Please explain #2: Crazed JJJ fans

4 Responses to “Please explain #2: Crazed JJJ fans”

1. josh
   January 7th, 2005 @ 2:51 pm

   There he is, on the radio right now (or actually an hour ago ’cause I’m in Vegas and stuff). His name is Trevor. It was done by Kelly, “a bit of a hotty” apparently, at Silver Spur Tattoo in Canberra (I think). Trev decided, while on the piss with his mates one night, that it would be funny ’cause no-one else has done it. Even sober it seems one of his mates egged him on. On a side note, notice that he has a red drum up there? Red tattoo ink is harder to remove than darker colours: http://cockeyed.com/science/tattoo/tattoo.html

   Part of the value of Triple J, as Kate Albury explained a while back, is the way in which it unites young people into a specific, nationally oriented community. It’s suffered a little with the rise of Nova and the cut back of funding, such that the community is probably not as potent as it was in the early 1990s, however Triple J still provides a repertoire of behaviours for young people to participate in a specifically youth oriented national culture. It appeals to a youthful iteration of nationalism that is both a part of the ABC but more than that promoted by Aunty. I think a useful way to think about the sort of national space promoted by Triple J is through the rubric of diasporic sphericules Cunningham wrote about a few years back. In that sort of specific national space this sort of activity, while couched in the tropes of youthfulness, is actually one of nationalism and I think, to a degree, quite patriotic, as much as sphericules align with concepts of patriotic expression. While probably over-stretching the analogy a little, this might be akin to having the national anthem tattooed on your back. And as such I think it is worth to think about Triple J alongside established forums for national community formation, such as naturalisation ceremonies, elections, Australia Day celebrations (which they have made their own), large scale NYE parties, Olympics and sporting events and the like. If anything, the fact that one Trevor (who’s enlisted in the Army) is happy to have a list of polled songs permanently written across his derriere suggests Triple J should be considered as a formidable site for national imagining, who’s value lies in its specificity.

2. Mel
   January 7th, 2005 @ 3:37 pm

   What will happen when he runs out of room?

   Josh, would you put Australian Idol up with Triple J as a mechanism for national community formation? Cos the Hottest 100 is also a voting-driven event.

   And one thing that often strikes me about Triple J (not that I’ve listened to it very much recently - being past the flower of my yoof and all that) is that it showcases what some writer I can’t remember (Grossberg, maybe?) called the “hip mainstream”. And there are lots of novelty songs and swearing that you wouldn’t find on other stations: I remember things like “Detachable Penis”, “Cows With Guns”, the uncensored version of Prince’s “Sexy MF” etc.

3. josh
   January 7th, 2005 @ 3:55 pm

   Trevor’s solution to the end of buttock space was “down to the ankles and back up the front”.

   I think you have a point with Australian Idol Mel, like the Hottest 100 it is a community forming event that comes under a larger youth oriented national space. So the binary becomes Australian Idol:Hottest 100, Network Ten:Triple J. Idol is a little different due to the specifics of the medium but it’s in the same vein. Channel [V] is more akin to Triple J but Network Ten is the best FTA example around (especially in light of the death of ABCkids and Fly).

   I think the voting event is only one part of it though - it is not the election that makes Triple J a national space but the election that demonstrates their status as such. Beat the Drum is similar - these events allows young people to express their participatoin within a national community but the commmunity is constructed through more everyday participatory activies such as call-ins, programming and (nationalistic) modes of address (or in the case of Network Ten through continuity and branding material, news broadcasting, promotions and programming).

   I like the idea of the ‘hip mainstream’ as well Mel. The sudden and vitriolic backlash against Jet puzzles me, especially as many people seem to be able to articulate the reasons why they hate the band. I think Adam’s post over at tsp provides a good example of the backlash to the hip mainstream that exemplifies the sort of things you point out about the Hottest 100: http://drivelwarehouse.com/tsp2/index.php?p=2885

4. Mel
   January 10th, 2005 @ 3:19 pm

   Yeah, well that’s what got me thinking about Hottest 100 in the first place.

   You could argue that these national communities are even smaller - city-based and suburban communities - esp on commercial radio. Request shows and voting-based radio countdowns are a staple of many commercial stations, as are those live crosses they do from particular suburbs, etc, and the phenomenon of roving liveried SUVs (eg in Melbourne, the FOXFM “Black Thunders”).

   Nova also has the “Nova 19s” which they bill by suburb, eg “Richmond’s Nova 19s” as though everyone in Richmond votes, but given that they always consist of the same songs (albeit in slightly different order) I’m dubious as to whether they actually involve audience participation.