Editing Cold Chisel (section)

===1983: Break-up===
Success outside Australasia continued to elude Cold Chisel and friction occurred between the members. According to McFarlane, "[the] failed attempts to break into the American market represented a major blow... [their] earthy, high-energy rock was overlooked."<ref name="McFarlane"/> In early 1983 they toured Germany but the shows went so badly that in the middle of the tour Walker up-ended his keyboard and stormed off stage during one show. After returning to Australia, Prestwich was fired and replaced by [[Ray Arnott]], formerly of the 1970s [[progressive rock]]ers [[Spectrum (band)|Spectrum]] and [[country rock]]ers [[the Dingoes]].<ref name="McFarlane"/><ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="wild colonial"/>

After this, Barnes requested a large advance from management. Now married with a young child, reckless spending had left him almost broke. His request was refused as there was a standing arrangement that any advance to one band member had to be paid to all the others. After a meeting on 17 August during which Barnes quit the band it was decided that the group would split up.<ref name="Creswell Fabinyi"/> A farewell concert series, The Last Stand, was planned and a final studio album, ''[[Twentieth Century (Cold Chisel album)|Twentieth Century]]'' (February 1984), was recorded.<ref name="McFarlane"/><ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Creswell Fabinyi"/> Prestwich returned for that tour, which began in October.<ref name="Creswell Fabinyi"/> Before the last four scheduled shows in Sydney, Barnes lost his voice and those dates were postponed to mid-December.<ref name="Creswell Fabinyi"/><ref name="Perry"/>
[[File:IMG 6448 - Flickr - jeaneeem.jpg|thumb|right|Barnes, 2011]]
The band's final performances were at the Sydney Entertainment Centre from 12 to 15 December 1983<ref name="Perry"/> – ten&nbsp;years since their first live appearance as Cold Chisel in Adelaide – and the group then disbanded.<ref name="McFarlane"/><ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Nimmervoll"/> The Sydney shows formed the basis of a concert film, ''[[The Last Stand (1984 film)|The Last Stand]]'' (July 1984), which became the biggest-selling cinema-released concert documentary by an Australian band to that time. Other recordings from the tour were used on a live album, ''[[The Barking Spiders Live: 1983]]'' (1984); the title is a reference to the pseudonym the group occasionally used when playing warm-up shows before tours. Some were also used as [[B-side]]s for a three-CD singles package, ''Three Big XXX Hits'', issued ahead of the release of their 1994 compilation album, ''[[Teenage Love (album)|Teenage Love]]''.

During breaks in the tour, ''Twentieth Century'' was recorded. It was a fragmentary process, spread across various studios and sessions as the individual members often refused to work together – both Arnott (on ten tracks) and Prestwich (on three tracks) are recorded as drummers. The album reached No.&nbsp;1 and provided the singles "[[Saturday Night (Cold Chisel song)|Saturday Night]]" (March 1984) and "[[Flame Trees]]" (August), both of which remain radio staples. "Flame Trees", co-written by Prestwich and Walker, took its title from the BBC series ''[[The Flame Trees of Thika]]'', although it was lyrically inspired by Walker's hometown of [[Grafton, New South Wales|Grafton]]. Barnes later recorded an acoustic version for his 1993 solo album, ''[[Flesh and Wood]]'', and it was also covered by [[Sarah Blasko]] in 2006.