Wow, 18 years the Hottest 100, the worlds largest music poll, has been going. It’s old enough to drink now. And a drink or two might not be a bad thing when listening to this. I have to admit, I’ve lost touch with Triple J. Yeah, maybe I am getting older, or maybe I don’t have the time to listen to the radio or to quote a line from an Atari’s song, “every now and then/I turn it on again/But it’s plain to see that the radio still sucks.” And for me Triple J has a little bit over the years. Credit, where credit is due, it’s still by far better than any commercial radio station. However, it just doesn’t satisfy my musical needs anymore. And looking over the 42 songs on here before I listened I think I could count on one hand the number of tracks I knew. Perhaps this might be a good thing, I thought. Open mind, unbiased, take it as it comes.
On first listen I found myself gravitating towards the hip hop tracks on this album. Maybe because it didn’t sound like some indie-folk-crossover-shoe-gazing-meandering-style-of-a-track-that-is-the-current-fashion-and-will-be-old-and-tired-in-twelve-months-time. To me, half the songs on this double CD fit into that category. It’s only when something different, that breaks the monotony comes on that I started to take notice. Bliss N Eso’s track Addicted is a great song. Drapht’s Rapunzel is catchy as all hell and the highlight for me was fucking Kayne West’s Runaway!
The Aussie charge are better than the the overseas contingent on this one. Boy & Bear are great covering the Crowded House classic Fall At Your Feet and of course Birds Of Tokyo. But there was a few tracks that did nothing more than convince me that kids today don’t know shit about music. I’m sorry by Duck Sauce’s Barbara Streisland is stupid and Art Vs Science Magic Fountain is an atrocity to music.
Congratulations have to go to Angus & Julia Stone for the number one spot on the poll, which means we get 2 versions of their song on this album. (The live version is better than the album version) This is not Triple J’s finest Hottest 100 compilation, but if you spent all of last year listening to these songs, they will have meaning and a place for you and then this album will be worth your coin. But for me, it’s hit and miss.
