“All Torn Down” by The Living End

"All Torn Down" was the third single the Living End took from their self-titled album, out in December 1998, and it's a punk rock broadside aimed at the wrecking crews carving up Melbourne. Chris Cheney wrote words and music as the city raced through projects like CityLink and the Docklands, paving over parks and heritage sites without a second thought, and the sleeve drove the point home with a Melway map of the CBD and Southbank printed in redscale.

Under the anger sits something wistful: Cheney was still at home in Wheeler's Hill, watching handsome old buildings disappear for good and wishing things would stay as they were, a fan of old-fashioned cars, music and clothes. Lindsay Gravina produced it with the band and engineered, and Jerry Finn mixed. It spent 18 weeks on the ARIA singles chart, peaking at 12.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.