With 20 ARIA No.1 albums, Jimmy Barnes is flat on his back but flying high
It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, sang Chrissy Amphlett in Divinyls’ classic 1985 single – a sensation to which Jimmy Barnes can relate in his very bones.
This week more than any other, Chrissy Amphlett’s iconic words have been swimming around inside the head of another great Australian singer as he dealt with a whiplash of emotions, career milestones and bodily breakdown.
It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, sang Amphlett in Divinyls’ classic 1985 single – a sensation to which Jimmy Barnes can relate, having recently required the use of a cane to get around.
On Friday, Barnes was thrilled to learn that his latest album, Blue Christmas, had reached No.1 on the ARIA chart – a familiar achievement for the Scottish-born singer-songwriter who has now hit the top spot 15 times as a solo artist.
That cheerful news followed the rocker’s unhappy declaration on Tuesday that he reluctantly had to step back from live performance to undergo much-needed hip and back surgery on December 13.
“I’ve been in extreme pain for the last few months, and severe pain for about the last two years,” he told The Australian on Friday.
“My lower back and my hip are literally bone-on-bone, so I’m in constant nerve pain at the moment, which is really excruciating.”
After one last concert with his band headlining the Adelaide 500 motor racing series on Saturday night, Barnes won’t perform again until August at the earliest, having rescheduled or cancelled a series of shows including a Byron Bay Bluesfest appearance.
With a chronic inability to sit still for long, the singer has previously undergone heart and back surgeries, but has handicapped his own recovery by not following doctors’ orders.
“Too often I run off, and end up doing more damage than good,” said Barnes, 66. “I’m a slow learner, but I’m not going to do it this time. I’m going to make sure I take all the good advice I get.”
His announcement on Tuesday was met with a flood of well wishes from fans and colleagues alike, including phone calls from fellow singers Peter Garrett, Russell Morris and Ross Wilson.
“Ross the Boss rang me and told me he had hip surgery, and he’s the hippest guy I know; nobody moves their hips more singing than Ross,” said Barnes with a laugh. “He’s a much better, snappier dancer now than he was before he started. He said, ‘There’s hope for you yet, Jim’ – and he’s seen me dance, so that’s saying something.”
No artist in Australian music history has reached ARIA’s pole position more than Barnes.
Blue Christmas – a warm collection of familiar festive songs including Jingle Bell Rock, Silent Night and Run Rudolph Run – became his 15th solo chart-topper, having also hit No.1 in June with Soul Deep 30.
His overall tally has risen to 20 ARIA No.1s, when paired with the five he earned while fronting Adelaide rock band Cold Chisel.
The updated chart on Friday signalled a generational changing of the guard, too, for Barnes became the first artist to unseat US pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose 10th album Midnights had been unmoved from No.1 since October.
“I don’t take any pride in knocking her off,” he said. “If I knocked her off after week one, I’d say something different. But she’s held that spot for five weeks; I think she can hold her head pretty high.”
As for Saturday’s final show before his surgery, perhaps Barnes will grit his teeth and think of the second line of the chorus to Pleasure and Pain: “You’ve done it once, you could do it again.”
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