Darren Hayes threatens Cory Bernardi with legal action over ‘AC 100’ playlist

Cory Bernardi and the above gang of rock and roll rebels have compiled the laughable AC100 playlist, an Australia Day alternative to the Hottest 100 after triple j dared to listen to growing concern that hosting a celebration on a government-funded radio station, on a day that many Australian citizens deem a day of mourning and tragedy, isn’t a good idea, and thus moved their countdown.

But what tunes will you and your neighbours Glenn and Wendy (and you sister-in-law Cathy) listen to at your forced Australian Day BBQ lunch now they’ve moved the countdown? Exactly. That’s where Bernardi Partystarter comes in to save the day with a blend of culturally-inappropriate songs, and the setlist from every RSL cover band from the past thirty years.

Among the selections in this Australian Conservatives playlist are ‘My Island Home’ (written about Elcho Island), ‘Dajana’ by Yothu Yindi, ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’, and ‘Wiyathul’ by Gurrumul.

It also features ‘To The Moon And Back’ by Savage Garden, which caused Darren Hayes to strike out at Bernardi, his parties, and their policies.

“Hi @CoryBernadi and @AuConservatives. I do not want to be associated with you, your party or your views”, he wrote on Twitter. “Remove my music from this stunt or expect contact from my publisher @SonyATV”

Bernardi responded with “Get over yourself @darrenhayes. Music is for everyone.”

While my bet would be that a fair number of the artists on this playlist would want no link to Bernardi and his painfully backward, damaging policies, it is just a Spotify playlist, music is for everyone, and it would appear Hayes has no legal recourse.

Still.

He has rallied a number of other artists to stand up, including Kylie Minogue, The Veronicas, Jimmy Barnes and Bernard Fanning, so it will interesting to see how this pans out, politically and PR-wise.

Life hack: don’t let the Australian Conservatives pick your music choice on any day. Read the Twitter war below.

https://twitter.com/AuConservatives/status/953477157828706305

https://twitter.com/darrenhayes/status/953542327326224385

https://twitter.com/darrenhayes/status/953512337540919296

https://twitter.com/darrenhayes/status/953593077716860928?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.