Despite the concept looking a little anachronistic in 2014, I still love Radio.
No really, I do. I just think that, in Australia, its content is poorly executed. Mindless bullying pro-conservative talkback presenters, vacuous imported pop music, machismo-driven rock stations are all an issue for me. However there's still a lot of fun to be had in the medium. For example, exciting things are happening in the digital spectrum, with Triple J Unearthed being an amazing station, showing the majors that there's plenty of room for a station playing all Australian unsigned music. And community stations around the place like FBi and East Side Radio in Sydney, and 4ZZZ-FM in Brisbane are doing interesting things in their respective areas.
And if they don't float your boat, look online to a whole range of overseas terrestrial stations that stream online, or dig your way through the massive directory of amateur stations on Live365 or Shoutcast.com.
Radio gets a bad wrap, however, in both the independent media and, occasionally, in these here pages as well. I've been thinking about the criticisms that people have been throwing around, especially towards stations like Triple J and the BBC's Radio 1 to try and see if they have any merit.
Both of these stations have recently been in the news because of the fact that the music is too "teeny-bopper", or playing to an audience much younger than that of the listener making the criticism.
The criticism would carry more weight if the target audience of those stations wasn't aged between 12 and 25. If you were born in the early part of the 1980s, chances are they're not playing anything you like for that very reason.
There is some merit to the criticism. If you're looking at the number of YouTube views or Twitter followers a band has, before you've even listened to the record, you have to ask what's the point? The BBC is not supposed to be a commercial broadcaster, where I'd imagine these statistics would carry more sway.
But I'd like to ask, whatever happened to listening to a record and determining its value based on whether it is a good song or not? Then again, that in itself is problematic, because in whose opinion is the song a good one?
The problem with this approach is that the band has to do exponentially more work to get noticed. Twitter followers and YouTube views can happen overnight, but only if you pay for them.To my mind, radio exposure is one of the main ways that these numbers can be increased - I'm not sure having the equation the other way around is particularly sensible.
Another common complaint is that radio plays the same songs over and over again. Radio 1 seems to only have a limited number of spots available for new music every fortnight and to my mind it seems to be quite low. Still, what's the reason for it? Is it to enforce repetition and minimise variety?
Maybe, but the fact of it is that that is what we require to get to love a song - repetition.You know that album that you say is your all time favourite? It didn't get that way from a single solitary listen - you didn't play it once, file it away for 20 years and then claim it to be your "life-changing" record. No, you played it, over and over again over a long period of time. And so it has to be with radio.While I have no problem with that, per se, I just find some radio programmers and their song choices questionable.
The other reason for repetition is the logic that listeners don't typically listen to radio for more than 2 or 3 contiguous hours per day. By that logic, theoretically someone listening at 10:30am won't be listening at 2:00pm and therefore playing the same song at both these times most people would be oblivious. That's why the "No repeat work day" is a great idea, to cater for businesses who do have the radio on all day.
So, in an age where the internet is changing the way we discover and consume music, can radio compete? It's certainly trying hard, but will it ever return to be the cultural force it once was?
Triple J Unearthed will be celebrating 20 years of discovering new Australian music in 2015. It started as a competition that focused on regional areas of Australia, but this model was revised to focus on each Australian state after 2002, and since 2006 it has been a website and, more recently, a digital radio station playing 100% unsigned and/or independently signed Australian music. It has been a great initiative and some of our more revered acts have been "unearthed".
Conversely, for each band who becomes successful, there have been many others that have been lost to the annals of history. For some, it's for the best that they're forgotten. For others, it's criminal that they didn't become huge. Today's band is one such band who belongs in the latter camp.
Shifter were a Brisbane band who won one of the last winners of the second incarnation of Unearthed. They won in 2004 with this kicking power-pop track written in honour of a cocktail they created containing vodka and butterscotch schnapps.
There seems to be very little information around about the band. After this song was released, I have no idea what happened to the band. If any member of the band is reading this, please get in touch and let us know about Shifter's career trajectory.
For now, enjoy this furious blast of Brisbane rock.
Nirvana never intended to change the world. But I'm bloody glad they did. #20years#RIPKurt
— Sound and the Fury (@sound_fury_pod) April 5, 2014
Kurt Cobain has been dead for 20 years now. And it is with some trepidation that I remember his passing. It is a contentious one that has confused, upset and infuriated people for years.
Kurt, and by extension, Nirvana, were not particularly innovative. Nor were they the most talented band in the world, nor were they the flag-bearers of any particular cause, mission, concept or idea.
What they were, however, were the right band at the right time. Music in 1991 was boring. If you lived outside of any capital city in Australia there was very little alternative media to amuse you. Triple J, the lone bastion of alternative music and culture, was only starting to go national, but most regional centres didn't have it yet. There was no internet as such. You had to make do with what the radio commercial stations fed you.
What was the prevailing musical fashion of the day in rock music in Australia?
The music, the imagery, the costumes, the gimmickery, the wankery, the cookie-cutter feel to it all. It was stale by then. I was bored. Many, many other young people like myself were feeling the same.
Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, was issued with little fanfare in September 1991 around the same time as Metallica's self titled "Black" album and Guns 'n Roses' colossal ego-trip "Use Your Illusion". The industry wasn't expecting much from it: maybe it might sell gold (500,000 copies in the US). By January 1992, it had taken Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" off the top of the US Billboard album chart and the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit number 1 on the Australian Singles chart, and stayed there for a number of weeks. Nobody saw it coming.
What was the net result of this? Michael Jackson struggled to have a number 1 album ever again. RATT, Motley Crue, Skid Row, WASP, Poison, Warrant and other hair-sprayed confections were blown out of the water. Independent music was given greater exposure, and a lot of people heard a lot of great music they would never have heard otherwise. Guns 'n Roses and Metallica survived it all. But G'nR failed to deliver a timely follow up and were quickly forgotten. Metallica did change their image and were pilloried for it. Bon Jovi changed their sound to be more commercial radio friendly and survived. Rock became alternative, and the alternative scene is still defining music trends to this day.
They'd changed the world without really trying.
The down side? Kurt Cobain himself really struggled to be the one everybody wanted a piece of. He struggled to reconcile this age-old facade that mega-selling bands have no artistic credibility. He couldn't reconcile the need to starve for your art with working to live. His depression got worse. The tortured artist became even more so. The illicit drugs messed up his mind until...
...that fateful day.
Kurt didn't need to go to the lengths he did. He had the world at his fingertips, the ear of music fans everywhere. The record company would have given him carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wanted to. I've always said he could put out an album full of elephant farts and still have a million selling album: such is the amazing cache that the Nirvana/Cobain name carries. Everything he committed to vinyl is pure and honest - it was real, never contrived. He should never have worried about his artistic integrity: only when you become a parody of your former self on record do you need to worry about that. And there was no sense that that was on the horizon.
Kurt was a hero to people because he gave of himself - probably a little too much. Millions of people knew he was the real deal, and his honesty - in his lyrics and his songs - spoke volumes to people who were fed up of the manufactured idols on MTV; the useless politicians, and the self-indulgent wankers in hair metal bands singing about unattainable (for us, at least) women and other shit that has no relevance to us.
The problem was, he never wanted to be an idol. He was not a spokesperson for a generation of disaffected teenagers, and he knew it. He felt like a fraud. The public wanted him to be something he wasn't prepared to be. He was an average bloke in a rock band. The public knew that, but they wanted more.
No-one knows what goes through the minds of someone in such a low depressive state like that. It feels odd to celebrate someone who ended their life in the way they did. But that doesn't take away the value of the contribution they made to music during their lifetime.
I'm glad Nirvana and "Nevermind" changed the world. We're almost due for another one...
If we're all honest, we're all a little guilty of gender imbalance in our listening habits, myself included. It would be very difficult to have an even 50/50 spread of female-to-male artists in any given listening diet, but that's not going to stop me from looking at some of the best songs by women in the period the recent Hottest 100 covered.
The first single from the band's second LP. Sarah's voice is gorgeous, as usual.
Atomic Electric - Rebecca's Empire (1994)
Rebecca's Empire were sadly underappreciated in their day. Their first LP was almost like a best-of album. It bundled up all the key singles and EP tracks that had been issued in the previous couple of years. "Atomic Electric" was one of their first releases and it demonstrates that a high level of songwriting craft is already present.
Good Fortune - PJ Harvey (2000)
PJ Harvey is one of a number of alternative rock singers whose catalog is deep and rich, but one that I personally haven't delved into. This is probably her most famous song, but not undeservedly so.
My Sister - Juliana Hatfield (1993)
Juliana Hatfield's most recognisable song is both a poignant and painful reflection of sibling relationships. Gorgeously sung with the tone of a little sister telling a grown-up about her experiences growing up.
Ladykillers - Lush (1996)
This track mines similar territory to Alanis Morrisette's "You Outta Know" but it is nowhere near as pissed off. It's targets are a number of men and specifically skewers some of the things we blokes do to try and impress the ladies. However, vocalist Emma Anderson is not impressed. At least she gives her targets some helpful hints in the chorus in order to improve their chances with her.
Polyester Bride - Liz Phair (1998)
Liz Phair gave the Riot Grrrl/Feminist pop movement a kick in the pants with her call-to-arms first LP "Exile in Guyville" in 1993. She then softened her approach in 2001 with a pop-makeover that had all the indie music types up in arms. In between times, she kept a holding pattern of pleasant indie-rock albums while starting a family of her own. This one comes from her first post-baby LP "Whitechocolatespaceegg". This track may not sound like much to being with, but it has a transcendent chorus that elevates the song to classic status.
Feed The Tree - Belly (1993)
Belly is a band from the 4AD label roster of bands. They're not a band I'm overly familiar with outside of the first Triple J Hottest 100 CD, but still this is a killer tune.
Hold On Hold On - Neko Case (2007)
I first discovered Neko as a member of indie-supergroup The New Pornographers. All the members of the Pornos have other bands and careers they work on in between group albums. Neko concentrates on a unique brand of alternative-country, one that is far, far outside the Nashville model of country as we know it and personally I'm greatful for that.
Make It Last - Kate Miller-Heidke (2007)
Classicly trained Brisbane-born vocalist Kate Miller-Heidke has been making challenging and curiously fascinating pop music for the better part of the last decade. "Make It Last" was where the mainstream finally caught up with her.
Stevie - Spiderbait (1999)
Spiderbait are a fascinating band. Variously described as thrash-pop, post punk and more, I just think the best way to describe their is that they do whatever the hell they want, and we love them for it. Having said that, this one is unusually funky for them.
Peachy - Missy Higgins (2007)
Ya gotta love Missy Higgins. She's rarely this chirpy and bouncy on record, but when she is, it's usually something to treasure.
Midnight - Elan (2003)
I credit my discovery of this track to my sister, who first played it for me. She's a big supporter of women's issues, women's rights and a huge supporter of women in the arts. She has some sharp taste in music too, as you can see from this track. Thanks, Sis.
I Can Dream - Skunk Anansie (1995)
Frontwoman Skin is one scary proposition. She wields a frightening image; on purpose. The proto-feminist stance of her lyrics wouldn't carry they gravity they do without that.
Dirty Jeans - Magic Dirt (2000)
This was the first time I really took notice of Magic Dirt. I didn't get into their noisy grunge records in the mid-1990s. My interest in the band co-incides with the moment they reigned in their more extreme aspects of their sound and focused on writing killer songs. Thus their career could almost be split into two halves - the noisy grunge period pre-2000, and the focused, post-grunge pop post-2000, from which this track was the first example of.
Don't It Get You Down - Deadstar (1996)
Man I miss Deadstar. They shone brightly but not for as long as the deserved to. Singer Caroline Kennedy's bell-like vocals on this track make my heart sing.
Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage (1995)
Garbage's first out was a dark horse when it was released in 1995. No-one expected a bunch of top notch session musos, record producers and a unknown vocalist from Scotland to be as great as they are. They surprised us all, and released one of the best debuts of all time, and one of the albums of that year. Of the five singles from the LP, this one was always my favourite. I'm never happy about inclement weather, but this is one of the best songs to play when stuck indoors on such an occasion.
London Still - The Waifs (2002)
Ok, so I posted this one previously, but I don't care. It fits the brief of being a great female-voiced track from the last 20 years.
Standing In The Way Of Control - The Gossip (2006)
Lead singer Beth Ditto is probably not someone you wanna get on the wrong side of. She's forthright and assertive and she makes this song all own. You can't help but believe that she means every word she sings.
Bang - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2002)
New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs have developed their sound to add a whole lot more polish over recent years, but the garage rock roots are still evident in their sound. This is a track from one of the very early EPs, when they were raw and ragged and, for my money, their most vibrant.
Paco Doesn't Love Me - The Spazzys (2004)
The Ramones may have been (at best) a rudimentary garage band, playing hyper-fast over-amplified 60s pop, but they cast a massive shadow of popular music. The Spazzys are three sprightly young ladies from Melbourne who, let's be honest, are shameless Ramones copyists (even down to their stage names: Kat Spazzy, Ally Spazzy, Lucy Spazzy) but damn don't they do it well. If nothing else, The Ramones were a hell of a lot of fun, and so are The Spazzys. This song is their first single, and it's a cracker. Play this tune LOUD and jump around like a nutter for 2 and a half minutes - you'll feel better for the effort.
Well Triple J's latest Hottest 100, selecting from songs released in the last 20 years, is done and dusted. You can check out the list here, but upon reflection after the event, it's pretty clear why I could never survive as a professional bookmaker or a clairvoyant. What I predicted to be in the list was totally off the mark.
I've also publicly declared that a certain Rage Against The Machine song would place highly, not even thinking that it was released in 1992. I incorrectly assumed that, because the song turned up in the first Hottest 100 of the previous year (the 1993 one), that it was eligible. According to Rate Your Music, the self-titled LP was released in November 1992, but the single was issued in 1993, but I'm splitting hairs.
Only two of my 20 songs appeared in the countdown: "Chop Suey!" by System of a Down at #26, and "Prisoner of Society" at #20. I was fairly correct in assuming none of the others would appear. You Am I's "Berlin Chair" was the only song of theirs to appear as I expected. Jebediah appeared twice; neither song I was expecting to be so popular ("Leaving Home" and "Harpoon", both from their first LP).
I really underestimated a lot of the entries in here. If John Butler was going to appear, I thought it would have been something other than "Better Man", like "Zebra" or "Better Than". I massively underestimated the popularity of Silverchair, with their god-awful track (well, ok, it was their first attempt at songwriting, and they were, like, 13 or something when they wrote it) "Tomorrow". It turns out that all the mid-20s people that would have voted for it were the ones who were about 10 when it came out and saved up all their pocket money to buy the CD single!
On Twitter, there were plenty of jokes getting around about the #16 entry...
I actually thought Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" (#3) and "Hallelujah" (#36) would have been in opposite positions. Powderfinger were still popular, with two entries in the top 10, both from their 2000 LP "Odyssey Number Five".
I was dreading an appearance from Mackelmore's "Thrift Shop", but that didn't appear anywhere. It would be easy to suggest that even the staunchest fans of that song are now completely sick of it. I was surprised that Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" didn't appear, and also that "Creep" didn't appear either. It was a foregone conclusion that "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android" would appear however.
I had massively underestimated the popularity of Oasis. They landed at Number One with "Wonderwall". When that song was released, I hated it. In fact, I just blanket-hated the band. I now regard "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" as the best record they've ever done, despite the bad mastering job of the original CD. While I like the album and the majority of it's songs, I still can't see the appeal of "Wonderwall". It has been said to me by someone who lived in Britain in 1995 that "Wonderwall" caught the emotion and the general feeling of the time. Maybe so, but when I asked what that feeling was, they couldn't explain it. It was the only Oasis track to appear in the list, so it was easy to assume that Oasis wouldn't trouble the chart at all.
Interestingly, the 2minute-2 second powerpop blast of "Song 2" by Blur appeared at number 22. Coincidence? You be the judge.
There was a heap of variety in the mix and it was fun to be nostalgic for a while, but it still only painted a small picture of great music released during the last 20 years. Interestingly, while a lot of the music selected has filtered through to commercial radio in this country, there is still one hell of a lot of it that hasn't, and the mainstream still has a lot of catching up to do.
I'd love to see the list of the next 100 songs - the 101-200 list. That would be very interesting...
This weekend, on the 8th and 9th of June 2013, Triple J radio celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Hottest 100 by running a poll of the best songs from the last 20 years. It's a curious thing because Triple J in recent years have not been known to be nostalgic, and nor have their audience. Their target audience is supposed to be aged between 18-30, the younger end of the scale may not be ready to buy into such nostalgia yet.
The voting procedure limits you to a list of 20 songs to vote for. I've cast my vote and I feel quite torn about it. I took ages to decide on my 20 songs, but I really feel I've wasted my time. Very few of them have got a real chance of appearing, despite the fact I genuinely consider these tracks to be some of my very favourite songs of the last 20 years. There are so many other songs that I could have voted for - at one stage I had a short list of over 200 songs to choose from, and that was only from songs that actually DID make their respective countdowns in the first place.
Here's why I'm torn: There are songs that I know would easily make it in the list on the weekend, so do I really need to bother voting for them? Do I just vote for the songs that I'm most passionate about?
I've voted for the songs I'm most passionate about, but they seem very much to be songs that few others are also passionate enough about. At least not enough to vote for in a countdown such as this. I could be proven wrong on the day, but I highly doubt it.
I can predict already, based on what turned up in the last Hottest 100 of all time in 2009 what will make a good showing this time around.
There will be a stack of Radiohead in the countdown, for sure. I've voted for "Fake Plastic Trees". I absolutely love that song, but it didn't chart in 1995, the year of its release. In fact there was absolutely no entries from Radiohead in 1995, despite the fact that "The Bends" is almost universally regarded as a classic LP. You can bet on "Creep" being in the top 10, along with "Paranoid Android" and "Karma Police" at least somewhere in the middle numbers.
If Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name" doesn't make top 10, I'll eat my hat. Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" will be in the top 10 too. Jeff's sublime version of the (relatively) obscure Leonard Cohen song, like Radiohead's back catalogue, has gotten way more popular since its first release. "Prisoner of Society" by Living End should place highly, as this anti-establishment gem still resonates with anyone who likes to kick against the system.
I didn't feel the need to vote for Jeff Buckley or RATM as they will most likely have enough support on their own. Here are my choices
Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream
Why I voted for it: This is one of the most sublime Beach-Boys-meets-Nirvana pop songs I've ever heard, and one that always takes me to a magical place every time I hear it
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Quite simply, this was the last time the band made a Hottest 100 countdown. For some reason, their fanbase in this country is just not strong enough to get great tunes like this into prominent positions, despite the quality of the music.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #60 in 1995
Jebediah - Feet Touch The Ground
Why I voted for it: Jebediah were not known for their emotional depth, but on this song they get deep without getting cheesy.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Like a lot of Australian bands from the 1990s, they just don't get much of a run on radio anymore.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #28 in 1999
The Living End - Prisoner of Society
Why I voted for it: It still gets the blood pumping.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: It will, and it will probably do alright for itself.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #15 in 1997
Godstar - Tea For One
Why I voted for it: It's a cute, slightly raggedy, but forthright breakup song that has a special meaning for me.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: The only Half-A-Cow label band to ever make an entry in a Hottest 100 was Sidewinder with "Titanic Days", and even then it only made #92. For some reason the listening public is either unaware of or apathetic towards the great collection of bands on the label.
Original Hottest 100 placement: Didn't chart on original release in 1995.
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Why I voted for it: In retrospect, Radiohead's second LP was missed by lots of people, this writer included. Going back to it now there's lots to love, including this melancholy gem.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: It will appear somewhere in the countdown, because, like me, a lot of people have retrospectively reappraised Radiohead's back catalog.
Original Hottest 100 placement: Didn't chart on original release in 1995. #28 in the Hottest 100 of all time 2009.
Eagles of Death Metal - I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)
Why I voted for it: Gotta love a bit of scuzz rock. This is short, sharp and to the point. Fun all the way.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Eagles of Death Metal always took a back-seat to their hipper, trendier sister group Queens of the Stone Age. They've always been regarded as a bit "jokey", despite releases by both bands having a healthy sense of humour. QOTSA will get a good run in the countdown, but there'll be little room for the kooky side-project.
Original Hottest 100 placement: Didn't chart on original release in 2005
You Am I - Jaimme's Got a Gal
Why I voted for it: You Am I have many great moments, but few are rarely as tender and touching as this one. It deserves more attention than it usually gets.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: This one has always been overshadowed by "Berlin Chair" which is universally regarded as the quintessential You Am I tune. Sad but true, but Berlin Chair will get a run, but little else from Timmy Rogers and Co will appear.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #77 in 1994
Ben Lee - Catch My Disease
Why I voted for it: This is probably the last time Ben Lee had "fun" on a record of his, and that fun is...um...infectious.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Being so catchy, I believe it has/had a high burn rate, meaning that people get really sick of it very quickly.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #2 in 2005
Pollyanna - Pale Grey Eyes
Why I voted for it: It still sounds great today. It stands up well against any other modern song you care to name.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Their legacy hasn't endured well. Their back catalog has been deleted, the band all but forgotten by most. Lead guitarist/singer Matt Handley is now a guitar-tech for Tame Impala. Clearly the role of elder statesman of Australian Rock went to somebody else.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #68 in 1995
Atomic Swing - Stone Me Into the Groove
Why I voted for it: Not since Hendrix has a Fender Stratocaster sounded so sweet or been played so funky!
Why it won't make it in the countdown: This was their only flush of fame, and even that was 20 years ago. People have short memories.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #10 in 1993
White Zombie - More Human Than Human
Why I voted for it: Crushingly heavy, it's heaps of fun to jump around to.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: After this was released, Rob Zombie released a few solo records that were a parody of himself, and he has since exiled himself to bad Horror movie hell.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #49 in 1995
Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade
Why I voted for it: The entire catalog of Buffalo Tom is criminally underrated, and this track is one of their most profound statements capable of inducing goosebumps in grown men from 2 seconds in. Also a favourite of Murray, the former Red Wiggle (although that's not why it's notable)
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Another case of "out of sight, out of mind". Not altogether terribly popular in their day, not popular enough to get voted in this time around.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #53 in 1993
Fini Scad - Coppertone
Why I voted for it: Once a great white hope as the next big Australian band, they just disappeared after their one great record, never to be heard from again. The sweeping, soaring melody line in this should be regarded as a national treasure.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: So why isn't this a national treasure? Ask Peter Garrett, he has the answer: "Short memory, must have a....". How soon we forget...
Original Hottest 100 placement: #42 in 1996.
Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass
Why I voted for it: Bloc Party are a strange but harmonious mix of Punk attitude, angular post-punk guitars and dance beats. Full of energy and passion. This is a worthy opening track on their first LP.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: If any Bloc Party track gets in, it'll probably be "Hunting for Witches".
Original Hottest 100 placement: #88 in 2005
Best Coast - The Only Place
Why I voted for it: A Current favourite, and I was looking to vote for a worthy recent track. They don't come more worthy than this one.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: It didn't get the coverage it deserved on the radio.
Why I voted for it: One of the best pop songs written by an Australian, in my view. Why wouldn't you vote for it?
Why it won't make it in the countdown: See above. Not many people agree with me.
Original Hottest 100 placement: Did not chart on release in 1996.
The Whitlams - You Sound Like Louis Burdett
Why I voted for it: For anyone living in the big smoke in Australia, this song resonates with the inner city way of life. Not only that, this sprightly song is one the Whitlams' best.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: It may do - it's probably not the most popular song of theirs, but it may be popular enough to appear.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #53 in 1997
System Of A Down - Chop Suey!
Why I voted for it: A controversial song on its first release (it was released within weeks of the 9/11 attacks in 2001), its incomprehensible verses are iconic.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: It'll probably make the top 20 somewhere.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #3 in 2001
The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
Why I voted for it: The recent crop of English bands such as Bloc Party, The Fratellis, Kaiser Chiefs, Dogs Die In Hot Cars et al are stunning at times, and they have turned out a collection of vital singles between them to rival those of their counterparts in the 1990s. This one is a classic - try not singing that tag line for hours after you hear it.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Apparently Australians don't buy British sounding records, according to some commercial radio programmers. Should this prove to be the case, this song won't have a prayer.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #59 in 2007
The Waifs - London Still
Why I voted for it: A beautiful song, timeless and ageless. An easy sentiment to relate to - of being a long way from home and hanging to get back there.
Why it won't make it in the countdown: Of all the great songs The Waifs have created in their long career, this one would be the great white hope. If any track of theirs was to appear, it's probably be this one.
Original Hottest 100 placement: #3 in 2002.
These are all songs that I genuinely think are some of the greatest songs of the last 20 years. The problem is that what I think are cool are so out of step with what the general populace thinks. I don't think it's because what I like is so esoteric, but I think a lot of great music gets lost in the shuffle since we have so much great music available to us thanks to the Internet. That's why I have this blog - to share some music that has gotten lost in the shuffle.
I really have no idea what will be in the final list. I'll be tuning in, however, to see if my predictions will be accurate.
I was thinking about voting in Triple J's 20th Anniversary Hottest 100 and I was thinking back over some of the great local and international bands during that period. I was struck by the poor showing in the polls of many of the artists from the small Sydney indie label Half a Cow Records. Half A Cow was a vehicle for the music of proprietor Nic Dalton and his bands The Love Positions, Godstar, Sneeze, The Gloomchasers and many others, as well as similar bands like Smudge, SPDFGH, Papas Fritas, Glovebox and Crow.
None of the bands in this great stable of bands has made much of a dent in the Hottest 100, sadly. The only band to make any sort of showing at all is Canberra-formed, Sydney based band Sidewinder. Starting with two EPs aearly in 1993, their debut lp "Atlantis" was issued in 1995, and it is a widescreen epic, if ever there was one. It contains the fuzzy-yet-catchy singles "Evil Eye" and "Not Coming Home".
Second album "Tangerine" upped the psychedelic aspect of their music and in do so they became even more epic with their sound. However, while it sounded great, the public didn't respond and only the lead single "Titanic Days" (also featured in the film "Blackrock") made any dent in the charts. It appeared in the 1997 Hottest 100 at 92 - the band's only ever entry.
Sadly by 1999 it was all over for the band. But, we still have the music. It's available on iTunes, and also, below. We have two tracks by Sidewinder for you to sample: "Evil Eye" from 1995 and "Titanic Days" from 1997.
Little Hornet!!! Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you for ages!
Here's a great guitar-pop band that sprung up from Newcastle in the mid 1990s and then seemingly disappeared into oblivion almost as quickly, never to be heard from again.
They burst out of the gate with a cracking tune called "C'Mon Mrs Jones" which charted high in the alternative top 20 in Australia, and scored itself heaps of airplay around the place, but unfortunately not too many copies flew off the shelves.
Second single "Mr Lazy", while not quite as immediate, didn't do as well, and third single "Don't Cry Mother" sank without a trace, to my knowledge. They also released two albums according to my cursory research, but they hardly ever turn up second hand and as such I deem them to be quite rare. So here's hoping Tyrone Penshorn (the singer/guitarist from the band who uploaded the clips below) sees fit to reissue the entire back catalog again, possibly on iTunes and streaming.
Like Header, as featured last week, Little Hornet demonstrated that Australian pub-rock bands with strong Anglophile leanings just didn't capture the local public's imagination, no matter how great they were. It's truly a great shame. However, it is my pleasure to give the band some due credit. And also to celebrate the fact that I've finally found a recording of the song to listen to after all these years, on YouTube!!!
This week in Parliament, Senator Stephen Conroy is debating reforms to the Australian Media sector. There has been significant debate around the internet and in the media on a number of key platforms in the Senator's legislation, in particular ownership of media outlets, concentration and reach of media outlets, and local content quotas. Now he seems hell bent on declaring ultimatums to Parliament: accept these reforms verbatim or they'll be dumped.
All of these issues have been something I have been passionate about for some time. I have been a passionate advocate of the media and of media diversity, but I have seen TV and Radio in Australia become completely homogenised and cheapened by tabloid fodder and brainless celebrity-based reality stunts. Local content on TV of any quality has been diminishing in both quality and in volume. Commercial radio objects to being forced to play Australian Music. They also believe their content is king, but the vacuous nature of their so-called "content" is a poor second or third priority to advertising revenue and ratings.
I don't begrudge the media outlets their profits. They need to be making money otherwise they will not survive. But when you see major profits in the hundreds of millions, and sometimes billions, of dollars being reported, it's hard to feel sorry for them. Are they reinvesting that money into local talent or just buying cheap imported product in order to keep the money rolling in? I'd suggest the latter.
It's the job of a government department to ensure that media outlets don't just trample over the competition and that they keep standards of broadcasting and content control intact. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been charged with the job of regulating the industry but it is more like a toothless tiger when it comes to enforcing the rules. If the Senator's reforms give ACMA more power, that will be a bonus.
Media ownership has been the subject of much here-say and conjecture for a long time. The media outlets claim laws preventing them from concentrating ownership as akin to "censorship". I call "bullshit" on that premise. When you have companies like News Limited who have an obvious right-wing-conservative bias, owning more than one media outlet in a market, you run the risk of having a limiting of opinion and bias in reporting. You need to have a diversity of voices in the media, otherwise people run the risk of assuming what they hear is correct and true, when in fact it may be the opposite.
The relaxing of Australian content quotas in the media is particularly worrying. Australian content provides many people with their livelihood, not to mention the fact that there are so many Australian musicians out there that can't get their music played on commercial radio...or on any radio station for that matter.
Commercial radio has been complaining for years that local content quotas are unfair. Indeed, it was Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) CEO Joan Warner who claims that "Australian's don't make 25% of all the music being released, so why would you want to hear 1 in 4 Australian songs on the radio?" Why? Because once upon a time, radio played music on air. And, as we have a vibrant local music scene in this country, why wouldn't you play something locally produced? To say that Australians don't make that much music, then how do you explain the 31,000+ artists who have voluntarily submitted their music on the Triple J Unearthed website? For starters, they're just the bands who think they're Triple J worthy. I'm sure there are heaps who may not have bothered because they play styles of music that are more mainstream. For Joan to say "we can't find 1 in 4 Australian songs" is both ignorant and stupid, not to mention ill-informed. Joan's comments are the exact reason why the quotas are in place to begin with: because commercial radio won't play locally produced music. End of story.
I read recently that certain people in the radio industry actually believe that it is not their job to play Australian music, or to play music in general. They begrudge it because they think that Australian record labels and bands have gotten free publicity for too long and that they now should be paying to have their music played. A comment posted on this Radiotoday.com.au story ("Burned you black" by Dan Bradley) says this:
"Anyone in a record compnay ever think they might do what everyone else does and actually buy some radio advertising to sell thier product." (sic)
This maybe a blatant troll. Let's assume it's not for a minute. Without music on radio, what you have? Gratuitous amounts of ranting and raving old farts being abusive to people in between celebrity interviews and constant advertising and product promotions. Even without that, what are you left with? Yep, that's right: advertising. Who in their right mind is going to listen to a station full of ads?
Then Dan Bradley has the gall to claim that "Radio has the responsibility to support Australian music when it suits the format and where the quality is good enough..." Are you serious? There's more good Australian music out there than there is imported stuff. Major commercial stations just can't be bothered to find it and play it. There is a hell of a lot of crap that is imported and flogged on Commercial radio where an Australian song would be 100 times better than it. Like, hello 2Day-FM! Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown is NOT good music! There's a thousand Aussie musicians who can outclass their crap, but instead the vacuous sensationalist stuff gets flogged to death instead of anything of substance.
Sure there's a disproportionate amount of overseas releases compared to local ones, but how about getting radio programmers to look at the local ones first? Would that kill them? Surely, unless local product falls straight into their lap, they won't go and look for it. And it's not like the radio DJs have a hand in playing and breaking new records anymore. They're just the people who get to talk after the song has finished and push a button here and there. No, all music has to be researched by focus groups and the like, so that it all sounds the same.
The amount of product placement on commercial radio is crazy too. Even the Triple M sports broadcasts are unlistenable due to the amount of advertising played mid-stream. Just listen to the football on the weekend to hear the odds from Tom Waterhouse, the Brand W pitch report, the Brand X sideline report, the Brand Y scoreboard, the Brand Z stats, all within seconds of each other. They're all advertisements and they roll off the commentators tongues that fast they hope that the listener both hears it and doesn't get bored of it too. It's completely unnecessary and ridiculous.
The alternatives, thankfully are vibrant. Community radio is thriving with great stations around the country that anyone can listen to via Tunein.comFBI and 2SER in Sydney, 3PBS-FM and 3RRR in Melbourne, 4ZZZ in Brisbane, 6RTR-FM in Perth are all amazing radio stations that are all flying the flag for an alternative voice and great new music that is off the radar. However, with the digital switchover imminent, Community stations just don't have the financial resources to invest in new equipment and new transmission gear. Their future is undetermined at this time and I implore the government, whether the current Labor government or whoever is elected in September 2013 to ensure that all community stations in the country get to switch over to digital with the financial assistance they require.
I just hope that there can be a regulatory body that can deal with offensive idiots like Alan Jones, Vile Kyle and Ray Hadley when they cross the line. I just hope that diversity of voices can continue. I hope that future governments keep their hands off the ABC, steer clear of meddling with its editorial charter, and never ever dream of privatising it. I hope that digital multi-channels on both radio and TV formats cease to be a dumping ground of second-rate material and re-runs shown ad nauseum.
And I hope Australian content is finally given an arena to shine in the mainstream through Australian media outlets.
One-time Sydney Triple J Unearthed winners Sick Puppies are now based in LA. There's a new LP coming later this year (that would be number 4) but in the meantime, let's check out some classic stuff from their first record "Welcome to the Real World". This was the song (albeit in re-recorded form) that won them the Unearthed prize: "Nothing Really Matters".
Did you ever get the feeling that some musical artists just aren't trying very hard? Or is it that, as listeners, we've stopped caring?
These are the issues I have been pondering in the wake of the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012. There was a very well considered piece on the Anonymous Theatre 3000 blog on the issue of the song that came Number 1: a certain "Thrift Shop" by Mackelmore. SPIN Magazine makes a very pointed critique of the song too, (found here) and it got me thinking about this rather odd success story of a song, grotesque as it is.
Firstly, a little background. Triple J is a national alternative music radio station run by the Government/tax-payer funded ABC. Their music choices are chosen and play-listed and then played on high rotation and then, every January on Australia Day (Jan 26th) they count down the top 100.
It is regarded as the "biggest musical democracy in the world". They boast some 1.5 million votes (which is a dubious number, since each person voting has to submit ten song choices, so does that count as 10 votes for each person? Or is it 1.5 million unique entries of 10 songs each, which is 15 million, almost 1 for every person in Australia?) this year and it is becoming a truly global phenomenon, with people listening to the countdown on the Internet around the world these days (usually Aussie expatriates). Not to mention the thousands of registered "Hottest 100" parties around the country.
This year they opened the voting up to Social Media and some rather enterprising Queensland-based marketing whizz-kids analysed about 30,000 of the social media votes to come up with a list that they dubbed the "Warmest 100". It turns out that they correctly picked the top 10 songs, although songs 4-8 were in the wrong order, the top 3 were indeed correct.
The song they picked for #1 was disturbing: "Thrift Shop" by a Seattle-based rapper named Macklemore and a producer named Ryan Lewis. This song as inescapably bounced out of radios on commercial networks for months and its ubiquity is maddening. In the above SPIN article, it is savaged. What disturbs me is that a hell of a lot of people found the song appealing enough to vote it the most popular song of the year. But why? As a piece of music, it is shallow in its disparaging view of shopping at Thrift stores and patronises the clientele of those stores and their products. Macklemore buys stuff at these stores to go out in public and to parties and be a dickhead. There's nothing funny about that. The music is uninspired, repetitive and bland. There are but 3 sections of the song and they have all been independently assembled and then copied-and-pasted into an audio editor. This is Audio Basics 101 - grade school stuff. They could have done so much better.
Not surprisingly, the backlash from Triple J fans on Facebook and Twitter was almost universally negative in response to this song becoming #1. And yet, this crappy little home-made ditty is still the biggest selling record in the US and in Australia, and it's not even on a major label. It is independently produced, and it is intended to be a satire/comment on rampant consumerism and the prevailing fashion trend of buying ridiculously overpriced brand-name clothing. All of this makes it perfect fodder for Triple J, who pride themselves on promoting so-called "Independent Music".
Usually, with Triple J, they will start flogging a piece of music and then, when the commercial networks get hold of it, they flog it to death even more. In this sense, Triple J are mostly the tastemakers of the nation. Granted, not all their choices make it onto the commercials. Certainly, hearing Mumford and Sons played side by side next to Rhianna and Nicki Minaj on 2Day-FM makes a jarring genre clash, but that's what happened once "Little Lion Man" was voted #1 by Triple J listeners in 2010.
But in this case, it's not even music of any quality. It's throwaway stuff. It's a novelty record and it'll probably be forgotten in 12 months time, except that it won't be, as it will forever be brought back up in the history of the Hottest 100 and in best-sellers lists for years to come. From what I've read, Macklemore has done other songs much more deserving of attention. That maybe so, but it's discouraging to think that the public picked his worst effort, erroneously thinking it to the best.
These days, Triple J seem to be embarrassed by some of its previous #1s. In the 30th Anniversary podcasts from 2005, they were very dismissive of Dennis Leary's "Asshole" (#1 in 1993) and "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by Offspring* (#1 in 1999). Will they be the same about this one in years to come?
As Triple J basically determine the playlist for the listeners, in turn the listeners respond as to what they like, and so it is with the Hottest 100. They pick the songs, we vote for what we (supposedly) like. That 6% of the nation picked this piece of crap as the Hottest song of 2012 is ridiculous. Triple J are not at fault - the voters in the countdown are. Have we (as a music-listening populace) become so lazy as to stop demanding that artists produce music of decent quality and we just consume the shit they throw at us? In years gone by I'm sure songs like this would have died a quiet slow death, starved of life-giving media attention purely on the basis that it just plain sucks.
Maybe the song's budget sound is designed to be that way as a musical compliment to the lyrics? Who knows? The fact is that a lot of people bought a lemon, and that was confirmed by their choice for the top spot on Triple J's Hottest 100.
* Someone on Facebook even claimed that Triple J were so embarrassed by "Pretty Fly..." that it failed to include it on the commemorative CD that year. I don't agree - some bands and labels don't licence their music for compilation CDs, which could explain its absence.
