'Now my prayers have had an answer — and Delta Goodrem has got cancer.'
That night at Melbourne's Hi-Fi Bar, when the subversive vocalist uttered these words as part of a spoken-word diatribe against vacuous pop music, the tension in the air was palpable. A few louts cheered. Others laughed, but with a nervous edge.
On stage, the poet, clad head to toe in a ridiculous silver foil jumpsuit, continued his rant unabated. But there was no question he'd caused offence.
Noisome veterans of the Melbourne music underground, TISM (This is Serious Mum) have made a career out of poking ridicule at everyone from Adolf Hitler to Britney Spears. Many of those present at the gig would have discovered the band courtesy their controversial hit, 'He'll Never Be An Old Man River' (chorus: 'I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix'). Yet even the sympathetic audience seemed put out by the Delta slur.
A similar scenario played out on ABC TV last month. The national broadcaster's resident ratbags, the team from The Chaser's War on Everything, are renowned for their subversive stunts. But even given their track record, team member Andrew Hansen's on-air performance of the now-notorious song 'Eulogy' divided audiences, who seemed unsure whether this was gutsy subversive humour or merely bad taste.
The song, which parodied the fact that iconic Aussies Steve Irwin and Peter Brock, and international figures Princess Di and John Lennon, went from maligned in life to admired after death, was deemed by many to have crossed the line. A spark of anger was fanned into an inferno by overzealous talkback radio listeners.
Welcome to the world of satire — a cerebral comic form that by its nature thrives on putting people offside. Even when done well, satire is almost invariably taken too literally by some who are so busy taking offence that they often miss the point.
Admittedly, in extreme cases it's easy to miss the point. TISM's Delta quip trod precariously on the outer limits of acceptability — the 'Big C' being one of those subjects that's generally considered to be beyond joking. South Park genii Trey Parker and Matt Stone came close to crossing that same line during the all-singing, all-dancing musical number 'Everyone's Got AIDS' in their 2004 film Team America.
Bad taste for bad taste's sake is one thing, but it's evident both TISM and The Chaser (and, to a