In 1995, the American A&R (artist & repertoire) men came out in droves to watch three bands – You Am I, Magic Dirt and a bunch of young upstarts who were tipped for big things.

Their name was silverchair. Whilst You Am I carved it up on the main stage in the early afternoon heat, silverchair’s shows on the side stages were watched by thousands of fans crammed into an area fit for hundreds, playing to kids who were the same age – and older, and younger – as the band themselves.

In addition to this trio of Australian noiseniks, there were also the newly popular American pop-punkers, the Offspring, whose appearance at the Big Day Out would help them become one of the most popular bands in Australia. Hole, fronted by the recently widowed Courtney Love – whose husband Kurt Cobain’s band, Nirvana, had helped launch the Big Day Out in the first place.

Interestingly, all three of the big Australian acts on the tour – You Am I, Magic Dirt, silverchair – ended up signing to an American record label, but unfortunately silverchair were the only ones to achieve that much necessary ‘break’, conquering American in 1995 with their debut album frogstomp.

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