''Desperate'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

and second overall album by Australian rock band

Divinyls Divinyls () were an Australian rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1980. The band primarily consisted of vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett garnered widespread attention for performing on stage in a school un ...

, released in 1983 by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

. The album contains the singles "

Science Fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

" and " Siren (Never Let You Go)" and " Casual Encounter". The international version included the single " Boys in Town" from '' Monkey Grip''.

Background

Divinyls formed in 1980, founded by

Mark McEntee Mark McEntee ( ; born 16 July 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the Australian rock band, Divinyls. Early life McEntee was born in Perth, Western Australia, and went to Christ Church Grammar Sc ...

and fronted by lead singer

Chrissy Amphlett Christine Joy Amphlett (; 25 October 1959 – 21 April 2013) was an Australian singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the frontwoman of the rock band Divinyls. She was notable for her brash, overtly sexual persona and subversive hu ...

. After scoring several gigs, they were discovered by Australian director Ken Cameron. This led to Divinyls providing the entire soundtrack for his film '' Monkey Grip'' (1982). Amphlett was also given a supporting role in the film, playing a temperamental rock singer loosely based on herself, fronting a band played by other Divinyls members. In the film, the band performed their debut single " Boys in Town", as well as other songs "Only Lonely", "Elsie", "Only You", "Girlfriends" and "Gonna Get You", the latter being the first appearance of them in the film. The soundtrack '' Music from Monkey Grip'' was acknowledged as a Divinyls album, and when released in 1982, it made the top twenty-five of the Australian Albums Chart. "Boys in Town" was a success in Australia where it made the top ten, peaking at number eight in 1981. The next year, "Science Fiction" was released and was also a success, peaking at number thirteen. When ''Desperate'' was released, it climbed the albums chart and eventually peaked at number five. In addition, it proved to be among the top twenty most successful albums of 1983, ranking in at number seventeen according to the

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...

end of year chart. The track listing of ''Desperate'' differed between the Australian release and the international version. Because Divinyls had already released the ''Monkey Grip'' soundtrack, which contained the songs performed in the film, in particular the single "Boys in Town", they were not included on the original Australian release of ''Desperate''. This meant that "Science Fiction" was released as the official lead single. On the international release of ''Desperate'', some of the songs from the ''Monkey Grip'' soundtrack were included as official album tracks, such as "Boys in Town", "Only Lonely", "Only You" and "Elsie". The majority of the songs on ''Desperate'' were written by Amphlett and/or McEntee except " Siren (Never Let You Go)", which was written by band member Bjarne Ohlin, and "I'll Make You Happy", which was a cover of the original 1966 song by

The Easybeats The Easybeats were an Australian Rock music, rock band which formed in Sydney in late 1964. They are best known for their 1966 hit single "Friday on My Mind", which is regarded as the first Australian rock song to achieve international success ...

. Caroline Records announced that a remastered CD version of the international version of ''Desperate'' album was released on 5 February 2008. In 2020, Rubellan Remasters released a remastered CD version of ''Desperate'' that compiled all the songs from both versions. "Ring Me Up" was used in the teen comedy film ''

Sixteen Candles ''Sixteen Candles'' is a 1984 American coming-of-age teen comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of f ...

'' (1984).

Track listings

Australian release

International release

Charts

Weekly Charts

End of year charts

Certifications

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– lead and acoustic guitars, backing vocals * Bjarne Ohlin – keyboards, backing vocals, guitars * Rick Grossman – bass * Jeremy Paul – bass * Richard Harvey – drums ;Technical *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan A ...

– mixer * Jeff Hendrickson – engineer * Malcolm Pollack – engineer *

Mark Opitz Mark Opitz (born 1952) is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. He started his career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1971. He has produced AC/DC, the Angels, Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Divinyls and INXS. He h ...

– producer

References

{{Authority control 1982 debut albums Divinyls albums Chrysalis Records albums Albums produced by Mark Opitz