Music of Australia

Contemporary fusions of indigenous and Western styles are exemplified in the works of Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Christine Anu, and mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music.

[6] Despite the popularity of some of his work, Little failed to launch indigenous music in the country—from the 1970s onwards, groups such as Coloured Stone, Warumpi Band, and No Fixed Address helped improve the image of the genre.

[5] The success of Yothu Yindi—winners of eight ARIA Awards[9]—was followed in by Kev Carmody, Tiddas, Archie Roach and Christine Anu, and numerous other indigenous Australian musicians.

In 2024, Indigenous Australian artists have achieved incredible success at home and abroad, with chart-toppers like The Kid Laroi, Thelma Plum and Baker Boy (who raps and sings in both English and Yolngu) dominating.

Early Australian ballads sing of the harsh ways of life of the epoch and of such people and events as bushrangers, swagmen, drovers, stockmen and shearers.

[10] Later themes which endure to the present include the experiences of war, of droughts and flooding rains, of Aboriginality and of the railways and trucking routes which link Australia's vast distances.

A number of British singers have spent periods in Australia and have included Australian material in their repertoires, e.g. A. L. Lloyd, Martin Wyndham-Read and Eric Bogle.

Notable Australian exponents of the folk revival movement included both European immigrants such as Eric Bogle, noted for his sad lament to the battle of Gallipoli "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", and more contemporary artists such as Archie Roach and Paul Kelly.

Possibly the first Australian song to compete with imported recordings was Good-Night Mister Moon by Allan Ryan and William Flynn [11][12][13][14][15] Australia has a long tradition of country music, which has developed a style quite distinct from its US counterpart.

Another, more Americanized form of Australian country music was pioneered in the 1930s by such recording artists as Tex Morton, and later popularized by Slim Dusty, best remembered for his 1957 song "A Pub With No Beer", and Smoky Dawson.

Popular Australian country songs include "Click Go the Shears" (Traditional), "Lights on the Hill" (1973), "I Honestly Love You" (1974), "True Blue" (1981), and "Not Pretty Enough" (2002).

Some of the most recognised performers in that period were those associated with the long-running Australian Broadcasting Corporation series Play School, including veteran actor-musician Don Spencer and actor and singer Noni Hazlehurst.

Anecdotal evidence suggest that racism was a key factor—in his book on the history of Australian radio, author and broadcaster Wayne Mac recounts that when a local Melbourne DJ of the 1960s played the new Ike and Tina Turner single "River Deep Mountain High" it was immediately pulled from the playlist by the station's program manager for being "too noisy and too black".

By the late 1970s she was one of Australia's top singing stars, winning several Queen of Pop awards and hosting her own national TV variety series.

Following their initial dissolution in 1982 Cold Chisel lead vocalist Jimmy Barnes embarked on a successful solo career that has continued from the 1980s to the present.

Australian soul singer/songwriters like Daniel Merriweather, has after several successful collaborations with artists such as Mark Ronson, released his official debut album, Love & War, in June 2009.

1 for two consecutive weeks[28][29] In 2004, Australian Idol finalist Paulini's debut single "Angel Eyes" and album One Determined Heart both reached number one on the ARIA charts and were certified platinum.

Despite commercial radio resistance to the more progressive music being produced by bands like Spectrum and Tully, acts as diverse as AC/DC, Sherbet and John Paul Young were able to achieve major success and develop a unique sound for Australian rock.

From 1975, key agents for the increased exposure of local music were the nationally broadcast ABC-TV television pop show Countdown, which premiered in late 1974, and Australia's first non-commercial all-rock radio station Double Jay, which opened in January 1975.

[45] At the same time, a number of Australian bands relocated to the U.K. and particularly London to further their artistic and commercial endeavours, among whom were the Moodists, the Go-Betweens, the Birthday Party with guitarist Rowland S. Howard, Laughing Clowns, Foetus, SPK, the Triffids, and Peter Loveday.

By the early 1990s, its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals.

[48] Several Australian bands, including Cosmic Psychos and Feedtime are cited as precursors to grunge, their music influencing the Seattle scene through the college radio broadcasts of Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman and members of Mudhoney.

[49][50] Chris Dubrow from The Guardian states that, in the late 1980s, Australia's "sticky-floored...alternative pub scene" in seedy inner-city areas produced grunge bands with "raw and awkward energy" such as X, Feedtime and Lubricated Goat.

[54] The band's trio of teenagers—Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar—were still in high school when the album went to number one in Australia and New Zealand.

[55][56] The 1990s saw continued overseas success from groups such as AC/DC,[57] INXS,[58] Men at Work, Midnight Oil, the Bad Seeds,[59] and a new indie rock scene started to develop locally.

Traditional rock bands such as Regurgitator have developed an original sound by combining heavy guitars and electronic influences,[77] and rock-electro groups, most notably Rogue Traders, have become popular with mainstream audiences.

[97][98][96][99] Fraksha, alongside fellow MC's Scotty Hinds, Diem and Murky, formed the first Australian based grime collective, Smash Brothers, in 2010.

From this time, the trend towards eclectic style fusions has continued with ensembles like The Catholics, Australian Art Orchestra, Tongue and Groove, austraLYSIS, Wanderlust, The Necks and many others.

[109] Australian composers of church music include George Savin De Chanéet, John Albert Delany, Edwin Fowles, Nathan Isaac, Alfred Wheeler, Christian Helleman, Guglielmo Enrico Lardelli, Arthur Massey, Frederick Augustus Packer, William Robert Knox, George William Torrance, Alberto Zelman, Ernest Edwin Mitchell (-1951) and Tharawal Aboriginal Tom Foster.

Other performing artists such as Catholic nun Sister Janet Mead, Aboriginal crooner Jimmy Little and Australian Idol contestant Guy Sebastian have held Christianity as central to their public persona.