Scott Morrison under fire for ‘un-Australian’ music playlist

He’s arguably one of the proudest Aussies in the nation, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under for releasing an online music playlist that fails to acknowledge home-grown talent.

Taking to online music streaming service Spotify, the PM compiled 146 songs for a playlist titled Eighties Plus. The collection of 1980s bangers includes 146 songs, 92 artists and 11 hours of music, but despite the dozens of Aussie classics released in the decade, just one Australian song made the list – Wa Wa Nee’s classic hit ‘Stimulation’. 

While many would argue it was one of the biggest songs of the ‘80s, others have taken to social media to question why Morrison left out so many other iconic Australian artists. Everyone from Jimmy Barnes to Midnight oil and AC/DC to INXS was missing from the list, as was Kylie Minogue, Australian Crawl and The Divinyls. 

Strewth!

Other Australian legends such as Nick Cave, Hoodoo Gurus, John Farnham and The Models were shunned in favour of David Bowie, The Police, Prince, Pet Shop Boys and Fleetwood Mac, just to name a few.

Some hits that did make the cut included Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Vogue’, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ by the Clash, “Love Shack’ by The B-52s and ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ by Eurythmics.

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke was one of the first to criticise Morrison over the playlist.

“If you love and care about Australian music consider this,” he wrote on Twitter. “Scott Morrison released a play list on Spotify today. 146 songs, 92 artists, 11 hours of music. Guess how many Australian bands?”

If you love and care about Australian music consider this. Scott Morrison released a play list on Spotify today. 146 songs, 92 artists, 11 hours of music. Guess how many Australian bands?#auspol #music #saveozmusic #laborloveslivemusic

— Tony Burke (@Tony_Burke) November 5, 2018

He followed up his original message to complain about the PM’s only Australian song included.

“And for those who were wondering, the one Australian song promoted by our PM wasn’t from Chisel, the Divinyls, Oils, I’m Talking or even Tina Arena,” he wrote. “It was (and I’m not making this up) Stimulation by Wa Wa Nee.”

Another critic pointed out that the timing couldn’t have been worse, especially because November is Australian music month on Triple J. 

Read more: ‘Celebrating the man behind the mushroom of Australian music’

“Seriously it’s Australian music month and you fill your @spotify playlist with next to no [Australian] music keep living in that bubble @ScottMorrisonMP is your social media team on drugs add this to your playlist Am I ever gonna see your face again,” they wrote. 

Another person joked: “Saw your Spotify playlist mate. Fair dinkum did you not like any Aussie music in the ‘80s?”

A third added: “Morrison should be tied to a chair and made to listen to the Oils Blue Sky Mining album till he turns into a normal, decent person. Could take a while.”

At the time of publication, Morrison’s playlist had just 27 followers. His list of his other public playlists displayed on Spotify did show he listened to some Australian artists including Keith Urban and Tina Arena. He also listens to Hillsong, Chris Isaak, Lady Antebellum and Travis Collins.

Do you think Scott Morrison should have included more Australian music in his playlist? What’s your favourite Aussie song?