Take me to numbers 1-10...
11. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
In 2009, just two years after it was released, music website Pitchfork ranked LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends as the second-best song of the decade (directly behind OutKast’s B.O.B., if you were wondering). The track was the second single from the group’s second album, Sound Of Silver, and showed a dramatic change for James Murphy and co. No longer was Murphy singing about Losing His Edge, and how he had been the one to help break new ground on the music scene. Now, he was feeling pensive and nostalgic for the times gone by, and decided to pen what has since been referred to by some as a mid-life crisis set to music.
Coming at a time when James Murphy was doubting the future of his LCD Soundsystem project, All My Friends features a simplistic piano and bassline that backs rambling, stream-of-consciousness lyrics that paint a picture of parties, drunken nights, and the realisation that you’re getting older. As it continues, it approaches themes of loneliness and regret before it crescendos into the gorgeous catharsis of the question, “Where are your friends tonight?”. If ever a song was there to help you come to terms with the fact that maybe your best days are behind you, this it it.
But maybe this is exactly why All My Friends was overlooked by listeners back in the 2007 Hottest 100. Sure, LCD Soundsystem were getting increasingly popular by this time, but they would not make a countdown until 2010, when I Can Change peaked at #92. But while songs like Daft Punk Are Playing At My House were veritable party bangers, All My Friends was a nostalgic look back at the prime of your life - not exactly the most relatable track for a station whose target audience are entering, or already in, that prime.
Listeners would indeed begin to appreciate the song much more when Gang Of Youths covered it for Like A Version back in 2015, but even then, a cover which has since been considered as one of the best in the station’s history was also overlooked. Maybe All My Friends is destined to be one of the most overlooked tracks in the station’s history? - TJ
12. Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
When we were compiling this Hottest 100 of omitted songs there was some disagreement over whether this track should be included. Most of the songs on this list are, broadly speaking, songs within the triple j audio wheelhouse, even if they did not receive much or any airplay on triple j during their time of prominence. I don’t think anyone could argue that Shake It Off is a triple j song — it clearly isn’t — but I fought for it to be among this collection of tracks because it is the only song that actually was voted into a Hottest 100 and then intentionally ruled out, at least that we know about. It’s at #12 on our list because that is where it apparently placed in 2014 before being chalked off.
At the time of the BuzzFeed-led write-in campaign for Taylor Swift’s #1 hit, I was hardened in my opposition to triple j including it, as I detailed in a stupid-thousand word essay for my blog. My view has softened since then and I now think triple j should have included the song in that year’s countdown and played it between Glass Animals' Gooey (relegated to #13) and Zhu's #11 Faded. Perhaps it would have been harder for triple j to effectively stamp out campaigns had it relented that once. What we don’t want to see is the poll being reduced to some cheap stunt between socially-aware brands — think bookmakers and purveyors of fried chicken — all of them too clever by half.
Sexism was one of the criticisms levelled against triple j when it excluded Swift. Consider that triple j plays The Weeknd on high rotation, and he has twice appeared in Hottest 100 Top 10s, despite being a pop music superstar who works closely with super producer Max Martin. Sure, his genre is more R&B-infused that Taylor’s country roots, but is it really that different? Listening to triple j in the four years since the Shake If Off controversy, I thought I had noticed a significant effort being made to include more tracks from female solo artists, perhaps as a response to these claims of sexism.
I decided to conduct some research, going back through all the available details for feature albums since 2000 (the last year available on triple j’s website). This is hardly conclusive evidence that triple j is playing more female vocalists, nor is it definitive since bands with female vocalists (few though there have been) are folded into the Group category, but it gives a good overview of how sparse triple j’s support of female singers has historically been.
Essentially, twice as many male solo artists have been promoted as feature album artists over the past 19 years. While it is true there are some great bands with female leads or co-leads — say, Garbage, Hole, The Grates and London Grammar — to be featured down the years, the vast majority of the groups are also male-driven.
Take 2013, the last complete year before the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign, when only two solo females (Lorde and Gossling) were featured: of the 39 groups, 30 have exclusively males vocals, another five combine male and female singers, and only four (Thao, Austra, London Grammar and Haim) are exclusively female. Only 11 of 2013’s 48 feature albums included female vocals at any point.
Since then, the numbers have improved, to the point that in 2017, for the first time for which records are available (and, I am certain, ever) there were more solo females — almost twice as many — featured than men. (It’s worth noting, however, that of 29 groups featured in 2017, 20 had male vocals, six had both and only three were female.)
It is still a long way from anything resembling equality but it is a lurch in the right direction, and the turning point does seem to coincide with Shake It Off’s omission, meaning some good has come from the controversy and criticism, ironically because it seems triple j chose not to shake it off. — PA.
13. All I Need - Air
For the longest time, triple j listeners weren’t too keen on electronic music. While this attitude has somewhat changed in recent years, groups like Aphex Twin and Four Tet have never managed to truly resonate with listeners, despite the critical acclaim that they garner. Back in the ‘90s when alt-rock was still at its peak, this attitude was even more prevalent, and a French electronic group called Air was destined to be overlooked.
While tracks from their debut album Moon Safari did score a bit of recognition, All I Need was sadly overlooked in favour of more radio-friendly tunes, such as the admittedly infectious Sexy Boy or the hypnotic Kelly Watch The Stars. Featuring lyrics written and sung by US singer Beth Hirsch, and featuring music that had been reworked from an earlier song called Les Professionnels, the tune became a blissful downtempo anthem for chilled-out music fans the world over.
A luscious, immersive tune that is almost the epitome of the word ‘laidback’, Air well and truly brought this phenomenal style of music to the forefront for a brief moment in time, though its lack of loud guitars and singalong choruses ultimately hurt its chances of success among some of the more mainstream styles of music at the time. While Air would gain themselves more widespread fame in 2000 as the musicians behind the stunning soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, nothing can compare to the beauty and majesty of All I Need. - TJ
14. Disarm - The Smashing Pumpkins
Here’s one of the weirdest omissions in Hottest 100 history. Coming in at #90 in 1994 was The Smashing Pumpkins with Dancing In The Moonlight, a Thin Lizzy cover they’d dropped onto the b-side of the Disarm single. And so where did Disarm place in the countdown? Nowhere.
Let me say that again - the b-side was #90. The a-side, which happens to be one of the Pumpkins best known tunes, did not make the list.
For a band whose singles were playlist regulars on the js between the release of Siamese Dream in 1993 and their (temporary) break-up in 2001, the non-appearance of Disarm is baffling on its own, let alone with its b-side registering in its place. Billy Corgan’s acoustic-and-orchestra lamenting of a difficult childhood is one of the most ‘90s things to ever happen in the ‘90s, as well as being one of the best things he ever recorded.
But the presence of a (not-that-great) b-side in its place suggests a mistake was made. We’re not going to point fingers, but consider that wrong now righted. You’re welcome, Mr Corgan. - MN
15. Jerks Of Attention - Jebediah
Following the release of their debut EP in 1996, Perth’s Jebediah took the Aussie music scene by storm that year when they released their debut single Jerks Of Attention. Inspired by, and even name-checking, the likes of The Stone Roses and Archers Of Loaf (in fact some could argue this track is heavily inspired by the latter’s Web In Front), the group were well on their way to fame. The song reached the top 100 on the ARIA chart and within a year, the group had become household names, with their debut album, Slightly Odway, peaking at #7 on the Aussie charts, and being voted in at #5 on the triple j album poll for that year.
However, by the time the voting for the Hottest 100 of 1997 came around, Jerks Of Attention was nowhere to be seen. Sure, a total of five of the album’s tracks made it into the 1997 and 1998 countdowns, but what about their debut single? The biggest issue here was more than likely the track’s release date. A December 1996 release date meant that it wasn’t eligible for the 1996 countdown, and by the time the voting period for 1997 opened, the version that fans were listening to was a re-recorded album version that lacked the guts of the original.
Of course, Jerks Of Attention was somewhat vindicated in the 1998 Hottest 100 Of All Time countdown. Despite being held in August of 1998, halfway between the 1997 and 1998 countdowns, the single version of Jerks Of Attention scored itself a nice placing at #81, and earned itself the reputation as one of the few songs to not make an annual countdown, but to be voted into the All Time polls. - TJ
16. Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
In 1999, Doo Wop (That Thing) by Lauryn Hill became the first rap song by a female vocalist to hit #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second was Fancy by Iggy Azalea & Charli XCX 15 years later. The one-time Fugees frontperson was a pioneer and an almost lone crusader in a genre that has for decade prized men, manliness and machismo, if not outright chauvinism, as a shibboleth for acceptance and success.
Adding some extra credibility oomph, as if Doo Wop needed it, Hill wrote and produced the track single-handedly, so she must have felt quite a thrill beating — and getta load of these losers — Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Aretha Franklin and Janet Jackson to a Grammy the following year. Hill also won Album of the Year for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, eclipsing another all-female (vocals) cohort of nominees (Sheryl Crow, Shirley Manson’s Garbage, Madonna and Shania Twain). Curiously, Hill was also named Best New Artist, even though she had been a household name since Killing Me Softly thrust Fugees into the mainstream in 1996.
And here’s the conundrum: why did triple j support Killing Me Softly, a fun and radio-friendly pop-cover that was getting plenty of spins on commercial stations, so much that it hit #35 in the Hottest 100 of 1996, but not Lauryn Hill’s solo career, which burst out with loads of authentic artistic merit? Was it merely sexism? I think that explains some of it, but not all of it.
There was certainly an element of genreism back then. Even using the broadest definition of rap, that particular style was barely played during the 1990s and early 2000s, and those artists that were played were invariably established male purveyors. A quick look through the Hottest 100 lists from the 90s shows a paucity. Across the three Hottest 100 buttressing Doo Wop — 1998, 1999 and 2000 — Intergalactic by Beastie Boys and It’s Like That by Run DMC vs Jason Nevins were the only two rap songs to feature. It really wasn’t until triple j started championing emerging Aussie hip-hop artists in the mid-naughties that overseas and female rap became prominent on the broadcaster and its annual countdown. — PA
17. Hurt - Johnny Cash
Yep, it’s higher up the list than the original (see #64) - exactly how the great man (Trent Reznor that is) would have wanted it. “That song isn't mine anymore,” the Nine Inch Nails frontman famously said, although Reznor admits Cash’s cover felt “invasive” at first and it was only upon seeing the film clip that Reznor changed his mind.
At the behest of producer Rick Rubin, Cash took Reznor’s super-depressing tale of self-harm and smack, and made it something greater. With his aged voice trembling with every word, the country music legend ironically breathed new life into this self-loathing masterpiece.
It would be the last single Cash released in his lifetime (it came out just six months before his death) and would prove to be not only his biggest hit in over a decade, but also a kind of epitaph for a flawed icon. In the All Time Hottest 100 vote in 2009 it landed at #60. - MN
18. Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam
Considering how much triple j loved Pearl Jam in the early days (and indeed for much of the grunge survivors’ career), it’s strange that their second album Vs only yielded one tune in the 1993 Hottest 100. It’s even stranger when you consider how massive Vs was - it sat atop the US Billboard charts for five weeks and set a record for first week sales in that country which stood for five years. In Australia it debuted at #1 and spent 68 weeks in the top 50, and triple j played the absolute shit out of it.
Yet only Go seemingly enamoured listeners enough to earn a spot in the Hottest 100 (and a high one at that, coming in at #8). Given the breadth of Pearl Jam songs that would be voted into the countdown in future years (14 songs over 13 years), the omissions from Vs stand out even more. This rocker about getting in the car and getting the hell out of town is perhaps the best of the bunch (but we snuck in another one at #21 … and another one after that). Voters also voted it into the All Time countdown of 2009 at #56 - one of four Pearl Jam songs to make that list. You do the math. - MN
19. All Is Full Of Love - Bjork
Throughout her career, Iceland’s Queen of Music has regularly pushed boundaries, which has made her not everyone’s cup of tea. triple j has always been in her corner though, featuring her albums and spinning her increasingly esoteric singles. The listeners haven’t always gone along for the ride, and they stopped voting Bjork into the Hottest 100 after her second “grown-up” album Post.
But that prevented this undeniably beautiful track a spot in the countdown in either ‘97 (when the album Homogenic came out), ‘98 or ‘99 (when it was finally released as a single). It’s even more surprising that All Is Full Of Love’s stunning film clip by Chris Cunningham couldn’t spur it into the Hottest 100, despite getting high rotation on Rage thanks to its selection by a steady stream of guest programmers.
That Bjork has only had four songs make the Hottest 100 doesn’t do justice to her influence or the magnitude of her career. This song’s omission is part of that near-criminal oversight. - MN
20. Stan - Eminem (feat. Dido)
In 1999, triple j was one of the first Australian radio stations to play Eminem, giving regular rotations to his breakthrough track My Name Is. Three years later, they were ushering three of his tunes into the 2002 Hottest 100, including the all-time anthem Lose Yourself at #7. Somewhere in the middle of all that, the man born Marshall Bruce Mathers III dropped his affecting tale of a deranged fan named Stan.
While this is not only one of the best Eminem songs of all time, it’s one of the best hip hop songs of all time, dipping into a level of twist-in-the-tail storytelling rarely seen in the genre. Q Magazine called it the third best hip hop track ever, Rolling Stone put it in their 500 best songs and 100 best hip hop songs of all time, and the likes of Complex, VH1, The Face, LA Weekly and others have rated it among the greats. Literary critics and psychologists have analysed it. The term “stan” (meaning “an overly obsessed fan”) was added to the Oxford Dictionary.
But listeners couldn’t see fit to add it to the Hottest 100. The poll has always had a weird relationship with hip hop, perhaps best exemplified by the fact Eminem’s Stan never made the cut. - MN
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