I want to start a new kind of post on the blog. The ‘Trying to explain…’ post. It seems 50% of my time here is spent reminiscing (with my lovely colleagues especially) about stuff back in Australia while the other 50% of the time is spent trying to explain this to the US natives.
First topic on the ‘Trying to Explain…’ category of blog post is about –
JIMMY BARNES.
How can you explain Jimmy Barnes? Well this came to me on the subway this morning when I was at Chambers Street station and realized I had been listening to Barnestorming the whole way to work. To me, it is normal to listen to a grown man scream “Drives the man behind those driving wheels!!!!!!!!!!” first thing in the morning. That is what Triple M would be playing back in Melbourne.. it is NORMAL. But then let’s try and explain Jimmy Barnes to Bill. It ends up being always a long the lines of.. “Well he is kinda like your Bruce Springsteen but he screams more… if that makes sense??!” And it doesn’t and that is the problem.
My little love of Jimmy Barnes began in about 1987-1988. I was heavily influenced by my aunty, Yvonne who loved Barnesy. So of course, if she loved him I had to love him too. Dad had the Freight Train Heart CD (one of our first ever CDs!) and we also had Working Class Man. Before long I had the DOUBLE CASSETTE of Barnestorming – his live album that was amazing. He also had another guy playing with him called Johnny Diesel (now that is a whole different blog post!!) and to hear those songs was MAGIC. Especially when he sang ‘When a man loves a woman’ – I LOVED his version. And look.. here it is!
I distinctly remember covering my reader cover when I was then in grade 5 with this amazing picture of INXS (and that is a whole different blog post as well!) that I got from Smash Hits magazine. Mum would buy that magazine for me each week from the local newsagents and I blame her for starting my lifelong battle with magazine addiction. Anyway, so on my reader cover I had this picture of INXS and then on the inside it was ALL Jimmy Barnes. Then on the other side I wrote in my coolest handwriting (and in a special silver texta) I LUV INXS AND JIMMY BARNES 4 EVA. That was where it began.
So then I was also given the black ‘Barnestorming Tour’ t-shirt. I wore that until it was grey.
What I am trying to make a point of, as an Australian, Jimmy Barnes music is just ingrained in you. EVERYONE knows a Jimmy Barnes song. I discovered Jimmy Barnes before I discovered Cold Chisel (the band he started in) though it didn’t take me long and I think I worked out very quickly that ‘The last plane out of Sydney…‘ song was sung by him.
And how about this – I was even in a netball team called Barnestormers!
So I grew up a little more, still listening to Barnesy and then he released Soul Deep. I made a tape recording of the CD whilst sitting in the lounge room and listened to this on repeat over and over and over again. I also remember the night my cousin Grant and I went to see him live at the Tennis Centre in 1992. It is still one of the loudest concerts I have ever experienced – and we were right on the side of the stage. Us and JIMMMMMY!!! It was just awesome and I remember loving the fact that I woke up the next morning and I had buzzing in my ears. Off Soul Deep, he also released When something is wrong with my baby with John Farnham which still gets a lot of airplay around the traps and there is good Diesel action in this song too.
I Gotcha was my favourite song from Soul Deep and Jimmy was all souly n’ stuff wearing suave suits and using groovy microphones. This song is amazing played as loud as you can play it… awesome.
Later, Jimmy released Flesh and Wood which introduced me to The Badloves. I still love The Badloves today.
For many people overseas, they know of Jimmy Barnes simply through the movie The Lost Boys. He was the one that sang Good Times with INXS. This is also Michael Hutchence in absolute perfection!
Jimmy has released so many more albums since then and many more memorable songs. He does tour after tour and he is always just there. While I don’t play him nearly as often as I used to, it is so much fun to just listen to his music just to take me back in time. I think that is the best way to explain Jimmy Barnes – he is always around whether on the radio, playing somewhere or appearing on some TV show.
The funny thing is, he even played over here in 2009 at the Australia Plays Broadway concert at Carnegie Hall… BARNSEY DOES NYC!!! And he wore a suit again to sing at Carols by Candlelight –
Is there nothing this man can’t do… ??! Do you have a Jimmy Barnes memory? If so, share it! Also, if you have any messages of commiseration for Bill as this is what he has to put up with, you can also leave them here too.
20 + years of listening to Jimmy Barnes and still going strong!