CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 4, 1996: The birth of my love for You Am I, Beck, and Ben Folds Five

Apologies, avid readers of this humble blog. I had a pretty good run, didn't I? I was spitting them out quick as a flash, and then all that momentum tumbled into a giant void of emptiness. To be truthful, I actually had one of those periods of life where work/life balance became work/work balance, and I literally had no time to do any recreational activities, such as silly blogging. After a holiday (right now) resulting in me feeling even more anxious instead of more relaxed, needless to say I need a huge career change. Anyway, here I am, who knows when I'll be here again. 

SO! WHAT did you think of the final Hottest 100 of the Last 20 Years countdown, announced about 70 years ago? Did you vomit in disgust or cheer in elation at the songs that made it and didn't make it? Oasis being no. 1 was probably deserved in my opinion, as it was a song that still is hard to escape. On social media there are a lot of opinions, like of course 1.where are the girls, and 2. why was one of the only hip hop songs to make it in (Nosebleed Section by Hilltop Hoods at number 4) by white Australians (never mind being average), and 3. where were these songs. Also it appears a lot of people can't count and are shitty that Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' (released in 1991) didn't top the list. 
No one will ever be completely happy with a music list, otherwise why would there be polls based on opinion!? 

This discussion is completely obsolete of course because all watercooler discussions (if you have colleagues who follow such polls) have already been done and dusted...

Nevertheless, I shall press on with my project, and here is 1996's most memorable for you. This was a pretty good year and I had to make some serious cutbacks, such as Björk's Hyperballad... I don't want to Björk you all out too much, audience. 

Snout- Cromagnon Man (coming in at #89)

Snout! They were such a good band, guys. They had a terrible name which probably held them back and reserved them only for soundtracks to The Secret Life of Us etc. But this song was cracking as and had me rocking the car on the way to Brisbane Arts Theatre rehearsals. Plus they had a stack of great singles that you'd probably remember if you heard them now, I bet. What happened to Snout, you ask? Not a lot musically, apart from frontman Ross McLennan who had his own solo act in 2009. I hope he's still doing stuff. 

Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (#82)

A catchy addictive song by a bunch of girls with excellent voices. This song made the rounds a lot as it has become firmly embedded in my head since it got airplay. Probably fair to say Luscious Jackson was some of a one hit wonder in Australia with this, but I know they had a few more good songs up their sleeve. 

You Am I - Soldiers (#80) + Good Mornin' (#84)

Too hard to pick one! When each of these songs came out (I can't remember which one was first), I fell in complete love with You Am I and decided they were my new favourite band. I remember watching the ARIA's that year and cursing whoever won over You Am I, who had released 'Hourly Daily' at the time. It ended up winnning Album of the Year AND Best Independent Release, so there was a lot of cheering. They toured Brisbane in June playing that album, plus 'Hi Fi Way' in their entirety, which was abso-fucking-lutely fantastic. 

Frente! - What's Come Over Me (#66)

After their searing success with 'Marvin the Album', Frente! released their second offering, 'Shape', which saw them shape their music into less poppy and slightly deeper territory (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!). I thought they had even dropped their exclamation mark, but I can't confirm this anywhere. 'Shape' wasn't that well received, and they soon disappeared off the radar. But there was some pretty excellent stuff there (or at least, I would assume, it's near impossible to find this album). But I loved this song and also this song, both quite dramatically tragic in tone. 

 Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight Tonight (#55)

Holy shitballs I loved this song. 'Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' was the only album of the Smashing Pumpkins that anyone in my family have ever owned, and it often ended up in my room at the time, although I skipped most of the grungey hard songs. This filmclip, an ode to "La Voyage Danse La Lune", by Georges Melies, is pretty incredible, and the whole thing solidifies the pumpkins as a truly great band. But Billy had to go ahead and do his own stuff and kind of spoil their legacy a bit.

Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are (#42)

I have a pretty un-fun ironic story of this song. When I was in grade 5, I was made to go on our school camp to Samford, during which we travelled to the Planetarium, which was the best part of the shitty camp (during which my class teacher told us 9 and 10 year old girls that we were a bunch of bitches... anyway). This song was playing on the radio, when a car almost turned into our bus, the driver of which slammed on the breaks and sent us all flying. A couple of kids had their teeth knocked out, a lot of us were bruised, and all of us shaken, so much that I couldn't listen to the song again for weeks. I managed to break on through it though, and it's such a fun little ditty so I'm glad I got over it. 

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity (#37)

Ah, Jamiroquai stole all our 90's hearts and promised us to never let us down, but all 90's acts with only one schtick do, especially those who can't take off oversized hats. Ok Jamiroquai is the BAND not the GUY but all I can see in this Jonathon Glazer-directed filmclip is moving furniture, not other band members. The clip by the way is great, however just like Jamiroquai, gets a little boring after the concept gets old. Anyway, this is still a great song.  

Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Telephone Booth (With Money In My Hand) (#36)

This song had a great title to play hangman with. I have used it a few times, and every time it was revealed, it was a complete let down for the other player. I'm a bit of a hangman jerk. Anyway I still really love this one hit wonder and it gives me a fuzzy nostalgic feeling whenever I listen, which is happening right now. 

Beck - Devil's Haircut (#29)

This song came out, my mum loved it, she bought the album from Sunflower Records during a holiday to the Gold Coast, and so my love affair with Beck began. I honestly don't think my mum has ever listened to a Beck album all the way through more than once, because I kept stealing them and storing them in my cd player. I think Beck did a lot for my musical upbringing, including giving me my first enjoyable taste of hip hop. I'm sorry it was a white man who did it, but hey, I was growing up in Caboolture at the time, so cut me some slack. I think our electorate was even lead by a One Nation member at that time. 

Cake - The Distance (#27)

Cake's breakthrough hit was inevitable to get stuck in your head and still holds up today as an earworm of a tune. I remember dancing to this one in my room quite a bit, using actions to describe all the words (including crossing my chest for "hugging the turns"). Cake went on to become a pretty solid band, but are sort of lost in that late 90's glow, never having really progressed from that era. Still, 'Fashion Nugget' is a pretty excellent album.

No Doubt - Just A Girl (#25)

There's room for a splash of girl power in 1996 too! When No Doubt came on to the scene and Gwen Stefani hadn't discovered a swag of Harajuku girls as an entourage just yet, they were pretty rock, and pretty awesome. I was also obsessed with "Spiderwebs" and "Sunday Morning" (which I bought the single of, never being able to afford an entire CD), and was pretty fascinated with Gwen's hair, makeup, abs and voice. Also her last name was kind of my first name! We must be related!

Regurgitator - I Sucked a Lot of Cock To Get Where I Am (#23)

I had NO IDEA what the 'Gurge boys were talking about in this song, I just really liked it. My dad knew very well though, and when the CD came out for this year, he made very sure I didn't read too much into it... 

Of course there was no film clip for this song, and it was so rude I don't think it was played as often as I remember hearing it... but somehow, even though I was one of the naiver girls of my bogan town, this song was my first happy memory of enjoying Regurgitator. It also helped that Quan Yeomans was a total cutie, turning into a pretty major celeb crush. 

Babylon Zoo- Spaceman (#16)

This is the worst song ever made in the entire world. But who didn't love this song at the time and this weird bronzed up guy's haircut? The sped up 'alien'-like intro and outro, the spacey sound effects and vocoder, and disgustingly ridiculous lyrics "I always wanted you to go into space, man... Intergalactic christ..." ERGH, oh my god it's so spookey spacey dark! It's SO BAD that it's SO GOOD. I wish I could have shown you the equally awful filmclip. 

Babybird - You're Gorgeous (#10)

This is another sexually themed song that went right by my head. I thought it was sweet and bright with a very addictive chorus that was easy to sing to younger sisters when they were cute. It is an odd song, with an equally odd filmclip, particularly the weird laughing bit in the bridge. Babybird had some other really excellent songs, such as "Bad Old Man" and "The F Word", but they never really got as popular as this song. Apparently the band reformed in 2009, and in 2012 played a music festival in Suffolk with our friends Wheatus! There you go.

Ben Folds Five - Underground (#3)

Oh boy. When this song got airplay and became a hit, for guitarless dudes Ben Folds and his 'five', that was it for me. As you probably already know, I became a massive, MASSIVE fan of this band, to the point of joining online forums and shit. Oh those were the days where I was a member of an online forum about Ben Folds... *cough*... 

As I was saying recently, now listening to Ben Folds Five in public gives me an awkward feeling... like it's now too personal to do so with other people, because their music was so personalized by me. It sounds weird, but now I feel like Ben is an older cousin or uncle who I used to spend a lot of time with while my parents were away. And whom has since become a bit senile and creepy.

The filmclip for this song is horrible, but if you want to watch it I've linked the title to it. Instead, watch the band do what they do best, their live performance. 

Well that's it for 1996, and I hope to bring you 1997 a lot sooner than later. It appears to be the big year in which the majority of the songs in the final countdown were from. We'll see if it really was all it's cracked up to be!

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: Triple J Hottest 100s, Episode 1, 1992.

A few weeks ago while I was flicking through the radio on my way to work (or rather, switching between Triple J and 4zzz, and River FM because sometimes they have some MAD CLASSICS), I heard an announcement that Triple J are doing a Hottest 100 countdown of the past 20 years, to mark the yearly poll's 20th birthday. 
Whether or not you feel inclined to vote for this, and will or won't be disappointed that the poll won't contain the ones you vote for; the event is going to take your mind back regardless. As they tend to do a Hottest 100 of All Time every couple of years or so, is there a point to this poll? Who knows. But I couldn't help but reminisce, as we all so love to do, being in our nature. 
When I first started to take notice of music other than Disney soundtracks and the Beatles, it would have been about 1993-1994 when I was about 7 or 8. My family had moved to the sticks (Caboolture), and we didn't have as many friends or things to do. We were living in a rental property while our house got built and my mum had initiated a new tradition of putting the radio on in the afternoons after school, unleashing all sorts of musical havoc on my ears. Mum and Dad also bought the Hottest 100 volume 2 CD that year which I basically took possession of and never gave back. It was all thanks to Triple J that I was the only 8 year old in my school who listened to Björk, knew who Nick Cave was, would grow to obsess over Regurgitator and Ben Folds Five and complained that all my best friend wanted to listen to was "My Heart Will Go On" on repeat. My parents have a lot to answer for, but my versatility in taste and eagerness to explore more new music, was thanks to one thing, Triple J. 
These days I've become jaded and insist that the music is not as good as it was back then, and the talk back so much more irritating (is it a sign of age or is it the truth?), but I can't shake the fond relationship I once had with Triple J. It got me through high school nights of cramming, and introduced me to the musical friends that would be there for me when human friends seemed scarce. So to pay tribute to this long running government funded radio station, I've decided to do a succession of posts detailing the highlights of the first ten years of Triple J Hottest 100's existence. After that, I'm retiring this tired neglected blog, in favour of a generic newfangled tumblr. 

So Triple J's first yearly poll (since doing 'All Time' polls from 1989 onwards) was in early 1993, listing off the best from 1992. I was 7, and not quite into the music that defined me just yet- but there were some gems that ended up in the countdown, that I distinctly remember dancing, humming, singing, or being transfixed by. My Dad did a pretty good job of shielding me from the number one song, Denis Leary's "Asshole", and I'm not including the songs I got into LATER in life.... So here's 15 that I remember getting into best.

The Shamen - "Ebeneezer Goode" (coming in at #99)

This song is pure 90's one-hit-wonder bliss in it's most infectious form. I was fascinated by it's weird "noorrrty noorrrty, verrrrrrrrrry norrrrrrrrrrrrtty" intro, random laughter, and sped up cockney lyrics, in that way that you don't really LIKE something but just can't help listening to it. It belongs firmly in the 90's but enjoys being rehashed by Triple J on the odd occasion. 


Inner Circle - "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" (#94)

I remember attempting to choreograph this song with my grade 2 school friends in the playground. We all loved it's silly a-lalala-long lyrics and made impressions of the lead singer's reggae voice, and all the while not realizing that were were singing about a guy wanting to basically rape a lady. It is also a terrible song.

Green Jelly - "Three Little Pigs" (#85)

I also have Rage to thank for my exposure of music of course, without which I would not have seen this fantastically novel video. This song was perfect for an innocent seven year old who had just had The True Story of the Three Little Pigs read to her by her teacher. Bastardized fairy tales were a bit of a thing for a while.
 

Culture Beat - Mr Vain (#68) 

I think I actually had to warm up to this song in jazz dance class, or at least watch another group do it. Ok, lets be real, the early nineties had some doozies, and this was one of them. But that was 90's dance for you and we've all progressed since then. In the meantime, I am doing some mad Night at the Roxbury-esque head pops right now. 

Utah Saints - "Something Good" (#66)

This song is bloody amazing, so much so that they remixed and re-released it in 2008. Not really necessary, but at least it reminded people that the song existed and was ah, something very good (lulz) for its time. I have a memory of doing a dance in the garden to this song. 

Faith No More - "Easy" (#62)

My first exposure to transvestism was thanks to this video clip. Of course I just thought it was silly and funny, and there was nothing that a young girl should worry about, so I'm glad for my naivety. This song is played to death now, but it was always quite a solid one.

Ween - "Push Th' Lil Daisies" (#40)

My mum hated this song, and I couldn't really figure out why. It was catchy and the singer had a cute little boy voice and the film clip was weird... I had no idea what he was singing about so I assumed it was something rude and that's why mum didn't like it. Which it's not... right??? R.I.P. Ween, I miss you.

Salt-N-Pepa - "Shoop" (#35)

This song was on all the bloody time. I probably asked "What does shoop mean" enough to drive my parents nuts. I thought the middle girl's hair was pretty cool. That's all my thoughts on this song. 


Ace of Base - "All That She Wants" (#29)

I remember singing this song with Dad a little later on when mum was pregnant with my little sister. That all my mum wanted was another bab-eh was debatable... just kidding, love you Maz! Anyway I completely adored this song, along with "The Sign". I wanted to dress like those swedish girls and light candles and brood.

4 Non Blondes - "What's Up" (#24)

I utterly HATED this song when it came out, and it remains as one of my least favourite songs of all time. SO annoying. What was she trying to achieve with that fucking hat and goggles, seriously? Do you have to be so badly 90's, lady? Can you please have a better voice? Also please get out of my head whenever I think of you?! Sheeeeesh. 


The Cruel Sea- "Black Stick" (#21)

My parents got this album around this time, and played it to smithereens. Once, many years later, an American exchange student was staying with a family friend and we took her out to some of the more interesting parts of Brisbane, and my mum put this on in the car. Probably the most Australian music you could play to a US dweller, I was kind of embarrassed at the time but was also reminded of what a great album this is. 

Pet Shop Boys - "Go West" (#18)

Another shit 90's song that I loved to pieces. I had a brief Pet Shop Boys love affair as a super youngster, but so did the rest of the world at the time. I'll assume, anyway. This is an awful song. Enjoy. 


REM - "Everybody Hurts" (#11)

My uncle was a huge REM fanatic and also helped me along my musical journey. The film clip was on all the time and I remember laughing at the captions in it. It also became one of the first songs I learnt on guitar. The album was another one my parents flogged a bit too, and I remember being frightened of "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1". I thought it sounded like aliens. 

Blind Melon - "No Rain" (#4)

One of those songs that was impossible to miss, and all my easy listening loving friends would still harp on it about a decade later. I don't know how popular it would have been without that film clip (Blogger won't let me post you the clip here for some reason). I really identified with that kid, man. 

Radiohead - "Creep" (#2) 

Duh. If you didn't hear this song at the time then you were without hearing. It seemed dark and not very nice and there was a swear in it (depending on where you were hearing it) and I didn't really think much of it, but I remember wondering why the man was so down about himself. I did think he was a bit creepy myself. NOW LOOK AT ME. 

For the complete list, click here. See you in a few days with the best of 1993... In the meantime, comment with your best memories of 92, if you wish!