40 years on from its release, Shane Howard has recorded a new version of the Goanna hit ‘Solid Rock’ to celebrate its ruby anniversary. The new recording sees Howard joined by Indigenous artists Emma Donovan and William Barton, and has been released under the updated title, ‘Solid Rock, Sacred Ground 2022’.
First released in September 1982 as the lead single from Goanna’s debut album, Spirit Of Place, ‘Solid Rock’ was written about the history of Indigenous Australia and the genocide that began upon the European invasion of the country. Despite reservations about its ability to impact radio due to content seen by some as controversial, the track was a chart success and peaked at #2 on the Kent Music Report that year, since becoming an FM staple.
Goanna – ‘Solid Rock, Sacred Ground 2022’
“I realised that this country that I grew up in, that I thought was my country, it wasn’t,” Howard reflected in 2002. “I had to reassess my whole relationship with the land and the landscape, and understand that we had come from somewhere else, and we had disempowered a whole race of people when we arrived.”
Having celebrated 40 years since the release of Spirit Of Place earlier this year, Goanna has now unveiled this new version of the track. Alongside welcoming the vocals of Donovan and the didgeridoo playing of Barton onto the track, it also features a string arrangement played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s been great to bookend the 40-year Goanna story with this exciting version of ‘Solid Rock, Sacred Ground’,” Howard said, as per The Music. “We’ve come a long way as a nation in the past 40 years, but there is more to be done to achieve meaningful justice for First Nations Peoples.”
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