Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA Charts

This is the first of what will unreliably be a monthly input about the charting songs in Australia!!

The last few weeks I have continued my usual habit of having Rage, Video Hits and/or Channel V on in the background or as a shared activity with 3 year old Lucy [who loves to dance and is a big Missy Higgins, Kylie, Avril, Hilary Duff.... fan!] despite the curious notion in peoples minds that I'm stuck in a 1980s U2 vortex... which ignores the chart success of albums [and their singles] 'All That You Can't Leave Behind' and 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'!!

There are plenty of more authoritive sources on chart songs than my humble view, perception or ministry suggestions.... The Alternative Hymnal amongst them!! HOWEVER....

My look at the Charts [ans some songs I've used or will be using away from the mixed audiences of the rarified air of a synod or Sydney based event...

1. "Listen With Your Heart" Casey Donovan
Not her chsoen style of music, but whats an Australian Idol winner to do... Great story of a 16 year olds talent and personality, of the clothing firm working out of Gowings city store who did the makeover work on Casey's skater wordrobe and the blended family as her support base and a part of her indigenous background. Maybe wait for Casey's second or third album to see what she is really capable of?

2. "What You Waiting For?" Gwen Stefani
There's a running joke at my place about how you can't pick up a magazine of any kind without finding a picture of Gwen in it somewhere... often with guitarist boyfriend Gavin...
This is a departure from the music of former band 'No Doubt' and sounds too autbiographical to not be..... Gwen breaking out of expectations, seeking affirmation and struggling to be 'free'... Common angst riddled issues and questions faced by most young people at some point in time

3. "These Kids" Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets
Joel surfaced doing 'beats' for Idol and is a very talented kid with a Timberlake like voice [no wonder he's toured as Justin's support act]. It's a great representation of the youthful and other voices not often heard...

These Kids
These kids trapped in a struggle and
Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting
And nobody knows the suffering they go through
And you wouldn't believe 'em if they told you
These kids trapped in a struggle and
Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting
And nobody knows the suffering they go through
And you wouldn't believe 'em if they told you
So many songs, so many times
The world had to hear so many rhymes
About how life is for strugglers
Minority groups, kids with single mothers
Young homies turn hustlers, stealing for money
It's kinda funny how the crime rate is so high
In suburbs where family ties are low, 'n suicides on the rise
Oh why, so many die coz in their eyes
The mistake they made, cant be erased the only way out is to take their life
And if they dont do it sudden then they'll do it slowly
Polluting themselves with drugs, because they on this world lonely
So we as a nation just class 'em as a waste of space
And if they don't help the economy then strip 'em naked
Put 'em on the streets 'n make sure the police hate 'em
And feed the public phony information on the evening news
Kids may bomb police stations, to get at the boys in blue
This song goes out to the whole justice system
Instead of listening to the kids with the problems
They just tick them off more
Until these kids in prison or dead before they twenty four
These kids trapped in a struggle and
Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting
And nobody knows the suffering they go through
And you wouldn't believe 'em if they told you
You probably heard the news about the 14 year old kid
Who went to Woodridge to get a stick but got his neck slit
What you'll expect in, the situation that he was facing
With all of these expectations he just wanted to get wasted
But the mistake he made was fatal
What about my mate who put a rope around his neck
But he choked to death instead coz the fall never broke his neck
See both of them, were trapped in a struggle none of us could comprehend
The younger was in need of weed, the other had problems with his head
Now they're both dead, and the same thing happens time 'n time again
Kids dying all the time 'n leave us asking why my friend
And then there is those who run away from home
Live on the streets 'n chrome
Can't deal with tha pain of the world so they get stoned
Sit in a zone, become known as the local drones
With low vocal tones, they communicate with hopeless groans
And nobody knows they came from broken homes
Plus to us they're just emotionless clones
And the pain plagues their brains they can't maintain healthy lives
Change is all but easy, a life of crime is all but nice
Plus life isnt worth living unless ya given the chance to fight
Drugs might not be the answer, but who knows wrong from right
When ya parents drinks 2 whole bottles Of wine, 'n puts the hose in the coke bottle,
A lot of the time, kids dont know any different
It's like they losing their minds, cant get a hold of their visions
Think they're doing just fine, but they still in the struggle
Yeah the kids of this time, in a whole lotta trouble If you in trouble, jump over that puddle
Some where out there someone really loves you
Loves you like you never been loved, yeah
Loves you like you've never been loved
These kids trapped in a struggle and Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting And nobody knows
Nobody knows
These kids trapped in a struggle and
Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting
And nobody knows the suffering they go through
And you wouldn't believe 'em if they told you
These kids trapped in a struggle and
Don't know where they're heading, no
A head full of trouble is all they're getting
And nobody knows the suffering they go through
And you wouldn't believe 'em if they told you