Clinton Walker

Born in Bendigo, Victoria, in 1957, Walker dropped out of art school in Brisbane in the late 70s to start a punk fanzine with Andrew McMillan and to write for student newspapers.{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Clinton |title=Narrative biography |url=https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/about.html |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Clinton Walker |language=en}}

In 1978, Walker moved to Melbourne, where he worked on-air for 3RRR, and with Bruce Milne on the fanzine Pulp and wrote for the fledgling Roadrunner magazine.{{cite web | url=https://roadrunnertwice.com.au/2019/09/one-more-boring-night-in-adelaide-roadrunner-1978/ | title='One More Boring Night in Adelaide'—Roadrunner 1978 – Roadrunnertwice | date=16 December 2021 }}{{cite web | url=https://archivesonline.uow.edu.au/nodes/view/3493 | title=Roadrunner }}

Moving on to Sydney in 1980, he commenced a career as a freelance journalist, and for many years he wrote for numerous magazines and newspapers, including RAM and Australian Rolling Stone, as well as The Bulletin, The Age, New Woman, Playboy, and Juice.

Walker published his first book, Inner City Sound, in 1981.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/innercitysound00walk/page/n163/mode/2up | isbn=978-0-909331-48-1 | title=Inner city sound | date=1982 }} It documented the emergence of independent Australian punk/post-punk music and quickly fell out of print but was re-released in 2005 in an expanded, updated edition,{{cite web | url=https://www.versechorus.com/inner-city-sound | title=Inner City Sound }}{{better source needed|reason=secondary source needed rather than link to product page|date=December 2024}} along with an accompanying CD anthology.https://www.laughingoutlaw.com.au/product/inner-city-sound/{{better source needed|reason=secondary source needed rather than link to product page|date=December 2024}}

In 1984, after a couple of years in London, Walker returned to Australia and published his second book, The Next Thing.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Walker's third book, Highway to Hell, was a biography of Bon Scott (1994).{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Walker then published Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977-1991 (1996) and Football Life (1998). Stranded was republished in 2021 by the Visible Spectrum in a new updated global edition.{{cite web | url=https://rhythms.com.au/clinton-walkers-stranded-gets-reboot/ | title=Clinton Walker's Stranded Gets Reboot | date=3 February 2021 }}{{better source needed|reason=This is an unsigned article that appears to be based on a press release or advertisement|date=December 2024}} Des Cowley in his review in Rhythms Magazine said: "Reading Stranded today with a quarter-century’s hindsight, it’s easy to see that Walker mostly got things right. And if he stumbled now and again, it’s still the case he was streaks ahead of the pack."{{cite web | url=https://issuu.com/rhythms10/docs/rhythms_magazine_-_july_august_2021 | title=RHYTHMS MAGAZINE - JULY-AUGUST 2021 by rhythmsmag - Issuu | date=4 July 2021 }} Football Life was similarly a personal history but covered minor-league Australian Rules culture.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Walker's sixth book, Buried Country, a history of Aboriginal country music, was published in 2000, along with an accompanying documentary film and CD soundtrack album. {{citation needed span|date=December 2024|reason=was not able to find support for these in the three citations, two of which appear to be dead links|Martin Jones wrote in Rhythms, "Like many of Walker's projects, Buried Country was at least a decade ahead of its time". At a time when Aboriginal music was not established or accepted as a fixture on the broader Australian music scene, Walker's Buried Country was praised as a pioneering, detailed work of music historiography.}}{{cite web|url=http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=news000819_0441_1471 |title=News Store |publisher=Newsstore.fairfax.com.au |date=19 August 2000}}{{cite web|url=http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=reviews&webpage=api_reviews&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&Review=5168 |title=Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network |publisher=Api-network.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215050654/http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=reviews&webpage=api_reviews&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&Review=5168 |archive-date=15 December 2013 |df=dmy }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bobhowe.com/writer/buried.html |title=Howe-written...BURIED COUNTRY (2002)...Four Decades of Country Music Journalism |publisher=Bobhowe.com }} A new updated edition of the book was released in 2015 along with a rebooted version of the CD called Buried Country 1.5, which received further critical praise.{{cite news |last1=Rothwell |first1=Nicholas |title=Buried Country celebrates indigenous music's wayward dreamers |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/buried-country-celebrates-indigenous-musics-wayward-dreamers/news-story/03579a042ae0cdca0a9ad01fd9723c53 |work=The Australian |date=10 April 2015 |archive-url=http://www.clintonwalker.com.au/uploads/2/3/9/8/23988894/buried_country_celebrates_indigenous_music%E2%80%99s_wayward_dreamers_%7C_the_australian.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2015}}{{cite web |last1=Hughes |first1=Annette |title=Clinton Walker: Buried Country: The story of Aboriginal country music. |url=http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/2015/04/02/clinton-walker-buried-country-the-story-of-aboriginal-country-music-reviewed-by-annette-hughes/ |website=The Newtown Review of Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506175123/http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/2015/04/02/clinton-walker-buried-country-the-story-of-aboriginal-country-music-reviewed-by-annette-hughes/ |archive-date=6 May 2018 |date=2 April 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2015/may/1430402400/anwen-crawford/buried-country-clinton-walker|title='Buried Country' by Clinton Walker|date=1 May 2015|website=The Monthly}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/album-reviews-undiscovered-heart-of-our-own-country/news-story/a2be06f2419aa3edf2e256e545c8bfd9|title=Undiscovered heart of our own country|date=13 November 2015|website=NewsComAu}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/no-longer-a-buried-country-the-blossoming-of-indigenous-music-20151207-glgxp3.html|title=No longer a buried country: the blossoming of Indigenous music|first=Tim|last=Byron|date=8 December 2015|website=The Sydney Morning Herald}} A live stageshow adaptation premiered in 2016 and toured for several years in the festival circuit.{{cite web | url=https://beat.com.au/buried-country/ | title=Buried Country | date=12 October 2016 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/melbourne-festival-2016-buried-country-concert-unearths-canon-of-aboriginal-music-20161011-grzjm9.html | title=Melbourne Festival 2016: Buried Country concert unearths canon of Aboriginal music | date=11 October 2016 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/review-buried-country-the-beginning-of-nature-and-baker-boy-darwin-festival-256261-2360438/ | title=Review: Buried Country, the Beginning of Nature & Baker Boy, Darwin Festival | date=11 August 2018 }} In 2018, Australian singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon, in conjunction with Mississippi Records in the US, produced a vinyl iteration of the Buried Country compilation that included new tracks.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/05/even-on-the-streets-of-melbourne-country-music-was-the-soundtrack-to-my-soul | title=Even on the streets of Melbourne, country music was the soundtrack to my soul | Jack Latimore | website=TheGuardian.com | date=5 December 2018 }}

In 2005, Walker’s seventh book, Golden Miles: Sex, Speed and the Australian Muscle Car, was published, expanding on an article he published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2002.{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/highway-72-revisited-20021116-gdftpr.html | title=Highway '72 revisited | date=16 November 2002 }}{{better source needed|reason=cited source is merely a link to the 2002 article, but does not mention the book at all|date=December 2024}} The Sydney Morning Herald praised the book's design and called Walker "our best chronicler of Australian grassroots culture".{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/a-high-revving-romp-through-time-20050904-gdm065.html | title=A high-revving romp through time | date=4 September 2005 }} It was re-released in 2009 in an expanded and updated edition by Wakefield Press.{{cite web | url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/golden-miles/ | title=Golden Miles }}{{better source needed|reason=secondary source needed rather than link to product page|date=December 2024}}

In 2012, Walker published History is Made at Night about the Australian live music circuit.{{cite web|author=Currency House Plus |url=http://vimeo.com/47135682 |title=Clinton Walker 'HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT' on Vimeo |publisher=Vimeo.com |date=7 August 2012}}{{cite web | url=https://iankeithrogers.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/history-is-made-at-night-the-importance-of-live-venues/#more-348 | title=History is Made at Night: The Importance of Live Venues | date=30 October 2012 }} In 2013 he published his ninth book, The Wizard of Oz, about the ill-starred Australian speed ace from the 1920s, Norman 'Wizard' Smith,{{cite web | url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/wizard-of-oz/ | title=Wizard of Oz }}{{better source needed|reason=secondary source needed rather than link to product page|date=December 2024}} as well as co-producing the CD Silver Roads, an anthology of Australian country-rock from the 1970s.{{cite web | url=https://www.noise11.com/news/warner-music-compiles-rare-australian-recordings-for-boogie-silver-roads-20130706 | title=Warner Music Compiles Rare Australian Recordings for Boogie Silver Roads | website=noise11.com | date=6 July 2013 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.bear-family.com/various-silver-roads-australian-country-rock-singer-songwriters-of-the-70-s-2-lp-180g-vinyl.html | title=Various LP: Silver Roads - Australian Country Rock & Singer Songwriters of the 70's (2-LP, 180g Vinyl) }}{{better source needed|reason=secondary source needed rather than link to product page|date=December 2024}}

Deadly Woman Blues, a graphic history of black women in Australian music, was released in 2018 by a division of academic publisher UNSW Press. Each of 99 biographical entries was accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration by Walker. The book immediately garnered a few glowing reviews.{{Cite web |last=Capp |first=Fiona |date=2018-02-16 |title=Deadly Woman Blues review: Clinton Walker on Australia's black women singers |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/deadly-woman-blues-review-clinton-walker-on-australias-black-women-singers-20180216-h0w704.html |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Mem: 35841056 |title=Deadly Woman Blues (Clinton Walker, NewSouth) {{!}} Books+Publishing |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/01/25/101032/deadly-woman-blues-clinton-walker-newsouth/ |access-date=2020-02-12 |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |title=DWB CM feat |url=http://www.clintonwalker.com.au/dwb-cm-feat.html |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=Clinton Walker |language=en}} There was an angry backlash from four of the artists who expressed their displeasure at being included without being spoken to, and citing factual inaccuracies.{{Cite web |date=6 March 2018 |title=Book on black women musicians dumped after explosive claims author didn't interview artists |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/03/06/book-black-women-musicians-dumped-after-explosive-claims-author-didnt-interview |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=NITV |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Michael Lallo, Karl |date=2018-03-06 |title=Deadly Woman Blues book to be pulped following backlash over 'distressing' errors |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/deadly-woman-blues-book-to-be-pulped-following-backlash-over-distressing-errors-20180306-h0x2gf.html |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Corn |first1=Aaron |last2=Langton |first2=Professor Marcia |title=What writers and publishers must learn from the Deadly Woman Blues fiasco |url=http://theconversation.com/what-writers-and-publishers-must-learn-from-the-deadly-woman-blues-fiasco-92512 |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=The Conversation |date=7 March 2018 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Book-burnings of our times. Clinton Walker's Deadly Woman Blues gets pulped ... – The Northern Myth |url=https://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2018/03/08/book-burnings-times-clinton-walkers-deadly-woman-blues-gets-pulped/ |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=blogs.crikey.com.au}} This led to social media outrage in which Walker was criticized as a racist, misogynist, colonialist privileged white male. The book was withdrawn from sale, with the publisher promising to pulp any unsold copies and never to reprint it.{{Cite web |title=Deadly Woman Blues |url=http://www.newsouthpublishing.com/articles/deadly-woman-blues/ |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=Clinton Walker |date=6 March 2018 |language=en}} Walker admitted to mistakes and apologised, saying "I didn't try to obscure what I was doing, I didn't take all the appropriate steps. I've been involved in underclass music forever, and in some ways, this is no different, but in other ways, it is very different".

In 2021, Walker released two books, including a new edition of Stranded and a new work, Suburban Songbook.{{Cite web|url=https://rhythms.com.au/clinton-walkers-stranded-gets-reboot/|title = Clinton Walker's Stranded Gets Reboot|date = 3 February 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/stranded-australian-independent-music-1976-1992-revised-expanded-edition-clinton-walker/|title = Stranded: Australian Independent Music 1976-1992, Revised & Expanded Edition. Clinton Walker | Loud Mouth - the Music Trust Ezine|date = 29 August 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.i94bar.com/books/voice-of-the-exiles|title=Voice of the exiles}} Suburban Songbook: Writing Hits in post-war/pre-Countdown Australia is a critical history of the early evolution of rock/pop songwriting in Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/12/the-naked-city-the-hits-and-misses-of-oz-music/|title=The Naked City: The Hits and Misses of Oz Music|date=30 November 2021}}.

Walker's twelfth book The Soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever was published in 2023 as part of Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series of short books on albums.https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/soundtrack-from-saturday-night-fever-9798765109687/{{cite web | url=https://333sound.com/33-1-3-author-qa-a-closer-look-at-the-soundtrack-from-saturday-night-fever/ | title=33 1/3 Author Q&A: Clinton Walker on the Soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever | date=4 October 2024 }}

• Inner City Sound (Wild & Woolley, 1981; revised and expanded edition, Verse Chorus Press, 2005)
• The Next Thing (Kangaroo Press, 1984){{cite web|author=rortydog's channel |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyc4gaYvrw |title=Clinton Walker interview |publisher=YouTube |date=26 February 2008}}
• Highway to Hell: The Life and Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott (Pan Macmillan, 1994; revised edition, Verse Chorus Press, 2001)
• Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977-1991 (Pan Macmillan, 1996/Visible Spectrum, 2021)
• Football Life (PanMacmillan, 1998)
• Buried Country (Pluto Press, 2000; revised and expanded edition Verse Chorus Press, 2015)
• Golden Miles (Lothian, 2005; expanded edition, Wakefield Press, 2009){{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Clinton |title=Golden miles : sex, speed and the Australian muscle car |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3409192/Cite |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=National Library of Australia}}
• History is Made at Night (Currency House, 2012)
• Wizard of Oz (Wakefield Press, 2013)
• Deadly Woman Blues (New South, 2018/WITHDRAWN){{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Michael Lallo, Karl |date=2018-03-06 |title=Deadly Woman Blues book to be pulped following backlash over 'distressing' errors |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/deadly-woman-blues-book-to-be-pulped-following-backlash-over-distressing-errors-20180306-h0x2gf.html |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}
• Suburban Songbook (Goldentone, 2021){{Cite web |title=GOLDENTONE |url=https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/goldentone.html |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Clinton Walker |language=en}}
• Soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever (Bloomsbury/33.3)

• Buried Country (Larrikin-Festival, 2000/Warner Music, 2015)
• Long Way to the Top (ABC, 2001)
• Studio 22 (ABC, 2002){{Citation |title=Various - Highlights From The ABC TV Series Studio 22 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2549073-Various-Highlights-From-The-ABC-TV-Series-Studio-22 |language=en |access-date=2022-12-21}}
• Inner City Soundtrack (Laughing Outlaw, 2005){{Cite web |title=Inner City Soundtrack |url=https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/inner-city-soundtrack.html |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Clinton Walker |language=en}}
• Silver Roads (Warner Music, 2013)

• Notes from Home (ABC, 1987)
• Sing it in the Music (ABC, 1989){{Cite web |title=Clinton Walker |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0907639/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
• Studio 22 (ABC series, also as co-presenter, 1999–2003){{Cite web |title=Studio 22 |url=https://shadowcabi.net/other-media/tv/studio-22.html |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Shadow Cabinet}}
• Buried Country (Film Australia, 2000)
• Long Way to the Top (ABC, 2001)
• Love is in the Air (ABC, 2003){{Cite web |title=Love is in the air |url=https://multisearch.mq.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=61MACQUARIE_INST:MQ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Macquarie Library |language=en}}
• Rare Grooves (ABC series, also as presenter, 2003){{Cite journal |last1=Hogan |first1=Trevor |last2=Beilharz |first2=Peter |date=April 2012 |title=Writing Oz pop: An insider's account of Australian popular culture making and historiography: An interview with Clinton J Walker |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0725513612447233 |journal=Thesis Eleven |language=en |volume=109 |issue=1 |pages=89–114 |doi=10.1177/0725513612447233 |s2cid=144141621 |issn=0725-5136|url-access=subscription }}

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|https://www.clintonwalker.com.au}}
• {{official website|https://www.buriedcountry.com.au |Buried Country}}
• [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/clinton-walker Clinton Walker] on ''Rock's Back Pages

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Category:1957 births

Category:Living people

Category:Australian journalists

Category:Australian music journalists