. Suddenly a lot more seemed possible. Spotify Playlist Link:  https://open.spot...

There has been some debate between the three of us as to whether Japan deserve to be categorized as a Post Punk band. They did start their life in 1974 as an almost glam rock outfit looking like the New York Dolls playing a kind of punk/funk hybrid. They then went through various changes in look, style and performance and unwittingly (much to their chagrin) spearheaded the ‘New Romantic’ movement...

Conjoined in many ways aside from Robert Smith’s stint as touring Banshee guitarist, the links between these two may not be immediately obvious but as post-punk pioneers they stand out for their early albums in particular. Sounds and the way to treat them – once the shackles were gone nothing was off limits. Spotify Playlist Link:  https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/6h3xMAqIwHiHu3Ai...