Style
Mental As Anything's music is characterised by poppy, accessible and well-crafted melodies and lyrics, and their work showcases an ironic, satirical and self-deprecating sense of humour. They are a typically "Australian" rock group, with their music and their satirical, good-time image deeply rooted in the milieu of Australian suburbia, despite the fact that two key members (the O'Doherty brothers) were in fact immigrants from New Zealand. The group's art school background and visual design skills also made them pioneers of the music video form in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and their videos rank as some of the funniest and most imaginative produced in Australia at that time.
Mental As Anything is arguably comparable with contemporaneous British acts Madness, Squeeze, XTC and Nick Lowe in that their classic pop meets new wave music is typically delivered with a quirky, ironic sense of humour and a decidedly local flavour.
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