Sly and the Family Stone, AC/DC and Australia's Hottest 100

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Sly and the Family Stone, AC/DC and Australia's Hottest 100

Independent Australia
28 Jun 2025, 07:30 GMT+

Two industry greats pass, AC/DC goes back on tour and some hot Aussie music to melt the Winter chill. IA's music guruDavid Kowalskihas the latest.

Brian Wilson and Sly Stone pass away

IN THE NEWS LATELY is the passing of two giants of popular music of the 1960s and 1970s who both cast a large shadow over all the music that came after itSylvester Stewart, aka Sly Stone ofSly and the Family Stone, andBrian Wilson, co-founder and the brains behind the best work ofThe Beach Boys.

I wont say too much about Brian here, as his life and work has already been beautifully chronicled byJenny LeComteelsewhere in these pages. What I found interesting, however, was the mainstream medias approach to the two musicians passing.

I was recently chatting toStuart Coupe, a gentleman who has interviewed his fair share of rock legends, including Mr Wilson himself. Coupe has almost become the go-to guy when breakfast television needs someone to summarise the career of a fallen pop star. He told me he was flooded with calls to go on air and talk about the Beach Boys, and yet he had one single, solitary call about Sly Stone.

What does that say about Australian music fans and audiences?

I think it says more about the fact that The Beach Boys had more enduring hits that have stayed in the public consciousness than Sly and the Family Stone. In fact, it is difficult to find any data to show where any Sly and the Family Stone records charted locally.

Sly and the Family Stone did however, break major ground by being a multi-racial, multi-gendered group where many of the players played multiple different instruments. They sang messages of positivity that were designed to beupliftingto every listener, and not just to the African American community. The rhythms in their music influenced dance music creators and formed the basis for Disco andHip Hopfor decades to come. They influencedPrince,INXS,Noiseworks(who covered Slys 'I Want To Take You Higher'),The Red Hot Chili Peppers, local funkstersSwoopandSkunkhourand many more. BassistLarry Grahamcreated thetemplatefor bass players everywhere by inventing a percussive technique known asslapping. Sly Stone alsopioneeredthe use of a drum machine on his records in the 1970s.

Sly himself found success to be a tough slog. He was blamed for ariotat a festival that started before the band were scheduled to arrive. He had pressure from militant groups such as theBlack Panthersto remove the whitemembersof the band and to play harder, tougher, more streetwise music for exclusively black audiences. He had money troubles as a result of questionable management practices, and descended into alcohol and drug abuse. He has made a number ofcomebacksover the years, however none of them have actually returned him to the success he experienced in the late 1960s.

Personally, I have loved Slys music since I discovered it via a very beaten-up second-hand vinyl copy of the 1969 albumStand. The energy that the songs on that album possess is something quite rare and extraordinary. One cant help but be moved by the music that Sly gave the world.

Vale, Sly.

Hottest 100 of Australian Songs

Regular readers will know I report on a British radio station namedRadio Xand their annualBest of Britishcountdown every Easter Monday, largely because the term best when applied to British music has wildly different results every year.

Australian radio stationTriple Jhas decided they will follow suit this year, for their 50th anniversary as a radio station, and create aHottest 100of the greatest Australian songs. The only catch is that they cannot be any newer than the official 50th birthday of Triple J, meaning the songs are not eligible if they were released after January 19, 2025.

Based on previousrecentHottest 100s, this could end up being very polarising. I am of an age where the things I think are great examples of Australian songwriting are probably not what people half my age think are great. It is very likely that the first song that school kids these days learn to play on the ukulele 'Riptide' byVance Joywill outrank the groundbreaking plea for racial unity byWarumpi Band, 'Blackfella Whitefella'. Who knows? One thing is for certain. We are spoilt for choice, and 100 songs is nowhere near enough to do justice to the great catalogue of music this country has produced. It will be fascinating to see how the final list will look. Let the debates begin.

Votingis open now and it closes on July 17. The broadcast of the countdown will occur on July 26 from 10am EST.

What would you vote for in this countdown? Leave a comment below with your top 10.

AC/DC touring, officially

For the first time in over a decade,AC/DCaretouringAustralia in 2025. They have inked in dates at the MCG in Melbourne on November 12, Accor Stadium in Sydney on November 21,The SupercarsBP Adelaide Grand Final on November 30, before heading to Perth and Brisbane in December in the run up to Christmas.

The band have largely taken time out from touring since they lastvisitedour shores in 2015. Long-serving VocalistBrian Johnsonis back in the fold, as is 70 years young guitaristAngus Young. The band will be rounded out by ex-Janes AddictionbassistChris Chaneyand ex-Alice CooperandAlanis MorrisettedrummerMatt Laug, as well as Anguss nephew Stevie Young stepping in for the departedMalcolm Youngas rhythm guitarist.

With so long between tours for the band now, is this close to being their last tour?

Hobsons Bay Coast Guard Monsoon

With the weather currently in southern NSW producing below-freezing temperatures to greet each new dawn, I look to my music choices to help warm my soul. Melbourne surf-punk bandHobsons Bay Coast Guardhave ticked that box this week with their sweaty, tropical-humidity-drenched new single 'Monsoon', from their upcoming third album Weather Report.

Billing themselves on theirBandcamp pageas, The windswept hair in the stormy eyes of the sardinesque music scene of Melbourne, the band have leant into the psychedelic end of their sound by treating the guitars with some vintage 80s guitar pedals to make the swirly, oceanic soundscape in the track. The making of the song wasnt without its challenges, however.

Hobsons drummer Chris Loftis says:

Definitely a band to watch in the future.

Until next time

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SPECIALLY CURATED PLAYLIST BELOW:

David Kowalskiis a writer, musician, educator, sound engineer and podcaster. His podcasts 'The Sound and the Fury Podcast' and 'Audio Cumulus' can be heard exclusivelyHERE. You can follow David/X@sound_fury_pod.