Give me strength! Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has got it in the neck because his “Eighties Plus” Spotify playlist has only one Aussie song in it! Lol (They better not look at MY playlist then! Though, to be fair, I have plenty of other playlists that are Oz themed, with quite a number of antipodean acts. In amongst my 27 different Simple Minds playlists, and the several other Bowie ones.)
Bones of contention for artists deemed to be Australian rest on AC/DC (the Young brothers hailed from Scotland, as did Bon Scott – and Brian Johnson is a Geordie!), Jimmy Barnes (hello, Scotland, again), and John Farnham (actually English by birth).
You could almost say there is a second song in his 80s playlist that COULD be deemed Australian – Grace Jones’s Walking In The Rain was penned by Vanda and Young – and originally recorded under the name Flash And The Pan – Harry Vanda is actually Dutch…and, yes, you guessed it, George Young (AC/DC’s Malcolm and Angus’s older brother) is actually Scottish…so no luck trying to give Scotty a second song on his playlist there!
The PM has, however, gone for undoubtedly, identifiably Scottish by having Simple Minds on the playlist. Several times, in fact!
So…why some deem his 80s playlist “un-Australian”, I think Scotty, dear boy, has IMPECCABLE taste!
You can read the article about his playlist choices and the backlash on news.com.au by CLICKING HERE
And you can see the Spotify playlist in question below…
