It’s nearly time we were leavin’
We’ll have one more for the road
It don’t mean nothin’
It don’t mean nothin’
So we gather ’round the table
Raise our champagne in the air
It don’t mean nothin’
It don’t mean nothin’
‘Cause we’ve got
This night together, we’ll have
Here now forever
Ah, don’t tell me now, you can
Write me a letter
Where will we be in 50 years?
In 50 years?
Uncanny X-Men – May, 1985
I was walking past the Croxton Park Hotel in Thornbury the other day and saw on the upcoming gig guide that Radio Birdman were going to do a 50 year anniversary gig.
I had never listened to any Radio Birdman before, but I do have a friend who is a fan of them, and owns the vinyl of their album Radios Appear, which is how I know the name. My walk inspired me to listen Radios Appear on my Apple Music account the other night, whilst sipping some red wine.
I must admit that it was not really what I expected – it is a bit more punk than what I thought the name promised.
But they are just one of many of the classic Australian bands of my childhood and teenage years who are making a milestone anniversary or farewell tour. Just like TISM, who recently did a lot of guerrilla reunion gigs and released new music.
I guess that in their early senior years (all of these musicians would now qualify for the seniors card, as they are older than me and I am happily retired), a lot of those bands are trying to top up their superannuation balances by tapping into their ageing fan bases. After all, not everyone has been diligently paying 10 per cent into their defined benefit superannuation funds to max out their retirement benefits like yours truly.
One thing that grabbed my attention from the Apple Music algorithmic playlist when I was listening to a lot of music the other night was the addition of two new Uncanny X-Men songs. Given that I do occasionally play ‘Cos Life Hurts, the debut album from this archetypical bogan Melbourne band from the mid 1980s, it is unsurprising that the Apple algorithm would alert me to new music from that band.
And so, I listened to the online EP that Uncanny X-Men just offered the music world. It consists of two songs – It’s A Shame, and We Love It.
It doesn’t really do too much for me, though I suspect that Brian Mannix is doing a sly dig at the weaponisation of gender pronouns in We Love it, which appears to be a commentary on the contemporary world.
After all, the X-Men’s best work was almost 40 years – the bogan anthem Work (which is about not wanting to work, which is apt for a bunch of lads from Braybrook) and the poignant power ballad 50 Years, which was released just over 39 years ago.
39 years…. It is quite sobering to look and see how much time has passed since that ballad was released. I was a teenager in my penultimate year of high school and now I am nearing the end of a year of pre-retirement leave and about five and half weeks from officially starting my retirement. An ocean of water has passed under the bridge in my life since that time.
When, in May 1985, Brian Mannix asked us ‘where would we be in 50 years?’, we all felt almost immortal. I know that I did. Yet most of that time has already elapsed and I myself see myself increasingly confronted by my growing mortality. Only eleven years are left until that question is answered.
Brian Mannix has himself offered a tentative answer to that question in his 2018 solo release, Tomorrow:
I don’t have to do a thing tomorrow
Tomorrow might not come at all.
I suppose, as the title of their debut album 39 years ago reminded us, Life does hurt. But it is still well worth living and grasping to the last breath.
Lost For Words! 