Angry Anderson is certainly living up to his name, airing his grievances over the much talked-about entertainment that fans watching the recent State Of Origin I got to enjoy. If you slept in, someone thought it would be a good idea to get Shannon Noll in a sing-off with a Packed to the Rafters star.

The performance of Aussie sporting anthem ‘We Can’t Be Beaten’ has garnered quite a bit of negative attention, but as Tone Deaf’s Dylan McCarthy put it, “what the performance lacked in singing ability, stage presence, and all-round general talent, it more than made up for it in Aussie fuckin’ spirit”.

Spirit or not, Anderson, the frontman of Rose Tattoo, who originally performed ‘We Can’t Be Beaten’, is “pissed off” with the NRL for not getting him to sing his own bloody song. As far as the bald-headed one is concerned, they treated him as though he were a dead man.

“I wasn’t pissed off at Shannon for singing my song, I’m pissed off they didn’t pick me to sing my song,” Anderson told the AAP, via MSN. However, he didn’t think much of Nollsy and actor Ben Mingay’s singing either: “I thought it was pretty shabby, pretty ordinary.”

However, Angry’s primary gripe is the implication in getting someone else to sing the song he co-wrote. “It’s kind of like saying get Guy Sebastian to sing ‘Khe Sanh’, get fucked, you’re kidding,” he told the AAP.

“They want to use ‘Can’t Be Beaten’, I’m thrilled. Then they get someone else to sing it. Hello! It’s almost like they’re saying he hasn’t had a hit for a few years he must be dead.” Naw, now we just feel sorry for him. We know you’re alive, Angry! We love you!

As far as the frontman’s concerned, it’s all part of the NRL’s generally dismissive attitude towards Aussie artists. According to Angry, his publishers have repeatedly put forward songs like ‘We Can’t Be Beaten’ and ‘Bound For Glory’ for use in promoting the sport, but have been rejected in favour of Tina Turner and Bon Jovi.

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“We should be using Australians at Australian events,” he said. Back in 2011, the NRL used Bon Jovi’s ‘This Is Our House’ as part of that season’s promotional campaign. “Rugby League is is a man’s man’s game. Bon Jovi are limp wrested.”

While we think Angry certainly makes a good point when it comes to using homegrown artists to promote homegrown events, it’s probably definitely worth noting that Angry doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to performing at sporting events.

Back in 1991, Angry made Australian sports and music history with his performance of ‘Bound For Glory’ at that year’s AFL Grand Final. The singer came out sitting atop a light blue pseudo-Batmobile and proceeded to blur the line between noise and sound for the next three and a half minutes.

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