The Church(HEADS UP Aussies)

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Im a HUGE fan of the legendary australian alternative/psychedlic rock band known as 'The Church'. How popular/well-known/well-regarded are they in their native Australia? I have to say, they sound SO australian that I would recognize them as an OzRock band just by hearing them. Does anybody else here like them too? Right know Im listening to their 2nd album(and one of their greatest) The Blurred Crusade....really brings out the hippie in me .

i HAVE NOT HEARD OF THEM, BUT i DID LIKE A BAND FROM AUSTRALIA, THE SINGER WAS A POLITICAL ACTIVIST FOR THE ABORIGINIES, THE SONG WAS "BEDS ARE BURNING"..DARN GOOD SONG..tHERE HAVE BEEN REALLY EXCELLENT MUSICIANS FROM DOWN UNDER, LIKE INXS AND ACDC...

i love The Church. i was always sad that they seemed so unknown (in america, at least). of their decades of great music, 'under the milky way' is the only song that ever got any decent airplay here. so few bands can last so long and change so much but keep producing amazing music.

It's amazing to see them mentioned here, really. This is quite an impressive forum. I'm not Australian but I love The Church and they're one of the most underrated bands I can think of. Most of their fans don't care for it but I dig their most "proggy" album Magician Among the Spirits, though of their earlier work I have a special place for Heyday as well.

Midnight Oil-lead singer was the very tall, bald Peter Garrett-and he ran for some sort of office/position in Australian gov't.
Quite liked their "Diesel & Dust" album (1986), the big hit (from which "Beds are Burning" came). Also liked almost all the tracks on earlier album "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" (1982).

But, back to The Church-I don't know all their stuff, and I'm not in or from Australia.
"You're Still Beautiful" is catchy song.
From "Starfish": "North, South, East, West", "Hotel Womb", "A New Season", "Reptile" and the "popular" one, "Under the Milky Way".
Have the album "Priest=Aura", but it's on extra-long cassette & doesn't work to play anymore, so am unsure which tracks I liked from it.
"Remote Luxury": "Into My Hands" & "No Explanation".
Was underwhelmed by "Gold Afternoon Fix"-only liked "Metropolis".

im afraid ive never heard of them in my 18 years of living in Australia, but im downloading one of their albums now

EDIT: i asked my stepdad and he said "yea i've heard of them, i couldn't say when they are from though"

he is the "Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts" at the moment (though he isn't doing too great at it)

I didnt realize who they were until about 2001 when I downloaded their (only)radio hit "under the milky way tonight". That song really took me away and filled me with that indescribable mystical sense of wonder when I first heard it back in 1988. For some odd reason I mistakenly thought it was U2 .

I only know Under the Milky Way, but it's a great song.

An Australian chiming in:

The Church are quite well known here in Australia.

And as far as being well publicized they did play at the half time show of the AFL Grand Final (our national sport.) Sort of like an American band landing the gig of the NFL Super Bowl in comparison.

Can't remember if it was last year or the year before last... I don't really follow AFL that closely and don't watch the GrandFinal very often.

OK, in australia
in the pop music scene; the church arent heard of at all.
If you listen to alternative radio such as triple J you would have most likely heard of the church.

Well maybe Now but 20 years ago when they had there one and only radio hit "under the milky way tonight" I find that hard to believe. But they're not really a *pop* band and have Never been in the strict sense.