Ladies and gentleman, we have a very serious revelation for you all: we now know where the oh-so Australian word “doof” originated.
For the (somehow) uneducated, the word doof is a term used for pretty much any kind of dance event, originally noted as “bush doof” which is the name for guerrilla DIY dance gigs that are held in (you guessed it) the bush, and as inthemix have pointed out, doof’s true etymology is here.
According to an upcoming Australian documentary entitled Do It Ourselves Culture, the word doof was first said back in 1993 by a furious German lady by the name of Helga as a means of describing the music of local dance act, Non Bossy Posse, who were performing close by.
So the story goes, Helga was pretty pissed off at her neighbours who were hosting the backyard gig, so much so that she paid them a visit, angered and puzzled by the racket being made by the band, she named it “doof”.
Sydney rave veteran, Kol Dimond, retells the hilarious story in the doco clip below, “The birth of doof was at 600 King St on a balmy evening” explaining that the infamous Helga questioned the music that was being played at the Newtown residence, “what is this ‘doof’ ‘doof’ ‘doof’? This is not music.”
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Non Bossy Posse member John Jacobs recently spoke to the ABC of this moment, stating that the band picked up term and went on to use it for just about anything dance related, from describing the sound of their drum machine to a name for their secret outdoor techno parties which went on to be the immortalised term, “bush doof”.
So there you have it, the most common and authentic Aussie way to describe dance music was actually coined by a disgruntled German lady, which in a whack way of looking at it, is somewhat fitting considering the Germans are pioneers in the world of DIY dance culture.
Check out the large clip taken from the forthcoming coming Do It Ourselves Culture that features a very necessary dramatisation of the iconic event, plus an interesting discussion on both punk and dance music’s DIY culture. Enjoy:
