Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Rotten Records


Mark has sent me a little piece of Brisbane music history,
I heard about this shop but I didn't start trekking into
the city to by import records until it had closed and
the legendary Rocking Horse Records had opened its
doors in Adelaide st.
Rocking Horse is still going strong some 30 something
years later and is as important to the local music scene
here as 4ZzZ.
I have many fond memories of discovery and the like
with record shops like these that have almost gone the
way of the dinosaur. My favourite would be going into
rocking horse to hopefully get an import copy of Broken
English in between vice squad raids and being successful!
Thanks Mark

Here is something you may want to include in your blog,
a plastic record sleeve from Rotten records.
This shop operated for short while in the late 70s at
145 elizabeth st in the city.
It was run by Steve kunde who you see these days
running vintage stalls at places like Greaze fest.
I remember going there after school and it had all the
latest punk singles from UK,US etc.
It was very cutting edge at the time
for sleepy old Brisbane.

Regards,
mark

15 comments:

chuck said...

Kunde is still cutting edge for this sleepy ol town!! I never got to see this shop so a lil scrap of history like this sleeve is golden to me! He also ran a shop in ann st valley circa 90-91??- cant for the life of me remember what it was called.. I'll email him later to show him this.. thanx mark ;)

Anonymous said...

yes I am remmeber that shop very well. Hey did you go to the marky ramone gig in the valley about 6-7 years ago. kunde got kicked out for heckling marky about his wig /hairiece?

chuck said...

LMFAO @ anon... i didnt see that but would have been all over the floor laffing if i did.. poor marky- all he ever wanted was to be a rokstar.

John said...

I remember Rotten Record. Anyone remember Kent(?)Records? They had a shop down Elizabeth St also. I think I remember Skinnies being in the old arcade in Ann Street. Was there also a place in the Elizabeth Arcade at one time? Next to the Red and Black bookshop?

bob nebe said...

Hey John, great to hear from you,
I remember Skinnies and Kent records and a 2nd hand shop in Elizabeth Arcade and the record market just up from Queens st mall its albert st I think

Anonymous said...

there was also another fantastic import record shop in the late 70s that had the latest punk stuff "discreet", i think the guy from it went onto skinnys

John said...

I am always reading the worlds best blog Bob :-) Just a bit of a lurker lately. Also remember buying tix for the Stranglers gigs from a shop downstairs at some long gone arcade in I think Queen street. My memory is not what it was.

By the way I am off for 2 weeks in France and 2 weeks in the UK in a months time. Not sure I will see any music but one never knows ones luck.

bob nebe said...

Did you go to that infamous Stranglers gig John? Im well jealous!
Enjoy France and the Uk, if you going to Marseille let me know, its well worth visiting and Im sure Annie would show you a music experience you would never forget

John said...

I went to a lot of gigs that make me wonder if I knew what I was witnessing back then. I snuck into the Talking Heads gig under-age but I have little memory of it due to mind inducing substances. What a silly young man I was. Oh well we all were I guess LOL. I went to both Stranglers gigs. I was a huge Stranglers fan. First night had punk around town V2 having JJ smash his bass over his head. That did not stop V2 pogoing even with blood streaming from his head. The lad was always odd even by the standards of the time. The 2nd night had a support act that was the loudest band I ever heard. Too loud in fact. No memory as to their name. Maybe someone can tell me the support bands and I may recall. The Stranglers played for 20 minutes, smashed their gear up and walked off. 4ZZZ bloke I was I talking to at the time was not happy as they promoted. The next day the Curious Snail was in a lather as this was what Punk was all about in their paternalistic view. Oh dear the outrage was palpable amongst our journos. Nothings changed has it. They still make the average Joe feel bad about their life. As to the recent Stranglers and Hugh Cornwell tours I gave them a miss. It just seemed not the right thing to do.

Would love to make it to the south of France but we are a few days in Paris, Tours, St Malo and Bayeux before heading over to the UK. Maybe one other day.

Anonymous said...

I have some rather vivid memeories of the old Rotten Records, t'was where I met Mr. K for the first time. The shop was closed by the cops after less than a year, but not for the obvious reasons (eg. drugs/booze/anti social behaviour).
Steve got busted by undercover pigs who nailed him for selling 'offensive material' That being copies of the 'Derek and Clive' albums with all the swearing on them. The shop he had in the Valley was called 'Kleptomania'Shared many a cold one with the old pisshead down there over the years. Still see me old mate at least once a week and he will soon be opening a store in Nundah.

chuck said...

that fuggen dirty lil fouled mouth k**t dudley moore just wrecks everything he touches...

Anonymous said...

Bob , there is quite a lot on discreet, rotten and rockinhorse here. Apparently DISCREET was the first shop to stock (& sell) the Saints's "I'm Stranded" 45. http://web.revolutionrock.com.au/oral-hist/index.php?id=20

Donat said...

Steve Kunde's opening up a new store in Nundah in the next few weeks called Nundah City.

chuck said...

i repeat again.. bruce anthon is a freakin genuis.. thanks for the heads up on that great article anon.. been thru the rev rock site many times and not seen this article b4

Anonymous said...

Steve Kunde passed away suddenly last week. His poor missus and friends are furiously clearing out Nundah city records as another little piece of the Brisbane alternate scene from the passes into the annals of history not so much with a bang as a whimper. Vale Kunde