Desperate by Divinyls
When the Divinyls' first video for a song called "Boys in Town" hit the MTV airwaves back in 1983 it was as if singer Christina Amphlett had reinvented rock 'n' roll. Bucktoothed and dressed in a schoolgirl uniform and torn fishnet stockings that would make Britney Spears blush -- and screaming singing into a light-saber microphone, I just couldn't wait to find out everything I could about this riveting new band. Almost to my surprise, their entire debut long-player was every bit as good as the song in the video -- much in the mode of the Pretenders debut a few years earlier. The perfect pop song "Only You," the playful "Ring Me Up" and "Science Fiction" and the suicidal angst of "Elsie" -- the album had it all. Chrissie's band rocked and her snearing, overtly sexual lyrics and persona were like a breath of fresh air in the era of Quarterflash, Sheena Easton and Irene Cara.
A great sophomore album and a less-great third effort preceded their 1991 self-titled disc, probably named as such because by then Divinyls was essentially a vehicle for Chrissie and Mark McEntee rather than a full-fledged band (a la Chrissie Hynde, once again). That album delivered the band its first huge hit, "I Touch Myself," which created a stir and topped the charts around the globe. In a classic case of be careful what you wish for, the hit and its backlash ended up virtually destroying the band. They wouldn't record a follow-up album for nearly six years and by then the iron was so cold it didn't even see distribution outside of their native Australia (interestingly, that album's first single, "Human on the Inside," would end up being re-recorded by Chrissie Hynde for the Pretenders' 1999 album, "Viva El Amor.")
All these years later the band Divinyls is remembered as a one-hit wonder -- that female masturbation anthem. Yet one listen to "Desperate" -- which has long been out of print and sells on eBay for close to $100 for the CD -- will show you that there was so much more to this band, one of Australia's finest music imports ever.
Especially: "Boys in Town," "Only Lonely" "Siren Song" (Big Bird never sang the ABCs with such charisma!)
2 comments:
Did you know that tonight "Boy from Oz", the arena tour, opens tonight in Sydney with Chrissie Amphlett playing Judy Garland - the role she played in the very first pre-Broadway production of the theatre production of Boy From Oz in Australia?
No, I had no idea. I was just in a Chrissie mood tonight so I wrote this. Maybe it was kismet :-)
Have you seen the show? I hear she was wonderful in it last time. The photos I saw were great.
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