As I type this the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is banging away outside my house, and I fear that the rainbow of a technicolour yawn will soon be vomited on my doorstep before the night is done. I’ve been to/lived within Mardi Gras since the 1980s and so forgive me if I sit this one out. Each year they get bigger, more mainstream, more fuelled by alcohol sales and I feel it’s time to move Mardi Gras out into the western suburbs (or Hobart) where there are still people under threat of violence. Nevertheless I’ve a bloody big rainbow light curtain hanging off the front of the house to cheer people as they go by, and a skull sitting underneath to acknowledge that Halloween will always be the favourite festival in this household.
This week there’s been an odd break out of requests for the 1994 version of Dead Eyes Opened. It always used to be the 1980’s version, but I guess 2025 is now far away enough from 1994 for it to be requested here there and everywhere. My missus asked if that made me more proud of it, and well, here’s the thing…
You see – I had nothing to do with it. It’s not my music. It was made by Robert Racic, with a bonus version by Paul Mac (which I like better). The record label took charge of the whole thing and then bundled it with my album Gigapus, where it had absolutely no relevance. Robert is dead and the record label (and owner) is dead, but I’m not dead and it’s my composition so nominally it’s mine… but it’s got nothing to do with me. We never performed that version because I don’t even have the parts, and ……. I don’t like it much.
I DID do the video for it. It was banned for strobe lighting and nudity. I kind of knew that would happen and maybe didn’t care by that point.
You could treat this in a number of ways. I let somebody in Germany press it as a very limited edition of bespoke 12 inches, because these sleeves were more interesting than the music. I will supply it to people who make HOT HITS OF THE NINETIES compilations because it was a hot hit of the nineties. But what can I really say about this thing? This painting I didn’t paint, this book I didn’t write? The only mainstream ‘hit’ I had… oh yeah… not to mention the prize money never made it to me.
I did hope that Heart of the Party would do well. Boxcar made a demo of their remix, which was snapped up as the actual remix. It did not do as well. Then the record industry collapsed yada yada.
Why am I telling you this? Because the music industry is a strange animal. It doesn’t understand you, it doesn’t understand what you are trying to do – it will feed you stupid amounts of money and then leave your poor, you will be celebrated and forgotten – but most important, very much important – relax, it’s not about you. When success comes your way do not expect it to notice you.
