| Talking to a Stranger | |
| Cover: | H&C - Talking To A Stranger.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Hunters & Collectors |
| Album: | Hunters & Collectors |
| A-Side: | Talking to a Stranger (Michael's Version) |
| B-Side: | Talking to a Stranger (Our Version) |
| Released: | July 1982 |
| Recorded: | AAV |
| Genre: | Rock |
| Length: | 4:39 (Michael's Version) |
| Label: | Mushroom |
| Producer: | Hunters & Collectors |
| Prev Title: | World of Stone |
| Prev Year: | 1982 |
| Next Title: | Lumps of Lead |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
Talking to a Stranger is the second single by Australian pub rock band Hunters & Collectors, released in 1982.[1] It was the only single to be released from Hunters & Collectors debut album. The song reached number 59 on the Australian chart.[2] "Talking to a Stranger", was released ahead of the album on 12 July, and was accompanied by a music video directed by film maker Richard Lowenstein,[3] but it did not reach the Top 50 on the related singles chart.[4]
Australian pub rockers Hunters & Collectors released "Talking to a Stranger" on 12 July 1982 ahead of their debut studio album,[5] Hunters & Collectors which appeared in July.[6] The track was co-written by band members John Archer on bass guitar, Doug Falconer on drums, Ray Tosti-Guerra on guitar, vocals, Robert Miles on live sound, Mark Seymour on lead vocals and guitar, Greg Perano on percussion, and Geoff Crosby on keyboards. In 2013 a cover version of "Talking to a Stranger" by Birds of Tokyo appeared on the tribute album, Crucible – The Songs of Hunters & Collectors.[7]
At the 1982 Countdown Music Awards, the song was nominated for Best Debut Single.[8] [9]
Named by Double J as one of the best debut singles of all time, they said, "following in the footsteps of Germany's Krautrock pioneers. With huge horns and metallic percussion, Hunters & Collectors showed few signs of emerging beyond Melbourne's underground. With their debut single soon after, it appeared nothing would change. It was a seven-and-a-half-minute epic with jagged guitars, a thundering rhythm, a barking vocal, and an opening line nicked from Charles Baudelaire."[10]