Australian and New Zealand bands (past and present)

The Australian music scene is really underappreciated, in my opinion. We have produced so many great artists and bands over the years, yet very few actually achieve legitimate chart success abroad. New Zealand and the United Kingdom are the most embracing of imported Australian music. There's a lot of Australian songs that I like and I will get around to sharing them all one day, but for now, i'll just stick with a couple of songs:



This was the best-selling Australian single of the 1990s and it's often regarded as being a generation-defining hit. "Prisoner of Society" was largely responsible for popularising the Late '90s/Early 2000s Punk movement here in Australia. Despite the fact that it peaked at #4 and stayed within the ARIA Top-50 for an incredible 47 weeks, the only other country where it was a hit was New Zealand, where it peaked at #28. It did manage to peak at #23 on the US Rock Chart, but it wouldn't have been a genuine hit over there. 

It's a shame that The Living End were never able to become successful overseas, because they're a great band. They really should have been at the forefront of the international pop-punk scene, along with bands such as Blink-182, Sum-41, The Offspring and Green Day. I'm especially surprised that The Living End were never popular in the UK. They're the type of band which would have been well received by British listeners, especially with their punk rock/rockabilly sound. 



Not sure if you're familiar with The Vines God Less America ? Ironically, they were more successful in the UK than they were in Australia. This is my favourite song of theirs. 


Neither did I, to be honest! That's interesting to hear, because I was always under the impression that she was Australian. I guess that means she is another Kiwi artist that Australia tries to claim as it's own, just like Neil and Tim Finn (from Split Enz and Crowded House).  


I've never really liked AC/DC and INXS, to be honest. I just think of them as being incredibly overrated and not as good as people make them out to be. The only INXS songs I do like are "Just Keep Walking" and "Don't Change". 

Thanks for offering to plug Popedia on your social media. I really appreciate it! I'll spread a good word about your blog on my social media accounts as well.

The Vines were popular back in the Early-Mid 2000s. They were apart of the Garage-Rock revival movement, along with bands such as The Strokes and The Hives.

The songs you shared are pretty good as well! My favourite Tame Impala song is "Let It Happen".



Here's a great Aussie rock song from 1970. It's a cover of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rugby". Just as a bit of trivia, Rick Springfield is the guitarist in the video. 

They sure do. Some of my favourites:





Silverchair need to be mentioned as well. My favourite from them:

Don't mind me bumping this topic, but I just felt like sharing my thoughts on this. Ratcat deserve to receive more recognition for the role they played in the Australian music scene. They had two number-1 hits in 1991 alone, and were actually the ones responsible for popularising alt-rock in Australia before Nirvana came onto the scene. Their Tingles EP was only expected to sell 5,000 copies, but it ended up selling well over 100,000 and they quickly became household names in the country. 

Plus, they're songs are great as well. My personal favourite of theirs is this:

I love Tame Impala!