CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 3, 1995, Girl Power before the Spice Girls existed

1995 was the year of seminal works and debuts from bands that we have come to obsess over. Oasis released '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?', the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had 'One Hot Minute', and every girl had a copy of 'Jagged Little Pill' by Alanis Morrisette. Myself included; that being the first CD that was bought for me. Australian favourites Regurgitator and You Am I were first getting recognition and local fame, but I wasn't quite into them yet (but oh boy would I be into them). One thing I was getting into was Björk, and I bought her 'Post' record on cassette tape, the first album I ever bought with my own money. A lot of first for me in 1995! IN FACT, BJÖRK IS FIRST ON THIS LIST! HA!

Björk - "Army Of Me" (#83)

When this song came out, I could NOT get it out of my head. I spent a few days humming to it constantly until I tried to seek out who she was and how I could get her music. I had seen "It's Oh So Quiet" on Rage and soon linked the two together and soon I was fascinated by this insane backflipping pixie-ish lady. I never stopped being fascinated really. At the time I thought the lyrics were "And if you complain why I'm small, you'll meet an army of me" not "If you complain once more"... and since I was going through a "I'm the shortest person in my class and for that no one takes me seriously and it sucks" phase, it suited me very well. 

Supergrass - "Alright" (#79)

I thought this song was really old when I heard it the year it came out, and couldn't understand why it was being played everywhere. It became the soundtrack in the back of my head for fun holiday days and weekends of activities and adventure (not that many really, I was a pretty shy kid).  

N-Trance - "Stayin' Alive" (#64)

I was super surprised to see this song by "lets recycle a famous song and turn it into a clubbing piece of shit remix" collective N-Trance, make the countdown. It must have been PRETTY BIG considering it was PRETTY SHIT. I did like it though, because I was a 90's kid of the age of 9. Now it reminds me of the scene in 'Romy and Michele's Highschool Reunion' where they do a synchronized dance at a club, which is awkward and deadpan and hilarious. So the song has been good for one (1) thing. 

U2 - Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me (#57)

Let me be frank, I am not a U2 fan, and will never be one. But BATMAN, guys. The last couple of Batman movies ('..Forever', and '..And Robin') before Christopher Nolan got his hands on the franchise, were complete rubbish. But goddamn did they have excellent soundtracks. It's almost as though Joel Schumacher had to find a way to make the films worth anything, so threw a bunch of money at some decent artists to make some decent songs. This is one of them, with a pretty absorbing videoclip. God I loved watching those movie soundtrack video clips, especially if I hadn't seen the movie yet. I had seen the whole movie by the end of the clip though.


Skunk Anansie - "I Can Dream" (#41)

No one remembers this band I bet, and I have no idea what happened to them, but I really liked this song. It's very rock and screamy and loud and rough, but I think mostly I was enamoured by the lead singer. I loved how she was bald (omg she was bald!) but still beautiful and had such a powerful voice and presence, and to me that was pretty out there. 1995 may have been my total girlpower year.

Alanis Morrisette - "You Oughta Know" (#39)

SPEAKING OF. HERE SHE IS. THE QUEEN OF THE 90's FEMINISTS, ALANIS. I can't really pick a favourite song from this era because I played her album on repeat for months, but this song was the first to grab my attention. Alanis was so mad and crazy and sang with so much snipe and passion, and she had long hair and thrashed it around a bit. What more could you want, really? Unfortunately the best thing she did after this album was play God in Kevin Smith's 'Dogma'.

Pulp - "Common People" (#38)

I remember really liking "Disco 2000" more than this song, which was released in November that year (so perhaps too late in the game to get enough followers to vote). I grew to love this song pretty soon after it made the CD and it's still a classic. You may have all forgotten about the William Shatner with Ben Folds (feat Joe Jackson) cover of this song, but let me refresh your memory. I know you hate me right now but I'm not sorry. 

Swoop - "Apple Eyes" (#32)

This song was ridiculously catchy and bright, and just like most catchy bright songs of the time, was a one hit wonder of sorts. The film clip was half the appeal... I love how they discovered Green Screen in the worst possible way, so now it is so 90's it's gone past there to the 2000's and back to the 80's. The "I think I love you" bit made me cringe back then and it is making me cringe now. 

Jill Sobule - "I Kissed A Girl" (#18)

FUCK YOU KATY PERRY, JILL KISSED A GIRL BEFORE YOU DID, AND SHE LIKED IT BETTER THAN YOU DID. You thought you were so out there and taboo making a song about an occasional lapse into lesbianism (whether permanent or not) when it is OLD NEWS. It's not taboo anymore Katy and Jill didn't need fluro blue or pink hair and crazy outfits to pull it off. Where are you now Jill, to punch this girl in the throat? THIS IS GIRLPOWER, DAMMIT.

Mindless Drug Hoover - "The Reefer Song" (#12)

One of those novelty songs that was forgotten about in a year, and was truly pretty terrible. I had to get a friend who knew better to fill me in on what 'reefer' was, and once I knew, it was so deliciously naughty to sing along to. I had it soon memorized even though I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on in the song. For someone so impressionable I never developed much of an interest in actually trying reefer.

T.I.S.M. (This Is Serious Mum) - "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" (#10)

Baklava (or wine cask bladder)-clad TISM may have SEEMED like a novelty band, but they were actually very good musicians with quite a bit of songwriting wit. They can even transfer their hits on to traditional greek instruments. Their real identities were never to be revealed, with rumours that they were members of the Wiggles or Machine Gun Fellatio, but eventually were (proving all rumours incorrect). This song was one heck of an earworm and even though I only heard it a bunch of times on the radio/Rage, I heard it a million times more in my head.

Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue - "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (#8)

Possibly one of the worst Nick Cave songs ever, with some of the most compromising and cringey lyrics: "...BUT MY NAME WAS ELIIIISA DAY". Ok, Elisa. But Kylie got some serious indie cred from this (which carried over from her earlier indie-er offerings), and it was pretty mega. The song was a pretty basic 'murder ballad' (guess which Nick Cave album this is on??) and enchanted me for many months... even the terrible filmclip had me watching intently. Ok so there are some much less feminist works in this countdown... this song definitely balances out the angry lady rock songs. 

Custard - "Apartment" (#7)

For starters, this song is freaking brilliant. For seconds, I loved it to bits. For thirds, it is the first song I played on my first very own CD player. In my room. Imagine it. It was the awesomest thing ever at the time. Never mind I also purchased Hit Machine 14 to go with that CD player, let's just forget that ever happened. Lastly, I still love this song and have a great time listening to it. CLASSIC CUSTARD. NEVER FORGET. 

Presidents of the United States - "Kitty" (#4)

I was originally a cat person before we got a dog, and then I became a fence sitter. So while our family had a lovely grey persian cat named Geno, this was a song I enjoyed. (I only just realised now, as he was a very old cat, that at the time I thought cats got grey like humans did. ANYWAY) It's definitely not the Presidents' best work, and it's as novelty as they come, but I got lots of fun out of singing this song (except I never said the f's.) Goddammit I was such a boring child. 

Oasis - "Wonderwall" (#1)

And now for the song that blitzed the entire world and made Beatle-esque music totally cool and in. My parents bought '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' not long after it came out and I got heavily, heavily into it. It is an excellent album, no one can really deny that, and had a lot of staying power. I remember in that year after the countdown, mum enrolled me into a drama group nearby, and for one of our activities we had to get in a line and sing some of our favourite song. I started in a tone way too low for me "TODAY IS GUNNA BE THE DAY THAT I'M GUNNA THROW IT BACK TO YEWWW". It was horrible, and the group leader was a little taken aback. I'm still blushing from it. Anyway, this song was destined to be number one, and the fact I loved it made it all the sweeter. 

For the full list see HERE! HAVE FUN LISTENING TO THE COUNTDOWN TODAY GUYS! I'VE ACTUALLY NOT GOT SUPER UPSET YET (Except for maybe Lana Del Ray and Of Monsters and Men getting in, you really have to be kidding me.... shhh steph) BUT THERE IS STILL TIME! SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR 1996! 

CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 2, 1994 ('cause I'm a dimwit)

This post carries on from original post here!

OK. I am stupid and have no sense of time. When googling the Triple J Hottest 100 lists I naturally worked back a year, keeping in mind that all hottest 100 countdowns are announced in the new year. My last blog post was about 1993, not 1992. I used that M.I.A. reference all for nothing. I am sorry for being a total dickhead. 
Also, if you're viewing on your mobile, please click on the links to watch the videos, as for some reason the embeds didn't come up on phone screens last time. Never been a better time to switch to Tumblr!

199FOUR was the year that Cranberries nailed the top spot, The Offspring's "Ixnay on the Hombre" was everyone's most played album, and Silverchair turned up fresh off the highschool bus and became instant heartthrobs. 

The countdown list suggests that Triple J listeners WERE better back then, OR the music was better, because people voted BEERCAN (#29) above LOSER (#45) by Beck which I am assuming was a song much less flogged. HUGE songs such as "Mm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies or "Stay" by Lisa Loeb, were only a measly 69 and 100 respectively, and the most mainstream tune that made it in was probably Warren G's "Regulate" featuring Nate Dogg (which is kinda rad really). My memory is sharper of this time and music was becoming much more a part of my world, but I will stick with 15 songs for you. 

Blur - "Girls And Boys (Remix)" (coming in at #96... should have been higher!)

I remember pairing this song at the time with East 17's awful cover of "West End Girls", because they both talked about boys and girls, had similar-ish filmclips, and were good looking. Except no one remembers that song and everyone remembers Blur's song, which you can still hear played at Ric's on a Saturday night. BLURPLEASECOMETOAUSTRALIARIGHTNOWOKTHANKSBYE.

Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes - "I'm Gonna Release Your Soul" (#79)

One my parent's favourites at the time (or so my memory tells me), Dave Graney hit pretty big with this song. It was damn catchy and stuck in your head immediately, with a bit of sex appeal that was most definitely lost on 8 year old me. I think it mostly annoyed me, but I can naturally appreciate and enjoy it in my adult life. 

Frente - "Bizarre Love Triangle" (#56)

Frente! was one of the first bands I ever got into as a very youngster, and they were very appropriate for a 7 year old to get into as "Accidentally Kelly Street" sounded like a song from Play School. This song however was a very popular, sweet cover of the New Order tune, that I thought at the time was an excellent original (remember how old I was guys). I can remember my dad remarking on the video "that girl's got something up her schnozz", and nothing more... not even bothering to tell me that this wasn't an original song. SHAME ON YOU FRANCO.


Ed Kuepper - "La Di Doh" (#55)

For some reason I really liked this song as a kid, and I don't really know why- maybe it was just my parents going nuts over it and thus modelling was the culprit. SHAME ON YOU AGAIN FRANCO. It is a really good song though, a thousand times better live rather than this kind of abrupt recording. 

Christine Anu - "Monkey and the Turtle" (#43)

Remember Christine!? She was all 'My Island Home' and 'Why don't you come join ma parteh' and before those songs got big she did this song, which was a million times better than those two. So groovy and joyous and easy to sing along. Probably danced to this in my room one time too many. 

The Prodigy - "Voodoo People" (#37)

I definitely danced to this in my room ten times too many. 

Tori Amos - "Cornflake Girl" (#35)

What was she singing about?! What was she saying half the time!? Peel out the walch wear? Who knew! All I knew is whenever I had cornflakes for breakfast, I too was a cornflake girl, and this song was in some way partly responsible for my desire to play piano some day. 

Kylie Minogue - "Confide In Me" (#30)

Remember when Kylie Minogue had some good songs? This was even before her 'Impossible Princess' Indie-queen era, during which  she also had some good songs. This was a pretty great song, and if anyone disputes that well then I don't care. It also opened up my vocabulary a bit. 

Underground Lovers - "Losin' It" (#19)

This song kills me every time. IT IS SO GOOD. Back then I was a bit saddened by it, as it sounded so mournful and hopeless. But since then its catch and hook and danceability weirdly uplifts me despite the lonesome subject matter. Underground Lovers were totally underrated. They toured recently but DID I GO? NO BECAUSE I SUCK. 

Nick Cave - "Do You Love Me" (#11)

Nick Cave's two big songs at this time, this one and "Red Right Hand", took over the airwaves and took myself to a dark, scary place with no light at the end of the tunnel. Somehow I was okay with this, (again, my parents probably had a lot to do with that... FRANCO!) and would sing along to this song in the living room. I obviously didn't listen too deeply to the lyrics. Great job Nick!

Severed Heads - "Dead Eyes Opened (remix)" (#10)

"I'm not going into details. It's too horrible." There are many many versions of this song on youtube, as it has been remixed a hundred times, and was first released in 1984. The song's sample of a British man reading an excerpt from what I read was a book called "Death on the Crumbles" made it a huge hit- it was fascinating and ghastly. Along with the addictive electronic beat, the song is almost timeless.

Max Sharam - "Coma" (#8)

I remember this filmclip EERILY well. It's not a great clip, but the song was probably my favourite ever at the time. The sense of insanity was so present, even if I was too young understand the concept of stalking and heartbreak. In a way I related to that sense of coming apart and being in a coma-esque funk, as I was a pretty anxious young girl at the time. Max Sharam was a one wonder at the time, cleaning up at the ARIAs then disappearing, but wikipedia tells me she is crowdfunding a new record. 

Veruca Salt - "Seether" (#6)

I have a distinct memory of my mum and dad watching this clip and endlessly debating what the "Seether" in the song was. "It's a cat!" "NO it's a human!" "Oh maybe it's a dog?" "No it's definitely a cat!" One of those classic 90's girl rock bands, the rawness of this song hooked me, and left me to wonder for hours how you'd try to cram a child/person back into a person's 'mound' or 'mouth', if you want to believe LyricsFreak. 

Silverchair - "Tomorrow" (#5)

It is simply quite amazing how far Silverchair came, growing up out of their Pearl Jam/Nirvana emulating beginnings and into an artistic, critically lauded band. I can't say I was a fan of them all the way through (and felt sometimes the 'artiness' was a bit gratuitous), but listen to something like Dissociatives (in which frontman Daniel Johns collaborated with Paul Mac of Itch-E and Scratch-E, another 1994 fave), and its hard to believe they're the same band. This was a perfect rock song that gave them huge exposure, whether they wanted it or not.

The Cranberries - "Zombie" (#1)

"IN YUR HEEEEAAAD!! ZAHHHHMBEHHH-YEH" Having NO concept of the Protestant VS Catholic conflict in Ireland, I of course just thought this song was about zombies and enjoyed singing along to what I thought was a hilarious tune. It was damn hard to escape this tune and it's despairing tones, and it was no surprise when it became number one. 

THAT'S ALL! I believe the countdown for Triple J's Hottest 100 songs of the last 20 years is next weekend. Do you think I can complete this blog project by then? NO WAY! I will forever be harping on about last years news. As long as someone reads it, I don't care... I SHALL CARRY ON. See you soon for Part 3, 1995!