70 year old Elsie was one of Chrissy's neighbours in Womerah Ave, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Producer Mark Opitz lived nearby and also witnessed Elsie's antics.
RIP Chrissy you are loved thanks for the great memories if you ever went to a Divinyls concert you never forget it. On "Elsie," Chrissy Amphlett sings about desperation and decadence in the story of a girl who has wasted her life. Peace out.
In the early 80's, I was a student at the University Of Sydney and at night I would work as a hospital and office cleaner. When I finished my shift at 3am, I had to drive through the dark, quiet and creepy city of Sydney. And what music would the new FM station Triple M be playing on my car radio around this time? Bleak and moody numbers like Divinyls'' ''Elsie'', as well as, INXS's cold and slick version of ''The Loved One'', The Angels' uncanny ''Out Of The Blue'' and ''No Secrets'', Cold Chisel's sombre ''When The War Is Over'' and ''Breakfast At Sweethearts'', Australian Crawl's depressing ''Reckless'', Sharon O'Neill's prostitution ode ''Maxine'', Midnight Oil's protest rock ''US Forces'' and ''Short Memory'', The Sunnyboys' melancholy ''Alone With You'' and Flowers aka Icehouse and their tunes ''Icehouse'' and ''Can't Help Myself''. Even Men At Work's ''Overkill'' got airtime in those hours. Try driving through Darlinghurst and Kings Cross at that time of the morning with those chirpy numbers! The only creatures you'd see were the humanoid zombies and ghosts that'd only come out at night. I don't know who the early morning DJ was at the time, but he must have been one gloomy bastard, because those songs (all Australian, most being Sydney bands) really did seem to fit that menacing city. Uncle Doug Mulray would start his shift at sunrise, making the waking city laugh with his jokes and gags, putting aside those dark Aussie songs and playing jovial locals like Mental As Anything and Men At Work's happier numbers (''Down Under''). Of course, I'd be in bed to miss out on all the fun, but relieved to still be alive for another day.
Farken aye! I was probably one of those humanoid zombies walking around the streets of Sydney at 2 to 3 am. Sydney is still a creepy city in the early hours of the morning, but not as creepy as it was in the early 80's. There were no surveillance cameras in those days, which meant anything could happen and there'd be no video evidence. I still miss early 80's Sydney (and Melbourne) though they were pretty grim cities.
Despite having a few hits , The Divinyls were massively underrated. Christina Amphlett was an amazing talent. Died way to young. As others noted this has a Banshees feel ..influenced by the song Israel. Really good 👍!
I remember my friend's band (Mad Gorilla) supported Divynals down in Wollongong. When the Divynals played, i remystanding on the tables at the band of the room passing a few uhm, herbal refreshments... Around. It was a great night, and when they did Boys In Town, it nearly blew the roof off!!
There's two studio versions. The version from the Monkey Grip soundtrack from 1982, and the version on the first album ''Desperate'' from 1983. I think the Desperate version is better, but I'm only going by memory.
Glad you checked out the live performance. This was from an American TV show (title I don't know)... But she does her Chrissy thing and it's worth watching. A one of a kind!
òne of my favourite divinyls tracks of the early 80's.. You got a lot of Elsies around Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and St. Kilda area in the 70's and 80's. The studio version(s) give me chills and images of Sydney after dark.
Two songs I would like to see on this channel sooner rather than later. Of course, Stevie Wright's live performance of ''Evie'' at the Sydney Opera House in 1979 is a must see/must experience, and the best I believe is on the Internet Archive list I had sent in email. If you have better speed than I do, then you should experience the pauses that I had experienced. However, I think the following would be good numbers: *Cold Chisel - Saturday Night (Audio + Video merge 2023)* Shot 40 years ago, this video has scenes of Sydney's Kings Cross and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This video has got to be done this month. It'll mark the 40th anniversary since Saturday Night was released. *The Angels - Out Of The Blue (Audio + Video Merge 2023)* You need to touch base with The Angels again, and this song is a good one.
Probably the darkest Divinyls track. Those guttural screams after the 2nd chorus are jarring no matter how many times I hear the song. This is early Divinyls from their first album. It’s so interesting how Chrissy evolved her image from scary and kind of unhinged to seductive sexpot over the band’s career.
The best one to do is from Laneway Music, recorded at Channel 7 Studio, sings live and its awesome. Better than the official music video which is cartoon depicting Cinderella storyline
Unless I got misinformation again, it looks like Carlton "Family Man" Barret (Upsetters/ Wailers) and Wayne Kramer fi MC5 both Left for the Big Gig in the Sky today.
Sometime please do the following: *The Angels - Out Of The Blue (Audio + Video Merge 2023)* It's been a while since you've done The Angels and ''Out Of The Blue'' has the same cool mood at this one. ''Out Of The Blue'' needs to be checked out. The Audio + Video merge 2023 is good. It's also a rip from Austech's channel, but he seems to make titles complex, so just check out the RemasteredVersions version. It's the same vdieo. I like this song and the performance is Divinyls at their best.
I also made the mistake of her reminding me of Kate Bush way back when I was a kid. As a result I never took much notice of Divinyls and just thought it was just all about her. So only really listened to their more radio friendly hits which were all great songs to be fair. But my mistake was to just think Kate Bush type front woman and never really looked into this bands albums or live performances until many decades later, sadly. Only this decade do I truly realise Divinyls was a great live band that I really should have seen live back in the day. They truly are a lot more than just their theatrical lead singer Chrissy. Although I honestly think she was truly unhinged herself so I think she could relate to the type of depressed character she portrays for this song.
@shaungb7367 Chrissy's wailing here is kind of reminiscent of some of Kate's work on "The Dreaming" album 1982. Both great performers. I have the full discography for each one.
@@warrenbridges1891 Chrissy did the ''ugh'' sound about five months before Kate Bush did the "hee-haw" sound on Get Out Of My House. Elsie first appeared on the Monkey Grip soundtrack in May 1982. Kate's The Dreaming was released in September of that year. A little pedantic I know, but out of the two, Chrissy was the first ''ugh'' lady.
@@Myer_Dee-_ I dare say they knew little about each other. So, I'm not saying one influenced the other. If anything, Chrissy would have been more aware of Kate.
@@warrenbridges1891 Irrespective of who was aware of who, I rather not make an assumption that Chrissy got her ideas from somebody else when the records prove show that she most likely did not.
@@Myer_Dee-_ By saying Chrissy might have been aware of Kate is not an assumption that she may even have listened to "The Dreaming" anyway. She could well have known of Kate without ever hearing any work from that album.
Chrissy was doing the mad ''ugh'' sound about a 6 months to a year before Kate did her crazy sounds on The Dreaming album. Not taking anything away from Kate, but I'll defend Chrissy's artistic merits as a lot of her stuff comes from a real place...
She's holding back because she doesn't want to scared the nice American audience.. and before anybody comes at me, I know there are mean and nasty American audiences.... but I got a feeling this being for a TV special in America and the audience being made up of nice boys and girls, she probably didn't want to risk it and give them the hell that she gave to the Aussie audiences. She learned from Jimmy Barnes to not shock their happy homes.... She would beat the shit out of an audience if they acted up, but here.. she casts a spell on them.. At least, I think that's a spell
A bit of a bummer for poor ol' Elsie. Hope she got her shit together and had a nicer existence. I love Chrissie and the boys. A killer live band that were as tough as nails that took no shit from a usually drunken male audience. And I am dubious to accept the Siouxsie Sioux comparison because Chrissie was her own creature. She wouldn't fit a Siouxsie & The Banshees tribute band, and vice versa. Siouxsie Sioux would be a poor fit for a Divinyls tribute band. Both artists were of their own making and style. Chrissie's voice is distinctive. I raise the ''tribute'' band thing because that would be a way to test how similar an artist is to another. RIP Chrissie...
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering To be fair, I think out of all the songs in Divinyls catalogue, ''Elsie'' sounds most like Siouxsie/Banshees, and I can imagine Souxise And The Banshees doing a convincing cover of the song. But I struggle to imagine Siouxie/Banshees covering their other material, because it wouldn't suit them. Heaven forbid Siouxsie/Banseehs doing a cover of ''I Touch Myself''. Please. No. 🤢 On the flipside, I couldn't imagine Divinyls doing a convincing cover of any Siouxsie/Banseehs songs. Chrissie and Siouxsie had vocal styles that were distinctive and recognisable upon first listen. If I hear Siouxsie from afar, I know immediately it is Souxsie, and the same goes for Chrissy. When I hear Chrissy from afar, I know immediately that it is her and I don't think it has anything to do with being familiar. There are plenty of performers that sound like other people and at times, you can get them mixed up due to a lack of distinctive quality. There was nothing generic about either Siouxsie or Chrissie. But I give you that ''Elsie'' is the closest to sounding like Siouxsie/Banshees. It was a very early song and they were probably still at that eclectic stage of taking bits of Pretenders, Pat Banatar, Lene Lovich, Missing Persons, you name it. Siouxsie was charismatic in a Goth post-punk way. Chrissie was feral with moments of sexiness. She came from the same live Australian pub rock scene that shaped AC/DC, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, INXS, Rose Tattoo and the rest of the blah blah blah's of Ozzie rock. A one of a kind as somebody put it.
@@catherinehaysthird you’ve put your case very well I’d say Catherine . I’m no expert on Divinyls in fact I think I’ve only heard 4 tracks in total inc I touch myself . It’s the first time I’ve heard this song and immediately I thought , yep Banshees-esque, but I take your word at face value that it isn’t typical of their broader catalogue and if I had more exposure to their stuff I might see that for myself . Good getting your viewpoint though , cheers 🍻 👍🏴
@@catherinehaysthird I really think Chrissy was projecting Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. There's a lot of parallels between what Chrissy did on those Divinyls' 80's tracks and the Eliza Doolittle character. She was from the theatre world and lived rough as a busker in Europ, getting arrested in England and being homeless in Paris or whatever she did before Divinyls. There's a reason she was able to pull off Judy Garland in _The Boy From Oz._ with Hugh Jackman.
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering she was a hunter and collector and she admitted it.. Catherine only half explained Chrissy. She was from a theatrical background, she modelled as a teenager, busked and hitchhiked through out Europe, and was jailed in France or England or somewhere and did time.. All this before she formed Divinyls at age 20. She was a hot mess and mixed bag of tricks, and she did pick up pieces of other people to make her big persona in music. She had bits of Pat Benatar, Chrissie Hynde, Bon Scott, Angus Young, Billy Thorpe, Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil (she should have admitted it), and as Brett French said, Eliza Doolittle would have been a big influence on her too. Her early years was this amalgamation of all sorts of shit and it just spilled over on their early records.. but her voice is her's and i don't think anybody else looks quite like her... and eventually she was just Chrissy..
![[DRIP] ‘BILLIONAIRE’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m0eXQD0gIeE/mqdefault.jpg)
70 year old Elsie was one of Chrissy's neighbours in Womerah Ave, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Producer Mark Opitz lived nearby and also witnessed Elsie's antics.
RIP Chrissy you are loved thanks for the great memories if you ever went to a Divinyls concert you never forget it. On "Elsie," Chrissy Amphlett sings about desperation and decadence in the story of a girl who has wasted her life. Peace out.
No doubt about this one, love it! Great voice great band, haunting, melancholic 🏴✌️
I'm pretty sure she wrote this about some sad soul in Sydney's Kings Cross. It has that early 80's Sydney sound going on.
There was only ONE chrissie ! superb lyrics too in this ! such an emotive performance.. you can't ignore the distress and madness she is portraying
There were a lot of Aussie songs in that period that gave a more accurate description of urban life than 'Down Under'.
In the early 80's, I was a student at the University Of Sydney and at night I would work as a hospital and office cleaner. When I finished my shift at 3am, I had to drive through the dark, quiet and creepy city of Sydney. And what music would the new FM station Triple M be playing on my car radio around this time?
Bleak and moody numbers like Divinyls'' ''Elsie'', as well as, INXS's cold and slick version of ''The Loved One'', The Angels' uncanny ''Out Of The Blue'' and ''No Secrets'', Cold Chisel's sombre ''When The War Is Over'' and ''Breakfast At Sweethearts'', Australian Crawl's depressing ''Reckless'', Sharon O'Neill's prostitution ode ''Maxine'', Midnight Oil's protest rock ''US Forces'' and ''Short Memory'', The Sunnyboys' melancholy ''Alone With You'' and Flowers aka Icehouse and their tunes ''Icehouse'' and ''Can't Help Myself''. Even Men At Work's ''Overkill'' got airtime in those hours.
Try driving through Darlinghurst and Kings Cross at that time of the morning with those chirpy numbers! The only creatures you'd see were the humanoid zombies and ghosts that'd only come out at night. I don't know who the early morning DJ was at the time, but he must have been one gloomy bastard, because those songs (all Australian, most being Sydney bands) really did seem to fit that menacing city.
Uncle Doug Mulray would start his shift at sunrise, making the waking city laugh with his jokes and gags, putting aside those dark Aussie songs and playing jovial locals like Mental As Anything and Men At Work's happier numbers (''Down Under''). Of course, I'd be in bed to miss out on all the fun, but relieved to still be alive for another day.
Farken aye! I was probably one of those humanoid zombies walking around the streets of Sydney at 2 to 3 am. Sydney is still a creepy city in the early hours of the morning, but not as creepy as it was in the early 80's. There were no surveillance cameras in those days, which meant anything could happen and there'd be no video evidence. I still miss early 80's Sydney (and Melbourne) though they were pretty grim cities.
I know nothing of this band, but it was a great performance 👏 👌
Despite having a few hits , The Divinyls were massively underrated. Christina Amphlett was an amazing talent. Died way to young. As others noted this has a Banshees feel ..influenced by the song Israel. Really good 👍!
What a performance!
I remember my friend's band (Mad Gorilla) supported Divynals down in Wollongong. When the Divynals played, i remystanding on the tables at the band of the room passing a few uhm, herbal refreshments... Around. It was a great night, and when they did Boys In Town, it nearly blew the roof off!!
Brilliant!!! She was great!
Wasn’t expecting another - let’s do this
👍🏴
It caught me oot as well. There is another one too.
@@SPKdesign1 say whaaaat ? I’ll go n av a gander
👍🏴
There's two studio versions. The version from the Monkey Grip soundtrack from 1982, and the version on the first album ''Desperate'' from 1983. I think the Desperate version is better, but I'm only going by memory.
Glad you checked out the live performance. This was from an American TV show (title I don't know)... But she does her Chrissy thing and it's worth watching. A one of a kind!
@demolitiongirl-ie2rx "Rock'n' Roll Tonite" in Pasadena 1983.
@@warrenbridges1891 Home Of KROQ & the legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer " The Mayor Of The Sunset Strip "
chrissy
@@davidellis5141 Yes. I had some KROQ promotional material for the concert posted out to Australia, which I found on Ebay.
This is a great track, off the Monkey Grip ep. Another underrated Divinyls track that is a bit dark is "I'm Jealous", certainly worth looking at.
òne of my favourite divinyls tracks of the early 80's.. You got a lot of Elsies around Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and St. Kilda area in the 70's and 80's. The studio version(s) give me chills and images of Sydney after dark.
I'm Jealous, is a great song of theirs.
Just posted the same thing above. My favourite Divinyls song.
Two songs I would like to see on this channel sooner rather than later. Of course, Stevie Wright's live performance of ''Evie'' at the Sydney Opera House in 1979 is a must see/must experience, and the best I believe is on the Internet Archive list I had sent in email. If you have better speed than I do, then you should experience the pauses that I had experienced. However, I think the following would be good numbers:
*Cold Chisel - Saturday Night (Audio + Video merge 2023)*
Shot 40 years ago, this video has scenes of Sydney's Kings Cross and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This video has got to be done this month. It'll mark the 40th anniversary since Saturday Night was released.
*The Angels - Out Of The Blue (Audio + Video Merge 2023)*
You need to touch base with The Angels again, and this song is a good one.
Different from a lot of their stuff, but I do like this performance, her vocals some little like early Siouxsie Sioux of 'Siouxsie and The Banshees'.
Probably the darkest Divinyls track. Those guttural screams after the 2nd chorus are jarring no matter how many times I hear the song. This is early Divinyls from their first album. It’s so interesting how Chrissy evolved her image from scary and kind of unhinged to seductive sexpot over the band’s career.
should try ''I'm jealous'' sometime
See told ya 🏴✌️
The best one to do is from Laneway Music, recorded at Channel 7 Studio, sings live and its awesome. Better than the official music video which is cartoon depicting Cinderella storyline
The high vocal style is reminiscent of Lene Lovich there is also Tina Turner sometimes.
Unless I got misinformation again, it looks like Carlton "Family Man" Barret (Upsetters/ Wailers) and Wayne Kramer fi MC5 both Left for the Big Gig in the Sky today.
We'll have to look into that...
@@hanierfamilyWayne Kramer death is confirmed.
@@davidellis5141 Oh man! That sucks.
Carlton Barrett passed in 1987, according to the net. Aston died today.
@@hanierfamily Let me go check it might've been a similar name.
Sometime please do the following:
*The Angels - Out Of The Blue (Audio + Video Merge 2023)*
It's been a while since you've done The Angels and ''Out Of The Blue'' has the same cool mood at this one. ''Out Of The Blue'' needs to be checked out. The Audio + Video merge 2023 is good. It's also a rip from Austech's channel, but he seems to make titles complex, so just check out the RemasteredVersions version. It's the same vdieo.
I like this song and the performance is Divinyls at their best.
I also made the mistake of her reminding me of Kate Bush way back when I was a kid. As a result I never took much notice of Divinyls and just thought it was just all about her. So only really listened to their more radio friendly hits which were all great songs to be fair. But my mistake was to just think Kate Bush type front woman and never really looked into this bands albums or live performances until many decades later, sadly. Only this decade do I truly realise Divinyls was a great live band that I really should have seen live back in the day. They truly are a lot more than just their theatrical lead singer Chrissy. Although I honestly think she was truly unhinged herself so I think she could relate to the type of depressed character she portrays for this song.
@shaungb7367 Chrissy's wailing here is kind of reminiscent of some of Kate's work on "The Dreaming" album 1982. Both great performers. I have the full discography for each one.
@@warrenbridges1891 Chrissy did the ''ugh'' sound about five months before Kate Bush did the "hee-haw" sound on Get Out Of My House. Elsie first appeared on the Monkey Grip soundtrack in May 1982. Kate's The Dreaming was released in September of that year. A little pedantic I know, but out of the two, Chrissy was the first ''ugh'' lady.
@@Myer_Dee-_ I dare say they knew little about each other. So, I'm not saying one influenced the other. If anything, Chrissy would have been more aware of Kate.
@@warrenbridges1891 Irrespective of who was aware of who, I rather not make an assumption that Chrissy got her ideas from somebody else when the records prove show that she most likely did not.
@@Myer_Dee-_ By saying Chrissy might have been aware of Kate is not an assumption that she may even have listened to "The Dreaming" anyway. She could well have known of Kate without ever hearing any work from that album.
Bon Scott sister
Chrissy was doing the mad ''ugh'' sound about a 6 months to a year before Kate did her crazy sounds on The Dreaming album. Not taking anything away from Kate, but I'll defend Chrissy's artistic merits as a lot of her stuff comes from a real place...
She's holding back because she doesn't want to scared the nice American audience.. and before anybody comes at me, I know there are mean and nasty American audiences.... but I got a feeling this being for a TV special in America and the audience being made up of nice boys and girls, she probably didn't want to risk it and give them the hell that she gave to the Aussie audiences. She learned from Jimmy Barnes to not shock their happy homes.... She would beat the shit out of an audience if they acted up, but here.. she casts a spell on them.. At least, I think that's a spell
Song was ok , don’t think this was the singers finest hour however . Quite Banshees-esque this track
👍🏴
A bit of a bummer for poor ol' Elsie. Hope she got her shit together and had a nicer existence. I love Chrissie and the boys. A killer live band that were as tough as nails that took no shit from a usually drunken male audience. And I am dubious to accept the Siouxsie Sioux comparison because Chrissie was her own creature. She wouldn't fit a Siouxsie & The Banshees tribute band, and vice versa. Siouxsie Sioux would be a poor fit for a Divinyls tribute band. Both artists were of their own making and style. Chrissie's voice is distinctive. I raise the ''tribute'' band thing because that would be a way to test how similar an artist is to another. RIP Chrissie...
Your opinion is of equal value to mines Catherine n that’s cool 👌
👍🏴
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering To be fair, I think out of all the songs in Divinyls catalogue, ''Elsie'' sounds most like Siouxsie/Banshees, and I can imagine Souxise And The Banshees doing a convincing cover of the song. But I struggle to imagine Siouxie/Banshees covering their other material, because it wouldn't suit them. Heaven forbid Siouxsie/Banseehs doing a cover of ''I Touch Myself''. Please. No. 🤢
On the flipside, I couldn't imagine Divinyls doing a convincing cover of any Siouxsie/Banseehs songs. Chrissie and Siouxsie had vocal styles that were distinctive and recognisable upon first listen. If I hear Siouxsie from afar, I know immediately it is Souxsie, and the same goes for Chrissy. When I hear Chrissy from afar, I know immediately that it is her and I don't think it has anything to do with being familiar.
There are plenty of performers that sound like other people and at times, you can get them mixed up due to a lack of distinctive quality. There was nothing generic about either Siouxsie or Chrissie.
But I give you that ''Elsie'' is the closest to sounding like Siouxsie/Banshees.
It was a very early song and they were probably still at that eclectic stage of taking bits of Pretenders, Pat Banatar, Lene Lovich, Missing Persons, you name it.
Siouxsie was charismatic in a Goth post-punk way. Chrissie was feral with moments of sexiness. She came from the same live Australian pub rock scene that shaped AC/DC, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, INXS, Rose Tattoo and the rest of the blah blah blah's of Ozzie rock. A one of a kind as somebody put it.
@@catherinehaysthird you’ve put your case very well I’d say Catherine . I’m no expert on Divinyls in fact I think I’ve only heard 4 tracks in total inc I touch myself . It’s the first time I’ve heard this song and immediately I thought , yep Banshees-esque, but I take your word at face value that it isn’t typical of their broader catalogue and if I had more exposure to their stuff I might see that for myself . Good getting your viewpoint though , cheers 🍻
👍🏴
@@catherinehaysthird I really think Chrissy was projecting Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. There's a lot of parallels between what Chrissy did on those Divinyls' 80's tracks and the Eliza Doolittle character. She was from the theatre world and lived rough as a busker in Europ, getting arrested in England and being homeless in Paris or whatever she did before Divinyls. There's a reason she was able to pull off Judy Garland in _The Boy From Oz._ with Hugh Jackman.
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering she was a hunter and collector and she admitted it.. Catherine only half explained Chrissy. She was from a theatrical background, she modelled as a teenager, busked and hitchhiked through out Europe, and was jailed in France or England or somewhere and did time.. All this before she formed Divinyls at age 20. She was a hot mess and mixed bag of tricks, and she did pick up pieces of other people to make her big persona in music. She had bits of Pat Benatar, Chrissie Hynde, Bon Scott, Angus Young, Billy Thorpe, Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil (she should have admitted it), and as Brett French said, Eliza Doolittle would have been a big influence on her too. Her early years was this amalgamation of all sorts of shit and it just spilled over on their early records.. but her voice is her's and i don't think anybody else looks quite like her... and eventually she was just Chrissy..