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Cold Chisel
338,825 plays (20,944 listeners)
Adelaide, Australia (1973 – 1984)
Cold Chisel produced the canonical example of Australian pub rock, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and they are acknowledged as one of the most popular and successful Australian groups of the period, although this success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to Australia.
The band formed in Adelaide in 1973 as a heavy metal band called Orange around keyboard player Don Walker and original bassist Les Kascmarek and while hard rock remained at the core of their sound Cold Chisel displayed a remarkable versatility. When Kascmarek left in 1975, Walker became the major creative force of the band. Built around Walker’s superb songwriting, the group also featured the dazzling guitar and vocal talents of Ian Moss and the enormously powerful lead vocals of Scottish immigrant Jimmy Barnes.
While typically classified as a hard-driving rock and roll band, the Chisel repertoire included such Australian anthems as the landmark Vietnam War song “Khe Sanh”, “Bow River”, “Flame Trees” and “Saturday Night”, but also included thoughtful ballads like “Choir Girl” (written about the subject of abortion), pop-flavoured love songs like “My Baby” and caustic political statements like “Star Hotel”, an attack on the late-70s government of Malcolm Fraser and inspired by a riot at a Newcastle pub. The music was not political in context, however Walker’s songs were observations of everyday life within the Australian society and culture. One song from this period, “Misfits”, which featured on the b-side to “My Baby”, was written in the same vein as Chuck Berry, and was about homeless kids in the suburbs surrounding Sydney.
The band formed in Adelaide in 1973 as a heavy metal band called Orange around keyboard player Don Walker and original bassist Les Kascmarek and while hard rock remained at the core of their sound Cold Chisel displayed a remarkable versatility. When Kascmarek left in 1975, Walker became the major creative force of the band. Built around Walker’s superb songwriting, the group also featured the dazzling guitar and vocal talents of Ian Moss and the enormously powerful lead vocals of Scottish immigrant Jimmy Barnes.
While typically classified as a hard-driving rock and roll band, the Chisel repertoire included such Australian anthems as the landmark Vietnam War song “Khe Sanh”, “Bow River”, “Flame Trees” and “Saturday Night”, but also included thoughtful ballads like “Choir Girl” (written about the subject of abortion), pop-flavoured love songs like “My Baby” and caustic political statements like “Star Hotel”, an attack on the late-70s government of Malcolm Fraser and inspired by a riot at a Newcastle pub. The music was not political in context, however Walker’s songs were observations of everyday life within the Australian society and culture. One song from this period, “Misfits”, which featured on the b-side to “My Baby”, was written in the same vein as Chuck Berry, and was about homeless kids in the suburbs surrounding Sydney.
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Chisel
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The Best of Cold Chisel
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Cold Chisel
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East
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Shoutbox
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razzu wrote:
simply stunning
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unicornology wrote:
oh, Cold Chisel. thank you for giving my mother & i such wonderful memories. all i have to do is put on an album & my mum can't help herself but dance & sing along at the top of her voice. it doesn't get any better than that.
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haydenwce27 wrote:
Fast, fun rock n' roll is what Cold Chisel specialize in yet they can still write amazing ballads and some other very obscure and unique tunes that still sound terrific! Chisel were one of the best bands that I have ever heard and I'm sure many Aussies feel the same way! Barnesy was an unbelievably talented vocalist as he could sing soul and ballads brilliantly but could also scream at the top of his lungs! Mossy also had an amazing voice and could hit the high notes with ease and let us not forget his great guitar work! Walker is easily one of the greatest song writers and pianists Australia has ever seen, writing about 90% of Chisel's material! And Small & Pretwich were just a rhythm MACHINE! The rest of the world missed out and it was a shame that Chisel weren't known worldwide... but at least we got to hear 'em, consider yourselves lucky Australia that we got to experience such a great group of talented musicians, let us be thankful! A band like this doesn't come along very often.
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e-mune wrote:
whats with the low stats?
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The_Wind86 wrote:
I'll have to check this band out sometime.
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haydenwce27 wrote:
Fan of good old-fashioned aussie pub rock? Then join my group!... If you want to... http://www.last.fm/group/Aussie+Pub+Rock
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hollyy___x wrote:
Check out Baby Animals, fans of this band will like them. http://www.myspace.com/babyanimals
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timeticks wrote:
Chief Wild Eagle's three legged goat !!!!
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ankasun79 wrote:
why is this in my charts ... i never listend to them ... and I cant delate this
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skittles43 wrote:
Khe Sanh should definitely not be Australian national anthem. If you have any idea what it's about, you'll know why it shouldn't be the anthem. I'm sure you were probably saying that at least semi-jokingly, but the point still had to be made that it's one song that should not be our anthem.
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thesuganator wrote:
Khe Sanh for the Aussie national anthem!!!!!!!
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thesuganator wrote:
why does this band have so little plays, these guys are great.
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thestrokeslover wrote:
Cheap Wine's my favourite
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arrell wrote:
New photos uploaded.
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saladasalad wrote:
whatever. bogan is fine.
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branleur wrote:
Yes, very bogan.
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Bobbyeagle wrote:
Hey guys! Couldn't find a Cold Chisel group so i made one. http://www.last.fm/group/Cold+Chisel Join me in celebrating an awesome Aussie pub rock band!
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Rollingstone21 wrote:
Best of cold chisel is a MUST have cd :P
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haupassia wrote:
bogan
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lihei wrote:
Ita: All-time favourite.
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Events
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Dec
4
Sydney Telstra 500
Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia
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| 11 attendees
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Recent Activity
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Just2Rusty, jetaclone, footonchook and 4 other people added Cold Chisel to their libraries. 4 hours ago
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BlackCoffeeDuck wrote about Cold Chisel in My Ausmusic Month 100 greatest Aussie songs by Me + Gareth Liddiard's top 5 tracks. Tuesday afternoon
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jason150369, Bunya17, hobartdoc and 28 other people added Cold Chisel to their libraries. Tuesday morning
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Hypnoticmelody tagged Cold Chisel with pub rock, aussie, classic rock and 2 other tags. 16 days ago
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majase, jhando, riclineri and 16 other people added Cold Chisel to their libraries. 17 days ago
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hjbardenhagen tagged Cold Chisel with ‘rockpalast’. 25 days ago
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hjbardenhagen, gouldmic, carlyturner84 and 30 other people added Cold Chisel to their libraries. 25 days ago
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Lu-Nate tagged Cold Chisel with aussie and australian. last month
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Pat8788 added Cold Chisel to Pat8788’s library. last month
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