The Ten Rules Of Rock And Roll by Robert Forster.
Robert Forster was of course the co-founder with Grant McLennan of the great Brisbane band The Go- Betweens. This was a band that proudly flew their intellectual colours and both Grant and Robert wrote songs that were very different from the normal Oz pub rock fare of the time.
In 2004 a new monthly Australian current affairs and news magazine The Journal asked Forster to turn his hand to a journalism and write a music commentary and review column. This book contains those columns and features record and concert reviews, general observations and two touching tributes to Grant who died too young from a heart attack in 2006.
The writing is cool and as insightful as you would expect from someone who has spent most of his life songwriting, touring and recording. There is a dry humour and his choice of subjects are in some ways surprising. Reviews of new releases during that period, by artists as diverse as The Shins, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sarah Blasko, Frank Black and Delta Goodrem plus concert reviews of Nana Mouskouri, the Countdown Live Spectacular and the 2008 Big Day Out. Not surprisingly it is the craft of songwriting that he concentrates on, but his understanding and experience of being a performer and of being a band continually comes through in his considered, never harsh or gloating, comments and at times criticism.
His Ten Rules of Rock and Roll are short, funny and hard to argue with. I have repeated two below. I also recommend his memoir of his time with Grant in The Go- Betweens titled Grant And I, a fascinating insight into two friends at The University of Queensland who dreamt of being famous and came so close to being really big. The near misses and heartbreaks doomed them, but they created a body of work that to my mind is somehow so Australian and yet not and is still underrated. The Go-Betweens were of course our Fleetwood Mac, strong songs, multiple songwriters and two romances that very much shaped the bands output and the demise of if its first iteration. If only they had had anywhere near the same success.
There is a fascinating documentary called The Go-Betweens: Right Here that gives a more balanced account of the vital contributions of drummer Lindy Morrison and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown to the work of the band. Do check it out on ABC iView or Apple.
As you can tell I love The Go-Betweens, not just their songs but their story and truth be told I probably prefer Grant’s songs to Robert’s. They did not really write together and the differences between their songwriting is fairly obvious. I liked the fact that they came from Brisbane but dreamed of being in Andy Warhol’s New York or bohemian Paris. I liked their sensitivity and certainly in the early days, their basic musicianship. But they never wanted to be the Rolling Stones or U2 or The Foo Fighters, their hearts and minds were always a little left on the mainstream. The Velvet Underground, Dylan, 70s outlaw country, The Band, Wire, early Talking Heads were their touchstones. And books and film and art, no other Australian band, except perhaps for The Birthday Party, had been so clearly influenced by their Bachelor of Arts studies. This was not the Angels or Chisel. So, as you would expect Ten Rules is deeply interesting and insightful and a fine read. Forster also now has his first work of fiction out titled Songwriters on the Run.
Rule 2. The second last song on any album is the weakest.
Rule 6. No band does anything new on stage after the first ten minutes.
The Ten Rules Of Rock And Roll
Collected Music Writings 2005 - 2009
By Robert Forster
Blank Inc Books
2009 274PP
