Not saying cos australia was one of the most racist countries but.....

Prince as a megastar was finally interviewed but the then australian editor chose to put on this dude....

wow!

oh i cant print them but its jimmy barnes...yes JIMMY BARNES was put on the cover over PRINCE in 1990 in the australian version

(jimmy plays aussie pub rock..a year later Prince arrived in oz and broke every single record they going...go figure the decison)

ahem..................

naffi said:

Yes but Jimmy Barnes is considered Australian rock royalty with him being the lead singer of Cold chisel who had been around just as long as Prince but probably more popular. Not that I agreed with the decision, but the colour of Prince's skin had nothing to do with the choice, more likely who was considered the bigger icon at the time. [Edited 4/26/13 20:17pm]

serious?

you saying in 1990 when Prince was arguably THE biggest star on the planet (just after batman) they chose to put jimmy on over prince?

i love aussie and have lived there but it was and still is to a degree an incredibly racist country

Australia, like any country, absolutely has issues to face concerning racism, along with sexism, homophobia and pretty much any other prejudice you can come up with. We're obviously not exempt, and we have a lot of work to do.

That said, I do feel that this particular moment in history has more to do with Australia's long-term obsession with Jimmy Barnes than anything else.

Prince was big everywhere, yes, but Barnesy was HUGE here in Oz.

To put it in context, I knew all about Jimmy Barnes by 1990 and I didn't know who Prince was until around 91/92.

Looking at the Aussie charts, in 1989, 'Batman' peaked at No. 4 and spent 2 weeks there. In 1990, Graffiti Bridge spent one week at No. 10 before it started to slide.

Conversely, in December 1988, 'Barnestorming' debuted at No. 1 in the album charts and spent 3 weeks there, then his 1990 album, 'Two Fires', spent 5 weeks at No. 1 and a whopping 60 weeks in the charts.

I totally see how Barnesy would have been a hotter prospect for Aussie Rolling Stone at the time, for better or worse.


The somewhat painful irony is that the biggest selling single of 1990 in Australia was 'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor...


(Source for those playing at home: http://australian-charts.com/)

jonylawson said:

naffi said:

Yes but Jimmy Barnes is considered Australian rock royalty with him being the lead singer of Cold chisel who had been around just as long as Prince but probably more popular. Not that I agreed with the decision, but the colour of Prince's skin had nothing to do with the choice, more likely who was considered the bigger icon at the time. [Edited 4/26/13 20:17pm]

serious?

you saying in 1990 when Prince was arguably THE biggest star on the planet (just after batman) they chose to put jimmy on over prince?

i love aussie and have lived there but it was and still is to a degree an incredibly racist country

From an black Australian, I call bullshit. Sure there are parts that are pretty racist, but America has it's redneck white supremacist areas as well. On the whole Australia isn't racist, it's just less culturally sensitive than most countries (hence the infamous MJ blackface sketch among other things).

Jimmy Barnes was bigger than Prince ever was in Australia, just like Bruce Springsteen was probably bigger than Prince ever was in New Jersey.

Think about it like this, would you be more excited about Usher releasing a new album, or your dad?

Jagar said:

jonylawson said:

serious?

you saying in 1990 when Prince was arguably THE biggest star on the planet (just after batman) they chose to put jimmy on over prince?

i love aussie and have lived there but it was and still is to a degree an incredibly racist country

From an black Australian, I call bullshit. Sure there are parts that are pretty racist, but America has it's redneck white supremacist areas as well. On the whole Australia isn't racist, it's just less culturally sensitive than most countries (hence the infamous MJ blackface sketch among other things).

Jimmy Barnes was bigger than Prince ever was in Australia, just like Bruce Springsteen was probably bigger than Prince ever was in New Jersey.

Think about it like this, would you be more excited about Usher releasing a new album, or your dad?

well as a white brit whom worked in the public health system in sydeny,drawin,melbourne and adelaide i have never ever come across such open rascism in my life

ever

even your bloody PM at the time john howard was a racist...fuck man i lived in the northern territory for a year

saying that i fucking love australia but what they have done/doing to aborginals is just appaling

callimnate said:

FFS. To pull the racism card as the reason for placing Jimmy instead of P in the cover of a msg is just..... If you want to go one better, then you might want to add the fact that P missed out on the 1986 Parade cover over Michael Hutchins as well! Remembering in BOTH cases, that BOTH those artist were/are bigger than Prince EVER was here in Aust! In both 86 and 90, I was the ONLY person that was mad for P, and yet INXS and Cold Chisel are considered icons in this country. P has always been a background favourite with the crowds , but has NEVER bigger than those two artists, EVER. Racist...... (Rolls eyes and shakes head)

crazy i know

a country who had a "whitening " policy up until 1970..the thought of not putting a black artist on the cover down to rascism is just...nuts

get real man....

jonylawson said:

Jagar said:

From an black Australian, I call bullshit. Sure there are parts that are pretty racist, but America has it's redneck white supremacist areas as well. On the whole Australia isn't racist, it's just less culturally sensitive than most countries (hence the infamous MJ blackface sketch among other things).

Jimmy Barnes was bigger than Prince ever was in Australia, just like Bruce Springsteen was probably bigger than Prince ever was in New Jersey.

Think about it like this, would you be more excited about Usher releasing a new album, or your dad?

well as a white brit whom worked in the public health system in sydeny,drawin,melbourne and adelaide i have never ever come across such open rascism in my life

ever

even your bloody PM at the time john howard was a racist...fuck man i lived in the northern territory for a year

saying that i fucking love australia but what they have done/doing to aborginals is just appaling

John Howard was a real cocksucker, but Paul Keating was great, he pretty much apologised for the Stolen Generation thirty years before Rudd.

I find the bigger problem is patronising racists, you know the ones who tell you "Oh, you should just drop into Vocational subjects so that you get A's, university isn't that important". Rather than hostile racists.
But Australias media (magaznes etc.) have aways been ahead of the curve of the politicians/hicks, so I doubt the magazine cover is due to this.

I do find it shocking myself that my mother (who is half-caste) could have been kidnapped when she was a child because of a government enforce policy. It seems like something you'd read about happening in the 1800's.