I grew up listening to Eric Idle doing Aussie accents, which I loved, but I'm sure they cause you to wince. I understand that though. People think everyone in my country says "aboot" and is obsessed with maple syrup and "ice" hockey. I'm guessing that's not dissimilar to everyone thinking Australians constantly talk about shrimp on the barbie.
Sorry about the threadjack!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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I think it's very impressive when Aussie performers can make their very strong accents disappear and really do sound like a Yank.
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman's' acting (when the role requires it), as well as Keith Urban's singing most of the time, have no trace of an accent.
The Aussies at the other end of that spectrum are led by Colin Hay & Paul Hogan. Even Bryan Brown redeemed his Yank accent a bit in the movie "FX" (FX trivia fact: The main villain in the movie is played by actor Cliff DeYoung, who, in a previous incarnation back in the 60s, was the lead singer in Los Angeles psychedelic band Clear Light).
Robert Duvall and Meryl Streep have both done superb "down under diction" in the past.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
There seems to be a common thread of Aussie actors and actresses doing impressive fake American accents on American TV. Rick Springfield was the first example I remember being aware of. When he first moved to LA and got into acting int he mid 70's, he did everything with his natural accent. I remember an interview with back in the early 80's, where he said he went to a dialog coach after doing an episode of The Rockford Files, and realizing he needed to be able to talk like the locals, as it were.
More recently, there's been Olivia d'Abo (who I never knew wasn't an American during that whole time she was on The Wonder Years), Jonathan LaPaglia (who was the star of a great late 90's sci-fi show called Seven Days), and Simon Baker (on The Mentalist). And Rod Taylor, did a great English accent in The Time Machine.
On a side note, the actress who played Rose on Two And A Half Men, Melanie Lynskey, is a Kiwi, another thing I never knew until I saw her do a guest shot on another show where she spoke with her native accent.
Cliff DeYoung was also in the great mid 80's comedy Secret Admirer, which has possibly the most convoluted and unexplainable plot of any sort of mainstream movie that I've ever seen (well, unless you count Head as mainstream, but then, Head didn't really have an actual plot, as such, did it?). The scene where he gets ass kicked by Fred Ward at the bridge tournament is hysterical (as is pretty much the rest of the picture).
Cliff DeYoung also has the ignoble distinction of playing Brad Majors in Shock Treatment, the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (bet you didn't know there was a sequel, did you?).
I think Mick Jagger was a badass in the early days. Whether he was trying to sound American or not makes no difference. I think he was criticized for trying to sound black. Apparently, he wanted to be James Brown. Where Mick failed was in trying to emulate Mr. Brown's dance moves and coming off looking very awkward and bafoonish (which was part of the charm, I guess). As far as his singing goes, I think he's one of the great rock voices of all time. Every time I hear him sing "Hey! ...... You! ..... Get Offa Mah Cloud!!!" It's a kick in the ass. Whether he's trying to sound American, or African-American really makes no difference to me, he's good at what he does.
When we heard the Beatles the first time as kids in 1964, we didn't know they were from England. At 6 years old I never even heard of England. We might've even thought they were black (obviously before we saw their album covers or TV appearances). John Lennon tended to pronounce the word "more" as "mo" (from I Should Have Known Better: ....gimme mo....hey, hey, hey ......gimme mo ). Anyway, when I found out they were not American I couldn't help thinking that it's just not fair. These English guys who speak with funny accents are just kicking our asses and taking no prisoners. They just blew us away with that sound. OTOH, The Beach Boys really sounded American, and white, and nerdy, and that's why I just didn't like them in 1964. Obviously I like them now.
With later Stones albums, I'm partial to 'Steel Wheels' myself. Not keen on the fussy sound, but they came back on strong form with that one. 'Mixed Emotions' is one of the best singles they ever put out IMHO, and there's some cracking stuff on the second side- 'Continental Drift', 'Almost Hear You Sigh'...
Not so 'whoops' now as it's unlikely to be heard again, Harris' crimes having come to light.
....and further more, they were HUGE in England. More popular there than in the US back then.OTOH, The Beach Boys really sounded American, and white, and nerdy, and that's why I just didn't like them in 1964.
I remember when I was a kid, and I saw bands being interviewed on MTV, I was always surprised to find out how many of them were British or Australian. To me, on the records, most of them sang with American accents on the records. I'm not sure that I knew Duran Duran, Men At Work, INXS, Genesis, Queen or The Who weren't Americans when I first heard them.
Then again, I don't think I knew about different accents until I saw Doctor Who, which I started watching around that time.
I remember that in the sixties music writers thought Jagger sounded like he was African-American. I can hear plenty of R&B and blues in his voice but to me he doesn't sound like any particular nationality because he's synthesized a lot of influences. It is fun to hear him do something non-rock.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I think Jagger did start to ham it up much more as time went on. On their old ballads, he now sings like he did the song 'Far Away Eyes' which was clearly meant to be a parody. The sensitivity isn't really there now.
I played 'Steel Wheels' again yesterday and I still think a couple of bland fillers aside ('Hearts For Sale' and 'Break The Spell' for me) it's a very solid album. Definitely my favourite of the 'post World War III' albums, it also does help that Bill Wyman was still in the band for that one and so it's the same line-up they'd had since the mid 70s. I think the three which followed are certainly no disgrace to the band's legacy but are all over-long.
I think Mick sounds like David St. Hubbins (who, of course, was a British character played by an American actor).
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