OP-ED: Why We Need A Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs

If you’ve voted for the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs you’ll know the biggest problem is sticking to the strict allowance of only 10 votes. If nothing else, this is why we need a Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. 

Choosing Australian songs is hard not because the pickings are slim, but because the field is so fertile. Fat, even. Juicy, delicious and nourishing. 

And then there’s the instant regret. 

Shit. How did I forget Divinyls’ Boys In Town?

Since voting has closed triple j has even taken talkback on ‘voter’s remorse’. I feels ya. 

How did we forget Australian music?

If you look at the ARIA charts it would seem that we have forgotten, so much so that recently the whole chart itself has been reconsidered. It’s part of a bigger problem – so many of our industries are much more willing to back either financially or culturally (or both) known international products rather than local offerings. 

I get it, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles were amazing. Truly, no shade. The K-Pop Hunters taking over the mainstream at the moment are so good. And I’d never deny anyone some classic hits of their fave international hip-pop-rock artist either. We also know that Hottest 100s are full of missed opportunities – for a great deep dive into that, Tom W Clarke’s Shoulda Been Higher is genius. 

Is the problem that we’re not putting enough money or energy into the non-music part of the music for local artists?

Without this support, Australian musicians are going to the Olympics using kit from the year 8 dressing sheds – after having worked an eight-hour day job somewhere else to get there. Still, remarkably, they are turning up and getting it done.

The rest of the architecture is being left in those dressing sheds, to be overtaken by the mega deals that economics of mass scale can achieve internationally. Distribution, marketing, publicity, media - all left at the bottom of the pile. To borrow a lyric from one of our greatest, “it’s like a waterlogged ball that no one wants to kick around any more.” 

Surely if Australian music was really that good it wouldn’t need its own list….

Ah, this old chestnut. 

Save for us die-hards who carefully curate playlists and track-by-tracks, the overwhelmingly majority of people find and consume music as part of something else. Most people find music via broadcast, an algorithm, a TV show or film – systems that are all about who, not what, you know. 

How often is Australian music featured in these? When is it used as the background to sporting events; in segues between segments for whatever news program is on; even on hold for bloody Centrelink? 

The increasingly internationalised syndicated systems have little interest in digging into local music if a slick press release from a well oiled global machine has already done the job. 

Australian music is hard to just stumble across. Yes there are few of the old classics on high rotation – the type of Barnsey, Farnsey, Kylie, AC/DCliché that many will complain about if these artists top the triple j poll.

I’d say even this is tall poppy bullshit. If these artists make you feel something about being Australian, then bloody good on you. And if not, jog on and listen to something else. The Hottest 100 isn't the ‘Hottest Take On Why You Hate Oz Rock.’ No one is recording over the master tapes of the music you do like. 

Whose Australia(n) is it, anyway?

Hot on the heels of any mainstream vs indie argument will be a genre/era one. Should ‘Australian’ mean Oz Rock or ‘90s Dance? Should it mean Troy Sivan or Troy Cassar-Daley? 

Any time we try to collectively define Australia with one idea, we get it wrong. And that’s how it should be. We are not and should not be just one thing. There’s room for many things. 

Yes, we should have some way to decide what we’re not (things we don’t want to be, like racist, sexist, homophobic, and the like). Beyond that, the sky should be the limit. Music should continue to evolve. 

What makes a song ‘Australian’ anyway? Is it the nationality of an artist, the writer, the place it was written or recorded in, the place it was registered or played? And do these things change over time? Do young ‘uns today “smile and offer a vegemite sandwich” or cringe at the thought? 

Definitions are vague – and that’s good. Australian music, like national identity itself, should change over time and mean different things to different people. It should be challenged and redefined by each generation. 

At times when claiming anything national can be weaponised, remember music is not the battle. It is not a resource to hurt or hoard, but one that gets stronger the more it is shared. 

While we’re at it, we could get better at identifying and celebrating Australian music just because  – both now and historically. Why do we have an Elvis Festival but not a Johnny O’Keefe one (given the second was literally called the King of Rock here before the other guy)? 

Why do we not have regular ‘Kasey Chambers is amazing’ days, just because she is? Why is Archie Roach’s music not in every Australian classroom as part of an essential curriculum? 

And why don’t we claim Rosé’s every brilliant mainstream hit single as ours? (Yes, she was born in New Zealand, but like Neil Finn she lived in Melbourne for a long time, so a win is a win.)

Should triple j only play Australian music (sub-question; should Australian music always be segregated)?

I genuinely don’t think so. But as above – we do have to be reminded, and sometimes given a hand – to find the Australian stuff.

Australian music is part of an increasingly global listening market – the algorithm, stream and old school satellite make keeping to national borders pretty difficult anyway. We can and should stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of everything out there – and segregation would take away the glorious opportunities for cross pollination that have made our industry great. 

Workers in any industry have learned from the distinctiveness of regional practice – why would local musicians and their ways of making it happen be any less valuable?

Also – the process of putting together a Hottest 100 of Australian Songs is festive. Like dressing up for Halloween or sugar-ing up at Christmas, it’s an excuse to do something in excess in a way you might not always. It’s as simple as that.  And you know what, ya grinch, with all that’s going on, who couldn’t use a bit of shameless festivity at the moment? 

So why do we need a Hottest 100 of Australian songs?

The poll is a reminder to look for Australian music and actively engage with it. 

If you found yourself having to rely on the pre-populated list, then that’s great.

Maybe you even clicked stuff you hadn’t heard before or revisited things you hadn’t heard in a while (remember, your bog-standard rom-com is unlikely to feature a nostalgic Leonardo’s Bride song – although can you imagine if it did?)

You might have also added to the pre-populated list, outraged at its inadequacy.

If you found yourself arguing online about what was left out, or whether there should have been more of this or less of that, also great. Being bothered to do much of anything at all can be a struggle at the moment. 

Again, well done. Signs of life. Signs of giving a shit. 

Despite what they might say – we, the people, do care about Australian music. We just sometimes need a reminder, an invitation, a provocation – even a bloody dare – to get back into it. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by triple j (@triple_j)