Hoodoo Gurus

In the midst of the hairspray '80s, when modern rock was awash with airbrushed, synthesizer-twiddling Bowie wannabes, Hoodoo Gurus supercharged their Perth punk roots to offer '60s-inspired garage-rock salvation. The band's biggest hit, "I Want You Back," scored globally (and did especially well in the States) with just the right mix of desperation and desire. That lump-in-the-throat feeling is just around the corner when the Gurus get melancholy on "Bittersweet," but then you can ride the wave of surf-rock riffs and manic drum-bashing on the raucous rave-up "Like Wow-Wipeout!" We'll hear the Gurus turn their amps up to 11 in Next Steps.

Hoodoo Gurus' debut album wasn't called Stoneage Romeos for nothing; at heart they were diehard wild men who lived to play that caveman rock. The punk-y edge and barnstorming backbeat on "I Was a Kamikaze Pilot" gives good old rock n' roll a left-field twist, and perfects a formula that would later fuel the rise of Brit-rockers, Oasis. The bluesy, boot-stomping "Poison Pen" from 1985's Mars Needs Guitars! lets a wailing harmonica cry out the pain of untrue love. And the Gurus kick up a storm like true rock 'n' roll animals unleashed when they let it all hang out on the raw-and-rockin' "In the Wild." When we dive into Deep Cuts, we'll hear the sound of Hoodoo Gurus getting down and dirty.

One look at those paisley shirts and long, flowing manes and you know Hoodoo Gurus can lay down some lava-lamp-lovin', psychedelic action. The guys really let their freak flag fly on "Heart of Darkness" from 1987's Blow Your Cool, as frontman Dave Faulkner takes us on a head-trip in a swirl of bended guitar strings. The thick-and-dirty, fuzzed-out riffs of "Dig It Up" drip with garage-rock residue like some crossbred cousin of the Electric Prunes and Iggy Pop. And the Gurus spill sunshine all over your ears with the '60s-pop explosion of "Less Than a Feeling," slipping in a classic-rock pun to boot.

At a time when '60s-inspired sounds were mainly found in the West Coast's Paisley Underground, Hoodoo Gurus popped up from Perth (then relocated to Sydney) to prove Aussie rock had much more to offer the '80s than Men At Work. While everyone else was spiking up their hair, singer Dave Faulkner and company got long and shaggy, and turned up the volume on hip-shaking garage rock and fuzz-flavoured psychedelic kitsch colours. Pouring the whole mix through a punk-fortified power-pop funnel, the outfit sent an electrical buzz through the squeaky-clean, synth-pop-soaked radio waves of the mid-'80s. From their supercharged, rock-all-night caveman stompers to the jingle-jangle morning of their bittersweet ballads, this is the place to get all the Gurus you can use.