triple j's Hottest 100 Omissions: 81-90

Take me to numbers 71-80...

81. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town - Pearl Jam

Ok, call us crazy for putting three tracks from Pearl Jam’s Vs on this list, but think about how big this band is/was, how much triple j loved them, how big grunge was circa 1993 (the first year of the Hottest 100), and how much triple j loved grunge. There were two Pet Shop Boys songs in the ‘93 countdown, two Headless Chickens songs and two King Missile songs, yet only one Pearl Jam song. Which of these bands screams “1993” to you the most? Odds are it’s Pearl Jam.

Bear in mind pretty much every song off Vs got a spin on the js at that time (I know, I was there, listening to triple j for the first time that very year, taping Request Fest religiously). But perhaps, more importantly considering they made the countdown 14 times, is the fact this is one of Pearl Jam’s best-loved songs. It charted in the US despite not being released as a single on two separate occasions, it featured on their ‘best of’, and has been included on plenty of their impossibly numerous live albums.

Even the people that don’t like Pearl Jam seem to like this song. And that’s possibly the biggest recommendation you can give a Pearl Jam song. - MN

82. Dakota - Stereophonics

By the time Wales’ Stereophonics released their fifth album, Language. Sex. Violence. Other?, in 2005, some cynical music fans may have believed that the group were past their best-before date. While their popularity had remained constant over in the UK, many down in Australia might have forgotten about the group since the release of their 1999 and 2001 albums, Performance And Cocktails and Just Enough Education To Perform. However, the group was ready to show off exactly what made them special when they released the introspective Dakota.

Featuring elements of new wave, and featuring a less abrasive sound than had been found on some of their more rock-oriented albums, Dakota saw the group deliver a stunning love song that shot the group to the top of the UK charts, becoming their most popular track there, and the only tune of theirs to crack the ARIA top 50, hitting #22.

Sadly, this success didn’t translate over to the Hottest 100 chart where, to date, Stereophonics are still yet to place. While tracks like The Bartender And The Thief and Have A Nice Day had already been overlooked by triple j listeners, maybe it’s clear that Stereophonics are destined to be one of the poll’s greatest ‘what-ifs’. - TJ

83. Heavy Disco - The Bennies

When The Bennies first formed in the late ‘00s under the name Madonna (yes, really), few could have thought that within just a matter of years they would become one of the most beloved party-starters that Melbourne has ever seen. Providing fun-loving ska tunes that pay tribute to having a good time and indulging in a few substances along the way, The Bennies cracked the Hottest 100 for the first time in 2015, hitting #88 with Party Machine. However, it was the year prior that the group unleashed arguably one of the best tracks they’ve ever laid down.

Coming from the EP of the same name, Heavy Disco is undoubtedly one of the tightest tracks that the group have ever recorded. With lyrics that wholly focus on heading out with mates and having a night on the town, the tune is home to some of the slickest production in The Bennies’ discography, and one of the greatest choruses that Aussie crowds have ever had the pleasure to scream out in concert. Needless to say, with a tune this upbeat and enjoyable, it’s a wonder it didn’t resonate with triple j’s fun-loving listeners. - TJ

84. Death To The Apple Gerls - Gerling

When Gerling first formed in the early ‘90s, few would have been aware of the future that the group would have. Starting out as an indie-rock group, the group would continue to evolve over the years, charting in the Hottest 100 with tracks such as the ambient Enter, Space Capsule, the dance-floor hit Dust Me Selecta, and the enigmatic Who’s Ya Daddy?. However, when the group released their debut album, Children Of Telepathic Experiences, back in 1998, the group’s tunes were a pretty even split between their alt-rock beginnings and their new electronic leanings.

One of the album’s main singles, Death To The Apple Gerls, showcased the band’s idiosyncratic nature as they mixed in a stunning singalong chorus with lyrics that were equal parts cryptic and socially-conscious. Supposedly written as a response to the presentation of women in advertisements as always being seductive (à la, Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden), the track was a moderate underground hit, spawning a memorable video and performance on Recovery, which saw the band almost succeeding in making backpacks cool again. Sadly, triple j listeners waited until 1999 to finally vote the group into the Hottest 100 countdown with the decidedly different Enter, Space Capsule, but hey, at least the band received the kudos they truly deserved for a stunning debut album. - TJ

85. Sure Shot - Beastie Boys

By 1994, the Beastie Boys had become superstars of the hip-hop world, helping to bridge the gap between its underground status and its more mainstream future. After the impossible worldwide success of their debut Licence To Ill (which only made it #62 in Australia), the band retreated into themselves and redefined their sound and what they stood for. The release of the group’s fourth album, Ill Communication, proved to be the moment the reborn group truly broke Down Under, charting within the ARIA top ten for the first time, and appearing in a Hottest 100 for the first time with the iconic Sabotage at #16.

Meanwhile, the album’s opening track, the group’s criminally underrated Sure Shot was also released as a single, though it barely managed to make any impact on charts around the world. Despite this, fans and the band alike have considered it to be one of the Beastie Boys’ finest moments. Constructed like an average pop song as it switches between performing members through its straightforward chorus-verse-chorus style, Sure Shot was never really a contender for the Hottest 100 in that year, though by all accounts, this perfect representation of the group’s dynamic should have been one of their biggest singles.

While Richard Kingsmill would later cite it as one of the songs that would make his personal Hottest 100 Of All Time, listeners would spend the next four years with Sabotage as the only Beastie Boys song to have charted in a countdown. - TJ

86. Carol - The Peep Tempel

One could never credulously suppose that The Peep Tempel has created a large fanbase but those that do enjoy the mixed singing and spoken word character studies of the Melbourne post-punk are at least perfervid. It wasn’t the bursting amphitheatre mosh you get for The Smith Street Band but when The Peep Tempel played its high-noon set on a sunny Splendour Sunday in 2017 it was a harmonious congregation, pleasantly waiting patiently through the band’s repertoire before finally getting the chance to belt out such distinctive hippocampus-etched flourishes like “I don’t think Trevor is good for you”, “I don’t want to be a fuckin Christmas ham” and the borderline Shakespearean “I’m the one who has been helping you through the divorce, Carol”.

Released late in the year and only on occasional rotation due to its saucy language, creepy subject matter and 1990s grunge sound redolent of, say, Days of the New’s best songs or Soundgarden’s worst, Carol performed manfully to hit #128 in the second Hottest 100, and maybe with some broader exposure and maybe some Triple M playback, it could have cracked the 100 and cemented its place as one of the best, if curiously unusual, throwback rock tracks of the decade. As it stands, we’ll all just have to accept the reality that maybe there is an unworthy Trevor inside all of us. — PA

87. Colour Television - Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Eddy Current Suppression Ring are one of those groups that really shouldn’t have worked on paper. Comprised of workmates at a vinyl factory who decided to start playing music on a whim, the group would within five years become one of the most celebrated Melbourne rock groups of the decade. With a raw, primal approach to playing their music, and a rather DIY aesthetic behind them, the group garnered plenty of triple j airtime with the release of their second album, Primary Colours, which also saw the band nominated for an ARIA Award and won them the Australian Music Prize.

While Which Way To Go scored itself a spot at #166 in 2008, fan favourite Colour Television remained nowhere to be seen. A slow-burning criticism of the media, the track was a live anthem, and even got the Like A Version treatment in 2010 when Jonathan Boulet performed a stunning rendition of the track. Despite the massive success that the group experienced back in 2008, it’s a complete head-scratcher as to why they remained out of the annual 100. Maybe it was a case of too many great songs and the votes were split, or maybe, to paraphrase Marty McFly, listeners weren’t quite ready for that sound just yet. - TJ

88. All These Things That I’ve Done - The Killers

There’s no doubting the power of The Killers’ debut album, Hot Fuss. After all, with their lead single, Somebody Told Me, reaching #4 in the 2004 countdown, and their enduring hit Mr. Brightside not only reaching #13 (ya jokin', should've been higher!), but also spending a total of 201 weeks in the UK charts, it’s easy to call the record a massive success. However, out of all the singles released from their debut album, only one, All These Things That I’ve Done, remained absent from the 2004 Hottest 100. Charting five places higher than Smile Like You Mean It on the Aussie charts, All These Things That I’ve Done should have been a sure thing, with its constant airplay and anthemic qualities scoring it huge acclaim across the board.

While its omission from the Hottest 100 might be considered a mystery to many, an explanation may come from the fact that fans may not have actually known what the track is called. In fact, if you Google the track, you find an awful lot of results for the track being referred to by its bridge lyrics, “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier”, with the track’s title only appearing twice in the song, and at the very end no less.

Considering the track’s widespread popularity, this might be the closest thing we get to a resolution, and it could even serve as advice to future rock stars; if you want success, make sure people can identify your track by its title alone. - TJ

89. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Ol' Dirty Bastard

There are approximately 116 members of Wu-Tang Clan (give or take a few) and not a single one of them has ever made it into the Hottest 100. Given their influence on rap since busting out in ‘93 with their single Protect Ya Neck - collectively and individually - it’s a bit of an oversight.

So what’s the one song to correct that faux pas? We’re going with this cut from the craziest of the Clan, the late ODB, who had a prolific career despite his premature death and his considerable “legal troubles”. Shimmy Shimmy Ya boasts one of the best hooks in rap, as well as some of the best sample work of the time (particularly that nifty two-note nick from Stevie Wonder’s Knocks Me Off My Feet), courtesy of fellow WTC member RZA.

It’s so good the song has been sampled or interpolated in more than 80 songs since. That’s the ultimate compliment, even higher than inclusion on this list. Just. - MN

90. Closer - Tegan & Sara

Tegan and Sara Quin are Canadian lesbian identical twin vegan sisters. Okay, I just made up the vegan bit because it sounds so on-brand for the prolific indie pop duettists.

Their 2000s output was a cultural touchstone during the precipitous rise of college campus-fostered identity politics, so much so they were playing on Lena Dunham’s stereo when she wrote up her Girls treatise.

There was some debate in the halls of Hottest 100 Omissions HQ regarding which Tegan & Sara track’s snubbing was most egregious. There was no debate, however, that only three entries — #42 Back In Your Head, #70 The Con, #99 Hell — in a countdown from T&S’s oeuvre is a malign oversight. I fought for Closer because it is an insanely catchy synth-pop number with some delightful uptalked singing on “closer” at the opening and then on the half rhymes “critical” and “typical”, all festooned upon an otherwise conventional number outlining unrequited lust.

Adding to Closer’s broad appeal, it was featured in episodes of Glee, Friends From College and BoJack Horseman, alongside ads for AT&T and the WWE, and it has a music video involving karaoke.

On an incidental note, Tegan & Sara is one of several acts to have charted a Hottest 100 track and been namechecked in a separate entry, NOFX’s #88 Creeping Out Sara. How many more can you name? - PA

Take me to numbers 91-101...