Divinyls is an Australian band formed in Sydney in 1980 and originally composed of Chrissy Amphlett and Mark McEntee. A Chrissy Amphlett whose particularity is to sing on stage dressed as a schoolgirl and fishnet stockings !
Duo who will be joined quickly by Bjarne Ohlin and Richard Harvey with whom they will tour for a while in pubs and clubs.
They released a first single "Boys in town" in 1981, a single which was to be a great success in their native country thanks to the soundtrack of the film 'Monkey Grip', of which he was part.
Their first album "Desperate" was released in 1983 but its success was also limited to Australia. All like the singles that will be extracted from it.
They will have to wait for 1985 and the release of the album "What a life !" to finally experience a first deserved global recognition thanks to the single “pleasure and pain”.
The album "Temperamental" which was released three years later in 1988 was to meet with limited success after all.
And it is the album "Divinyls", which will be released in 1991, which will bring them the long-awaited consecration. The flagship single “I touch myself” which will be extracted from it will make a real worldwide hit and make the group definitely enter the musical legend of the 80s.
A last album "Underworld" will be released in 1996 but it will not in any way know the success of its predecessor.
To discover or rediscover.
Discography (among others ...) :
Boys in town 1981
Only lonely 1982
Science fiction 1982
Siren (Never let you go) 1983
Casual encounter 1983
Good die young 1984
In my life 1984
Pleasure and pain 1985
Sleeping beauty 1985
Heart telegraph 1986
Back to the wall 1988
Hey little boy 1988
I touch myself 1990
Love school 1991
Make out alright 1991
I ain’t gonna eat out my heart anymore 1992
Wild thing 1993
I’m jealous 1995
Hard on me 1996
For a good time 1997
Clips :
1981 ... a first title which immediately sets the trend : with them, rock fundamentals are omnipresent and it risks beating up slightly ... Astonishing for the Australian, a niche which is not really the mark of factory of the continent ...
1982 ... the very rock trend is confirmed. An orientation which does not pay more than that for the moment and which somewhat marginalizes the group ...
1982 ... the sound evolution is slow but certain. It will still take them a few years before reaching a sufficient level to integrate the planetary Elite ...
1983 ... a year 1983 which started straight away. Boost mode has been their trademark since the start of their career, but they still have to seriously think about evolving at this level ...
1983 ... year after year, the group progresses even if the improvements are tiny. The main thing is that the group becomes aware of its strengths and above all, of its weaknesses ...
1984 ... this time around, the improvement is certain. Like what, not much was enough. But given the potential of the group, we suspected that at some point the efforts would pay off !
1984 ... a title a little notch below which unfortunately shows that the inspiration of the group is often fluctuating. There is good, sometimes very good and often unfortunately ...
1985 ... then THIS title comes ! The title of the planetary revelation which finally rewards the group's efforts. It took several years to get there but very rare are the groups that will have won the cup from their beginnings ...
1985 ... unfortunately, the group cannot capitalize on the enormous success of the previous title. And yet, when we see the quality of this new title, they are far from unworthy, it's clear !
1986 ... after a flamboyant mid-decade, the group will not be able to maintain a level of play worthy of the greatest. With a mixed end of the decade that saw them somewhat go back to the bottom of oblivion ...
1988 ... after a mixed year 1986 and a completely empty year 1987, the group seems to find a slight regain of form in this year 1988. To begin with this track with obvious inspiration !
1988 ... the group returns to high-voltage mode and finds its fundamentals of the beginning of the decade. Not sure that this is the right solution to catch up with the leading pack ...
1990 ... a new empty year in 1989. And a shattering return to the start of the new decade with what will remain as their biggest record success. The group is definitely legendary, the one with a big L. HU-GE !
1991 ... the great fireworks display was unfortunately short-lived. Success will be limited exclusively to Australia from now on. Hard law of the trade as they say ...
1991 ... except for this title which will make a very timid breakthrough in the USA. After this, on the other hand, the planetary Charts will close definitively for the group ...
1992 ... the group tries to restore his health by playing it a luxury cover on this Rascals title dating from 1965. It's nice, of course, but it will not be enough to get them back to the leading pack ...
1993 ... this time, they try to bring up to date one of the flagship titles of the Troggs dating from 1966. Result once again at the height but without convincing results on the public unfortunately ...
1995 ... the adventure continues for good. The group continues to believe in it and above all continues to produce quality titles. Hope it lasts !
1996 ... an adventure which nevertheless draws to an end. It is clear that the group is no longer able to fight on an equal footing with the competition and unfortunately only makes up figuration ...
1997 ... a great adventure which will have lasted a little over 15 years, it is already more than not bad. This group will not remain as the most famous Australian group of its generation but will still have left in the musical history of this end of the XXth several titles of great caliber. And just for that, we can only greet them !
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