© Lauren Baxter 2021.
If you were flipping through Penthouse magazine back in the ‘80s (for the writing of course), you may have stumbled across Robert G Barrett’s Les Norton character.
For those not familiar with the story though, Norton was a ragtag lad from Queensland who, upon moving to Sydney, joined the ranks of Price Galese, an illegal casino owner in Kings Cross. The short stories would turn into a cult book series and now ABC are set to release a ten-part program based on the character with a cast that includes Rebel Wilson, David Wenham and more. Looking back, Barrett’s novels have been labelled sexist, homophobic and full of racial stereotyping. However, the new show will leave the sexism at the door, at least according to Wenham, and keep a killer ‘80s soundtrack. And that’s all thanks to the show’s music supervisor, Ange Glaister.
Music supervision is basically the dream job. Through careful curation and collaboration with the producers and director, the music supervisor will match music to the screen to create those perfect cinematic moments. However, for Australian TV especially, Glaister says, it’s about coming up with ideas that fit in the budget.
She had her work cut out for her with Les Norton, “Bob Barrett [being] a massive music person”. “Obviously he was writing these books around that period so he was listening to a lot of the underground stuff, and the Aussie pub music that was around at the time,” Glaister shares. “Basically you could say Les Norton was his avatar of himself… And being in the Cross, he discovers a lot of new music.”
Music then is integral to the story of Les Norton, the books referencing the bands now in the show’s tracklist. “From that, we’ve expanded on other artists that were around at the time,” Glaister says. “And because Kings Cross was very, very diverse then, we just wanted to keep it true to how Les Norton is and true to the period and to the books. And that’s when we delved deeper into the more obscure songs of, say, Hunters & Collectors and people like Jo Jo Zep.”
Created for TV by Morgan O’Neill, Glaister shares he wrote a lot of the music in with the script. But it was thanks to Glaister’s relationships with many artists of the time that they were able to secure such classic Aussie tracks. “We’ve been lucky to score some of the iconic works that we’ve got in there, like the Divinyls and Mental As Anything. A lot of these bands, because it was their heyday, were very, very happy to be part of this,” she says. “And it’s quite interesting finding out a lot of these acts have actually read the books as well.
“From there, when you start delving into that period of music and what was around and bands that were touring and stuff, you can get right into it, like, a whole click hole of bands that you forgot about that were very, very relevant at the time. And then you give them a new lease on life when you put them to the screen.”
The music also plays an important part in taking 2019 viewers back to that world. “You definitely need the music to take you back to the ‘80s,” Glaister agrees. ”I mean we’ve seen in a lot of things at the moment it’s really a period that I think a lot of people are interested in again.
“But it definitely takes anyone that was going out to gigs and stuff [back to that time]. It was a very big Aussie pub culture, but there was also other music that was played that you’ll see in our disco scenes and stuff.”
Tapping into the microcosm of music found in Kings Cross at the time is also an integral part of telling this story: “It definitely will take the viewers back to a period of time because, you have to realise, now there’s a whole generation that doesn’t know Kings Cross even like how it was probably five years ago before the lockout laws.”
One band synonymous with the Cross in that era that Glaister is trying to get on board is Cold Chisel. “People when they think of Kings Cross here, you definitely think of Cold Chisel,” she says. “The majority of their songs were written about Kings Cross, and then there’s even a plaque about Breakfast At Sweethearts, which was in Kings Cross.” While not featuring on the provisional tracklist The Music was provided, she seems optimistic, saying, “Jimmy Barnes has been excited by the story and his management have been really great.”
Above all, when looking at the cultural shift cities like Sydney have experienced in recent years, shows like Les Norton can have a real impact. “I think there’s a lot of interest in Kings Cross now, you know, with people trying to break the lockout laws, that then they will do it, but they won’t do it for Kings Cross. They never want Kings Cross to go back to its heyday which is a shame,” Glaister says.
More than anything she jokes the show will “make people realise that we used to go out and didn’t just sit around and watch Netflix”.
“Bands from this period [are] actually gigging at the moment,” she says. “You know, and selling out. So it’s quite interesting seeing that as well. It’s like that generation, their kids are all grown up now so they’re all ready to go back out. And we’re finding those gigs here are the bigger gigs which is interesting. We just had to learn to come home earlier.”
Original article: The ‘Les Norton’ Tracklist Will Transport You Back To The Kings Cross Of The ’80s