6 June 1999
The voice isn’t Baz Luhrmann’s but that of an Australian actor called Lee Perry. The words aren’t Baz Luhrmann’s either; it’s the text of a 1997 column written by Chicago Tribune journalist Mary Schmich. So, what exactly does Baz Luhrmann do here? Maybe ‘Baz Luhrmann Presents’ on the single sleeve (above) is in the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: an in-vogue film director lending their name, but none of their creative input, to some turn-a-buck collateral merch.
Next question: why was this such a global hit? Perhaps its lyrics, a mix of early-Internet self-help and bittersweet opinion columnist observation, caught a 1999 mood of fin-de-siècle Weltschmerz, if you’ll forgive my mixing languages. Otherwise, apart from the occasional one-word imprecations (“Floss.”) there’s isn’t much memorable about Schmich-Perry-Luhrmann’s spiel. I doubt anyone is here for its generic music, the sort of thing we now use as audio beds for podcasts and workplace YouTube videos. Could it be that ‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’ is the first-ever podcast? No, nothing as exciting or interesting as that. It’s a novelty record, and we know how quickly they outstay their welcome.
‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’ was one of only two tracks by Australian acts to go to number one in Ireland during the entire ’90s. This would have been hard to envisage back in 1989, when Kylie and Jason bestrode the top of our charts like platypi. As it happens, that other ’90s number one in Ireland was Jason in 1991 with ‘Any Dream Will Do’. But where was Kylie?
