Wicked Songs: Fun Loving by Dropbears

Right the second song I’m going write about/in my Wicked Songs posts here is by the totally forgotten band called Dropbears with the great track called Fun Loving. To me this track is a total Aussie classic and wicked but no one seems to know it, unfortunately but more people should somehow listen to it so I’m thinking I might help with that here only if one person hits play, my job is done. It’s on Volume 2 of Tales of the Australian Underground comp album which was my first post. Once again it’s video clip is from Rage and now on YouTube so I’ve got below if you what to watch it, Please do, I do remember seeing this again before getting that CD. It’s totally quintessentially Aussie 80’s clip, just like the Kuepper one on my last post, the band standing in the sun performing: singing and playing into the camera or really just for you the viewer at home.

I don’t know why this band didn’t get totally huge like say INXS or something, they did sign to major label and everything. They do have a wikipedia page saying they had “successful singles, but no album was ever released” then broken-up. Sorry but do you think if the singles was really successful they wouldn’t have a album and then just break-up? This is a perfect case of my problem with major label, take a great band who’s underground act ready sign them to the shitty major label and if the singles are not played on the mainstream radio or Molly don’t say “Do yourself a favor” on Countdown it’s the end of a lot of great Aussie bands because at the time here in a Australia it was the only way to make it to the big time. So maybe they should have stay independent and underground they might have more songs and an album or two but hindsight is a great thing. Anyway I’ll still say they should have been huge, so anyway I guess good on them from having a crack at it at the time. We all known now Molly Meldrum is a drunk idiot that falls off his ladder at the drop of his hat. I did read somewhere he is still in the top five most influential people in Aussie music which I’m like why now?

So the band Dropbears is a three piece from Sydney in the early 80’s signing to WEA Records which is Warner Bros. after these song was release on 7″ single. The band member are Johnny Batchelor who’s the singer-songwriter of this great song and played the guitar so does that killer opening riff, drummer is Simon Rudlin and bass player is Chris Toms but his real name is Chris Cross, who does that wicked bass line for it. Doing a bit of a where are they now? Seems a bit hard but really Johnny did go solo in the mid to late 80’s once again on WEA but only had one release but here’s a facebook page. Dropbears seem to never keep the same line-up from the early to mid 80’s which is always a problem for bands anyway but maybe didn’t help. I totally love these lyrics, they’re beautifully written well I find them beautiful but I guess you could say not many other people do or did because it would have been a bigger hit, oh well.

I do have a funny story about dropbears but nothing to with the band but the fictitious Australian marsupial which they’re are named after. My Dad always joked about it when we were kids and when we were out in the bush which we kind off lived there so it was pretty much all the time. If you don’t know what dropbears are they are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous marsupials related to koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above. So now you do know or if you did know before but if you didn’t or know someone that doesn’t know just see if they go to an art school?

When I was at art school for some reason which I can’t even remember now, dropbears came up while I was in the middle of my stand at the front and give a lecture but the punchline is off course no one at art school have never ever heard of dropbear! So I’m up on the soapbox at Uni and I’m talking about dropbears in the first palace, what hell was I doing that for anyway? I don’t know! But then everyone in room goes what are you talking about? Are you making this up? Given it was only dozens people but zero of them know so the joke is on me, I have to talk for the rest of my time and more about what hell a dropbear is? I guess I didn’t have talk about my art. So at all art schools it’s a prerequisite to get into it to know what a dropbear is and that’s Australia wide now, you know?

The original 7″ single artwork of basically a paw print.  

 So who else out there digs Fun Loving by Dropbears?

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