I didn't know that there was such a thing as the Mundi Mundi Bash until my friend Ruben alerted me, but if you are in the neighbourhood of Broken Hill, NSW, Australia (which effectively means you are in Broken Hill; there is no neighbourhood), here is why you should (or should not) go to that particular music festival.

Paul Kelly - Before Too Long (Official Video)

When I was in high school, Matt Handley had a three-piece band, but needed a rhythm guitarist for this one song. He gave me a cassette and a handwritten page with chords on it. I didn't pass the audition, as I could be a bit clever with musical instruments, but I didn't really understand how music worked.

I love the video for this, as it's central Sydney as I remember it. Run-down and seedy. No glass-fronted Apple or Nike stores or high-rise apartments. Just office blocks, pubs, and subterranean dive bars where men in beige suits and wide ties would go to forestall the awful moment when they had to take the train home.

Paul Kelly - Dumb Things (Official Video)

By god, that's catchy. Nobody has the right to write a song that catchy.

Paul Kelly - Darling It Hurts

Feck me. There he goes again.

Tim Finn (in Split Enz - My Mistake 1977)

How the feck something so self-consciously arty made it into the Australian top ten, I have no idea. It was colourful, and it wasn't punk. Or was it? Or was it not wasn't it? Wasn't it? Hmm? Oh. My mistake.

Split Enz - I Hope I Never (1980)

This video was routinely used as filler on the ABC when shows ran under time. Not a ringing endorsement, but it means it's in the cultural DNA, and it's too late to get it out now.

Split Enz - Pioneer / Six Months In A Leaky Boat (1982)

On high rotation on my work musak. I don't care. Always makes me happy.

Tim Finn - Fraction Too Much Friction (1983)

It's 80s as all get out, but in a nice way. Love it.

Crowded House - Chocolate Cake

I can't say it enough: New Zealand is Australia's Ireland; it's where all our smart and talented people come from. Tim invited his brother Neil (observing proper NZ pronunciation, that is to say "Tum" and "Nil", respectively) to join Split Enz. When Neil's band Crowded House ran dry of songs for a third album, he returned the favour, and Tim became a temporary Crowdie. I can't help thinking this song is either mostly Tim, or the two of them egging each other on. Very bloody satirical.

Kate Ceberano - Young Boys Are My Weakness 1989

Yup. Well, that was a thing. She's a session muso. Back in the days when I had testosterone, I thought she was pretty talented. Revising that opinion.

Kate Ceberano & Wendy Matthews - You've Always Got The Blues (1988)

In the late 80s, television became about "production values". At the time I was terribly keen about this, but ultimately it led to a transition from good writing and wobbly sets to good sets and wobbly writing. Case in point: the series that spawned this recording is long forgotten.

Daddy Cool - Eagle Rock - Clip (1971)

I think Ross Wilson and his one hit wonder band knocked "My Sweet Lord" off the top of the Australian hit parade in the year I was born. I always wondered whether John Lennon heard the song. I think he would have appreciated the sheer silliness of it.

Mondo Rock - Cool World (1981)

Ross Wilson's less evanescent band demonstrates why the eighties have that reputation.

Mondo Rock - Come Said The Boy (1984)

This makes a bit of sick rise up at the back of my throat. Also, it's a dead-set Aussie classic. Which speaks volumes.

Black Sorrows - Chained to the wheel - Original 1989 video

I love the album. This band would be nothing without Vika and Linda Bull. Everything they touch turns to gold. They are the real thing, not the Kate and Wendy.

Paul Kelly with Vika & Linda Bull - 'What You Want' + 'Thank You' [HD] The Music Show, ABC RN

I have tears streaming down my cheeks.