I'm trying to find the ''happy'' part of this song? Is it when the bloke yells ''well if you don't like it, what are ya standin' there for 20 minutes watchin' for?''?
Holy crap, this is 40 years ago? Oh God... My friends and I often went to Kings Cross in the 80's and the 90's. The first time was very exciting, but after a while, it just got to be the same old scene. Though I was not a Chisel fan, I could relate to the wearisome that's projected in this song.
Great reaction. I only recently discovered your channel. You have a good relaxing vibe. I believe that song was filmed in Feb 1984. I went to Kings Cross for the first time in Sept that same year with two mates. I was only 14 so it was a real eye opener. That song film clip always brings back good memories. The two mates I went there with that night are still my mates today.
No problem to not precede it with Ghost Town. That was just my suggestion since the last Cold Chisel video was a double shot of two other songs from the album that were much more random. Ghost Town literally merges into Saturday Night on the album and there's a fantastic counterpoint between the angst and energy of Ghost Town versus the cruisey way that Saturday Night begins.
they are teaching us remnant vibrational harmony..........a gift from our cosmic / maker /ancestor.....the world is realising now......these are righteous brothers of the australian heart
Very good! Shows the diversity of Cold Chisel's music. This was shot in Sydney's Kings Cross in Feb. 1984, and has scenes of the Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras, which is now a big money maker. I worked at Sydney's Kings Cross, and it's a place you can't forget.
@@lesliedaras-wells2510 No, he didn't say that the Mardi Gras was in Kings Cross. He said there were scenes of the Mardi Gras. I don't think he should even be agreeing with you, because you read his post wrong.
They're taking on a variation of styles in this one song, and the results are quite affective. I'll be keeping my eye on these guys. It would be a delight if you could do The Sports performing ''Don't Hold Back That Feeling'' on some TV show in the 70's. The sound is in mono and the tape a little fuzzy, but the performance is hypnotic and is much preferred than the inferior audio version. If you do this song, please choose the TV performance version.
I was done with University when this song was released. It really does take me back to the mid 80's and all the fun I was having on Saturday night. Kings Cross wasn't bad if you were with a tight group of friends. It was certainly better being out at the Cross on a Saturday night than it was driving through the place at 3am on a weeknight. For some reason, there was something very disconcerting about Kings Cross in the very early hours of the morning on a weeknight. Fun fact: The video starts off with the fade out of Split Enz ''Message To My Girl'', which was a hit at the time.
I was not a cool kid at school and in Year 12 as I was (and still am) a Bealtes fan had no idea why kids kept going Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do Saturday Night.... This was filmed around Kings Cross, which is famous for Sydney's brothels, gay bars, etc.
This song captures the vibe and menace of Saturday night in Sydneys Kings Cross.....but it needs a quality amp and quality floor standing speakers or monitors to immerse the body and senses in the feel. Head phones only give you about 60% of the sound and feel.....the vital 40% is what you feel through your feet and vibrating off the walls and ceiling. Ear buds are only suitable for computer noises and dub step, ear phones for pop music without disturbing the neighbour's. Even opera and classical music NEEDS the other 40% to be truely felt and experienced.
Fantastic song. From my young days the Cold Chisel songs i remember and love most are Khe Sanh, Flame Trees and Saturday Night. All three are less traditional so gs by them.
I can confirm, with the authority of experience, that Kings Cross in the 90's was a pretty chaotic and crazy place to walk through on the weekend. It was seedy as hell, and a fun place to be if you had mates. Door men at Strip Clubs would try dragging you into their venue and beg for tips, uncover cops would offer you drugs, prostitutes would do their prostitute thing, cabbies would be busy dropping off and picking up every idiot possible, and people chasing eachother around for God knows why... You might be describing the same thing in Canada, but it was more than just drunks and homeless on the side of the road and everyday people walking along... Even during the early stages of the lockout laws was quite crazy. But the council now has Kings Cross in a transitional stage where it's heading towards gentrification. All those that survived Kings Cross in its former glory can now stroll down Darlinghurst Road with their strollers, and muse over the good old days of debauchery. I'll be one of them.
A summery of all the comments on this video: This ''happy'' party song was the second last single from Cold Chisel's final album 'Twentieth Century''. The album was recorded when the band were on the brink of breaking up, and they were not on speaking terms. The video was shot by Richard Lowenstein in Kings Cross in Sydney, and has scenes of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which was a slightly risky thing for Cold Chisel to include in the video, because the band had a mostly heterosexual Aussie male audience. The band can be seen walking around the seedy Red Light District of Sydney's Kings Cross and the fade out of Split Enz's ''Message To My Girl'' can be heard at the start of the video. Sydney has changed since this video was shot forty years ago, and Kings Cross is heading towards gentrification. It was a wild place until the lockdown laws came in. Cold Chisel reformed in 1998 and have continued to enjoy success in their home country. ''Saturday Night'' has appeared on every Cold Chisel compilation release, and still receives radio play.
This is pretty personal, because the clip was shot on my stomping ground in Sydney. I grew up around Kings Cross, and walked those streets as a spooky Shelley Duvall look-a-like teenager. I even know a couple of faces in the video. What you're seeing and hearing was typical of Kings Cross on any given night of the week, and Saturday night... forget about it. It was nuts. Members of Cold Chisel are seen in the video, which is fitting because the band lived there during the first three years they were in Sydney. I used to see members of the band in various eateries including Sweethearts. I think this was their second last hit and it's fitting that most of the video is shot in Kings Cross. Thank you for viewing it!
Indeed. Love the live version from Germany when band seemed like they ready to break up. I do not know if they did soon after but they seemed really moody with each other in that live concert, despite the music sounding so raw and good to me.
Eeww, Kings Cross in Sydney. I had a lot of fun times there in the 80's and 90's. Ghost Town would be a fitting song as a follow up. That's exactly what Kings Cross is now.
Kings Cross is dead now. It's shaping up to be a lovely village for pensioners to stroll along and feed pigeons. I don't know why you're ''eewwing'' Kings Cross, when you Melburnians had places like St. Kilda. This whole location snobbery is annoying me GillyPups!
@@Robbo766 Yeah, yeah. You got a point about St. Kilda. That place was a bit of a hole in the day. I was at Kings Cross in 2022, and I was amazed by how dead it was. That lockout law really killed it. It's been in place for 10 years now, and it's just so barren. It's just like how the Haniers are describing their area. Nothing like the 80's and 90's! Those there the days!
@@liveitup67 Gillian, Sydney is crap now-a-days. The 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's will never come back. It's just another city with inflated property prices and corporations. The beaches remain very good, but there's hardly anything to do around there. At least in our day, there were bands to see and clubs to go to. I was still caught up in the spirit of Sydney in the 90's, and I was getting old by then. But these days, I can't imagine any young person enjoying life in Sydney. Not unless they're office workers or corporate people. But what caused the lockout laws were the dickheads that got too drunk and screwed it up for everybody else. We sort of created our own downfall as a city.
This song is a jam that plays on a social commentary of big city nightlife, but particularly that part of the night where everything starts closing and people are finding their way home.
Old school Kings Cross. I remember walking through there in the early 90's walking down to the Navy base in the mornings and going out there occasionally. This was the red light, seedy district being just up the road from a national Navy base and one where foreign warships came alongside. The whole area has been largely gentrified now.
All the video needs is Paul Hogan to pop up and say ''Have a shrimp on the barbie, or maybe a shoot in the old loo''. 😵💫 Y'know, you weren't getting a full Sydney experience if you didn't take a stroll through the Cross. Sharon O'Neill's ''Maxine'' also has some lovely Kings Cross views. Check it out.
I spent many years in my early 20s around Darlinghurst and The Cross, in the early hours, waiting for my copper girlfriend to finish her shifts. Many a night where i would befriend someone in a pub, and end up taking a variety of substances. Needless to say, my copper missus wasn't my biggest fan when i met her at end of shift but it turns out she was cheating on me a long time before that anyway, so those times alone and with strangers, mean even more to me now. Its no surprise but i'm not with that person now, luckily. Chisel was the music of my youth.
The DJ at the very beginning of the clip is John Henry. Like Cold Chisel, Split Enz and Elton John, he too is still on radio. And Kings Cross is depressing these days. The losers and weirdos are walking around Kings Cross like wild life after a bushfire.
The Twentieth Century album was a very tense, fractured time in Cold Chisel's history. The band members were barely on speaking terms. Jimmy Barnes wanted to make a polished studio production (mentioning The Eagles Long Run album as an example), while Don Walker wanted to "do what Cold Chisel does best", and set up in a theatre and play live. Both approaches, and mutliple (I think six) producers were tried, resulting an a very different sound for every song. As suggested elsewhere here, have a listen to Flame Trees, and then Only One. Back when this album was released, Flame Trees was the last track on Side 1, and Side 2 opened with Only One (and blew your speakers).
Amazingly, for a small town, (not now) we had a very healthy night life scene, here in Cairns NQ. We used to all head to our favourite cafes that would open around 7pm and stay open until 6 or 7am. My best haunt was a place called the Arab coffee lounge and on weekends, they used to have some light guitar music, often live. Plus cushions on the floor in one section and chairs for those who couldn't get close to the floor, or off the floor.😅
@@EveJenkins58 Haha, even back then, it often had more going on than the city of Sydney in the same time period. My Aunt, who was from Sydney, was always in a hurry to come back to sin city as she used to call it. Pretty much a pub with a band or some form of entertainment, on almost every corner. The section near the wharf was the wildest part and got the nickname of the Barbary coast, where almost anything goes. It's all too quiet these days and, like Sydney, you have to go quite a distance to find the good stuff. Too touristy now, not enough for locals since the late 80's, too much focused on tourism.
It's funny this clip takes me back to my youth. If you were single you'd go to the str8 clubs in places like the Cross trying to pick up and there tended to be a level of violence as guys would compete for good looking girls. If you had a girl you'd go to places like Oxford St with it's gay clubs and the girls could relax and dance and have a good time with no threat level. This clip shows glimpses of those two scenes which were literally a few hundred meters away from each other on opposite sides of the same suburb. I remember once a good friend had a particularly bad break up and we took her to a club at Oxford St and she was all worried because she had never interacted with gay people in her life, 2 hours later she's on a platform dancing around a pole with two shirtless gay boys having the time of her life. This clip beautifully shows all the nuances of inner city Sydney in that era. They had another song "Breakfast at Sweethearts" which was a place where people would go after a really big night to wind down and sober up a bit before heading home. Great song and fun reaction guys.
London has Soho, NY has Harlem and Spanish Harlem. Australia has Kings Cross......if not from Sydney, then walking The Cross on a Saturday Night is a bit like being the white boy walking Harlem after dark. lol
Scientists have discovered that animal species evolving in geographically isolated environments can develop in unique and unexpected ways. Cold Chisel are a strange amalgam of different styles and influences which provides for an interesting listening experience. I like this particular song, its unexpected changes and the way it pulls together the sights and sounds of the city. I generally tried to avoid going into town on Saturday nights because in the days when black cabs were the only option it used to mean a long wait on the taxi rank, or a fight, if you wanted to get home.
I was born in Sydney (at the now closed Crown St Women's Hospital, the shame, a guy being born in a women's hospital!!) For my first 8 years, we lived in Mortlake, then the family moved to Blacktown. Being a westie, i seldom ventured into Sydney, but i did occassionally. I was a pastrycook, and the technical college i went to was East Sydney, the Cross, and was very different by day. But by night, to quote the song Friday Night by Redgum, Friday night, like a Bundy neat, smells so sleazy and tastes so sweet.... To be honest, my friends were more likely to go to the cinemas in George St, then dinner in China town than the red light district.
Starts off at Kings Cross in Sydney, at 1;57 on your clip there is a mention of Parramatta, which would be the Collector Hotel which is still there and an old haunt open till 4AM , its a look back in time when i worked there in 1984 at 22 yrs now im 62 .
3:10 Kaitlyn Batt taking a photo opportunity.. Don't start making fun of me Kaitlyn... I was surfing mean Bondi waves while you were haunting Kings Cross... By the way, were you working at McDonalds when this clip was shot?
@@Robbo766 LOL.. That's supposed to be, huh? Nah, she looks normal. I was weird looking girl. I can own looking like Shelley Duvall. And no, I didn't work at Macca's around this time. I worked at Macca's in '81 and '82, and got very sick of it. I was turning into a female Travis Bickle of the fast food world, despising all the scum that wanted to eat junk good. Anyway.. How are you, bonehead?
Great track. Certainly makes me think of late Saturday nights in early to mid 1980's when this song must have been on the radio. Although I did not relate too much to the seedy inner Sydney King's Cross area but I believe Don Walker as keyboard player used to live in that area in some apartment. Songs like this and Breakfast at Sweethearts by the band, certainly give an insight into the sights and sounds of that area where he was located. Interestingly, listened to an interview with him recently on some podcast and he really grew up in rural areas, way out of a big city so it fascinating in his adult years he had to move to a big city. One of my favourite things about Cold Chisel albums is how different a style they can be on one track to the next on same album. The other request such as Ghostown is on same album and very different. I really like the song The Game from this album but still cannot figure out what the song is about. I think the man on sax in the song is actually Joe Camelleri. That man got around as seen him in some live concert on sax with Icehouse in some concert in Germany back in those times.
I'd like to see a reaction to a really overlooked Cold Chisel song called Misfits, it's like street poetry catching teenage life in a bottle just magic. I enjoy the channel :)
That's Kings Cross and Darlinghurst in Sydney and that's all the people out on Saturday night. It's a good song and the video is a capture of times gone by. You don't really get this sort of activity around that area since the ''Lock Out'' laws came in 10 years ago. All that's seen in the clip are very familiar scenes.
@@kaitlynbatt_ I don't blame you Kaitlyn. I've been to KX Maccas and those poor kids are going grey too early. I remember the disorderly conditions and the nast customers that any Kings Cross establishment would attract. You were wise to move on Kaitlyn.. Where did you go after your Macca's gig?
@@Robbo766 I worked for a few music venues and did odd jobs when I got into University. I held some pretty interesting jobs including one at Phantom records in the mid 80's. I got to work with Nic Dalton, later of Plunderers and The Lemon Heads. I feel sad for any kid that has to work at Maccas. Shocking place.
@@kaitlynbatt_ Phantom records! I haven't thought of that label for years! And you rubbed shoulders with future rockstars too. Good onya Kaitlyn. You ever mingled with somebody from The Hummingbirds or Ratcat? You know, I've passed caring about kids now-a-days. I just look at them and think they're poor suckers like the rest of us. It's so good when they become adults..
A great song from the Twentieth Century Album….just one thing if you react to Ghost Town maybe pair it with another song….. something like Twentieth Century or Only One ….Ghost Town is a very short song…. Heaps more Cold Chisel.
The video was shot by Richard Lowenstein, who made many of INXS's landmark videos including ''Need You Tonight''. He also did the video for Hunters & Collectors' ''Talking To A Stranger'', and did the good movie 'Dogs In Sapce' starring Michael Hutchence. What's interesting is that Chisel were all for having scenes of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the clip. It was risky because Chisel's core audience were mostly heterosexual Aussie men, and the biggest show that would play the video was Countdown. Neither had an issue with the Mardi Gras scenes, which was a posative sign of progress and tolerance in Australia. Cold Chisel were no longer a band when the video was shot. The following video 'Flame Tree' has even less shots of the group. Cheers, Hayley
🎉Cool! This was Kings Cross, in Sydney. 1980s. You could occasionally see the guys, apparently, just standing there, facing the street. They were the bouncers, guiding the entrances to the strip clubs. Kings Cross was a pretty rough spot in those days.
I had to make my statement quickly just to give a bit of context. lol Anyway, I did a bit of work on the picture and sound, so I am pleased the Haniers used it.
@@OnceWasRStrathfield you were like Sally Pierson outta the blocks there 😆 Good on yer mate for spending your time getting the best viewing for all 👏 👍🏴
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering It wasn't easy either. I was using pretty good editing software and some things were just not compatible. It was a bit stressful, but at least we get to see this Chisel song/video in its best form. That's more than I can say about the video on Chisel's official channel.
This was back in the day when Australia had less diversity of people. There was no such thing as multiculturalism in those days. Most people were of the same background, and were more familiar with eachother. Not to say I want to return to this monoculture, because even in those days, I could see it was a double-edge sword. But I can't help but feel we've lost something during the past 40 years.
I found the video more interesting than the song if I’m honest . I just find on a personal level there’s nothing about Cold Chisel that I can relate to musically. That’s not their fault it’s more to do with my personal preferences 🤷♂️ 👍🏴
@@antipodean_antonette it would be a dull old world if we all agreed on everything antonette , they’re clearly decent musicians with a lot of fans , I get that . 👍🏴
Ghost Town is such a good song though!!!! 😗 All their songs are good. They can't do a step wrong. Well, maybe when they reformed and began releasing new crap in the late 90's.
Do not think they really reformed in the 90's. I think they just released a few B tracks and demo stuff but I cannot remember anything special from the era they were not making new albums themselves. I really like their albums from the 2000s though but not actually got the most recent album released about five years back. I should get it and check it out. Last album I had of theirs was called The Perfect Crime but for some reason I only had it online so weird not have a physical copy of an album.
@@shaundgb7367 ''The Last Wave of Summer'' was their first studio album in 15 years. That was the come back album in 1998. I just can't get into it. I admire those who can, but I just can't...
@@kaitlynbatt_ Well I suspect you are right because when I asked myself well how often do I listen to that album, if I have it ?and I think I doubt I listened to it since the turn of the century. But had a search and found my CD of that album. I might have a 40 minute drive in the car to see my sister and brother in law this late arvo so probably put it on during the drive to see if it stacks up much against their more well known albums. But I know off the top of my head I would be more drawn to put one of their more recent albums on or Swingshift on a long drive. Meanwhile I cannot even find a copy of The Twentieth Century album which is a crime if I do not have it.
@@kaitlynbatt_ Had a listen to whole album today. The song Way Down on that album is great. The Things I Love in You and Yakura Girls are also great tracks. A few other tracks on the album felt like songs that should have been on a solo career Jimmy Barnes album and the song Red Sand basically is like an Ian Moss solo venture that just happened to be on this album. A couple of interesting tracks seem like Don Walker types for his band Catfish. Overall still a good album, just not one of their best which is to be expected as they had been on different paths for well over a decade when they threw this album together without really intending to go away from their own solo careers after it. The track Baby's On Fire is almost one AC/DC could do well too. The only track I not really like on the album was So Hard, Music was ok on the track but the lyrics of the song did nothing for me as a song.
@@shaundgb7367 Hey Shaun, Thanx for the review. I'll check it out, and pay close attention to those tracks you mentioned. When they did that come back, I was just ''yeah whatever''. I'll be more open about it now.
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![Americans' Reaction to "Cold Chisel - Saturday Night [Official]" THE WOLF HUNTERZ Jon and Dolly](/img/n.gif)
HAPPY SONG!!!!! This is how we have a good time in Australia! This is our party music!
if that's true, then we're a nation of sad sacks
Maybe if the party was at home with a few friends and some pot. I can't imagine anybody having a party to this ''happy song''. 🤷
I'm trying to find the ''happy'' part of this song? Is it when the bloke yells ''well if you don't like it, what are ya standin' there for 20 minutes watchin' for?''?
Nostalgic, sure.
Kings Cross was a pool of debauchery. Great times. Chisel played the Room while others played the other bar. Sweethearts was the breakfast bar.
My best memories of Kings Cross in the 80s are the ones I don't remember.
I'd do it all again.
Holy crap, this is 40 years ago? Oh God... My friends and I often went to Kings Cross in the 80's and the 90's. The first time was very exciting, but after a while, it just got to be the same old scene. Though I was not a Chisel fan, I could relate to the wearisome that's projected in this song.
Seen chisel in 82 here in Perth Western Australia . 🇦🇺
Brings back memories of back yard Barbie's, camping and Christmas on the beach
Great reaction. I only recently discovered your channel. You have a good relaxing vibe. I believe that song was filmed in Feb 1984. I went to Kings Cross for the first time in Sept that same year with two mates. I was only 14 so it was a real eye opener. That song film clip always brings back good memories. The two mates I went there with that night are still my mates today.
No problem to not precede it with Ghost Town. That was just my suggestion since the last Cold Chisel video was a double shot of two other songs from the album that were much more random. Ghost Town literally merges into Saturday Night on the album and there's a fantastic counterpoint between the angst and energy of Ghost Town versus the cruisey way that Saturday Night begins.
they are teaching us remnant vibrational harmony..........a gift from our cosmic / maker /ancestor.....the world is realising now......these are righteous brothers of the australian heart
That was Sydney in 1985, you can imagine how bad it is now. 🙂
Thanks for reacting to this much appreciated. This is one of my all time favourites
Very good! Shows the diversity of Cold Chisel's music. This was shot in Sydney's Kings Cross in Feb. 1984, and has scenes of the Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras, which is now a big money maker.
I worked at Sydney's Kings Cross, and it's a place you can't forget.
Gay and Lesbian Mardi gras in Kings Cross? When was that ever a thing? Looked like Oxford Street, Taylor Square. Genuine question, cheers.
@@lesliedaras-wells2510 Yes, you're right. Should have put more thought into what I was typed.
@@lesliedaras-wells2510 No, he didn't say that the Mardi Gras was in Kings Cross. He said there were scenes of the Mardi Gras. I don't think he should even be agreeing with you, because you read his post wrong.
Awesome song! 👍Flame Tree should come next.
They're taking on a variation of styles in this one song, and the results are quite affective. I'll be keeping my eye on these guys.
It would be a delight if you could do The Sports performing ''Don't Hold Back That Feeling'' on some TV show in the 70's. The sound is in mono and the tape a little fuzzy, but the performance is hypnotic and is much preferred than the inferior audio version. If you do this song, please choose the TV performance version.
I was done with University when this song was released. It really does take me back to the mid 80's and all the fun I was having on Saturday night. Kings Cross wasn't bad if you were with a tight group of friends. It was certainly better being out at the Cross on a Saturday night than it was driving through the place at 3am on a weeknight. For some reason, there was something very disconcerting about Kings Cross in the very early hours of the morning on a weeknight. Fun fact: The video starts off with the fade out of Split Enz ''Message To My Girl'', which was a hit at the time.
I was not a cool kid at school and in Year 12 as I was (and still am) a Bealtes fan had no idea why kids kept going Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do Saturday Night....
This was filmed around Kings Cross, which is famous for Sydney's brothels, gay bars, etc.
I was more into The Angels than Chisel, but Jimmy and co. had their moments.
This is a great Richard Lowenstein video.
I should have prefaced by saying that I wasn't an Angels fan, but I liked them more..
This song captures the vibe and menace of Saturday night in Sydneys Kings Cross.....but it needs a quality amp and quality floor standing speakers or monitors to immerse the body and senses in the feel.
Head phones only give you about 60% of the sound and feel.....the vital 40% is what you feel through your feet and vibrating off the walls and ceiling.
Ear buds are only suitable for computer noises and dub step, ear phones for pop music without disturbing the neighbour's.
Even opera and classical music NEEDS the other 40% to be truely felt and experienced.
Fantastic song. From my young days the Cold Chisel songs i remember and love most are Khe Sanh, Flame Trees and Saturday Night. All three are less traditional so gs by them.
I can confirm, with the authority of experience, that Kings Cross in the 90's was a pretty chaotic and crazy place to walk through on the weekend. It was seedy as hell, and a fun place to be if you had mates. Door men at Strip Clubs would try dragging you into their venue and beg for tips, uncover cops would offer you drugs, prostitutes would do their prostitute thing, cabbies would be busy dropping off and picking up every idiot possible, and people chasing eachother around for God knows why...
You might be describing the same thing in Canada, but it was more than just drunks and homeless on the side of the road and everyday people walking along... Even during the early stages of the lockout laws was quite crazy.
But the council now has Kings Cross in a transitional stage where it's heading towards gentrification. All those that survived Kings Cross in its former glory can now stroll down Darlinghurst Road with their strollers, and muse over the good old days of debauchery. I'll be one of them.
A summery of all the comments on this video:
This ''happy'' party song was the second last single from Cold Chisel's final album 'Twentieth Century''. The album was recorded when the band were on the brink of breaking up, and they were not on speaking terms. The video was shot by Richard Lowenstein in Kings Cross in Sydney, and has scenes of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which was a slightly risky thing for Cold Chisel to include in the video, because the band had a mostly heterosexual Aussie male audience. The band can be seen walking around the seedy Red Light District of Sydney's Kings Cross and the fade out of Split Enz's ''Message To My Girl'' can be heard at the start of the video.
Sydney has changed since this video was shot forty years ago, and Kings Cross is heading towards gentrification. It was a wild place until the lockdown laws came in.
Cold Chisel reformed in 1998 and have continued to enjoy success in their home country. ''Saturday Night'' has appeared on every Cold Chisel compilation release, and still receives radio play.
lockout laws*
This is more of a vibe song but love it.
This is pretty personal, because the clip was shot on my stomping ground in Sydney. I grew up around Kings Cross, and walked those streets as a spooky Shelley Duvall look-a-like teenager. I even know a couple of faces in the video. What you're seeing and hearing was typical of Kings Cross on any given night of the week, and Saturday night... forget about it. It was nuts.
Members of Cold Chisel are seen in the video, which is fitting because the band lived there during the first three years they were in Sydney. I used to see members of the band in various eateries including Sweethearts. I think this was their second last hit and it's fitting that most of the video is shot in Kings Cross. Thank you for viewing it!
I completely relate to everything you said except for looking like Shelley Duvall. That look you can keep all to yourself! HAHAHA
@@Robbo766 You are mean!
@@EveJenkins58 To be fair, I did call him a bonehead. lol
you should do cold chisel wild colonial boy
Indeed. Love the live version from Germany when band seemed like they ready to break up. I do not know if they did soon after but they seemed really moody with each other in that live concert, despite the music sounding so raw and good to me.
Eeww, Kings Cross in Sydney. I had a lot of fun times there in the 80's and 90's. Ghost Town would be a fitting song as a follow up. That's exactly what Kings Cross is now.
Kings Cross is dead now. It's shaping up to be a lovely village for pensioners to stroll along and feed pigeons. I don't know why you're ''eewwing'' Kings Cross, when you Melburnians had places like St. Kilda. This whole location snobbery is annoying me GillyPups!
@@Robbo766 Yeah, yeah. You got a point about St. Kilda. That place was a bit of a hole in the day. I was at Kings Cross in 2022, and I was amazed by how dead it was. That lockout law really killed it. It's been in place for 10 years now, and it's just so barren. It's just like how the Haniers are describing their area. Nothing like the 80's and 90's! Those there the days!
I've been to Kings Cross a couple of times. It was scary for a small town Brissy girl!
@@Sspringgrainn Must have been a long time ago. It's dead now.
@@liveitup67 Gillian, Sydney is crap now-a-days. The 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's will never come back. It's just another city with inflated property prices and corporations. The beaches remain very good, but there's hardly anything to do around there. At least in our day, there were bands to see and clubs to go to. I was still caught up in the spirit of Sydney in the 90's, and I was getting old by then. But these days, I can't imagine any young person enjoying life in Sydney. Not unless they're office workers or corporate people.
But what caused the lockout laws were the dickheads that got too drunk and screwed it up for everybody else. We sort of created our own downfall as a city.
This song is a jam that plays on a social commentary of big city nightlife, but particularly that part of the night where everything starts closing and people are finding their way home.
Ah, Sydney back in the day.
Old school Kings Cross. I remember walking through there in the early 90's walking down to the Navy base in the mornings and going out there occasionally. This was the red light, seedy district being just up the road from a national Navy base and one where foreign warships came alongside. The whole area has been largely gentrified now.
All the video needs is Paul Hogan to pop up and say ''Have a shrimp on the barbie, or maybe a shoot in the old loo''. 😵💫 Y'know, you weren't getting a full Sydney experience if you didn't take a stroll through the Cross. Sharon O'Neill's ''Maxine'' also has some lovely Kings Cross views. Check it out.
lol that is dark!
I spent many years in my early 20s around Darlinghurst and The Cross, in the early hours, waiting for my copper girlfriend to finish her shifts. Many a night where i would befriend someone in a pub, and end up taking a variety of substances. Needless to say, my copper missus wasn't my biggest fan when i met her at end of shift but it turns out she was cheating on me a long time before that anyway, so those times alone and with strangers, mean even more to me now. Its no surprise but i'm not with that person now, luckily. Chisel was the music of my youth.
The DJ at the very beginning of the clip is John Henry. Like Cold Chisel, Split Enz and Elton John, he too is still on radio.
And Kings Cross is depressing these days. The losers and weirdos are walking around Kings Cross like wild life after a bushfire.
The Twentieth Century album was a very tense, fractured time in Cold Chisel's history. The band members were barely on speaking terms. Jimmy Barnes wanted to make a polished studio production (mentioning The Eagles Long Run album as an example), while Don Walker wanted to "do what Cold Chisel does best", and set up in a theatre and play live. Both approaches, and mutliple (I think six) producers were tried, resulting an a very different sound for every song. As suggested elsewhere here, have a listen to Flame Trees, and then Only One. Back when this album was released, Flame Trees was the last track on Side 1, and Side 2 opened with Only One (and blew your speakers).
Amazingly, for a small town, (not now) we had a very healthy night life scene, here in Cairns NQ. We used to all head to our favourite cafes that would open around 7pm and stay open until 6 or 7am. My best haunt was a place called the Arab coffee lounge and on weekends, they used to have some light guitar music, often live. Plus cushions on the floor in one section and chairs for those who couldn't get close to the floor, or off the floor.😅
Who would think that Cairns in that time period would have more to offer than Sydney does in the 2020's. Thanx for sharing.
@@EveJenkins58 Haha, even back then, it often had more going on than the city of Sydney in the same time period. My Aunt, who was from Sydney, was always in a hurry to come back to sin city as she used to call it. Pretty much a pub with a band or some form of entertainment, on almost every corner. The section near the wharf was the wildest part and got the nickname of the Barbary coast, where almost anything goes.
It's all too quiet these days and, like Sydney, you have to go quite a distance to find the good stuff. Too touristy now, not enough for locals since the late 80's, too much focused on tourism.
I'd say that Cold Chisel is the most played band on this channel.
Not sure about that. We will have a look.
@hanierfamily I'm not complaining. It's just an observation.
Had a quick look and only found about 11 Cold Chisel tracks.
@@shaundgb7367 Quite a decent amount. Mostly great songs. There's just a few that I don't particularly like.
We have 25 videos for The Jam
It's funny this clip takes me back to my youth. If you were single you'd go to the str8 clubs in places like the Cross trying to pick up and there tended to be a level of violence as guys would compete for good looking girls. If you had a girl you'd go to places like Oxford St with it's gay clubs and the girls could relax and dance and have a good time with no threat level. This clip shows glimpses of those two scenes which were literally a few hundred meters away from each other on opposite sides of the same suburb. I remember once a good friend had a particularly bad break up and we took her to a club at Oxford St and she was all worried because she had never interacted with gay people in her life, 2 hours later she's on a platform dancing around a pole with two shirtless gay boys having the time of her life. This clip beautifully shows all the nuances of inner city Sydney in that era. They had another song "Breakfast at Sweethearts" which was a place where people would go after a really big night to wind down and sober up a bit before heading home. Great song and fun reaction guys.
London has Soho, NY has Harlem and Spanish Harlem.
Australia has Kings Cross......if not from Sydney, then walking The Cross on a Saturday Night is a bit like being the white boy walking Harlem after dark. lol
Saturday Night is 🍻 night ! 🎷
Scientists have discovered that animal species evolving in geographically isolated environments can develop in unique and unexpected ways. Cold Chisel are a strange amalgam of different styles and influences which provides for an interesting listening experience. I like this particular song, its unexpected changes and the way it pulls together the sights and sounds of the city. I generally tried to avoid going into town on Saturday nights because in the days when black cabs were the only option it used to mean a long wait on the taxi rank, or a fight, if you wanted to get home.
I was born in Sydney (at the now closed Crown St Women's Hospital, the shame, a guy being born in a women's hospital!!) For my first 8 years, we lived in Mortlake, then the family moved to Blacktown. Being a westie, i seldom ventured into Sydney, but i did occassionally. I was a pastrycook, and the technical college i went to was East Sydney, the Cross, and was very different by day. But by night, to quote the song Friday Night by Redgum, Friday night, like a Bundy neat, smells so sleazy and tastes so sweet....
To be honest, my friends were more likely to go to the cinemas in George St, then dinner in China town than the red light district.
Starts off at Kings Cross in Sydney, at 1;57 on your clip there is a mention of Parramatta, which would be the Collector Hotel which is still there and an old haunt open till 4AM , its a look back in time when i worked there in 1984 at 22 yrs now im 62 .
2:42 Robbo looking for his surfboard
3:10 Kaitlyn Batt taking a photo opportunity.. Don't start making fun of me Kaitlyn... I was surfing mean Bondi waves while you were haunting Kings Cross...
By the way, were you working at McDonalds when this clip was shot?
@@Robbo766 LOL.. That's supposed to be, huh? Nah, she looks normal. I was weird looking girl. I can own looking like Shelley Duvall. And no, I didn't work at Macca's around this time. I worked at Macca's in '81 and '82, and got very sick of it. I was turning into a female Travis Bickle of the fast food world, despising all the scum that wanted to eat junk good.
Anyway.. How are you, bonehead?
@@kaitlynbatt_😝 brilliant Kaitlyn ✊
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@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering lol. What's brilliant? Me picking on my mate?
@@Robbo766 Did you find your surfboard? You look kinda stressed in that shot?
Not sure if Kings X would be a good place to find your lost property. 🤪
Great track.
Certainly makes me think of late Saturday nights in early to mid 1980's when this song must have been on the radio. Although I did not relate too much to the seedy inner Sydney King's Cross area but I believe Don Walker as keyboard player used to live in that area in some apartment. Songs like this and Breakfast at Sweethearts by the band, certainly give an insight into the sights and sounds of that area where he was located. Interestingly, listened to an interview with him recently on some podcast and he really grew up in rural areas, way out of a big city so it fascinating in his adult years he had to move to a big city. One of my favourite things about Cold Chisel albums is how different a style they can be on one track to the next on same album. The other request such as Ghostown is on same album and very different. I really like the song The Game from this album but still cannot figure out what the song is about. I think the man on sax in the song is actually Joe Camelleri. That man got around as seen him in some live concert on sax with Icehouse in some concert in Germany back in those times.
Would love you react to Jimmy Barnes - Used To The Truth, I'd Rather Be Blind..ta
I'd like to see a reaction to a really overlooked Cold Chisel song called Misfits, it's like street poetry catching teenage life in a bottle just magic. I enjoy the channel :)
That's Kings Cross and Darlinghurst in Sydney and that's all the people out on Saturday night. It's a good song and the video is a capture of times gone by. You don't really get this sort of activity around that area since the ''Lock Out'' laws came in 10 years ago.
All that's seen in the clip are very familiar scenes.
Hey, to answer your question... I stopped working at Kings Cross McDonalds in 1982.
@@kaitlynbatt_ I don't blame you Kaitlyn. I've been to KX Maccas and those poor kids are going grey too early. I remember the disorderly conditions and the nast customers that any Kings Cross establishment would attract. You were wise to move on Kaitlyn..
Where did you go after your Macca's gig?
@@Robbo766 I worked for a few music venues and did odd jobs when I got into University. I held some pretty interesting jobs including one at Phantom records in the mid 80's. I got to work with Nic Dalton, later of Plunderers and The Lemon Heads.
I feel sad for any kid that has to work at Maccas. Shocking place.
@@kaitlynbatt_ Phantom records! I haven't thought of that label for years! And you rubbed shoulders with future rockstars too. Good onya Kaitlyn. You ever mingled with somebody from The Hummingbirds or Ratcat? You know, I've passed caring about kids now-a-days. I just look at them and think they're poor suckers like the rest of us.
It's so good when they become adults..
A finish to your 'Days of the week' thing, Chris, I hope that you consider doing it again, it's been enjoyable.
where the hell did that cat come freom?
One of the last hits before their break up, and from the final studio album ''20th century''.
A great song from the Twentieth Century Album….just one thing if you react to Ghost Town maybe pair it with another song….. something like Twentieth Century or Only One ….Ghost Town is a very short song…. Heaps more Cold Chisel.
I had a look. The song is 1 minute 21seconds.
The video was shot by Richard Lowenstein, who made many of INXS's landmark videos including ''Need You Tonight''. He also did the video for Hunters & Collectors' ''Talking To A Stranger'', and did the good movie 'Dogs In Sapce' starring Michael Hutchence. What's interesting is that Chisel were all for having scenes of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the clip. It was risky because Chisel's core audience were mostly heterosexual Aussie men, and the biggest show that would play the video was Countdown. Neither had an issue with the Mardi Gras scenes, which was a posative sign of progress and tolerance in Australia.
Cold Chisel were no longer a band when the video was shot. The following video 'Flame Tree' has even less shots of the group.
Cheers,
Hayley
Hair spray and socks Doon the troosers, these guy's have seen the crescent, I've saw the whole of the moon 🏴 happy healthy peace ✌️
The Waterboys !
@@davidellis5141 what about the waterboys? Me , I , the observer, I have seen the whole of the moon 🏴✌️
some there on the cross ....see the moon of the hole .@@JamesDickson-vs5of
🎉Cool! This was Kings Cross, in Sydney. 1980s. You could occasionally see the guys, apparently, just standing there, facing the street. They were the bouncers, guiding the entrances to the strip clubs. Kings Cross was a pretty rough spot in those days.
Knew I couldn’t beat you to first comment OnceWas- close though 👀
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I had to make my statement quickly just to give a bit of context. lol
Anyway, I did a bit of work on the picture and sound, so I am pleased the Haniers used it.
@@OnceWasRStrathfield you were like Sally Pierson outta the blocks there 😆
Good on yer mate for spending your time getting the best viewing for all 👏
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I'm well late tonight.
@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering It wasn't easy either. I was using pretty good editing software and some things were just not compatible. It was a bit stressful, but at least we get to see this Chisel song/video in its best form. That's more than I can say about the video on Chisel's official channel.
@@SPKdesign1 it was technically posted yesterday 😆
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No Sense would have been a better choice
they already did it
That makes no sense.
I can't get on with this song.
This was back in the day when Australia had less diversity of people. There was no such thing as multiculturalism in those days. Most people were of the same background, and were more familiar with eachother. Not to say I want to return to this monoculture, because even in those days, I could see it was a double-edge sword. But I can't help but feel we've lost something during the past 40 years.
I found the video more interesting than the song if I’m honest . I just find on a personal level there’s nothing about Cold Chisel that I can relate to musically. That’s not their fault it’s more to do with my personal preferences 🤷♂️
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Hey.. There's a lot of Aussies out there that'd agree with you... I'm not one of them, but aye!
@@antipodean_antonette it would be a dull old world if we all agreed on everything antonette , they’re clearly decent musicians with a lot of fans , I get that .
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I jjust got a Free ticket to Judas Priest/Saxon/Uriah Heep. I'm a Happy Bunny.
@@SPKdesign1 unlucky big man ! 😳
😝
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@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering I'll feel like 16 again.
You guys sound like robots lol....sounds kinda cool
Hey how are you doing? Did y'all receive my email music video request yet?
Why is my comment invisible? I called Robbo a bonehead. Is TH-cam sensitive about that? Is TH-cam wanting to protect Robbo's feelings?
I can see your comment. There is also a dead person in your laundry area. Just sayin...
@@shaundgb7367 Oh damn, I better bury it.. Thx
I’ve just seen yer Bonehead comment , it’s still there Kaitlyn 👀
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@@kaitlynbatt_ Robbo deserves more than a hurried burial, sorely?
@@shaundgb7367 What? I think I might have to go hiding! People planning on haivng me done!
No offence intended.. just seems like you were reacting to the video rather than the music. Regardless, all good.
This is a gem solo by Ian Moss of the classic "Georgia on my mind" - th-cam.com/video/NhFXjzRRv4w/w-d-xo.html
What a bummer of a song! 😆
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@@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering I've know this song for years and I do get what they're saying, but it's not a good sell for Saturday night. 🙃
Ghost Town is such a good song though!!!! 😗 All their songs are good. They can't do a step wrong. Well, maybe when they reformed and began releasing new crap in the late 90's.
Do not think they really reformed in the 90's. I think they just released a few B tracks and demo stuff but I cannot remember anything special from the era they were not making new albums themselves. I really like their albums from the 2000s though but not actually got the most recent album released about five years back. I should get it and check it out. Last album I had of theirs was called The Perfect Crime but for some reason I only had it online so weird not have a physical copy of an album.
@@shaundgb7367 ''The Last Wave of Summer'' was their first studio album in 15 years. That was the come back album in 1998. I just can't get into it. I admire those who can, but I just can't...
@@kaitlynbatt_ Well I suspect you are right because when I asked myself well how often do I listen to that album, if I have it ?and I think I doubt I listened to it since the turn of the century. But had a search and found my CD of that album. I might have a 40 minute drive in the car to see my sister and brother in law this late arvo so probably put it on during the drive to see if it stacks up much against their more well known albums. But I know off the top of my head I would be more drawn to put one of their more recent albums on or Swingshift on a long drive. Meanwhile I cannot even find a copy of The Twentieth Century album which is a crime if I do not have it.
@@kaitlynbatt_ Had a listen to whole album today. The song Way Down on that album is great. The Things I Love in You and Yakura Girls are also great tracks. A few other tracks on the album felt like songs that should have been on a solo career Jimmy Barnes album and the song Red Sand basically is like an Ian Moss solo venture that just happened to be on this album. A couple of interesting tracks seem like Don Walker types for his band Catfish. Overall still a good album, just not one of their best which is to be expected as they had been on different paths for well over a decade when they threw this album together without really intending to go away from their own solo careers after it. The track Baby's On Fire is almost one AC/DC could do well too. The only track I not really like on the album was So Hard, Music was ok on the track but the lyrics of the song did nothing for me as a song.
@@shaundgb7367 Hey Shaun, Thanx for the review. I'll check it out, and pay close attention to those tracks you mentioned. When they did that come back, I was just ''yeah whatever''. I'll be more open about it now.