"Solid Rock" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Goanna | ||||
from the album Spirit of Place | ||||
Released | 6 September 1982 [1] | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 4:28 | |||
Label | WEA Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Shane Howard | |||
Producer(s) | Trevor Lucas | |||
Goanna singles chronology | ||||
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"Solid Rock" is a song written by Shane Howard and recorded by Australian rock band Goanna. The song deals with issues of land rights for Indigenous Australians and was released in September 1982 [1] as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, Spirit of Place . "Solid Rock" peaked at number 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report.
At the 1982 Countdown Music and Video Awards, "Solid Rock" won Best Debut Single. [2]
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Solid Rock" was ranked number 13. [3]
In 2021, MTV Classic ranked the song 10th during their special Top 100 Big in the 80s countdown.
According to Howard, the inspiration came on a ten-day camping trip at Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) during 1980 where he had a "spiritual awakening" which brought "the fire in the belly" to the surface over injustices to Australia’s indigenous peoples. Howard said "I realised that this country that I grew up in, that I thought was my country, wasn't. I had to reassess my whole relationship with the land and the landscape, and understand that we had come from somewhere else, and we had dis-empowered a whole race of people when we arrived." [4]
WEA were reluctant to release it as a single and Howard initially had reservations about whether commercial radio would play it because of its politically sensitive theme but Howard insisted on its release to make a statement about the European invasion of Australia. [4] [5] The song was released in September 1982.
Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described it as "a damning indictment of the European invasion of Australia." [6]
Side A: "Solid Rock" – 4:28
Side B: "Four Weeks Gone" – 5:42
Chart (1982/83) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [7] [8] | 3 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [9] | 71 |
Chart (1982) | Position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [7] | 57 |
Chart (1983) | Position |
Australia (Kent Music Report) [10] | 56 |
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