Aussie TOTP raises hackles

Kylie and Dannii Minogue: Must Australian acts make it big in the UK first?

By Anita Kazmierczak in Australia

It's an institution in Britain, but BBC's Top of the Pops will never be "number one" down under if lovers of homegrown Australian music have their way.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation will begin showing the UK version of TOTP from Sunday.

But local music fans and national youth radio network Triple J - the equivalent of Radio 1 in Britain - are up in arms over the import.

I think if you have a local band in Sydney trying to make it big, they would be far better if they were bookended by Britney Spears and Westlife

Chris Cowey, TOTP editor

In Australia overseeing the launch is TOTP Editor, Chris Cowey who says the show has survived 37 years because it is the best of its kind in the world, despite its Britishness.

"The BBC is one of the few places where you'd get that length of survival," Cowey says.

"It's become kind of British folklore really. Kids in the UK won't say 'what's number one this week', they'll say 'what's Top of the Pops?'"

"Like fish'n'chips and Match of the Day it's a good old Brit invention."

But Radio Triple J presenter Francis Leach fears that with so much British content already on TV, the ABC is quickly being colonised by the BBC.

"Why aren't we making our own rock TV show instead of taking one from Blighty? Australia has a vibrant and exciting music scene - we love to hear and see our bands on TV," Leach said.

Powderfinger: Australian band popular at home (photo courtesy band website)

"I can't help but think that young bands, young artists and young Australians are sitting there going 'where is my sound, where's my band? where's the band I want to see in my local pub'.

"At the moment TV is delivering nothing to them."

Leach points out that Australian TV has always had its own aesthetic, attitude, and humour and simply modelling it on British TV formats robs it of its Australian character.

"There'll be no You Am I, no Powderfinger, Spiderbait, Motorace, or any other favourite Australian bands, unless they make it big in the UK first."

Cowey is quick to defend TOTP's format saying it will be good for Australia.

"The main reason music programmes fail is the ghettoisation of music styles.

"I think if you have a local band in Sydney trying to make it big, they would be far better if they were bookended by Britney Spears and Westlife and were going to get across to a bigger audience than be bookended by two other local bands," said Cowey.

"One of the things we're very keen on is the feasibility of having a more "Australianised" version of it and in places like Germany, Italy and Holland, that's exactly what we've been doing.

"I would then want to re-import that into the UK and do a trip around the globe looking at worldwide hits."