Read-Along Record: Mad Max 1979

The redback spider. The inland taipan. The blue-ringed octopus. Nothing fills us Aussie Gen X’s with more pride than the knowledge that we’re taking our lives into our own hands every time we step into a rock pool, sit on a dunny or pull on a pair of Blundstones. Unless someone mentions the last of the V8 Interceptors. Or roving bands of larrikin bikie marauders who materialise every time you pop by the local milk bar for a pack of Winnie Blues and a Chiko Roll. Then we tear open our Mambo shirts to reveal our Southern Cross tattoos and sing the unofficial Australian national anthem (‘Khe Sanh’ by Cold Chisel) in our very best voices.

If they'd ever released a Read-Along Record of George Miller's 1979 classic Mad Max, I can guarantee it would have been on heavy rotation in my house. It might have even looked a little something like this...

To see more pop culture merchandise that never existed, crack open a VB longneck and click the READ-ALONG tab at the top of the page.

Film As Cultural Snapshot: The Breakfast Club.

Films, from time to time, can transcend the boundaries of mere entertainment. On rare occasion, (and generally in retrospect), they can form a kind of time capsule, existing as cultural snapshots or archives of a time and place in history. 

Regardless of nationality, our collective impression and understanding of an era is coloured by our knowledge of film. When I think of the 60s, I can't help but imagine London and the desolate landscape and apathy of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up. Similarly, when I think of the 70s I imagine the New York City of Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Taxi Driver (1976), with its violence and abject poverty. The 80s, conversely, are dominated by suburbia and the cliques and class systems of the American teen movie. 

We didn't spend the 80s cowering in fear from the red menace or the threat of imminent thermonuclear Armageddon. For most of us, the 80s were a time of rampant consumerism. In the west, the post war generation were buying their own homes and raising their children in a time of relative prosperity. And that meant more junk food, more toys, more music and more movies available than ever before in history. The drama in our lives focused primarily on relationships and the family unit. The desire to fit in, fall in love, be popular. This mid 80s milieu was never more prevalent than in the films of writer/director John Hughes. The unrealistic nature and fantastical elements of his films fail to detract from the fact that it is almost impossible to think of the 80s and not think of a song or scene or character from one of his movies.

The Breakfast Club is the ultimate representation of the 80s cultural snapshot. In it, Hughes presents us with a white, middle class version of diversity. Each character portrays one of five stereotypes - the jock, the bad boy, the princess, the weirdo and the geek. Their problems are our problems - from overbearing parents with high expectations, to absent parents, to negligent and abusive parents, teens the world over could see themselves on screen (albeit as attractive actors in their mid-twenties). Whether we grew up in Illinois or Wangaratta, we understood what it was to be left out, ignored, unloved, picked on. We wrongly assumed those different from us, those higher in the class system, were happy. In The Breakfast Club, Hughes presented us with someone for each and every one of us to relate to. Hence, our 80s experience was the John Hughes experience, and our memories of a time and place forever sublimated by an American, whitewashed, homogeneous John Hughes universe. 

On a totally unrelated note, here is another Read-Along mock-up, based on a movie you may have heard of before:

To see more Read-Along Records without the pointless theorising, click on the READ-ALONG tab at the top of the page.

It Was Inevitable: Adult Read-Along Records.

Once there was this thing called vinyl records. Vinyl was sort of like CDs, except bigger, and blacker, and when you played them they had this crackling fireplace quality that made everything you heard sound warm and 'authentic'. 

Unlike MP3s, when you held a 12 inch record in your hands you felt like you owned something real, substantial. Its fragility made you treat them with care and respect, holding the edges like it was some kind of precious artefact from your youth. Which, retrospectively, it was.

It was only a matter of time before I started making Read-Along record imagery for more adult films. Because irony, right? So here is Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket as a Read-Along Adventure. Insert hilarious iconic film quote here:

'Member This?: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome And The Read-Along Record.

In the 70s and 80s, movie soundtracks, novelisations and trading cards could help you relive the events of your favourite film during the years before its release on home video. The Read-Along Record took it one step further. Using audio from the film (dialogue, sound effects, music), they would create an interactive audio/visual experience unlike any other medium.

Unfortunately, very few films made the transition to the Read-Along format. Continuing with the theme of rectifying past pop culture merchandising oversights, I've mocked-up a Read-Along Adventure based on one of the greatest Australian movies of all time – Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Beyond Thunderdome was the first of the original Mad Max trilogy that was clearly attempting to broaden its fan base to include children. Even with its M rating for course language, cartoonish violence and the occasional child buried alive, a Read-Along Adventure based on it wouldn't have been too much of a stretch of the imagination back in 1985.