In just a few months we’ve been presented with two remarkable music documentaries. ‘John Farnham: Finding The Voice’ premiered in May and ‘Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story’ has screened for the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Both movies tell the story of success. Both Farnham and Gudinski climbed to the top of their field but the contrast in the personalities could not have been more different.
John Farnham’s lacked confidence and as actually stated in ‘Finding The Voice’ by his manager Glenn Wheatley, probably suffered depression. Gudinski on the other hand was the complete opposite, as the title of his documentary alludes. Gudinski was driven by Ego, born to lead and a total risk taker.
‘Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story’ is a film by Paul Goldman who directed the ‘Better The Devil You Know’ video by Kylie Minogue and Elvis Costello’s ‘Veronica’ video as well as the movie about Frank Sinatra in Australia ‘The Night We Called It A Day’, starring Denis Hopper and Melanie Griffith.
‘Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story’ is a surprisingly honest account of the life of Michael Gudinski, giving a first-hand account of the other side of Michael the industry rarely saw, the family man. Sue Gudinski, Michael’s wife and Matt and Kate, his son and daughter, speak openly and honestly about Michael and the genuine human side of Michael is revealed. The contrast with that same man being discussed by Springsteen manager Jon Landau, Aussie promoter Michael Chugg, and manager John Watson contrasts Michael’s family and business lives. In business, Michael Gudinski was ruthless but as a family man, he was a loving, caring husband, father and grandparent.
As the co-founder of Mushroom Records and cofounder of Frontier Touring, Michael Gudinski built global business empires. The movie isn’t shy of talking about his heartbreak of eventually selling off Mushroom Records to Rupert Murdoch’s Festival Records who eventually sold the combined business to Warner Music. However, the reality was Gudinski was better at the music business than Murdoch and his people ever were and as the Murdoch music business value collapsed, the new Gudinski music empire was rebuilt with Warren Costello as Liberation Records and is bigger than before.
Murdoch wasn’t smart enough to do his due diligence on Gudinski, who held onto a goldmine in Mushroom Publishing, and the local and international touring businesses Premier Artists and Frontier Touring. Today, Frontier Touring is associated with American touring juggernaut AEG.
Michael Gudinski’s strength was his passion for the music, the artists and the audience. The business was driven by the art and that made him unique. That respect comes through with the respect we see for some of the world’s biggest stars in this movie. Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Jimmy Barnes, Billy Joel, Shirley Manson, Kylie Minogue and Ed Sheeran are just some of the people who speak fondly about the man as a person first and foremost. Many saw him as an enigma. He was a man of few words but made every word count.
There are a number of levels to this movie. It is definitely not a film just for the music industry. The music fan will appreciate and learn of a timeline that takes us from the Sunbury Music Festival on the 70s though to the current Australian rock stars. This is a movie about Music, Business and Family and how the three can co-exist.
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is screening in cinemas across Australia from August 30 and was part of MIFF.
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