Tracks
- Mistah Eliot – He Wanker
- I’m Interested in Apathy
- Get Thee in my Behind, Satan
- Babies Bite Back
- Choose Bad Smack
- Gas! Gas! – An Ecstacy Of Fumbling
- (I Think I’ve Got) Mick Jagger Worked Out
- A Faceful of Divertamenti
- The Mystery of the Artist Explained
- Saturday Night Palsy
- The Penis Is Mightier Than The Sword
- 40 Years Then Death
- The Ballad of John Bonham’s Coke Roadie
- All Ordinaries Index
- Defecate on my Face
- Root
- Opium Is The Religion Of The Masses
- Death Death Death Amway Amway Amway
Band
Humphrey B. Flaubert
Les Miserables
Leek Van Vlalen
Ron Hitler-Barassi
John St. Peenis
Eugene de la Hot Croix Bun
Jock Cheese
Crew
Mark Woods
sound
Nic Marson
foldback
Kevin “Yarn” O’Donnell
stage
Thanx to TISM for the photo, Mark Woods for the mastering, Nprint for the artwork and TISM for their support of crew.
TISM, Live At The Corner Hotel 1988, was recorded by Mark Woods, who also worked with The Models, Men At Work and Midnight Oil.
TISM (This Is Serious Mum) formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1982. Their collision of electro pop, vicious satire and performance art, made them one of the country’s most popular live acts and even saw them achieve mainstream chart success.
Hiding behind masks, pseudonyms and elaborate stage costumes, TISM turned every performance and interview into an art event. In one such interview, journalists were stood at the opposite end of a football ground to the band, and forced to communicate via megaphone. On their first appearance on national TV in Australia, TISM appeared with 28 fully costumed members, performing their latest single, ‘Saturday Night Palsy’.
This track is featured on the 1988 Corner show, along with other singles ‘Defecate On My Face’ and ‘I’m Interested In Apathy’ from their ARIA-winning debut album ‘Great Truckin’ Songs Of The Renaissance’.
TISM would go on to win another ARIA for their 1995 Top 10 album ‘Machiavelli And The Four Seasons’.
TISM shows featured all manner of distractions, including debating competitions, an onstage wedding, a stock market simulation, a full costume performance of Shakespeare, a ‘Save Our TISM’ telethon, and even a show where two TISMs performed simultaneously at either ends of the venue.
The 1988 gig at the Corner was a more stripped-down affair, however it still saw the band revving two lawn mowers onstage during the set, highly dangerous behaviour in those pre-safety-conscious days of overcrowded venues.
