So what if some of those not-so-awesome tunes (I'm looking at you, Bevan: The Musical) made way for some bona fide classics? Here are 11 songs that you won’t believe missed the 1999 Hottest 100.
READ MORE ABOUT SONGS THAT MISSED TRIPLE J'S HOTTEST 100 HERE!
Darude - Sandstorm
This meme-worthy Finnish trance tune took a long time to achieve the (slightly ironic) renown it now enjoys, so it's understandable that it didn't make the grade in 1999. In fact, it was only properly released in most countries in 2000, cracking the ARIA charts in July of that year. But I'll bet former triple j presenter Alex Dyson is perpetually disappointed by the fact his signature tune never made the Hottest 100.
Bonus fact: Finland's only entry in the Hottest 100 came in 2000 thanks to Bomfunk MCs and their song Freestyler, which landed at #24.
Bonus fact: Finland's only entry in the Hottest 100 came in 2000 thanks to Bomfunk MCs and their song Freestyler, which landed at #24.
Eminem - My Name Is
In 1999, triple j was one of the first (if not the first) Australian radio stations to play Eminem, giving regular rotations to this, his breakthrough track. It was edgy AF at the time and unlike any other hip hop being played on the js. Although, to be fair, there wasn't a huge amount of hip hop on triple j back then. In fact, only one hip hop tune made it into the Hottest 100 of 1999 - Everlast's What It's Like. When experts write up lists of the greatest hip hop songs of all time, guess which rates higher - What It's Like or My Name Is? The answer is not What It's Like.
Bonus fact: Eminem had one brief golden year with the Hottest 100 (2002) when he had three songs in the countdown, including all-time anthem Lose Yourself at #7.
Bonus fact: Eminem had one brief golden year with the Hottest 100 (2002) when he had three songs in the countdown, including all-time anthem Lose Yourself at #7.
Smash Mouth - All Star
Like Darude's Sandstorm, this is all about the memes these days. Back in 1999, All Star was too mainstream to get a lot of airplay on triple j, even though Smash Mouth's Walkin' On The Sun made it all the way to #11 in the 1997 Hottest 100. But have a look through the playlist from the '99 countdown and tell me All Star doesn't belong on there. Is there a song that typifies 1999 more?
Bonus fact: According to IMDb, All Star has been used on at least 15 different movies and TV shows. Meanwhile, YouTube has thousands of insane remixes, mashups, and reinterpretations of it.
Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar
I distinctly remember hearing this song for the first time. Triple j guru Richard Kingsmill played it on his 1999 program, introducing it as something coming out of Iceland that was unlike anything you'd ever heard before. He wasn't wrong. I was driving at the time and arrived at my destination one minute into the song, but sat in the car for the next six minutes to hear the rest. For mine, it's one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever, from an all-time classic album. Is it an injustice that Sigur Ros have only made it into the Hottest 100 once (Gobbledigook reached #93 in 2008)? Yes. Is it surprising? Not entirely - this kind of glacial, ethereal music is not to all tastes.
Bonus fact: Sigur Ros was the third Icelandic act to make it into the Hottest 100, following Bjork (of course) and Emiliana Torrini. Frontman Jonsi has also made it into the countdown as a solo artist (Go Do reached #96 in 2010).
The Chemical Brothers feat. Noel Gallagher - Let Forever Be
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). 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 featured another astoundingly cool rock beat, plenty of psychedelic noises, a talented guest vocalist (Oasis’ Noel Gallagher), and a not-as-cool film clip. 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.
Bonus fact: Also disappointing is the fact nothing off The Chemical Brothers' 2019 album No Geography landed in the 2019 Hottest 100. Their most recent entry was in 2015 (Go at #46), which ended an eight-year Hottest 100 drought for the duo.
Shihad - My Mind's Sedate
Don't call them Pacifier. Just forget that happened (although the "self-titled" Pacifier is actually pretty good). Let's just remember the less confusing times, when these Kiwi hard-rockers were blowing minds via triple j's airwaves, first with their 1997 single Home Again, then with their ballbusting 1999 album The General Electric. Unbelievably Home Again never made it into the Hottest 100, and the single Pacifier was the only The General Electric track to get voted into the poll. Why not this three-minute burst of raging against the machine?
Bonus fact: Shihad are one of the few bands (Rufus AKA Rufus Du Sol is another) to crack the Hottest 100 under two different names - in 2000 as Shihad with the song Pacifier (#25) and in 2002 as Pacifier with the song Comfort Me (#34).
Muse - Muscle Museum
Muse are one of the most successful acts in Hottest 100 history, with 17 entries including a win for Knights Of Cydonia in 2007. Their first entry was in 2000 with the track Sunburn (#82), but the year before saw triple j blasting a couple of their earlier singles, including this unique rocker. It's a favourite among Muse fans, but obviously there weren't enough of those in 1999.
Bonus fact: Muse's last entry into the Hottest 100 was 2012, when Madness reached #75.
Tom Waits - Big In Japan
Tom Waits. A songwriter’s songwriter. Arguably one of the most daring and influential artists of the past 50 years. Number of Hottest 100 entries – zero. This song is probably the closest he came to scoring a slot in the poll. It was played heavily on triple j when Mule Variations was released, and for many late-Gen Xers/early-Gen Ys, it was their first introduction to the weirdly wonderful uniqueness that is Tom Waits. And what a glorious introduction it is. It’s far from his greatest song (Waits biographer Barney Hoskins doesn’t even rate it in the top 50 Waits tracks in his excellent book Lowside Of The Road) but it sums up so much about the iconic musician. It’s clattering and banging yet hooky and happening, it seems so easy yet oozes class and wit, and it’s strangely timeless and unbeholden to any musical trend of its time or before. And front and centre, is Mr Waits, barking like a carnival hype-man at the end of a long whisky-soaked run on the road, reminding us that, yes, he’s kind of a big deal.
Bonus fact: Mule Variations went to #13 on the ARIA charts, which was his best effort in Australia until Bad As Me reached #11 in 2011.
Ben Folds Five - Narcolepsy
Of Ben Folds Five's six entries into the Hottest 100, one comes from their self-titled debut, three from Whatever And Ever Amen, one from their 1999 farewell ...Reinhold Messner, and one from their comeback The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind. It's the 1999 album that's relevant here, and this song - the opening track - is a prime candidate for inclusion on this list. With its sweeping strings, frantic drums, buzzing bass, and Ben Folds' beautiful piano playing and soul-bearing lyrics, it's a stand-out track on the album. While not a single, it got a lot of airplay on triple j, along with other non-singles Mess, Magic and Your Redneck Past. It's an incredible piece of music, that soars and explodes, yet has incredible moments of fragility.
Bonus fact: Ben Folds has had eight solo appearances in the Hottest 100 (including one tune featuring Regina Spektor) compared to six with Ben Folds Five. He also had one appearance as part of The Bens in 2003 (Just Pretend at #52).
Gomez - Bring It On
Gomez made the Hottest 100 four times, but the year 2000 was their first appearance. They had two songs that year - We Haven't Turned Around (#35) from the album Liquid Skin, and Machismo (#38) from the Machismo EP. That leaves an awful lot of great songs from their first two albums Bring It On and Liquid Skin that didn't make the cut, including this gem, which is from Liquid Skin despite its title. Surely this is objectively a better song than, oh, say, Bevan: The Musical?
Bonus fact: Gomez didn't have a band name when they played first gig in 1996, but stuck a sign out the front saying "Gomez in here" to alert their friend surnamed Gomez to the location of the gig. People thought Gomez was the name of the band, and it stuck.
The Flaming Lips - Buggin'
Aside from a single guest appearance on a Chemical Brothers song, The Flaming Lips have never featured in a Hottest 100. It's insane when you consider not only how many awesome songs they have, but also how much love triple j has given them over the years. This was the track that got the most airplay off the Lips' classic album The Soft Bulletin, but you could have picked any of a number of tunes from that record for this list.
Bonus fact: This song is not to be confused with the track by the same name that appears on the Space Jam soundtrack sung by Bugs Bunny.
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