This is yet another group who briefly featured on some of the lower placings of the Australian singles chart with their songs in the 80s, but it’s still worth taking a look back to those days once again. Manikins were from Perth, and it turns out that there were actually two eras of this group. The first was when they formed in the mid-70s, and in their earliest days they were known as Cheap Nasties.
They had something of a punk sound, but this all happened without a hit, although they carried on until the early-80s. Then, after a gap of about five years, they were revived in the mid-80s, this time with a different sound, being more synth, and they had also gained a new lead singer called Christine. In November 1986 “What Are You On” was released, which reached a rather lowly no. 84.
Despite that disappointingly low place, this has to be my favourite of theirs though. There was a rather remarkable performance of this on Countdown, where the singer wore a dress that was as along as the length of the long stairs that she was at the top of. And there was also a rather corny ending when the host replied to the song’s title by saying “you’re on Countdown, that’s what!”.
The video was rather good too, where the singer’s head appears on a theatre stage while some rather unusual things happen around her. Now where have I seen that before? The lyrics also featured a reference to “boiled potato“, and something else that I didn’t understand, but this was all enjoyably quirky, and I was rather pleased to discover this.
Their next hit was in December 1987 when “Cruel World” reached no. 52, to become their highest-peaking single in Australia, and also their last. In 1988 the single “Scent” and an album were released, but I don’t think that either of these made the chart. I’m also fairly sure that none of their singles were released in the UK, which was a shame, because with a little promotion, they could’ve been as big as Wa Wa Nee. By the late-80s this incarnation of Manakins had come to an end too.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 