Australian indie rock

While released by EMI, this domestic production inspired a generation of bands, singers and songwriters that home-grown Aussie talent could produce world-beating music.

By the early 1980s Sydney had begun to eclipse the post-punk explosion of gloomy drug-addled Melbourne with its beach culture, summery pub music scene, and hubris.

Phantom's success would inspire others to follow, with important indie champions, such as Died Pretty signed to the fledgling Citadel Label.

The number of venues exploded, and fueled by the expansion of FM radio and a prosperous economy, Sydney begun to prove that independent bands could make a healthy living on the amazing pub music circuit at home, without having to first strike out to tour overseas and release internationally acclaimed albums.

Kim Salmon and James Baker later once again collaborated in the underground rock supergroup Beasts of Bourbon, also featuring Tex Perkins and Spencer P. Jones.

The city spawned a lot of experimental and gothic rock, of which Nick Cave's band, the Boys Next Door (later to become the Birthday Party) was the most notable and influential.

[4] At the time, there was a mood for change on the Gold Coast music scene, as seen at the Macintosh Island concert, attended by around 2,000 people was headlined by The Strand, and also included Ratpak and several other local bands.

Bands who did not fit this manifest were largely left behind by this process, and did attract smaller audiences (predominantly in their 20s and based in bohemian inner urban areas).

Other bands, such as The Paradise Motel explored the more cinematic scope of string sections combined with guitar/bass/drums, especially on debut recordings such as Left Over Life To Kill.

In the early 2000s, a notable alternative and experimental music scene began out of Sydney, including acts such as The Captain's Package, Rica Tetas, Slimey Things and Darth Vegas.

Chapter Music, established by Guy Blackman in Perth but later relocated to Melbourne, released recordings on both vinyl and CD by a wide range of artists, including Panel Of Judges and Sleepy Township, as well as a compilation of Australian 1970s/1980s post punk titled Can't Stop It.