Szilvia GombolaTime Travel with Hottest 100 Flashbacks
February 23rd 2007 12:00
Ahh, Australia Day! Lamb chops on the BBQ, backyard cricket, ice-cold VB, red hot sand and sunburn, and an ever increasing and angry mob of drunk young Australians roaming the streets draped in flags on a patriotic rampage that looks more and more like a redneck convention in disguise every year. When exactly did Australia Day become such an aggressive outpouring of national pride among youths? The Cronulla riots probably played a big part in drawing the Aussie flag out of its long-time slumber and into the forefront of modern youth culture – just look at how the flag has infiltrated the surf fashion industry, from bikinis and board shorts to thongs and tattoos. Of course, the flag is now a news issue in its own right after The Big Day Out concerts tried to discourage its use for aggressive, anti-social purposes. This is all a discussion for another time and another blog, but the point is Australia Day has come and gone again and what are your memories (hopefully not being bashed by a flag brandishing skinhead).
For me, the consistent heartbeat of Australian Day has been the Triple J Hottest 100 countdown. The day-long playlist of the previous year’s best songs, as voted by listeners, is an Australia Day institution and one that more inclusively reflects all the diverse elements that make up modern Aussie culture, more so than a flag or pair of thongs.
The songs can also reflect the moods of the time (both personally and collectively) and that is where the travel hook comes in – in case you were wondering.
I read somewhere once that the creation of music is as close as humankind has ever got to replicating nature – that it is a powerful force that can transport us to other times, places and feelings.
Therefore, in the spirit of experimental travel why not take a trip down Australia Day memory lane through the history of the Hottest 100 Number One songs.
Can you remember where you were, what you were doing, who you were with when Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit thrust grunge onto the world, or when the soulful whisperings of Tim Freedman claimed the top gong with No Aphrodisiac? Not just where you were on Australian Day, but what memories that song brings back (and if you even liked it).
Enjoy the trip.
2006: One Crowded Hour, Augie March
2005: Wish You Well, Bernard Fanning
2004: Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand
2003: Are You Going to be My Girl, Jet
2002: No One Knows, Queens of the Stone Age
2001: Amazing, Alex Lloyd
2000: My Happiness, Powderfinger
1999: These Days, Powderfinger
1998: Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), The Offspring
1997: No Aphrodisiac, The Whitlams
1996: Buy Me a Pony, Spiderbait
1995: Wonderwall, Oasis
1994: Zombie, Cranberries
1993: Asshole, Denis Leary
1991: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
1990: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division (Hottest 100 of All Time)
1990: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division (Hottest 100 of All Time)
The songs can also reflect the moods of the time (both personally and collectively) and that is where the travel hook comes in – in case you were wondering.
I read somewhere once that the creation of music is as close as humankind has ever got to replicating nature – that it is a powerful force that can transport us to other times, places and feelings.
Therefore, in the spirit of experimental travel why not take a trip down Australia Day memory lane through the history of the Hottest 100 Number One songs.
Enjoy the trip.
2006: One Crowded Hour, Augie March
Tim Freedman had us swooning in 1997
2005: Wish You Well, Bernard Fanning
2004: Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand
2003: Are You Going to be My Girl, Jet
2002: No One Knows, Queens of the Stone Age
2001: Amazing, Alex Lloyd
2000: My Happiness, Powderfinger
1999: These Days, Powderfinger
1998: Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), The Offspring
1997: No Aphrodisiac, The Whitlams
1996: Buy Me a Pony, Spiderbait
1995: Wonderwall, Oasis
1994: Zombie, Cranberries
1993: Asshole, Denis Leary
1991: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
1990: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division (Hottest 100 of All Time)
1990: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division (Hottest 100 of All Time)
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