Last week Triple J announced its most recent Hottest 100 Songs of All Time countdown, as voted on by the public, and as is always the case with such things, I read the list with varying amounts of dismay and incredulity. And a large amount of “I shouldn’t care about this so why am I allowing this foolishness to piss me off?”
I won’t bore you all with my pithy shallow analysis, but I will say this – while I don’t mind Nirvana and I quite like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, I certainly don’t think it’s the ‘hottest song of all time’, even though it also came in at #1 in 1991 when the last one of these things was held. And I’m not sure that Red Hot Chilli Peppers or the Foo Fighters belong in the top 10 either.
I was glad to see some Aussie talent featured on the list (well I should hope so!) but I was slightly disappointed to see that the highest Aussie placing was at #17, with the Hilltop Hoods ‘The Nosebleed Section’. I was also quite horrified to read that, apart from two guest vocalists on Massive Attack’s two tracks, no female artists made the final list. I think that really sucks.
Now that I’ve made those totally trivial and unimportant observations about this trivial and unimportant event, I would like to add that one of the wonderful things about music is its subjectivity and it would be pretty boring if we all liked the same stuff wouldn’t it?
Still.
Here’s the Top 10, and you can head here to check out the rest.
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
2. Killing In The Name – Rage Against The Machine
3. Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
4. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
5. Paranoid Android – Radiohead
6. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
7. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
8. Under The Bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Everlong – Foo Fighters
10.Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin
And here’s a sample of the Aussie artists that made the cut:
#17 The Nosebleed Section – Hilltop Hoods
#34 Prisoner Of Society – The Living End
#50 Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House
#59 One Crowded Hour – Augie March
See even here I have problems. ‘Prisoner Of Society’ and ‘The Nosebleed Section’ better than ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ and ‘One Crowded Hour’? I don’t think so!
zico01 said:
Tag surfed yer blog on Powderfinger, glad they made 21, though there are better songs by them….
Sorry can’t stand crowded house though…
Greetings from the UK, all the best Gareth
Pedro said:
Irrespective of the UK contribution… I don’t think so either.
Ave age of the contributors was 21. Can’t believe that there wasn’t more recent material.
Nirvana (yawn)
Pedro
itallstarted said:
‘These Days’ has always been hugely popular down here but while I love it, I agree they have written better. Thanks for stopping by Gareth!
Pedro, I was wondering about the age of the contributors, and I actually thought the majority of them must’ve been older, given that the same songs keep cropping up each year, including some that have been featured in every one of these conducted over the last 20 years (Joy Division, anyone?). Interesting.
nat said:
No way with the Foo Fighters over Crowded House. Just no way!
itallstarted said:
I KNOW!!
sinner73 said:
Agree, Don’t Dream Its Over should be way higher given the other selction of songs – Crowded House could and should have been one of the biggest bands ever…
Cheers
itallstarted said:
Yes! Another Crowdies fan. Well said!
A Free Man said:
Of all time? No. Of the last twenty years? Probably. And Rage at #2? Come on. You’re right about the lack of gals on the list – shocking.
itallstarted said:
It does sound slightly better when you change it to the last 20 years!
jc said:
Surprised you gave the oxygen of publicity to the rundown.
Best avoided at all times.
itallstarted said:
Yes, I did debate that a bit, but still felt like a lukewarm rant was warranted!