Thursday, March 12, 2009

Wa Wa Nee


When I was writing the piece on "Overkill" for Men at Work I stumbled across a few video's by Wa Wa Nee another Australian band during the 80's.


Wa Wa Nee were around during the period in time where Oz pub hard rock was at the forefront of music. Men who couldn't dance went to the pub, got pissed and rocked out to the Angles, Cold Chisel or a band of that ilk. God forbid that there could actually be an Australian pop/funk band with influences like Prince with jangly guitars rather than axe guitars.

It is no wonder that Wa Wa Nee struggled a bit in this market. I think they also stuggled because of their band name.
I mean what were they thinking when they chose Wa Wa Nee???

Someone must have had a bit of faith in them though because CBS (now Sony) signed them to their label.



Their first single "Stimulation" was released in 1986. With such wonderful lyrics as:

"Lucky guy his world's on fire he can get it up night and day

Oh I wish I could get the feeling
and give the girls something to say
All I need to get is stimulation, so get me up against the wall
You knew I needed stimulation
but I never thought you'd be that bold."

The guy in these lyrics obviously didn't require that nasal delivery system I keep hearing about on the radio hehe.



The track "Sugar Free" made the top 20 in the States.
I remember watching the Tv show "Solid Gold" (remember the Solid Gold dancers???) and the stupid woman host going (and I will have to write part of this phonetically) "Here is wawaaaaanie doing the Sugar Free"


What I want to focus on today is Wa Wa Nee's second album "Blush". I still have a copy of Blush on record and have played it to death.
Around the time Blush came out I also saw Wa Wa Nee live (they were support act for Bros but that is a story for another time) and they were an awesome live act.
In 1988 MTV in Australia used to start at about 11pm at night so they could often play the more "raunchy" videos that you couldn't see during the day.
I don't know if this was a strategy by CBS but two of Wa Wa Nee's single's for the Blush album ("Can't control myself" & "So good") had "adult" video's (i.e. lot's of naked boobie shots).
This seemed rather odd to me especially since the song "So Good" (my personal favourite) is a song about God.


Take a look at the lyrics and the "censored" video.
The track on the Youtube link is actually a longer remix as I couldn't find the original.


Every night I pray God'll be on my side
I need him more than ever
If nothing else but to stay alive, and it's
(Chorus)
So good to know you are gonna be with me
When I need you to
I realise that the world moves
With a lot of loving from the heart of you
Every day I know when I walk on out that door
He's gonna get me home
Make my life worth living for, and it's
(Repeat Chorus)
I really love the way you keep me going on
Remaining happy if I'm right or wrong
Under the umbrella of love I belong, oh yeah
Everything I do from this moment on
I guarantee it's all for you
So I dedicate this love song, and it's
(Repeat Chorus)
Every time it rains, anytime you're feeling blue
Just remember he has an umbrella over you
So good to know you could let me
Love you God and hate you too
You've forgive whatever I do
and I wanna tell you that I love you
(Repeat Chorus)







I also want to include another track from "Blush" "I want you".
They were definitely channelling Price for this song but I see that as a good thing. Prince is the shizz.
This has such a great groove going on.





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