Show notes, links, music and other stuff for Ep 17: The Hottest 100.
The title of this episode comes from a key line from Denis Leary’s Asshole, the first song to top the yearly Hottest 100 chart. Coming up with names for every episode is one of the more fun things in this podcast. And I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of any episode title than this one.
Walkabouts
I started with that silly story about Walkabouts. Here’s a Guardian article about them.
The Hot 100 and Triple Z
The history of Triple Z is long and eventful. The story of the eviction from the University of Queensland is covered in Pig City, by Andrew Stafford.
There was also a fantastic podcast about the history of Triple Z called From A To Triple Z. Go get lost in a tale of Australian history. There’s separate episodes about the Hottest 100 and Joh Bjelke Peterson.
Peterson is a singular figure in Australian history. He’s hugely controversial. Joh’s Jury is worth a watch.
The Hottest 100
Lawrie Zion is back at academia. He had other claims to fame, including appearing in a sketch on The Late Show.
Andy Nehl is went on to be one of Australia’s most successful TV producers. He worked with The Chaser, Denton and more. He still does music stuff too.
I went on a bit about Ween. I wanted to talk about Triple J’s influence around this time and Ween is a great example. How this became a charting hit in Australia is down to Triple J.
There is also a Hottest 100 book. Again it was published well after this episode was done so I didn’t get a chance to read it. But it shows what it means to people. It’s called Shoulda Been Higher and it’s written by Tom W Clarke. You can find out more at Melbourne books.
Triple J still archives all the Hottest 100 lists. And there’s also a Hottest 100 fan site over at http://hottest100.org. Not sure what kind of “org” it is but there you go.
There’s so many fun stories about The Hottest 100s. Like the Warmest 100 for one. But here’s a great article about The Hottest 100’s 30th anniversary.
That article was written by music writer Tyler Jenke, is the expert on the Hottest 100. He’s been looking for the original recordings of the countdowns. If you taped them back in the day – let me know. I’ll put you in contact with Tyler. Over the course of Just Ace, I’ve read a lot of Tyler’s great writings and interviews with bands over the decades. Find more of his work at his website.
Here’s an ad for the 1997 Hottest 100.
And an ad for that year’s compilation. Note the alternative looking people in the cut scenes.
Music Heard
- I Still Call Australia Home (instrumental) – Peter Allen
- Idiot Box I – You Am I
- Passenger (instrumental) – Powderfinger
- Throw Your Arms Around Me (instrumental) – Hunters And Collectors
- Smells Like Teen Spirit (instrumental) – Nirvana
- I Love My Trackies, Man – The Underground Lovers
- Asshole – Denis Leary
- Gloria – Van Morrison and Johnny Lee Hooker
- Push Th’ Little Daisies – Ween
- Zombie – The Cranberries
- Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb
- Wonderwall – Oasis
- Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues – Todd Snider
- Buy Me A Pony – Spiderbait
- Gold To Me – Ben Harper
- No Aphrodisiac – The Whitlams
- I Give In – Effigy
- Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) – The Offspring
- Sich Offnen – Not From There
- These Days – Powderfinger