This is a transcript of Steve Kilbey's appearance on the ABC music video show RAGE. He was their "Guest Programmer", which is a regular event featuring a musician selecting their favourite videos and providing a brief comment on some of them.
As is usual practise I've deleted all "um...err..y'know" kind of stuff.
R = Rage
S = Steve
R: You've programmed "Quasimodo's Dream" by The Reels. Why that song ?
S: I haven't seen this one for a long time, I hope its as good as I remembered it to be. Back in the early days...I think it's from about '82, '83, there was a lot of really terrible Australian videos being made and occasionally you'd see this one on TV. I think it was done on film instead of video and there's this great scene at the end where this sort of Quaker is pushing Dave Mason out to sea in a little corracle. And there's the old drummer, Stefan, looking very sad and "Craigy" (Craig Hooper who toured the Seance album on keyboard) looking sort of poignant. I'm sure it wasn't done on a huge budget, it's just one of those classic Australian videos that never got shown at the time.
The Reels: Quasimodo's Dream
Barry Adamson: The Man With The Golden Arm
Crowded House: Into Temptation
Go-Betweens: Bye Bye Pride
R: Bob Dylan...Series of Dreams ?
S: I'd kind of given up on Bob Dylan. I didn't think he was going to do anything I'd really like to get. And then this video came along. The song was an outtake from the "Oh Mercy" album, about '87 or '88, and apparently it says in the liner notes that Daniel Lanois tried very hard to persuade Bob to put it on the album but for some reason he wouldn't, which is bewildering to me 'cos I think its one of the best Dylan songs ever. It's a great video, it's all kind of sewn from bits and pieces of other videos and photographs and there's shots of Dylan aging and becoming younger. I taped this video and used to watch it and slow it down and watch it because there's all kinds of stuff going on. Like he's sitting in the back of this cab or limo next to somebody and its Arthur Rambeau (sp ?) then it turns into Dylan Thomas...details that are worth noting. It's got this great Phil Spector "And He Kissed Me" sort of riff happening. I just think its a classic Dylan song.
Bob Dylan: Series of Dreams
Bob Dylan: Jokerman
Paul Simon: The Boy In The Bubble
R: Lubricated Goat, "In the Raw" from Blah Blah Blah
S: A lot of rock music exists to be bad, you know, there to be "bad boys". I remember when the Sex Pistols video came out it wasn't allowed to be shown. There's always been this competition of who can be the nastiest; who can go the furthest. Then Lubricated Goat came out and did this and totally wiped the competition right off the map. Its an incredibly banal and suggestive sort of song, they've these really insolent and arrogant looks on their faces. They're totally naked, they're not ashamed to let it all hang out. The song is a great song, it's all these guitar loops feeding back...it's quite a clever piece of music. I haven't seen any music that was nastier than this before or since. And because some rock music does exist to be at this end of the spectrum, I think this is it, this is better than anything anbody's ever done as far as I'm concerned.
Lubricated Goat: In The Raw. (Yes, all four band members are stark bollock naked in the video...except for their boots)
John Lennon: Instant Karma
Sean Kelly: Thank you Goodnight
The Replacements: I'll Be You
Neil Young: Cinammon Girl (Live)
R: Luxuria "Redneck"
S: I haven't actually seen this one ! Luxuria was a band formed by Howard DeVoto, the main man out of "Magazine". They made two albums, the first one of which was one of those absolutely lost classics, it's just a fantastic album. There was Howard and another guy called Noko that plays all the instruments. I'd really like to see this video 'cos its just a classic album.
Luxuria: Redneck
House of Love: Shine On
Echo & The Bunnymen: The Cutter
The Cure: Lullaby
David Bowie: Wild Is The Wind
David Bowie: Be My Wife
David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto: Forbidden Colours (Theme from the movie "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence", I think...)
Mazzy Star: Halah
R: Pink Floyd, Careful With The Axe Eugene
S: I like this song because it's just one note all the way through. A lot of people think of Pink Floyd as the bloated old band they are now, with hundreds of thousands of people in it, and girls singing backup and bass players jumping around. I think its important that there was another Pink Floyd, an earlier version that really did stretch the limitations of what pop music was and had extended workouts and invented "space" rock. I'm hoping this is the version they did live at the Sydney racecourse because I was actually there.
Pink Floyd - Live at Randwick Racecourse: Careful With the Axe Eugene
Curve: Fait Accompli
Talk Talk: Life Is What You Make It
Shelleyan Orphan: Shatter
Ride: Vapour Trail
R: Shriekback, Nemesis
S: They released three or four albums, which I really enjoyed. I think this one's from Oil And Gold which was particulary successful in Australia. I remember JJJ (radio station) gave it a good flogging when they toured. It's a great video with lots of satyrs and Roman types and Greek types running round at an orgy. I don't like those videos with exploding toasters and girls running around in high heels and red fingernail polish. I'm always up for a bit of Roman/Greek Bacchanalia (?) type stuff.
Shriekback: Nemisis (I think it should be spelled Nemesis...)
Adamski With Seal: Killer
Primal Scream: Higher Than The Sun
R: How involved do you get in making of your videos ?
S: (Steve sighs) Oh...It's something I've haven't really come to grips with. I'd really like it if we didn't have to do them, but you've kind of got to do them otherwise people say "You're not really promoting it, if you're not going to push the record, we're not". I just always cross my fingers and hope for the best. I try not to get too involved at all, I just turn up on the day and hope that it ends painlessly.
R: Do you have any favourite Church videos ?
S: I think Tantalized is probably the best one. That's definitely the most successful one. It doesn't try and throw any second rate interpretation onto it. Metropolis wasn't a bad vid either: I'm not too hot on the song but that video wasn't a bad one to make.
The Church: Metropolis
The Church: Tantalised
Rage then played every Church video ! A good tape to have :-)