This was a big hit in the clubs in Los Angeles when I was a teen but didn't get much airplay due to its length & angst. Really memorable track ..Excellent Production.

These guys surprised me. A friend of mine insisted that we see Hunters And Collectors. I was very sure that I wouldn't enjoy the experience because the only thing I knew of them was this song. The video always unsettled me, and I remember thinking that every face in the video was a member of the band, including the vampire. I was convinced I would not like them. I was so glad they proved me wrong. Those guys were very tight, and knew how to put on a great show with a brass section and gas cylinders. It was very new to me in 1982.

The Hunners (as they’re generally known) are a great and very individual band. They struggled due to the very democratic nature of the band, and the decision to equally share their royalties. Mark Seymour’s autobiography is a great read, and his younger brother Nick is the bass player for Crowded House. Talking To A Stranger is a cool song, but probably a less obvious choice than others would have made. To get a good sense of the band I’d probably recommend Everything’s On Fire, Say Goodbye, Blind Eye, and Do You See What I See. Some others might recommend Holy Grail and Throw Your Arms Around Me (there’s two versions they made) and whilst they’re also well known Hunners songs they’re not my favs (probably overplayed on the radio here). Say Goodbye was the first I recall hearing from them, and it’s a very good introduction to their quirky nature both lyrically and sonically.

Thanks you for doing this one - it is an awesome song so well chosen - H & C have a great body of work so many other songs also worth checking out. The music video was directed by film maker Richard Lowenstein. He went onto work with INXS and U2 - he provided music videos - "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem" (both 1988) and a concert performance film, U2: LoveTown

I loved this early stage of Hunters And Collectors. They really knew how to make an atmosphere in concert. I gave up on them after their ''you don't make me feel like a woman'' song became a hit.

Yes, they had a horn section in the band. It was very quirky but added a great dimension of hooks and power to their live gigs.

This song was omnipresent in Melbourne (as well as the rest of Australia) in the early 80's. You just couldn't get away from it nor it's video (if you were so inclined to watch a music video show), in spite of the krautrock leanings. Hunters And Collectors were from the same Melbourne underground scene that had spawned The Birthday Party, Models, The Primitive Calculators and Crime & The City Solution (the latter being a Sydney band). I remember seeing their names in the local gig guides around Melbourne, and hearing a few early tracks played on 3RRR (Triple R) around 1981. The band would eventually cutback on all the avant-guade (for lack of a better word) and make fairly conventional rock records. I can't say I have ever been a fan of these guy, but I do appreciate what they did in the early course of their journey. I had their first three albums and a couple of EPs which were used to provide an atmosphere while Gillian (my sister) and I smoked pot in our bedroom. I recommend you guys try ''Run, Run, Run'' (official H & C audio seems to sound the best) and 42 Wheels. Singer, Mark Seymour, is the brother of Crowded House bassist, Nick. Cheers, Hayley

The brass section of H & C can be heard on Do Re Mi's 'Man Overboard' + Birthday Party's 'Nick The Stripper' and last but not least, Midnight Oil's 'Beds Are Burning'.

Thank you. This is my favourite Hunters song. The animal rights group PETA here in Australia started a campaign to get them to change their name because it was offensive to animals. No wonder no one takes them seriously. If you want to hear another great Aussie band give Weddo's (Weddings Parties Anything) a listen. I'd recommend A Tale They Wont Believe.

Yep ! Very 80s . Has a Splattering of few bands and sounds of the time , Nuff said ! cheers

Gang of Four is the band you're trying to think of, or it should be, very reminiscent of their jagged, funky edge. This band, along with Hoodoo Gurus, was among the slightly lesser known contingent coming up from down under in the early 80s, and for my money, one of the better ones. Good choice.

Great music

Hearing their songs used for sporting commercials and seeing the singer sing his songs during footy games, it's easy to forget that the Hunners began like this..

I remember this song as a young fella in New Zealand. Pretty full on clip for the time. I love that you were into the groove in about 10 seconds heh. That was a tough one your pals gave you to start you on that band.

Thanks for doing another Hunters song. There is another that I really love, I don’t know how to describe it… funky punk maybe… if you haven’t already done it “Say Goodbye”. While you listen imagine a Sydney pub full of blokes singing the main lyric line. 🤣

This song didn't come from a bunch of blokes that listened to gang of four and killing joke records and came up with a little aussie anwer to it... these were very headstrong guys and were working at building this funky-krautrock sound that came out of listening to Faust and Can.. I had followed these guys since their first gig at the Crystal Ballroom and before that with their pre- H + C incarnation called The Jetsonnes. We all heard The Pop Group, The Associates, Gang Of Four, Killing Joke and Einstürzende Neubauten in Melbourne and the idea to mix and match these bands into a unit as ambitious as H + C would have been laughable at the time. Half the band played brass and the percussionists played with gas cylinders. I doubt Conny Plank would work with a bunch of pretenders. If H & C had any fault it was that they were too ambitious with their sound and they couldn't get any further with their shtick by the mid 80s, and instead resolved to being a straight forward rock group with a brass section and songs about how shit is life is on the road as an Aussie bloke..

Excellent song . This a bit more post punk than some of their material. Their album Human Frailty is a favorite 80’s lp.

This song and Primary by the cure have been in all my playlists for 40 years

For most of the world, these guys are a hidden Aussie gem - some polish, bit rough round the edges, but brilliant.

I’m glad to see Americans check out Australian bands

Hey guys - thanks for checking out Hunters & Collectors - they're a great band. Please have a listen to 'Say Goodbye' next and 'The Slab' from they're early years and for more contemporary H & C you could try 'Holy Grail', 'True Tears of Joy,' 'Throw your arms around me' & 'River Runs Dry'

H&C were quite popular in Sweden, my country. Well, at least compared to many other countries at the time. I read an interview from around 1983 or 1984 where they said their second album "The Fireman's Curse" sold only about 100 copies in the UK. I'm not sure they were only exaggerating...Anyway, that was when I discovered them. They were quite original and great for a few years, but towards the end of the 80's they turned into a more mainstream rock band. "Human Frailty" (1986) was imo their last really good album. - If you should check out another song, my recommendation would be "Sway" or "Judas Sheep" from their second album.

I'm checking out Blue Peter now. I like what I'm hearing. Sounds a lot like what I was digging in the early to mid 80's. If Countdown didn't play their videos, then Rock Arena or Sounds probably did... Anyway, H & C were part of this ''underground'' cool thing going on in Melbvourne. They were what happened after The Birthday Party left Melbourne for London. Another arty band that I really loved was Models. You guys should try Atlatnic Romantic and Two People Per Sq. km. Models were this post-punk group that turned into a pop band, so I loved them as an arty band and I got to love them as a chart topping group. The ''Talking To A Stranger'' video was directed by Richard Lowenstein, who would later produce a movie called ''Dogs In Space'' (starring Michael Hutchence) and direct INXS videos like ''Need You Tonight''. H & C's 80's videos have a lot of scenes of Melbourne, which I found to be a bit disconcerting as a Melburnian. I didn't really want to watch music videos on TV and see the MCG or Flinders Street Station pop up on the screen.

Can you please check out The beautiful South, Song for Whoever?

I wouldn't say this is their best song because Mark Seymour has written strong material in the 40 + years of Hunters And Collectors. He's a very good songwriter, and H & C were great vehicle for his work. But I think this is the best H & C track to represent their early industrial work. Lumps Of Lead and Judas Sheep were silly videos in the day, but had an obnoxious Melbourne charm to them. Though I'm an American I know Melbourne obnoxiousness because my wife and kids are Melburnians. Cheers!

So pleasing to see and hear this upload. I wish H & C would put up better quality videos on their VEVO. Anyway, here's some further recommendations to help avoid the old mono clips. Hunters & Collectors - Lumps Of Lead (ultra-rare version 2) stereomusicvideo Hunters & Collectors - Judas Sheep (speech bubble version) stereomusicvideo Hunters & Collectors - Betty's Worry Or The Slab stereomusicvideo Hunters & Collectors - Say Goodbye - 1986 - Official Video Austech Hunters & Collectors Everything's On Fire Left Minus Right Audio Channel Mix US Enclosure Company It's the best I could find as far as video and audio combinations go H & C videos on KZfaq are often hits and misses, so if you need to settle on audio only clips for songs that are not in the list above, go for it..

The horns at the end lift it, and the lyrics that are not in english set the story.

Next I would like to see you react to two people per square kilometre by the band called models

I did a bit of work on a couple of H&C's videos in the early years. Check out Lumps Of Lead (ultra-rare version 2) and Judas Sheep (speech bubble version) Though not the best known versions they are perhaps the better and most rare.

And Split Enz

One of the greatest underrated bands out of Oz of all time. 'What's a few men' amongst so many brilliant brilliant tracks - I think is the greatest anti-war song of all time.

I've had more than a few drunken nights at Hunners' gigs in the mid/late 80's period. I suggest jumping ahead and checking out what they did 10 years later with ''Holy Grail''. They didn't stick to that art-funk post-punk style for very long, and once Mark Seymour wrote his sappy ''Throw Your Arms Around Me'' song, all their early supporters ran away. H&C would eventually become the band for the people (working people, not art students). I remember first seeing the ''Stranger'' video on TV and thinking there was something Pink Floydish about the whole thing, and also irritatingly pretentious and Melburnian. I think you guys need to check out something from Brisbane. The Saints - (I'm) Stranded nzoz1977 The Laughing Clowns - Holy Joe nzoz1980 Make a mental note that The Saints' guitarist would became the singer of Laughing Clowns. His name is Ed Kuepper (pronounced Cooper). Great reaction! Always fun seeing you two react to our murky musical history.

you might like to check out Unit 4 Plus 2 or Martin Plaza..................Concrete and Clay. Both great.......................

A little Gang of Four as well.

Very 80s.

But they are very welcome to have Russell crow ya can keep him no returns no backies

Tears for Fears? WTF? This is not remotely like TFF.... This is hard as nails... These boys all went to St Bede's Catholic boys' school in Mentone, Melbourne and this was their very first low budget video. This is the real deal grass roots emergence.

Having an understanding of the culture, the attitude and the creative process in Melbourne, particularly of this time period, might give you an understanding of this style of music and where Hunters & Collectors were coming from. Melbourne wasn't for everybody like it is today. Hyper masculinity, violent football obsessed society, lethal feminism, football jerseys and scarves mixed with intellectualism, Victorian buildings ... it was like high and low British society that got caught in a blender and spilled all over a city... Not the Australia Paul Hogan was advertising.. If you spent time there and breathed it in, this song will make perfect sense.. You would not want to have Melburnians hear you compare it to Tears For Fears.. That wouldn't go down well

And they stole our PAVLOVA 😠😡🤬

Agree that this is the wrong song to hear from H&C first. Try True Tears of Joy or Do you see what I See? Throw Your Arms Around Me gets EVERYONE singing in Australia

Models - Atlantic Romantic (Video + Song merge 2023 re-work) Models - Two People Per Sq. km stereomusicvideo Highly recommended