The late Michael Gudinski revolutionised the Australian music industry through a five-decade-long wild ride , chronicled in this new documentary. It’s a star-studded story of Australian ingenuity and music history, writes Amelia Berry.
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
What do Bruce Springsteen and Peter Andre have in common? What about Kylie Minogue and 1970s glam/novelty band Skyhooks? OK, what about Ed Sheeran, Archie Roach, Dave Grohl, Sting, The Finn Brothers, and the bloke from Hunters & Collectors?
Aside from the obvious (great hair), the answer is, of course, Michael Gudinski—the Melburnian music mogul-stroke-maverick responsible for Mushroom Records, Frontier Touring, Liberation Records, and a truly shocking amount of Australian popular music since the 1970s.
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is a new documentary, charting the entrepreneur’s life from childhood, through to his untimely death in 2021 at age 68. Helmed by legendary Australian music video director Paul Goldman (The Birthday Party’s Nick The Stripper, Kylie’s Better The Devil You Know), Ego is a stylishly put together little doco that paints Gudinski as a cheeky but loveable force of nature.
The level of saturation Gudinski’s Mushroom Group achieved in Australian media is truly staggering, so Ego limits its focus to a handful of milestone moments. Leaving aside the company’s film productions entirely (they did Wolf Creek!), the early years get some great in-depth coverage with plenty of time for the 1973 Sunbury Festival triple LP, and early breakthroughs from Skyhooks and Split Enz.
Michael Gudinski & Kylie Minogue in 1994 (photo credit Tony Mott)
Later, there’s Jimmy Barnes and the tumultuous move from punk rock to pop in the ’80s with the signing of Kylie Minogue. Special mention is made of Gudinski’s support of Indigenous musicians, and his determination to staff Mushroom with powerful women. After the sale of Mushroom Records to Rupert Murdoch in 1999, the documentary shifts towards his tour management with glowing reviews of his hospitality and some pretty wide-eyed accounts of his always-on, relentless party-time enthusiasm.
For viewers outside of Australia, some of the touch-points may seem oddly chosen. There’s very little mention of early punk signings like Nick Cave’s Boys Next Door, almost nothing on the cult proggy bands that made up the label pre-Skyhooks, and absolutely no Jason Donovan (he has some fans still!). Meanwhile, Paul Kelly has his own whole section—an artist whose success has never really managed to cross the Tasman to New Zealand.
While Ego is, at its heart, a story of Australian ingenuity—a lone determined figure who turned a culture obsessed with “Imported cars. Imported clothes. Imported music” into one that celebrated homegrown talent—it’s also about a man with an overwhelming love for people and music, who seemed to forge countless enduring friendships across the industry.
Ed Sheeran & Michael Gudinski in 2015 (photo credit Brian Purnell)
The interviews with Gudinski’s family, colleagues, and the above-mentioned pop superstars are genuinely touching. If Sting, Kylie, and Ed Sheeran are to be believed, Michael Gudinski was a shining light amidst an industry of shady characters. A man with a big ego, sure, but an even bigger heart. Someone who would stick with an artist he believed in through thick and thin.
It’s heartwarming, absolutely. But there are times that it feels a little too good to be true. Gudinski’s sister talks about Michael’s difficult relationship with his parents, there are a couple of passing mentions of his extravagant drug use, and Bruce Springsteen’s manager (of all people) talks about how sometimes Gudinski’s cheerful facade would collapse, revealing something miserable, dark—but these moments are never more than moody punctuation between anecdotes about Frank Sinatra and Peter Andre’s abs.
If you wanted that—a no holds barred portrait of the most powerful man in Australian music—then you’re out of luck. But if you’re looking for a gripping yarn about one bloke’s struggle to take Australian (and some New Zealand) music out of the pub and onto the international stage, then Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story should suit you perfectly.
