Jun 08, 2012 5:33PM

'Rage' Memories with Goodgod's Jimmy Sing

He recalls the music he was accidentally exposed to (and now loves).
As a part of Vivid, Carriageworks are hosting an exhibition called rage: Celebrating 25 years. Australia's most-loved music video show has been relived through the memory of DJ/Triple J presenter Nina Las Vegas, and now we turn to Jimmy Sing, General Manger/Music Director at Sydney dance venue, Goodgod Small Club. Here is his recollective timeline, straight from the horse's mouth:
 
I don’t think there’s ever been a more influential show on me than dear old red-eye Rage. Over the years it has played the stuff I love, but better yet, it has played the stuff I hated. Or thought that I hated. In an oh-so-familiar Rage hypnotism, I’d sit through the stuff I didn’t like, waiting for the next Rage scream to signal a new bracket and a change in type of music, but plenty of times, in waiting for the scream, I’ve been thankfully brainwashed into new worlds and new obsessions. Here’s some of them on a timeline.
 
13 years old:
Waiting for: Spiderbait — ‘Ol Man Sam’

Waiting for: ‘Same Old Story’ — Pennywise

Hating: Old crap, electronic crap, pop crap.
Exposed to: Always waiting for the old crap to finish, this little Strangler’s ditty really set me off on collecting old records.

15 years old  
Waiting for: ‘Goo’ — Sonic Youth

Waiting for: ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ — Joy Division

Exposed to: Reggae music via a bracket on The Clash featuring a live version of 'Armageddon Time'. Only knowing Bob Marley from Off Ya Tree stores, it’s no wonder that reggae doesn’t get too much dimension in the suburbs. It was the live-dubbed vocals of Joe Strummer that turned me onto my greatest music love, Jamaican dancehall reggae.

18 years old:
Waiting for: ‘Shivers’ — Boys Next Door

Waiting for: ‘I’m Stranded’ — The Saints

Hating: Top 40 crap, rave crap, rap crap.
Exposed to: I’d seen this clip a lot but wanted it to be over, probably until I’d been introduced to Australia’s best deviations on punk, but one night this tune hit home big time. I would now classify George Burarrwanga as Australia’s greatest rockstar. Struts this stage better than Jagger. Big up Rage for running the true depths of Aussie music.

21 years old:
Waiting for: Stuff that I knew (running out of inspiration).
Hating: Top 40 crap, singer-songwriters and experimental crap.
Exposed to: Until I moved into a certain sharehouse in Marrickville, I had always switched off Rage at 6am when the ARIA Top 40 countdown would start. Wow, what a poonce. What I’d been missing out on... Ludacris, Lil Kim, Lil Jon, Sean Paul, Missy Elliot. I always wondered whether the Rage programmers hated their Top 40 obligations as much as me. But for a music video show this is kinda half of where it’s at, big extravagant budgets dedicated to eye candy. This became the total hype relaxation for when you got home. My appreciation of Christina and Britney now developed just as fast as everything else Rage fed me. It actually became years before I would turn Rage on before 6am!

rage — Celebrating 25 Years will run until June 17. Carriageworks is located at 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh, Sydney.

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