Take me to numbers 21-30...
31. Dreams - The Cranberries
There are two Cranberries-related crimes from the first annual Hottest 100. The first one is immediately obvious: the adjective problematic’s Denis Leary denying the Limerick squad the runners-up with their breakout hit Linger. The second is only obvious on reflection: the single before Linger, Dreams, missed out completely.
Linger was the song that got everyone pumped for Irish West Coast lilting but it was Dreams that set the scene for the extraordinary world takeover that Dolores O’Riordan (vale), the Hogan brothers and Fergal Lawler implemented through the mid-90s. The Cranberries (original name: The Cranberry Saw Us) even got namechecked in Clueless.
Dreams is one of the effortlessly cool tracks that invites you to step outside commercial pop guff and take the hand of something a little bit more alternate for a dance. The arrangement is no Bohemian Rhapsody and the lyrics aren’t quite Paranoid Android but this particular air’s general air of carefree happiness is insanely refreshing, and it was doubly that upon its release in competition with all the flannel-clad Seattle man-bands growling about how sad the whole world is.
The Cranberries was my bridge band from 2DayFM to triple j. That was a time when my life was changing every day and, Dolores, it’s been a nightmare losing you, because you’re a dream to me. Dream to me. — PA.
As previously mentioned (see #2), this song snuck its way into the hearts of triple j listeners. The year after Buckley waded into the Mississippi River, never to return, Lover, You Should’ve Come Over placed #47 in the 1998-held Hottest 100 of All Time, despite not making the annual countdown when it was released in 1995. It was one of three songs from the singer-songwriter in the All Time poll.
When a similar “best ever” countdown was done in 2009, Lover was there again at #56. The strange thing in ‘09 was that the song had leapfrogged ahead of Grace, which came in at #69, despite Grace being one of only two songs to be voted into a Hottest 100 during Buckley’s lifetime.
triple j fell hard for Jeff Buckley, and when he died they - fans and staff - were collectively crushed. That lasting aching sadness felt throughout the station and its listeners is personified in Lover, You Should’ve Come Over. - MN
For all that Australia loved Britpop, and Britpop was so heavily personified by Blur and Oasis, it’s interesting that, combined, these two heavy-hitters of the decade only contributed nine songs to Hottest 100s during the 1990s. That’s the same number Garbage clocked up on its own during the pre-Millennium days of Adidas jackets, Ben Sherman shirts, foppy hair, soccer ball motifs and confected feuds. Just thinking about Euro 96 gives me nostalgic goosebumps.
Of course, Garbage never scored a Top 10 Hottest 100 hit, let alone a #1 or #2, like with Oasis (Wonderwall) and Blur (Song 2). In the year Blur ran second to The Whitlams, there was a general mood that the London fourpiece was Cherry Ripe, ready to parlay success in the Colonies to finally, unequivocally cracking the United States, just as the Gallaghers had done over the 12 months prior.
This perfervid optimism grew out of the critical and commercial success of Blur’s preceding albums, the genre-defining Parklife and the more experimental, expansive, Popbrit stylings of The Great Escape. The latter's lead single Country House and it was released on the same day — 14 August 1995 — as Oasis’s Roll With It. This north-versus-south, working-class-versus-university-class battle was dubbed the Britpop War and the bands, their fans, the media, and pretty much everyone with an interest in conflict paid attention. Country House won the day, debuting at #1 and ending up #53 on the Hottest 100 of 1995.
This is all just to set the scene: Blur has just won the Battle of Britpop. Soon Oasis will release one of the most iconic songs of all time. Between those two historical bollards comes the story of a Charmless Man.
The final single from The Great Escape tells the story of gauche slob completely lacking in self-awareness, a void comfortably filled with self-possession. Think David Brent, but with a red wine stain on his shirt and, somehow, more pretension. The opening bars are classic Britpop: twanging guitars, a little fuzz, persistent but never overbearing drumbeat. There’s a “na-na-na-na-na-na” in there and Damon’s vocals uptick to a nice falsetto on the verses. It’s a masterpiece of narrative songwriting.
Strangely, Damon would later say Charmless Man was the end of something. Having won the Britpop war, Blur was turning to new frontiers, both geographically and musically. The self-titled album that produced Song 2 was heavier, darker and more obviously influenced by the London punk bands the crew grew up listening to and the US indie scene guitarist Graham Coxon was increasingly enamoured with. Then came the dark, moody, break-up record 13, which was more a harbinger of what Radiohead would do on Kid A then reminiscent of anything Blur had done before.
Dreams is one of the effortlessly cool tracks that invites you to step outside commercial pop guff and take the hand of something a little bit more alternate for a dance. The arrangement is no Bohemian Rhapsody and the lyrics aren’t quite Paranoid Android but this particular air’s general air of carefree happiness is insanely refreshing, and it was doubly that upon its release in competition with all the flannel-clad Seattle man-bands growling about how sad the whole world is.
The Cranberries was my bridge band from 2DayFM to triple j. That was a time when my life was changing every day and, Dolores, it’s been a nightmare losing you, because you’re a dream to me. Dream to me. — PA.
32. Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley
As previously mentioned (see #2), this song snuck its way into the hearts of triple j listeners. The year after Buckley waded into the Mississippi River, never to return, Lover, You Should’ve Come Over placed #47 in the 1998-held Hottest 100 of All Time, despite not making the annual countdown when it was released in 1995. It was one of three songs from the singer-songwriter in the All Time poll.
When a similar “best ever” countdown was done in 2009, Lover was there again at #56. The strange thing in ‘09 was that the song had leapfrogged ahead of Grace, which came in at #69, despite Grace being one of only two songs to be voted into a Hottest 100 during Buckley’s lifetime.
triple j fell hard for Jeff Buckley, and when he died they - fans and staff - were collectively crushed. That lasting aching sadness felt throughout the station and its listeners is personified in Lover, You Should’ve Come Over. - MN
33. Charmless Man - Blur
For all that Australia loved Britpop, and Britpop was so heavily personified by Blur and Oasis, it’s interesting that, combined, these two heavy-hitters of the decade only contributed nine songs to Hottest 100s during the 1990s. That’s the same number Garbage clocked up on its own during the pre-Millennium days of Adidas jackets, Ben Sherman shirts, foppy hair, soccer ball motifs and confected feuds. Just thinking about Euro 96 gives me nostalgic goosebumps.
Of course, Garbage never scored a Top 10 Hottest 100 hit, let alone a #1 or #2, like with Oasis (Wonderwall) and Blur (Song 2). In the year Blur ran second to The Whitlams, there was a general mood that the London fourpiece was Cherry Ripe, ready to parlay success in the Colonies to finally, unequivocally cracking the United States, just as the Gallaghers had done over the 12 months prior.
This perfervid optimism grew out of the critical and commercial success of Blur’s preceding albums, the genre-defining Parklife and the more experimental, expansive, Popbrit stylings of The Great Escape. The latter's lead single Country House and it was released on the same day — 14 August 1995 — as Oasis’s Roll With It. This north-versus-south, working-class-versus-university-class battle was dubbed the Britpop War and the bands, their fans, the media, and pretty much everyone with an interest in conflict paid attention. Country House won the day, debuting at #1 and ending up #53 on the Hottest 100 of 1995.
This is all just to set the scene: Blur has just won the Battle of Britpop. Soon Oasis will release one of the most iconic songs of all time. Between those two historical bollards comes the story of a Charmless Man.
The final single from The Great Escape tells the story of gauche slob completely lacking in self-awareness, a void comfortably filled with self-possession. Think David Brent, but with a red wine stain on his shirt and, somehow, more pretension. The opening bars are classic Britpop: twanging guitars, a little fuzz, persistent but never overbearing drumbeat. There’s a “na-na-na-na-na-na” in there and Damon’s vocals uptick to a nice falsetto on the verses. It’s a masterpiece of narrative songwriting.
Strangely, Damon would later say Charmless Man was the end of something. Having won the Britpop war, Blur was turning to new frontiers, both geographically and musically. The self-titled album that produced Song 2 was heavier, darker and more obviously influenced by the London punk bands the crew grew up listening to and the US indie scene guitarist Graham Coxon was increasingly enamoured with. Then came the dark, moody, break-up record 13, which was more a harbinger of what Radiohead would do on Kid A then reminiscent of anything Blur had done before.
When Coxon departed subsequently, it left a three-piece to release the under-appreciated proto-punk-revival LP Think Tank. The biggest twist of all would then see Damon, seemingly out of nothing, create one of the most successful hip hop groups in history. The band would eventually get back together to extrude The Magic Whip, a magnificent collection of old-school Britpop numbers infused with east Asian themes of vertical neighbourhoods, perfected loneliness, megacity sameness and, presciently, a new wave of North Korean turmoil.
Damon said he was inspired to write Charmless Man by some poetry scrawled across a toilet stall he had visited. Somewhere in middle England, there is a tiresome fool returning a wine, lecturing someone over best deployment of wingbacks and misquoting Fawlty Towers (or maybe he was a tourist, or maybe the Charmless Man is gender non-specific). Either way, this Charmless Man inspired a song that proved to be an inflection point for a band and a genre.
Damon said he was inspired to write Charmless Man by some poetry scrawled across a toilet stall he had visited. Somewhere in middle England, there is a tiresome fool returning a wine, lecturing someone over best deployment of wingbacks and misquoting Fawlty Towers (or maybe he was a tourist, or maybe the Charmless Man is gender non-specific). Either way, this Charmless Man inspired a song that proved to be an inflection point for a band and a genre.
Or, perhaps, deep down, we know that the Charmless Man has been us all along. — PA
34. Edge Of Town - Middle Kids
Sydney’s Middle Kids are a perfect example of a modern band bursting out of the gates with an absolutely killer tune under their belt. The biggest track from their 2017 self-titled debut EP, Edge Of Town struck a chord with listeners all around the world. Even Elton John declared himself a fan of the track, helping both Edge Of Town and Never Start to reach a combined total of 3.5 million Spotify streams just months after their release. Needless to say, the group were well on their way to success.
However, by the time the Hottest 100 of 2017 came around, almost a full year after the release of their debut EP, the group were nowhere to be found (though Never Start managed to hit #127 in the top 200). Was it a matter of timing, with the song being released too early? Well, maybe, but there’s also every chance it was outshined by the admittedly fantastic Like A Version cover of the track by Paul Dempsey, which did manage to chart at #88 that year. Was the cover so good that people just forgot about the original? Or will Middle Kids be one of those acts that we wonder about for years to come, lamenting their absence in the countdown during their early days? Only time will tell. - TJ
35. Around The World - Daft Punk
Around The World is not the most lyrically creative song of the past 25 years. Its songbook simply comprises “around the world” being fuzzy-sang 144 times in just over 7 minutes. The music video is something else altogether: directed by Michael Gondry and choreographed by Bianca Li, it features ghost-skeleton dancing in a mesmeric MC Escher-esque routine that is almost as hypnotic as the transglobal mantra those two kooky French robots keep Dextering (the matchmaker, not the serial killer) out.
Daft Punk had experienced some fledgling antipodean success upon the release of their juvenile effort Homework. Da Funk had enough of us “wah wah-wah-wah-wahing” to paw its way to #98 in the Hottest 100 of 1997 and #31 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Around The World came next and was a much bigger hit, peaking at #11 on the charts and spending four months in the Top 50 through the back half of 1997. Pourquoi l’amour du public électoral n’était-il pas à la mesure de celui du public acheteur? (Editor: Why didn’t the love of Hottest 100 voters match the enthusiasm of the people buying singles?)
Daft Punk would eventually place Around The World at #58 of the Hottest 100 of All Time (2009) and #59 on the Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years. Around those two achievements, Daft Punk would solidify itself as true Hottest 100 legends, having gone Top 10 with #7 Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007) and #3 Get Lucky, along with three other entries from Random Access Memories. It’s hard to imagine there will ever be another retro Hottest 100 without a significant Daft Punk presence, and yet for some reason or another, Around The World failed to take off. — PA
When Sleater-Kinney first formed back in 1994, its members had already performed as members of some of the most influential punk groups in America’s Pacific Northwest. However, after releasing seven albums in a decade, it was 2005’s The Woods that finally saw the group receiving the widespread critical acclaim they so deserved. Sadly, it was also their last album for another decade, with the trio calling it quits for a period of time while they worked on other projects.
The Woods, while one of the most accessible albums in the group’s career, also contained one of their most beloved songs, Modern Girl. Featuring lyrics that touch on feminism, consumerism, and love, while painting a simple image of what it’s like to grow up, lose your innocence, and be forced to make it on your own. Featuring simple guitars, a harmonica, and a hell of a lot of fuzz as the tune goes on, its simple lyrics have resonated with listeners since its release, who relate to the track’s statement of ambition and desperation.
36. Modern Girl - Sleater-Kinney
When Sleater-Kinney first formed back in 1994, its members had already performed as members of some of the most influential punk groups in America’s Pacific Northwest. However, after releasing seven albums in a decade, it was 2005’s The Woods that finally saw the group receiving the widespread critical acclaim they so deserved. Sadly, it was also their last album for another decade, with the trio calling it quits for a period of time while they worked on other projects.
The Woods, while one of the most accessible albums in the group’s career, also contained one of their most beloved songs, Modern Girl. Featuring lyrics that touch on feminism, consumerism, and love, while painting a simple image of what it’s like to grow up, lose your innocence, and be forced to make it on your own. Featuring simple guitars, a harmonica, and a hell of a lot of fuzz as the tune goes on, its simple lyrics have resonated with listeners since its release, who relate to the track’s statement of ambition and desperation.
Why this track was overlooked by listeners, we may never know, but we can take comfort knowing that Sleater-Kinney have more than received the acclaim that was so owed to them in their prime. - TJ
Ask anyone with an insight into the indie music scene and they’ll tell you that The Shins are one of the groups who brought the genre to the mainstream. But again, unless you were in the know, there’s a strong chance they passed you by for a few years. In fact, it wasn’t until three years after the release of The Shins’ debut album, Oh, Inverted World, that its strongest song, New Slang, gained widespread attention after being featured on the soundtrack to Garden State, which went on to win itself a Grammy Award and upped the standards for soundtracks.
“You gotta hear this one song,” proclaimed Natalie Portman in the film. “It will change your life, I swear.” From the very moment music fans heard those words and were treated to the delicate majesty of New Slang, that sentiment rang true and has continued to change lives every day. With lyrics that express feelings of disdain for relationships, jobs, life, and one’s hometown, the track found a way to be relatable to almost everyone who listened to it.
But sadly, the fact that this track didn’t hit the mainstream until three years after its release meant that it was robbed of a well-deserved spot in the Hottest 100 countdown for 2001. It seems that listeners realised their mistake though, and when the 2009 Hottest 100 of All Time rolled around, it was voted into the #72 position. Sandwiched between The Smiths and The Clash, the track well and truly received the recognition it so deserved, even if it was eight years in the making. - TJ
When Liz Phair burst onto the indie-rock scene in 1993 with her post-hookup anthem Fuck And Run, the track was almost universally misunderstood by her legions of new fans and music critics everywhere as being a song which painted herself as a sex object. On the contrary, this song was about female empowerment at a time when that very topic appeared to be largely absent from the genre.
Described by Liz Phair as a song in which she lamented her ability to find a meaningful relationship and ending up in meaningless hookups, the tune propelled her onto the world stage, and resulted in her debut album, Exile In Guyville, correctly being named as one of the greatest records of all time.
37. New Slang - The Shins
Ask anyone with an insight into the indie music scene and they’ll tell you that The Shins are one of the groups who brought the genre to the mainstream. But again, unless you were in the know, there’s a strong chance they passed you by for a few years. In fact, it wasn’t until three years after the release of The Shins’ debut album, Oh, Inverted World, that its strongest song, New Slang, gained widespread attention after being featured on the soundtrack to Garden State, which went on to win itself a Grammy Award and upped the standards for soundtracks.
“You gotta hear this one song,” proclaimed Natalie Portman in the film. “It will change your life, I swear.” From the very moment music fans heard those words and were treated to the delicate majesty of New Slang, that sentiment rang true and has continued to change lives every day. With lyrics that express feelings of disdain for relationships, jobs, life, and one’s hometown, the track found a way to be relatable to almost everyone who listened to it.
But sadly, the fact that this track didn’t hit the mainstream until three years after its release meant that it was robbed of a well-deserved spot in the Hottest 100 countdown for 2001. It seems that listeners realised their mistake though, and when the 2009 Hottest 100 of All Time rolled around, it was voted into the #72 position. Sandwiched between The Smiths and The Clash, the track well and truly received the recognition it so deserved, even if it was eight years in the making. - TJ
38. Fuck And Run - Liz Phair
When Liz Phair burst onto the indie-rock scene in 1993 with her post-hookup anthem Fuck And Run, the track was almost universally misunderstood by her legions of new fans and music critics everywhere as being a song which painted herself as a sex object. On the contrary, this song was about female empowerment at a time when that very topic appeared to be largely absent from the genre.
Described by Liz Phair as a song in which she lamented her ability to find a meaningful relationship and ending up in meaningless hookups, the tune propelled her onto the world stage, and resulted in her debut album, Exile In Guyville, correctly being named as one of the greatest records of all time.
Despite this response, and the underground success of a powerful track that aimed to normalise female sexuality, Liz Phair never really saw the level of success that she deserved in Australia. While 1994 would see Supernova, the lead single from her follow-up album Whip-Smart voted into #33, Exile In Guyville was criminally overlooked in the annals of Hottest 100 history. - TJ
Stop a music buff on the street and ask him or her what number Sweet Disposition came in the Hottest 100 and you’ll probably hear something like “Top 10”, “right up there” and even a few “it was #1 wasn’t it?”. One of the great mind-bogglers of the Hottest 100 era in Australian music is that The Temper Trap’s sublime composition did not feature at all in an annual countdown, a victim of poorly applied eligibility rules and the slow-burning nature of its rise to prominence (one that mirrors the songs own mellifluous passage to crescendo).
Originally released in September 2008, Sweet Disposition was no overnight sensation. It received some radio play in Australia and was voted to #102 in the Hottest 100 of 2008. In June 2009, The Temper Trap released its debut album Conditions, which was overlooked for Feature Album honours for Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear. In August 2009, the release of (500) Days of Summer nudged Sweet Disposition towards the mainstream, and it eventually cracked the ARIA Singles Chart during the first week of December.
39. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
Stop a music buff on the street and ask him or her what number Sweet Disposition came in the Hottest 100 and you’ll probably hear something like “Top 10”, “right up there” and even a few “it was #1 wasn’t it?”. One of the great mind-bogglers of the Hottest 100 era in Australian music is that The Temper Trap’s sublime composition did not feature at all in an annual countdown, a victim of poorly applied eligibility rules and the slow-burning nature of its rise to prominence (one that mirrors the songs own mellifluous passage to crescendo).
Originally released in September 2008, Sweet Disposition was no overnight sensation. It received some radio play in Australia and was voted to #102 in the Hottest 100 of 2008. In June 2009, The Temper Trap released its debut album Conditions, which was overlooked for Feature Album honours for Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear. In August 2009, the release of (500) Days of Summer nudged Sweet Disposition towards the mainstream, and it eventually cracked the ARIA Singles Chart during the first week of December.
Prime time, one would think, for a serious if late Hottest 100 challenge. Only problem was, eager fans trawling the voting list would find #21 Fader, #48 Science of Fear, #58 Love Lost and Down River (#141 , FWIW) but no Sweet Disposition. I actually wrote in Sweet Disposition that year, blissfully unaware that it was 18 months old (didn’t stop those Knights of Cydonia) or that it would’ve, kinda, charted twice (didn’t stop the six times a song has actually appeared twice).
Sweet Disposition received its much deserved moment in the spotlight through the first half of 2010, as it approached the two-year anniversary of its release. By this stage the band had made three distinct music videos to support it. It peaked at #14 in Australia and #8 in the UK, and scored the deeply credible #38 slot in the Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years in 2013. Furthermore, Conditions was voted #20 in the Hottest 100 of Australian Albums in 2011.
Sing it with me: Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet dis—po—sition… - PA
40. My Own Summer (Shove It) - Deftones
Okay, you got us - there’s not much metal on this list. But like hip hop, the Hottest 100 has only ever had a tokenistic relationship with heavy music. So the fact there’s only two metal songs here (spot the other one!) is pretty reflective of what a normal Hottest 100 list looks like.
But why was this track, Deftones’ breakthrough single, ignored by voters, beyond the annual lack of metal love in the poll? Probably because the album that spawned it, Around The Fur, was a super-slow burn. It didn’t even crack the ARIA top 50, yet somehow still went gold. By the time the alt-rock masses caught on to its brilliance - that swaggering hard groove, that whisper-to-a-scream, that incessant riff - the moment had passed.
Deftones never made the Hottest 100, not with this track, not with Be Quiet & Drive (Far Away), and not even with their “biggest hit” Change (In The House Of Flies). Maybe it was due to their love of a parentheses-infused song title.
Whatever the reason, to many of us '90s kids this is genuinely surprising. In fact, to those of us who were there in those brief moments in ‘97-’98 before nu-metal became a joke, this is an outrage. Hopefully this somewhat makes up for that. - MN
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