There’s a line of thought that holds that success for Australian acts abroad is automatically a good thing. It means that people in exotic, far-flung lands (like, uh, the US and UK) are finally paying attention to their plucky friends Down Under. Never mind the quality … count the downloads!
Appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show on Monday were the perky brother-sister Brisbane act Sheppard (imagine an Australian S Club 7, without any of that septet’s natural pop charm). The band’s US appearance near guarantees their already monster global hit Geronimo is going to become even more monstrous. Not least because they’ve got Justin Timberlake’s manager, Scooter Braun, on board.
Perhaps you thought you’d heard the last of that insidious, nagging “Hey, Geronimo!” refrain and singer George Sheppard’s strained falsetto, with his sisters Amy (vocals) and Emma (bass) sounding all breathless and worried in the background?
You have got to be dreaming.
The faux tribal beat that fuels the song is somewhat apt, bearing in mind the name Geronimo is shared with a pivotal figure in indigenous American history. Although according to the band, “the basis of it was not so much the Apache warrior,” as they said in interview, “but more of what his name stands for. You say ‘Geronimo’ when you want to take a leap of faith or a leap of defiance.”
Sheppard are breaking it big time: the song hit new heights when it featured in a Subway ad and their Jimmy Fallon appearance was preceded by a guest spot on the Ellen DeGeneres show in October. DeGeneres, with her customary enthusiasm, announced: “You’re going to be hearing a lot more music from Sheppard.”
Geronimo comes from Sheppard’s debut album, 2014’s vaguely gospel-tinged, indie/folky Bombs Away. The band seem to specialise in pop music that has all the danger and fun and solace sucked out of it, like a One Direction for the under-fives (minus any pubescent sexual attraction).
Their monster hit follows other big Australian earworms we’ve inflicted on the world. Never mind that Gotye’s Somebody I Used to Know is a Peter Gabriel-style throwback to the days MTV ruled the roost, or the chirpy-chirpy creep-creep of a singalong, Riptide by Vance Joy. Near 50m views on YouTube alone.
Yes, of course it’s wonderful when Australian acts – the deserving (INXS) and the undeserving (5 Seconds of Summer) – go global. Even the unfairly derided Iggy Azalea is doing her bit to bring attention back home, with her hybrid hip-hop/pop and American accent. And we do seem to have a bit of a knack for finding a glorious hook line or two: think of the Easybeats’ tightly wound Friday on My Mind, or that infuriatingly catchy flute refrain in Men at Work’s Down Under (or more accurately, 1934’s Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree).
Kylie Minogue never made it as big in America as you’d expect – but it was the buzzing mantra-like earworm in Can’t Get You Out of My Head that finally cracked it for her, in 2001.
Doubtless, the success of made-for-Disney World Sheppard will focus more attention upon the Australian music industry. But wouldn’t it be nice if instead of having a handful of One Direction copies represent us, we could hit No 1 abroad with a band like Sydney’s Bloods – the natural heirs to Chrissie Amphlett and Joan Jett – or the critical darling Courtney Barnett? These are acts whose earworms we want wriggling around inside our heads for months to come.
