A tribute to Chrissie Amphlett

[Sextus]

I saw so much - SO MUCH - live music around Sydney during the Eighties, and I was a fan of and saw so many bands - like Dragon, Angels, Mi-Sex, Icehouse, Rose Tattoo, The Church, The Models, The Reels, The Divinyls, Cold Chisel, Mother Goose, Kevin Borich, Mondo Rock, Oz Crawl....

A great moment during a Divinyl's performance was when someone would hand Chrissie Amphlett a jug of beer, an hour or so into their performance, and she'd pour the whole lot over her head, soaking her hair and her school uniform to cool herself down! It was a tradition!

So here is a very appropriate song by the Divinyls, as a tribute, with a great and sophisticated melody - and one you just never hear on the radio. And also some photos of this fantastic, sexy, intimidating, Aussie rock chick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKWSDckFUiw

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/chrissieamphlette4_zps0cf2515b.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/chrissieamphlette4_zps0cf2515b.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/chrissieamphlette5_zps679ba659.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/chrissieamphlette5_zps679ba659.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/chrissieamphlette6_zpsf15b07ef.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/chrissieamphlette6_zpsf15b07ef.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/chrissieamphlette3_zps0ad7f256.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/chrissieamphlette3_zps0ad7f256.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/christina-amphlette_zps88740977.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/christina-amphlette_zps88740977.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag116/waveflow/chrissieamphlette1_zps642c8350.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/waveflow/media/chrissieamphlette1_zps642c8350.jpg.html)

[Oldsteel]

Sextus, thanks for that. Watching and listening to that video just had my mind awash
With such vivid memories of the 80s band scene.
I remember being 16 or 17 and watching Chrissy on stage
And just being blown away by her raw power an performance.

[tojo]

You guys have graet taste in Oz rock!! I'm a tad younger and never saw most of thos bands in their 80's hey day, but have managed to catch a fair few through the nineties to now. Unfortunately the big one missing from my list was the Divynals :( I would have loved to have seen them. One of my favourite bands is the Hooodoo Gurus, so here's Dave Faulkner's (Gurus lead singer) mini tribute from facebook. Tis probably won't mean much to the asian punting bro's here but I hope Mr Sextus and Oldsteel appreciate it. Rock on! :

We are very sad to announce the passing of Chrissie Amphlett today (a few hours ago) after a long illness.
Chrissie has left an enormous musical and personal legacy and she will be greatly missed around the world, but personally by Rick Grossman who has always been close to Chrissie, beginning with their musical collaboration in The Divinyls. That working partnership grew into an even stronger friendship that has only deepened over the years and Rick has been in constant contact with Chrissie and her devoted partner Charlie throughout their terrible ordeal.
As for myself, I was lucky to get to work with Chrissie briefly when she sang lead vocals on a song that I helped write for the Antenna album. It is a source of great pride to me that Chrissie would often sing our song many times over the years whenever she performed solo. Chrissie also joined us onstage on a couple of memorable occasions for an off-the-cuff version of The Easybeats classic 'I'll Make You Happy', a song that she put her own unique stamp on when she recorded it with The Divinyls.
Singer, actor, friend, Chrissie's larger than life personality could never be constrained by the professional limitations other people may have tried to put on her. She was sassy, funny, gorgeous, brilliant and mercurial but always endearing and one of the most compelling performers Australia has ever produced.
I think I speak for everyone when I say we will always love her.
Our thoughts are for the many friends and family struggling with the reality of Chrissie's passing, particularly for Charlie who has lost his soul mate and the love of his life. Chrissie's painful struggle is over but Charlie's continues. We wish him love.
Dave Faulkner

[lalobahn]

Thanks Sextus,

Your post brings back so many memories of the bands you have mentioned that i have seen also of the venues in syd that i used to travel so far to haunt for many years which now no longer exist RIP Chrissie and TY

Here's a few more bands we may have missed Spy v Spy, Vixen, DMinor and the Dischords, The Numbers and Midnight Oil playing incognito as Ebb Tide and the Shorebreakers and the list goes on and on Long Live Aussie Rock

[Sextus]

I know that most of the guys here on the forum are too young to have known the Eighties band scene in Sydney, but I can witness that it was spectacular. When you lived it though, you thought that this was "normal" and that the quality of all these unique Australian bands and sounds would just continue on and on. In retrospect though, it was more like a golden era, and the longevity of the songs of the bands above says that more than anything I can. (Like the one in the link "Good die young" for example.) Yeah, so Chrissie's passing has more relevance to me I suppose, because she was so vital and energetic, like we all were back then, and I saw some of her performances from a metre away almost level with me, and you'd think such energy and youth would be more than enough to defend against mortality.

[Boney]

It's a fine, fine line between pleasure and pain


Mother Goose - Good Gawd

[Sextus]

It's a fine, fine line between pleasure and pain

Mother Goose - Good Gawd

Yes, it was a fine line Boney, but they did have a few nice, melodic tracks, and they did portray a certain innocence...

So influenced was I by the music of the Eighties that it dragged me out of my usual dagdom, and I started dressing stylishly in the kind of well cut, sharp fashioned, good haircut too. Since they ended I've gone back to being a dag - cargo shorts, etc...

There are a few ordinary girls of the eighties in this clip - and I thought the girls from the eighties really nailed the style well - better than we blokes. This song is a great version and treatment. They timed the clip to perfection, with the winter light fading at the end as the sun disappears for the "bad moon" to rise. (View full screen.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xDCrP6lZy8

[CunningLinguist]

Hey Sextus, You may want to download and listen to this: Chrissy Amphlett remembered (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/chrissie-amphlett-remembered/4653926)