The carnival is over and summer nights will never be the same again

When an entertainment icon leaves us these days, it’s more than just the passing of someone who played a part in our upbringing.

It’s also about recognition of how times have changed and how the expansion of entertainment offerings when it comes to music, television and movies means that the era of long-lasting icons is likely gone.

The likelihood that any superstar of today’s entertainment era will match the longevity and generation-crossing success of those who came before them is very small, such is the changing nature of how we consume and engage with content these days.

There will never be another Judith Durham.

And certainly not another Olivia Newton-John.

The fact that we lost two absolute icons of music in the space of a few days is shattering, but what a concert they must be putting on up there in musical heaven.

Like many of my vintage, my first time seeing Olivia live was in the late 1990s when she partnered with John Farnham and Anthony Warlow for The Main Event tour.

I was a pimply-faced teenager on that November night in 1998 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, a venue that holds so many memories that Qudos Bank Arena will never match no matter who graces its stage.

Olivia was brilliant in a concert that was staged ‘in the round’ (a big deal and a rarity back then), belting out hits like ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’ and ‘I Honestly Love You’.

But Olivia had been part of my musical upbringing for much longer. As a Cliff Richard-loving household, Olivia’s partnership with the British pop icon meant her music had often been heard on our lounge room stereo, or seen gracing old VHS tapes on TV.

And then of course there was ‘Grease’.

It may have come out in 1978 but it was a staple of movie nights in the 1990s and the soundtrack was a brilliant way to end the night at most high school discos.

Olivia’s passing this week certainly saw memories flood back, and the first person I thought of was my late Dad, who no doubt would be in the front row for that musical heaven concert right now.

He would spend hours trawling through the old record shops in the city, desperately searching for a rare album or a bargain, with me in tow.

His record and CD collection, in which Olivia features significantly, would have been difficult to rival.

I have little doubt her music would have been on repeat this week if he was still with us, and indeed for me it was blaring on the drive to and from work on Tuesday.

And of course the Olivia hits that blasted out replaced a few days of Seekers music that had been gracing my car speakers.

What an icon Judith Durham was, and what a groundbreaking outfit The Seekers turned out to be.

As the first Australian pop group to achieve major success overseas, I’m not sure they were ever quite “cool” but they certainly attracted unprecedented success as they continued to climb the charts through music’s golden era of the 1960s.

Judith had a joyous life full of success but it also featured plenty of heartbreak, which included losing her husband to the dreaded Motor Neurone Disease back in 1994, and a terrible car accident a few years prior.

The Seekers sold over 50 million records worldwide, and when you read stats like that it’s important to note the word ‘records’.

These days listening to your favourite music or a new song is as simple as a quick Spotify or Apple Music search and you’re away.

Monthly subscription fees mean there’s no second thoughts given to listening to a song or an album.

Back in the day you had to decide if you wanted to invest some of your hard earned into a record or CD.

It makes the sales figures you read about even more extraordinary.

And so as we remember two Australian music icons, we reflect on a time in music and entertainment that will never be replicated.

Times change, and tastes do too.

But there is just something about the music that emerged out of the 1960s and 1970s that will simply never be replicated, no matter how many years or decades pass.

The outpouring of grief for Olivia Newton-John and Judith Durham this week proves that.

It also proves that their legacies have crossed generations and ingrained themselves in the Australian story.

Thanks for the music Olivia and Judith. You were game-changers.