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John Farnham's Whispering Jack
- Author: Turner, Graeme
John Farnham's Whispering Jack
- Author: Turner, Graeme
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About
The album examined in this book transformed the singer John Farnham from a faded teen pop star into the most popular solo rock performer in Australia, in a career that has lasted for more than 30 years. Whispering Jack remains the top-selling album by an Australian artist in Australia, and constitutes the turning point in Farnham’s bid to achieve credibility as an adult contemporary musician. The first single from the album, ‘You’re the Voice,’ has achieved such iconic status that it is routinely referred to as Australia’s unofficial national anthem. The book examines the album, its context and that history in order to recover a crucial conjuncture in the development of Australian rock and popular music, one that has previously been ignored in Australian popular music studies.
Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The Backstory: From Johnny to John The Australian music industry in the 80s The changes in radio The task ahead
- 2. Whispering Jack, the Album Good songs, good beats, and the energy of rock The 'whiz-bang album' The Voice So, let's play the album Timeless
- 3. 'You're The Voice' The unofficial national anthem Australian popular music and cultural nationalism
- 4. And then.... The 'ordinary' rock star The Farnham audience Notes References Index
