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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/09/brisbane-rocking-horse-records-50-year-anniversary-is-the-f-word-offensive-in-queensland-court-case>
"It was one of the first odd, angry shots fired in what we now know as the
culture wars. On the morning of 14 February 1989, a plain-clothed officer from
Queensland police’s licensing branch was sniffing around Rocking Horse Records
in Brisbane. He asked the owner, Warwick Vere, if he had any rude records that
might be suitable for a “wild Valentine’s Day party”.
A couple of hours later, farcical scenes ensued as four uniformed police raided
the store, seizing suggestively titled records and tapes by (among others)
Sydney punk band the Hard-Ons, Guns N’ Roses’ blockbuster album
Appetite for
Destruction and – most tellingly – a number of items by San Francisco
satirists the Dead Kennedys.
Vere was subsequently charged under the
Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences
Act for exhibiting and selling obscene material. To this day, Vere remains
incredulous. “It was like they’d just gone through the handbook of far-right
Christian groups from America,” he says.
Rocking Horse has just turned 50. After Perth’s Dada (est 1971), it is the
oldest independent record store in Australia. Originally a tiny space in an
Adelaide Street arcade, the shop has since moved several times – expanding,
contracting and nearly going broke, before surfing the vinyl revival all the
way to its current premises on Albert Street in the heart of Brisbane. Over the
journey, it’s been a meeting place for young musicians, a local lurk for
generations of collectors and – during the 70s and 80s – a countercultural
beacon during the repressive Bjelke-Petersen years."
Vua Clarice Boomshakala.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
