Berlin Chair by You Am I much loved relic from the 90s indie-rock pub circuit | Music
Australian anthemsMusic This article is more than 9 years oldBerlin Chair by You Am I – much loved relic from the 90s indie-rock pub circuit
This article is more than 9 years oldThe Sydney band’s energetic song about the frustrations of love gone wrong slowly worked itself into the Australian psyche
Picture this: it’s the 90s. Hypercolour t-shirts are the height of scientific fashion, phone calls are being made for the first time in Australia on what now look like bricks with buttons and Triple J is the radio station of choice for anyone under 30 with a passion for alternative music.
It’s on Triple J you begin to hear songs – great songs – that detail the pain of growing up, of loving and leaving someone. The tunes make reference to suburbs you’ve lived in, and characters you grew up with. It is music that has been honed gig after gig on the eastern seaboard pub circuit. Music by You Am I.
Before long, the then Sydney trio is ubiquitous in what will soon be labeled the indie-rock scene. Sitting in your bomb of a car, window rolled down to sniff a breeze, you soon can’t turn on the radio without hearing one of their songs. And they’re full of bravado, grit and tenderness.
Sometimes they’re onstage at your local pub. Fronted by a man who needs little introduction, Tim Rogers and company pour all of themselves into guitar, drums and mike – sweating up a storm as they strum, growl and roar on the smoky stage.
The band’s debut album, Sound As Ever, was released in 1993, a glorious 50 minutes of power pop rock that takes its references from music of decades long gone, but with an approach all their own. In parts Rogers spits out his lyrics, while in others croons in an almost lullaby.
At track two Berlin Chair, while not the first single of the album, became the one that stuck in the minds of the public. Rogers’ lyrics talk of a love that’s soured but the couple in question go through the motions anyway. “My cold hand is there for you to take,” sings Rogers. “I’ll ignore each golden, dragging kiss you can give.”
And lines like “I’m the re-run that you’ll always force yourself to sit through,” pack a punch, with any misery tempered by the song’s catchy, danceable guitar riffs.
Berlin Chair didn’t make a seismic impact when first released as a single. It reached No 23 that year in Triple J’s Hottest 100, yet its cultural influence echoed on for much longer, and was included in the station’s Hottest 100 of All Time five years later. At the end of the decade Rage included it in the 60 most popular song choices by guest programmers.
On the band’s first major tour of the US, alongside Soundgarden, their label Warner Bros requested the use of Berlin Chair for a beer ad. The trio refused, and Rogers later described the ensuing stand-off in a 2008 interview with Andrew Denton.
Everyone has a Tim Rogers story from that era. Mine is set in Geelong.
We’d been out drinking before rocking up to the gig. You Am I was due to go on at 10pm and we were running late. But first things first – my mates and I had some kebabs and inhaled them as we sat on a park bench outside the pub.
Down the darkened street who do we see stumbling our way but Tim Rogers himself. “Aren’t you supposed to be on stage?” We ask. “Aren’t you supposed to be inside watching?” he replies. Touché. We sit. We chat. Then we head inside – Rogers to perform, we to listen.
Twenty-one years later Berlin Chair continues to evade time with its unbridled energy, and has proven itself a song worth protecting.
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