The passing of Grant McLennan

The Go-Betweens: Bachelor Kisses

I just found out today that Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens passed away on the 6th of this month. This is just terrible news. The Go-Betweens was on heavy rotation in my house in Perth, Australia back in 1996. I can remember many a late night humming along to "Streets of Your Town". I can also remember driving 2 hours from Boston to Rhode Island in 2001 to catch McLennan and Robert Forster playing on their reunion tour at some dingy club in Providence. Their music was always poppish but yet had a bittersweet tinge to the lyrics that McLennan was largely responsible for.

The Go-Betweens were a well-loved band in Australia and the songwriting duo of Forster and McLennan has been described as the antipodean version of Lennon and McCartney. As a testament to their popularity down under, the Australian senate moved a motion to recognise "the contribution made to music by McLennan as a songwriter and performer over nearly three decades" But despite their popularity back home, international chart success for the band was elusive. My impression of the Go-Betweens was that they were forever one of the unsung champions of lyrical pop gems that not many people seem to know about. Although I have been only peripherally aware of their recent work, it seems tragic to me that McLennan has passed on when his recent work with Forster, "Oceans Apart", has started to get critical attention again.