Whinge in Blue first met on a union picket line outside The Lipton Tyre Factory in Ballarat, where they were all employed as production shift workers. Discovering that they had similar deep grievances about society, wages and teenagers, the four members decided to start a band primarily as a means to spend less time with their families and loved ones.
Stegman and Hennessy shared most of the writing duties—“Gloria would lay down some chords, and I would scribble a song out of ‘em… What else you wanna know?” Hennessy said in a Women’s Weekly interview. “Sook. Moan. Complain. I don’t write about love, I write about what’s important!”
Stegman added “Lines at the bank, no peas at the supermarket – My songs are about what annoys me! Things that other people need to know.” Although Stegman would be responsible for writing the group’s biggest hits, she never sang lead vocal on any of their tracks.
On 13 August 1974, Whinge in Blue—sporting their factory overalls and steel capped boots—played before a small, invitation-only audience in their East Ballarat rehearsal space. Among those in attendance was New Music critic Giovanni Daddo. His review described the band as “a running of the bulls… So powerful and so angry, they’re the first new group to come along who can really scare The Breadstains”.
~ Susan Hennessy ~
~ Gloria Stegman ~
By the turn of the year, grump had become a major music phenomenon worldwide. On 25 January 1975, Whinge in Blue signed to Paedamonte Records for a reported $50,000, a remarkable amount for a band that had only played a handful of gigs and barely any of them as a headliner. As Whinge in Blue historian Garth Crosby describes, “the band members found themselves having to justify the deal to both loyal fans and the music press, who all griped about them having ‘sold out’ to the establishment.” Marc Olinda, founder of the leading Australian grump periodical What Joy, let loose with his headline: “Grump Died the Day Whinge in Blue signed to Paedamonte.”
Mickey Newman Jnr. was hired to produce Whinge in Blue’s debut album The Pleasure of Disposition, containing ten fiery tracks attacking The Australian Liberal Party, family holidays and public swimming pools. The first single, ‘Major Objection’, was released in March 1975, and reached Top 30 on the Australian and New Zealand charts. Leading music publications hailed the band as the flag-wavers of the grump rock consciousness.
Though The Pleasure of Disposition charted well domestically, climbing to No. 22, Paedamonte refused to give it a US distribution, believing that its raw mumbling sound would make it un-saleable in that market. A North American version of the album was eventually released in January 1976 and became the best-selling import of the year in the United States.
~ TV Week promo poster ~
~ Fitzroy Community Hall ’75 ~
In May, the band set out on The Disposition Australian Tour, headlining a grump package that included Pea Soup and The Hanker Chiefs. Unfortunately, only a handful of the east coast dates were actually performed. Hours before the band’s second Melbourne gig, Stegman and Hennessy were arrested, along with activist Zelda D’Aprano, after chaining themselves to The Commonwealth Building, while demanding equal pay for working women. McKusker and Shelton were also arrested for stealing linen and toilet paper from their hotel room.
Two days later Stegman, annoyed that women weren’t allowed to drink in bars, announced on Sydney morning radio that Whinge in Blue was going to lead a pub crawl across the city and surrounding suburbs beginning at noon that day. With participant numbers growing into the hundreds as it proceeded, ‘the crawl’ descended into seventy five establishments, and lasted two days. As a result the remainder of the tour dates were curtailed.
Press reports from these incidents led to national media exposure for the band, which eventually helped The Pleasure of Disposition become No. 5 on the Australian charts over six months after it was released.
~ Noel in action ~
~ Penrith Scout Hall ’74 ~
Eight Ailments, which addressed the band’s support of the Australian Textile Workers’ Union, was produced by famed reggae artist Desmond “Chalky” Diamonds. Released in September 1977, it rose to No. 8 in the charts and has gone on to be cited as one of grump rock’s greatest albums. The single ‘Unchained Malady’ surprised fans with its ska rhythm and arrangement.
Despite the song’s popularity, Stegman would later reveal on Fox FM’s ‘Rock Talk’ that ‘Unchained Malady’ was originally recorded with the intention of being a B-side and to not even be featured on Eight Ailments. However, when the record label heard it they immediately recognised its potential to become a hit and proposed it be the lead single. Stegman also clarified, “The song is a complaint about crappy train timetables and not, as often speculated, about friendship.”
In support of Eight Ailments the band toured the UK along with Oh Perfect and The Breadstains. The series of concerts was promoted as the Grump It Out Tour and played more than thirty sold out dates from Edinburgh to Cardiff.
Their show at the London’s Marquee Club was taped by the BBC — a recording that captured the band at its most primal. Their final song ‘Let’s Lament’, culminated with Hennessy diving into a sloshing, jostling whirlpool of fans, and required three stagehands to pull her out. When Hennessy finally emerged, she was topless, missing a boot, and slightly scratched up. It remains the definitive live version of the decadent anthem, with McKusker screaming out harmony vocals and Stegman playing a distorted solo sprawled flat on her back.
~ Marquee Club ’78 ~
~ having fun in Liverpool ~
Mutual Dissatisfaction was released in late September 1979 after a three month delay, due to it being drastically re-engineered by Stegman. Her addition of synthesisers and football-style chants, overlaid on Hennessy’s vocal recordings, veered from the band’s verse-chorus-verse-bigger-chorus formula. Although Shelton was an adept drummer, drum machines were used for virtually all of the percussion tracks.
On the North American leg of the Mutual Dissatisfaction Tour, Whinge in Blue began to disintegrate. After their show at New York’s Apollo Theatre, Shelton abruptly left the band. Stegman’s 15 year old son Archie was flown in to play drums for the remaining live performances. At the tours completion, McKusker was asked to leave the band as his random bouts of happiness were damaging the group’s image.
~ Shelton shortly before quitting ~
~ Shea Stadium ’80 ~
For the recording of Disapprove to Differ in 1981, the group hired bassist Phillip Dench, after seeing him play in a Whinge in Blue cover band. In the studio, the absence of McKusker and Shelton unfortunately exposed obvious growing friction between Hennessy and Stegman, who began to feud even more frequently. Upon its release, the album was immediately ignored and failed to break Top 50 on any charts.
On the ensuing world tour, attendees were critical of the new sound and new bass player Dench. His job was to essentially play Dave “Skinny” McKusker — mimic the bored stares, the fumbling style, and the mumbled harmonies, but fans never really warmed up to him. One critic wrote that “it looked like a tribute band featuring two original members.”
Ticket sales began to dwindle and they found themselves in the humiliating position of opening up for Men at Work on their return to Australia. Whinge in Blue officially disbanded in early 1983.
~ Archie Stegman joins the line-up ~
~ having fun in Hobart ~
Following the break-up Hennessy formed Sookfish in 1984, ostensibly a solo band with a variable membership. Sookfish played a mellower and less moody musical style, and the three albums which it released attracted little commercial success.
Stegman maintained a low profile as a member in a variety of minor groups including The Pound, The Ducks, and The Non Insiders. She did collaborate with Stegman again in 1986 with the two songs they wrote and performed for the Sid and Nancy film soundtrack.
~ Gloria Stegman back in the studio ’86 ~
~ Esplanade Hotel 2007 ~
On 7 April 1982, Gloria Stegman announced that Whinge in Blue would be reuniting to perform at the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame Ceremony. The group were being inducted alongside Skyhooks in a televised event to be held at Melbourne Town Hall. Ex-drummer Shelton held his own press conference to announce that he did not want to participate. He stated “playing at the high-priced event is not in the true spirit of Whinge in Blue — but — to make a public fuss about it is.”
On the eve of the tribute Hennessy, Stegman and McKusker performed a set of their legendary album Eight Ailments in its entirety at a secret gig at St. Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel. Stegman’s son Archie again played drums for the show.
