The Best (Or Worst) Songs To Come Out Of ‘Home And Away’
We'll never be over 'All Seats Taken'.
Recently, we strolled down Ramsay Street to unearth the best songs (and artists) that were spawned from Neighbours.
It’s a fairly minted bunch, including tracks from Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, and Holly Valance. Naturally, we now turn our attention to Neighbours arch rival Home And Away, which is — ahem — a little lighter on in terms of music careers.
There are a few bright spots from 32 years of the Palm Beach (sorry, Summer Bay) show, but some of them are songs that probably won’t darken your stereo ever again.
Bec Hewitt (née Cartwright) — ‘All Seats Taken’
There might be a lot to say about Bec Hewitt’s brief dip into the music industry, but the most complimentary thing you can say is that it happened.
‘All Seats Taken’, released in 2002 as the lead single of her self-titled debut album, is a wonderfully naff piece of Australian pop, inspired in its dedication to cheese. Funnily enough, the name wasn’t a description of any of her live shows.
Of course, ‘All Seats Taken’ pales in comparison to the masterclass of poetry that was her poem to husband Lleyton Hewitt — which included such lines as, “I admire you for so many reasons, I mean look at what happened at the Four Seasons!”
Tammin Sursok — ‘Pointless Relationship’
Tammin Sursok’s music career was similarly limp, beginning and pretty much ending with the one album, 2005’s Whatever Will Be.
‘Pointless Relationship’, a perfect slice of early-2000s thumping pop which Sursok labelled an empowerment anthem, was fairly successful upon release, hitting #5 on the ARIA singles charts. Followup singles ‘Whatever Will Be’ and ‘It’s A Beautiful Thing’ unfortunately failed to make a ripple.
Sursok has been bouncing around TV screens as part of Pretty Little Liars and Hannah Montana in the years since, and has recently made a move back to music, covering A Great Big World’s ‘Say Something’.
Guy Pearce — ‘Storm’
Guy Pearce has the illustrious achievement of appearing in both Neighbours (he played Mike Young in the ’80s) and Home And Away (he played David Croft in 1991).
His acting career has been stellar, but so is his discography. 2018’s The Nomad and 2014’s Broken Bones were both well-received by critics, and he’s played regular gigs over the years.
‘Storm’ takes more pointers from Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen than it does Bec Hewitt, and thank god for that.
Dannii Minogue — ‘Put The Needle On It’
While Kylie went to Neighbours, Dannii went to Home And Away. The younger Minogue hasn’t had a career as gilded as her sister’s — a very high bar, admittedly — but she has a slew of bangers in her back catalogue, including ‘All I Wanna Do’ and ‘I Begin To Wonder’.
‘Put The Needle On It’ is perfect, a delectable piece of club pop that should be mandatory to include in DJ sets.
Clare Bowen — ‘Let It Rain’
You might recognise Clare Bowen from her other major TV role, as Scarlett O’Connor in Nashville (also known as The Homage To Connie Britton’s Hair, or It’s Rayna Jaymes Y’All).
Bowen played Nina Bailey on Home And Away back in 2010 before fleeing to to the States. She’s released one full length album, Clare Bowen, in 2018, which hit #65 on the US country charts — she’s also, of course, been featured on a stack of tracks through her role in Nashville.
‘Let It Rain’, a single from her self-titled, is gently stunning. She might have gone to Nashville, but she’ll always be home in Summer Bay.