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)
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)
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!
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