Take me to numbers 31-40...
41. Pure Massacre - Silverchair
When triple j did their Hottest 100 Aussie albums countdown in 2011, every Silverchair album made the list - hell, most of them made the top 50. But which one placed highest? That’s right, it was Frogstomp, the grungy-as-fuck debut they dropped while only 14 years of age. It was voted in at #2 behind Powderfinger’s Odyssey #5.
So it might be surprising to learn that Frogstomp is the Silverchair album with the fewest number of Hottest 100 entries. Good old Tomorrow made the cut at #5 but that’s it. No Pure Massacre, Israel Son, or Shade, all of which got considerable airplay at the time. So the inclusion of Pure Massacre in this list - a naive watching-the-news lament for humanity that could only have been written by an extremely talented 14-year-old - goes some way towards evening the ledger.
This list is all about the baffling results of the Hottest 100. That the ‘94 and ‘95 countdowns weren’t filled with Frogstomp songs is a pretty peculiar one. - MN
42. Tribute - Tenacious D
Frank Zappa once asked the question, “does humor belong in music?”, and if Tenacious D are anything to go by, then the answer is a resounding yes. Formed by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, the duo soon became a cult sensation thanks to a US television series and Black’s rising profile in Hollywood. However, when the group released their debut album in 2001, people outside the cult sat up and took notice.
Supposedly written as somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek cover of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, the legend goes that the band tried to write an even better song than Metallica’s One after Kyle Gass proclaimed it to be “the best song in the world”.
Finding themselves unable to do so, the group wrote a tribute to the world’s best song, and performed it on their TV series before it became a hit in its own right. On paper, it shouldn’t work, but thanks to Jack Black’s comical and musical versatility, Kyle Gass’ technical proficiency, and a music video featuring the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl as the devil (he also drums on the song), the track was an instant classic, though triple j listeners apparently didn’t see it that way at the time. - TJ
When UK band Gomez took to Australian stages earlier this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Mercury Music Prize-winning debut Bring It On, this was the track that drew the biggest singalong. But that record failed to lodge a single song into the Hottest 100, despite boasting such great Gomez singles as 78 Stone Wobble and Whippin’ Piccadilly.
Either or both of those could have made this list, but for singalong value alone it has to be this bouncy mix of reggae upstrokes, burnt-out slide guitar, and reckless euphoria. It’s certainly the song the 30-something and 40-something punters seemed to choose on Gomez’s most-recent Aussie tour, the ageing crowd voting with their voices and then some.
That Gomez only scored a total of four songs in the Hottest 100 over a 20-year career is a criminal act that someone should be arrested for. - MN
I am often subjected to ridicule by my girlfriend for repeated abuses of hyperbole but let me say before I even get to my latest gratuitous offence that I have no qualms on this one: Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon by Urge Overkill is not just one of the great covers of all time, it’s one of the greatest songs of all time.
Paired unforgettably with vision of Mia Wallace insufflating heroin mistaken for cocaine, UO’s interpretation of Neil Diamond’s US Top 10 hit from 1967 introduced a Bourbon-soaked grunge sensibility to the original tale of self-destructive unrequited love. Anyone who has ever loved someone who is obviously going around with the wrong partner can empathise.
The Pulp Fiction soundtrack was a cultural phenomenon, spending over a year in the Australian charts and belatedly propelling Jungle Boogie, Bustin’ Surfboards, Misrlou, and You Never Can Tell into the mainstream.
Urge Overkill had already broken in Australia prior to QT tapping them for the Pulp Fiction soundtrack - Sister Havana was #16 in the very first Hottest 100. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon came to prominence at the end of 1994, ahead of a chart run that saw it peak at #21 in early 1995, but there is a suggestion that because Urge Overkill’s (tautology alert) original cover appeared on a little-known 1992 EP, it was ineligible. Those diachronic vagaries seemed to have been applied without much consistency. - The Order Of Death by Public Image Ltd made the grade at #95 in 1999, 15 years after first being released, after being included in The Blair Witch Project.
Regardless of whether it was ineligibility or simply lack of interest, this omission has been an open sore for me for more than two decades. As I said, one of the greatest songs of all time. — PA
This has all the hallmarks of a great Chemical Brothers track - an astoundingly cool rock beat, psychedelic noises galore, talented guest vocalist (Oasis’ Noel Gallagher), and a rad film clip (courtesy of Michel Gondry). On top of that, it is a great Chemical Brothers track; one of many over the years. Yet it’s not one of the 11 songs from the electro veterans to make the Hottest 100 over the 22 years since Setting Sun put them in the countdown for the first time.
For the record, Setting Sun also featured an astoundingly cool rock beat, plenty of psychedelic noises, a talented guest vocalist (Oasis’ Noel Gallagher again), and a not-as-cool film clip. Go figure. Had this race already been run? Surely not.
There are a stack of great Chemical Brothers tracks not in those 11 songs. Let Forever Be just happens to be one of their best, and for inexplicable reasons, it didn’t make the cut. How does it feel like? Weird - just like the grammar in that sentence. - MN
In 2002, Interpol became one of the biggest buzz bands in the indie rock genre. Cementing themselves as one of the leading acts in the post-punk revival of the early ‘00s, Interpol released their debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights, in August to overwhelming critical acclaim.
43. Get Myself Arrested - Gomez
When UK band Gomez took to Australian stages earlier this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Mercury Music Prize-winning debut Bring It On, this was the track that drew the biggest singalong. But that record failed to lodge a single song into the Hottest 100, despite boasting such great Gomez singles as 78 Stone Wobble and Whippin’ Piccadilly.
Either or both of those could have made this list, but for singalong value alone it has to be this bouncy mix of reggae upstrokes, burnt-out slide guitar, and reckless euphoria. It’s certainly the song the 30-something and 40-something punters seemed to choose on Gomez’s most-recent Aussie tour, the ageing crowd voting with their voices and then some.
That Gomez only scored a total of four songs in the Hottest 100 over a 20-year career is a criminal act that someone should be arrested for. - MN
44. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Urge Overkill
I am often subjected to ridicule by my girlfriend for repeated abuses of hyperbole but let me say before I even get to my latest gratuitous offence that I have no qualms on this one: Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon by Urge Overkill is not just one of the great covers of all time, it’s one of the greatest songs of all time.
Paired unforgettably with vision of Mia Wallace insufflating heroin mistaken for cocaine, UO’s interpretation of Neil Diamond’s US Top 10 hit from 1967 introduced a Bourbon-soaked grunge sensibility to the original tale of self-destructive unrequited love. Anyone who has ever loved someone who is obviously going around with the wrong partner can empathise.
The Pulp Fiction soundtrack was a cultural phenomenon, spending over a year in the Australian charts and belatedly propelling Jungle Boogie, Bustin’ Surfboards, Misrlou, and You Never Can Tell into the mainstream.
Urge Overkill had already broken in Australia prior to QT tapping them for the Pulp Fiction soundtrack - Sister Havana was #16 in the very first Hottest 100. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon came to prominence at the end of 1994, ahead of a chart run that saw it peak at #21 in early 1995, but there is a suggestion that because Urge Overkill’s (tautology alert) original cover appeared on a little-known 1992 EP, it was ineligible. Those diachronic vagaries seemed to have been applied without much consistency. - The Order Of Death by Public Image Ltd made the grade at #95 in 1999, 15 years after first being released, after being included in The Blair Witch Project.
Regardless of whether it was ineligibility or simply lack of interest, this omission has been an open sore for me for more than two decades. As I said, one of the greatest songs of all time. — PA
45. Let Forever Be - The Chemical Brothers
This has all the hallmarks of a great Chemical Brothers track - an astoundingly cool rock beat, psychedelic noises galore, talented guest vocalist (Oasis’ Noel Gallagher), and a rad film clip (courtesy of Michel Gondry). On top of that, it is a great Chemical Brothers track; one of many over the years. Yet it’s not one of the 11 songs from the electro veterans to make the Hottest 100 over the 22 years since Setting Sun put them in the countdown for the first time.
For the record, Setting Sun also featured an astoundingly cool rock beat, plenty of psychedelic noises, a talented guest vocalist (Oasis’ Noel Gallagher again), and a not-as-cool film clip. Go figure. Had this race already been run? Surely not.
There are a stack of great Chemical Brothers tracks not in those 11 songs. Let Forever Be just happens to be one of their best, and for inexplicable reasons, it didn’t make the cut. How does it feel like? Weird - just like the grammar in that sentence. - MN
46. Obstacle 1 - Interpol
In 2002, Interpol became one of the biggest buzz bands in the indie rock genre. Cementing themselves as one of the leading acts in the post-punk revival of the early ‘00s, Interpol released their debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights, in August to overwhelming critical acclaim.
Despite the fact the record has gone on to be considered one of the greatest of not only the decade but of all time, it’s rare to hear any of these songs played on the radio, or even alternative music television today. While tracks like Untitled and NYC are often considered highlights, the group would escape mainstream fame for a couple of years still.
The second single from the album, Obstacle 1, has however managed to worm its way into retrospective fame, with its driving guitar line, forceful vocals from frontman Paul Banks, and its somewhat cryptic lyrics. As time went on, the track would make end-of-year lists and even feature on the soundtrack to Guitar Hero, yet all of this acclaim was sadly delayed.
The second single from the album, Obstacle 1, has however managed to worm its way into retrospective fame, with its driving guitar line, forceful vocals from frontman Paul Banks, and its somewhat cryptic lyrics. As time went on, the track would make end-of-year lists and even feature on the soundtrack to Guitar Hero, yet all of this acclaim was sadly delayed.
Who’s to say how popular Interpol would have been if modern radio was able to jump on this track with more eagerness? And who knows, we might not have had to wait until 2004 to finally see Interpol rightfully score a place in a Hottest 100 countdown. - TJ
What the hell has that tall handsome man near the viaduct been doing? Why is his right hand so red? It didn’t take long for Red Right Hand, perchance the most visceral song of all time, to creep its way into our waking nightmares. Soon after its release in 1994 it started appearing in TV shows like The X-Files and films such as the Scream franchise, Hellboy and Dumb and Dumber (yes, really) as a moribund theme song worthy of the most haunted charnel house. And Peaky Blinders. And Jack Irish. And so on and so forth.
The celebrated darkness of Red Right Hand is so established now to have reached parody: the Barossa Valley tourism honchos exploited South Australia’s serial killer notoriety and used it to glorious effect in one of the best campaigns ads ever thrust at your senses.
It goes without saying that Cave and fellow bad seeds Mick Harvey and Thomas Wydler could have purchased a trench coat factory with the money made from licensing this particular pre-Murder Ballads murder ballad. In fact, Red Right Hand came out right between #11 Do You Love Me? and #8 Where The Wild Roses Grow - that is, right at Peak Cave (would that be a stalactite or stalagmite?) so it’s not like this track suffered from being a moment out of time, not in Triple J’s wheelhouse or just too problematic.
47. Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
What the hell has that tall handsome man near the viaduct been doing? Why is his right hand so red? It didn’t take long for Red Right Hand, perchance the most visceral song of all time, to creep its way into our waking nightmares. Soon after its release in 1994 it started appearing in TV shows like The X-Files and films such as the Scream franchise, Hellboy and Dumb and Dumber (yes, really) as a moribund theme song worthy of the most haunted charnel house. And Peaky Blinders. And Jack Irish. And so on and so forth.
The celebrated darkness of Red Right Hand is so established now to have reached parody: the Barossa Valley tourism honchos exploited South Australia’s serial killer notoriety and used it to glorious effect in one of the best campaigns ads ever thrust at your senses.
It goes without saying that Cave and fellow bad seeds Mick Harvey and Thomas Wydler could have purchased a trench coat factory with the money made from licensing this particular pre-Murder Ballads murder ballad. In fact, Red Right Hand came out right between #11 Do You Love Me? and #8 Where The Wild Roses Grow - that is, right at Peak Cave (would that be a stalactite or stalagmite?) so it’s not like this track suffered from being a moment out of time, not in Triple J’s wheelhouse or just too problematic.
Red Right Hand is one of the rare tracks to appear in an all-time Hottest 100 — #96 in the 1998 edition — but not in annual countdown. It failed to make subsequent appearances in 2009 (all-time) and 2013 (20 Years of the Hottest 100); a surprise, as one woulda thought all those licensing deals would have only broadened its appeal. — PA
Having formed the critically-acclaimed rock group The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile is basically a member of indie royalty. Performing with the group until 2009 before leaving to work on his solo career, it wasn’t until 2013, courtesy of the release of his fifth album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze, that Vile began to see any sort of widespread fame, followed two years later with his stunning single Pretty Pimpin.
As it was, Pretty Pimpin was in with a good chance of making the Hottest 100 countdown in 2015, but sadly just missed out and stalled at a very respectable #106. While the track was somewhat of a different vibe for triple j listeners, featuring a country-tinged finger-style guitar line, and seemingly rambling lyrics that focused on Depersonalisation Disorder, it was a stunning tune that quite likely did a lot better than many expected.
48. Pretty Pimpin - Kurt Vile
Having formed the critically-acclaimed rock group The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile is basically a member of indie royalty. Performing with the group until 2009 before leaving to work on his solo career, it wasn’t until 2013, courtesy of the release of his fifth album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze, that Vile began to see any sort of widespread fame, followed two years later with his stunning single Pretty Pimpin.
As it was, Pretty Pimpin was in with a good chance of making the Hottest 100 countdown in 2015, but sadly just missed out and stalled at a very respectable #106. While the track was somewhat of a different vibe for triple j listeners, featuring a country-tinged finger-style guitar line, and seemingly rambling lyrics that focused on Depersonalisation Disorder, it was a stunning tune that quite likely did a lot better than many expected.
However, while many may have found the tune as something of a slow-burner, and one that they needed to grow on, they may have waited too long to finally come around to it, and managed to rob the track of a well-deserved place in the top 100. - TJ
2Pac made the Hottest 100 in 1996, the year he died. There was no such tribute for Christopher George Latore Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G. AKA Biggie Smalls. Mo Money Mo Problems would have been a good candidate for a posthumous inclusion, given it went to #10 in Australia in 1997, about four months after Biggie’s death. Sadly, this didn’t happen, despite Hottest 100 voters having a good track record in voting for the recently deceased (Cobain, Buckley, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, 2Pac).
But if we’re going to give Biggie his dues, it’s hard to go past his rags-to-riches breakthrough single Juicy. Its belated accolades make it one of the most highly regarded hip hop tracks of all time - VH1 and rap mag Ego Trip called it the best hip hop song of the ‘90s, Q called it the ninth best rap song of all time, and it has featured prominently in lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Blender and The Source. Respect. - MN
49. Juicy - The Notorious B.I.G.
2Pac made the Hottest 100 in 1996, the year he died. There was no such tribute for Christopher George Latore Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G. AKA Biggie Smalls. Mo Money Mo Problems would have been a good candidate for a posthumous inclusion, given it went to #10 in Australia in 1997, about four months after Biggie’s death. Sadly, this didn’t happen, despite Hottest 100 voters having a good track record in voting for the recently deceased (Cobain, Buckley, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, 2Pac).
But if we’re going to give Biggie his dues, it’s hard to go past his rags-to-riches breakthrough single Juicy. Its belated accolades make it one of the most highly regarded hip hop tracks of all time - VH1 and rap mag Ego Trip called it the best hip hop song of the ‘90s, Q called it the ninth best rap song of all time, and it has featured prominently in lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Blender and The Source. Respect. - MN
50. Elastic Heart - Sia
Sia is the twelfth and final (to date) Australian artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100. She did so with her dancehall crossover toe-tapper Cheap Thrills, with Sean Paul. Before reaching this apogee of commercial success, the Adelaide native traversed a rocky outcrop on the indie-pop fringes, battled alcohol and substance abuse issues, and fought to break out from her nook as a songwriter into fully-fledged independent stardom.
Early albums OnlySee and Healing Is Difficult were barely noticed but then Colour The Small One gained some traction off the back of #87 Breathe Me, leading the way for Some People Have Real Problems and We Are Born, which propelled her to the b-list. Guest spots on some pop jams by Flo Rida and David Guetta threatened to derail her triple j cred but the authenticity mavens stuck solid and the release of 1000 Forms of Fear, swinging on the highs of super single Chandelier, was supported with significant airplay for, intriguingly, supporting tracks Burn The Pages, Hostage and Fire Meet Gasoline.
Maybe it was the blowback to Chandelier qualifying for the same Hottest 100 Shake It Off was denied, but there was no repeat for that song’s spiritual sequel Elastic Heart, which is just as amazing. — PA
Early albums OnlySee and Healing Is Difficult were barely noticed but then Colour The Small One gained some traction off the back of #87 Breathe Me, leading the way for Some People Have Real Problems and We Are Born, which propelled her to the b-list. Guest spots on some pop jams by Flo Rida and David Guetta threatened to derail her triple j cred but the authenticity mavens stuck solid and the release of 1000 Forms of Fear, swinging on the highs of super single Chandelier, was supported with significant airplay for, intriguingly, supporting tracks Burn The Pages, Hostage and Fire Meet Gasoline.
Maybe it was the blowback to Chandelier qualifying for the same Hottest 100 Shake It Off was denied, but there was no repeat for that song’s spiritual sequel Elastic Heart, which is just as amazing. — PA
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