- Television Addict
Infobox Single
Name = Television Addict
Caption =
Artist = The Victims
from Album = "'All Loud on the Western Front" (compilation)
A-side = Television Addict
B-side = I'm Flipped Out Over You
Released = 1977
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Perth,Western Australia 1977
Genre =Punk rock
Length = 2:56
Label = (none/independent) MX-46813
Writer = James Baker, Dave Faulkner
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = (No previous single)
This single = "Television Addict"
Next single = "The Victims (EP)"
(a.k.a. "no thanks to the human turd")
Misc = Extra musicsample
filename = Victims-Television Addict.ogg
title = Television Addict
format =Ogg
Type = single"Television Addict" was the A-side of the debut single by The Victims, an early
punk rock band fromPerth, Western Australia . The song is a mainstay of compilations of Australian punk from the 1970s, and has been recorded by theHoodoo Gurus ,You Am I ,The Hellacopters andTeengenerate .It was co-written [cite web |title=Australasian Performing Right Association |url=http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch |publisher=APRA |accessdate=2007-11-29 ] by singer-guitarist Dave Faulkner (known at the time as Dave Flick) and drummer James Baker. The slow, menacing, bass line, played by
Rudolph V (Dave Cardwell), is also a prominent feature of the recording. The Victims released the single independently in late 1977 or early 1978 (sources vary), with "I'm Flipped Out Over You" on the B-side.Lyrically, "Television Addict" revolves around a youth "who went out and shot someone", and whose lawyer then attributes his actions to violence on television: "blame the ratings for his crime." The song is, in large part, a satirical comment on the tendency to blame popular culture for crime, rather than individuals, or broader social problems. The song ends by questioning why other social phenomena are not attributed to TV programs: "just because I watch Dinah Shore, doesn't mean my brain has slipped, doesn't mean anything — at all."
The band broke up in 1979. During the mid-1980s, Baker and Faulkner were briefly reunited in the
Hoodoo Gurus , who sometimes performed "Television Addict" as an encore. The Hoodoo Gurus (without Baker) later recorded "Television Addict", and issued it as a bonus track on "Crank" (2005 re-issue).References
External links
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1We-J4jzo8 "Victims Television Addict Australian Punk 1978" (video on YouTube)]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
