#230-#226

 #230. The Smith Street Band - Death to the Lads (#21, 2016)

26th of 2016

You might astutely have noticed that I placed the majority of the entries from The Smith Street Band within a very small amount of space (and the other two weren't far off). It's something that I tend to be self-conscious of. I don't want to fall into that trap of voting for the band, or otherwise assigning a rough cap to what they might be capable of. To me it just represents the incidental chance of this happening with a randomly selected set of songs. A faux linguist is breathing a sigh of relief that I finally didn't end a sentence with a preposition. I had no intention of doing this but it just ended up this way. In a sense, great, it's a solid set of entries. In another sense, just terrible here because I've never been able to recharge myself to find something new to put into this.

If I were to add a new tangent to all of this, I barely scratched the surface on the fact that most of The Smith Street Band's entries here were produced by Jeff Rosenstock, this included. I don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of his music but I do like "WORRY." quite a bit as well as that Bomb the Music Industry! album that tends to get the most love. I wouldn't say the Smith Street collaborations are a carbon copy, but the best parts of his music just remind me of the best parts of PUP's music. It's an appropriate team up though, because who else would pair up extreme wordiness with anthemic singalongs?

"Death to the Lads" has one goal in mind which is to become exactly that kind of anthem. The moment I first heard of it, all I could think was that it was a deliberate attempt to engineer it. The great thing about it is that 'the lads' doesn't even need to be a specific sub-group. There are probably groups of people who are considered 'the lads' to one group, who have their own 'the lads' to push below themselves on the ladder. I don't even think this song is taking aim at any particular group. Rather it's about recognising our own shortcomings, so really, we're all the lads. I'm here thinking over this list for a solid year and I still end up putting the 'get out of my f**king face, mate' song ahead of all the more intricately introspective songs instead. If you've mastered the art of ranking things why would you spend half your time choking with blatantly uncouth decisions?

#229. Travis Scott - SICKO MODE (#3, 2018)

26th of 2018

This was a long time coming for Travis Scott. He'd been on the cusp of a big breakthrough for years but without a crossover hit to show for it. It was so willed into existence that a significant portion of his album swarmed the charts on the week it came out, despite his only top 50 hit prior to this being a feature credit on a moderately sized Major Lazer hit. It gives us one of those ascents you can map out as a projection of the general populace. "SICKO MODE" debuted in the top 10 at #7, but that was just the eager Travis Scott fans, and maybe some Drake fans as well. The song spent the next two months slowly sliding as those early listeners weren't maintaining the same enthusiasm, the way I imagine most people who obsess over an album probably will reach their critical mass for how frequently they listen to it very quickly. The song levels out, but then picks up a second wave of momentum, as everyone who was detached from the album cycle hype is now just tuning into what has turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. It's even easy to imagine someone half-heartedly trying it out, dismissing it as messy album filler, and only later finding that connection that makes the brain click with the idea of it being a hit song. The song got back to #7 another 2 months later, and when they seemed like it might be the end of it, the result of triple j's Hottest 100 a further 2 months later finally got it that shiny new peak. It got to #6. A tremendous result for a song as weird as this.

*TRANSITION*

They seem to get an unpopular reaction but I love the extra fluff that comes along with the Hottest 100 countdown. Maybe not necessarily calling up drunk parties (though I understand why they do that), but I'm talking about the extra sauce that puts more life into the countdown appearances. Little intros, interviews and that sort of thing. If you're in any way voting in the countdown because you want your favourite songs to get more exposure and commendations, then you should absolutely, more than anything else, hope that they get an introductory segment. I've found through watching the response to it on download & streaming charts that getting the extra bit of focus goes a huge way towards making people pay attention to them. We just like things when we know more about them and it makes them feel more important.

It's not often something that gets commented on very much, but there's one big exception to this. Before the #3 song was played for 2018, triple j played one of these info sections to build up to it. It starts with a clip of Anthony Fantano saying 'This generation's "Bohemian Rhapsody". It's taken from one of his 'Let's Argue' videos where he's reading a quote from a random Twitter user. If you listen to the whole thing in context, you'll find there's a degree of reluctance to it, where even though he likes the song a lot, the flaw(s) really makes it hard to fully support the idea. triple j's segment keeps running with it, but it's clear to me they're just having a bit of fun.

The people were not happy about it. For weeks upon weeks, any and all triple j threads about anything were at risk of being derailed once someone brought up the quote. This may have all been amplified by the fact that the "Bohemian Rhapsody" biopic was very recently released, so Queen idolisation was at a generational high. It eventually cooled off but as recently as a week ago I saw someone bring it up again and specifically attribute the quote to Ben & Liam, who were hosting breakfast and that segment of the countdown at the time. There is some slight truth to this in that they did say this (I apologise but I've never been able to distinguish which one is which so I can't correctly attribute this. I saw one person say it was Liam but I'm not about to take that as gospel). Once "SICKO MODE" ended, you hear Ben or Liam say 'They're calling it this generation's "Bohemian Rhapsody", except their microphone wasn't turned on at first, so the first three words came in very quietly. It's possible this one very slight radio gaffe amplified the situation, but it's impossible to say. It's certainly one of the all-time over-reactions though. It's so blatantly superficial and silly in an era where everything surrounding Drake was turning into a meme. It's not even the most famous "SICKO MODE" meme because it was around the same time as a screenshot from "The Polar Express" was being exploited to make people debate their preference between it and Sheck Wes's "Mo Bamba". A battle where the hits were not remotely on the same scale to make it fair, but it has that certain 'yob or wanker' feel to it in the world of memey but very popular hip-hop songs of late 2018.

*TRANSITION*

I do want to emphasize just how weird this song is. Everything about it (except the feature) screams of an accidental hit, the kind that is just not going to be pushed along by the machine unless it's forced to keep up. A song running for over 5 minutes, shifting between beats that have nothing in common. That's all while it's operating in Travis Scott's typically hazed out modus operandi that's never really proven itself to be pop viable. Even in those bounds, we're not done, because (especially during Travis's verse) you're caught off guard by every strange idea that has entered the man's head. I'm adverse to ever denoting this song as 'Travis Scott featuring Drake' because it's ignoring all the other contributions. Swae Lee says all of 3 words on the song but makes an amazing impression with it. Biggie even has 3 words of his own two decades after his death. Just the words 'gimme the loot' alone add 14 songwriters to this behemoth. At long last, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife Dawg, DJ Premier & Guru have co-written a Billboard #1 hit, I'm happy for them. Feel like I've left out a name or two there, I'm sure they'll get their moment.

Drake does naturally get most of the attention here. This makes sense because it's 2018 and this song is just a victory lap for him, though you can have fun with the fact that he's not normally credited on the song. I was strongly considering writing this whole entry without mentioning him once but it was too awkward to write around him. He's just a beacon for things to talk about, or maybe he's like a light, like a light, like a light, Lisa needs braces, pick up Bart, a part of us all. His best part of the song is the intro, where he lands on the sorrow, remorseful Drake mood which I find always connects with me. Perhaps put a pin in that for a future entry.

If there's something to be let down about in the whole experience it's that there's not nearly enough chemistry in here. The very fact that they tease it at the end probably makes it worse. I want to pretend they're in the same room trading bars, rather than emailing them back and forth. Still, the era of "SICKO MODE" is always one I'm happy to re-live. A tremendous high point for the people who made it, and the people who made it a hit.

#228. Arctic Monkeys - Body Paint (#79, 2022)

13th of 2022

Welcome back to the Arctic Monkeys lounge experience, enjoy your stay, we have jet skis on the moat. It feels miraculous to say that this is the second entry here from "The Car", given the album before this one only managed one, and at a lower position. They shouldn't have been able to get away with this again. At the time I had a brief inclination to say that I might prefer "The Car" to the couple of albums that came before it, but I'm not sure that holds anymore. Admittedly I've not gone back to those ones as I'm saving them up for later dates.

I can only guess that it was an accidental master stroke in timing. This album was released in mid-October. Normally I'd say aim for a month or two before that, but it's not quite as important if you're an artist of Arctic Monkeys' stature. They're guaranteed to get the necessary attention early on, and it's just a matter of holding onto it for long enough. A lot of albums like this run the risk of falling out of focus for the next big thing and then the enthusiasm dries up quickly. This is exactly that kind of album but they made it work for them. We are looking at Arctic Monkeys a solid 17 years into their career though. I wonder if younger listeners would see them the same way that I might have felt when Pearl Jam were finding their way into the list as late as 2006. Even Pearl Jam's big second commercial burst they had when "Last Kiss" became a #1 hit was more recent then, than Arctic Monkeys' "AM" success was in 2022. Unctic Monkeys, or something like that. It's not like the actual music would dissuade anyone from thinking that.

My personally biased point perspective here is that part of the success came from them holding onto the album's secret weapon as a second single. If there was an obvious beacon for votes like there was last time, they'd probably be doomed to repeating the performance, but here you had the pretty likeable lead single (#417), and then this one later down the line that's just a little more straight forward to get into. I can't exactly claim Arctic Monkeys aren't able to get away with lengthy song titles given what the early part of their career was like, but they had a certain whimsy you don't get from the ode to demanding a mirrorball. "Body Paint"? Much more straight to the point. It didn't quite take the lead as their most popular song here, but landed awfully close given how much less attention it got from the outset.

I like to count it as a win for "Body Paint" anyway, because it otherwise had no business getting through here. If I were to vote for an Arctic Monkeys song that year, it'd be this one. It takes their extremely mild chill out zone to new places, ones that feel a little less indulgent. I contain contradictions though so my favourite part of this song is the ultra-indulgent guitar solo at the end. So predictable, I know. It's just a very nice feather in the cap that they'd been building to the whole time. So while I might not go back to "The Car" very often, this is a very worthwhile cut to take away from it, was stoked to see it here.

#227. Violent Soho - Vacation Forever (#69, 2019)

18th of 2019

The funny number. The original funny number if you will. It is a number that does not discriminate in the Hottest 100, and is willing to be home to the deeply serious (gestures to Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", and the deeply unserious (gestures towards "(Let's Go) Smoke Some Pot", "Waving My Dick In The Wind"). It's so thoroughly random what we get here that in all our time of Hottest 100 countdowns, just one artist has managed to slot in there twice. It wouldn't be right if #69 didn't have a partner, and fortunately, 3 years after their first stint, Violent Soho found their way in there again. I really thought they had a chance to do it again another 3 years later but it wasn't to be.

I sometimes forget that "Vacation Forever" wasn't just a loose single. The album came out in 2020 and went to #1 on the charts, forcing Dua Lipa to wait a little bit longer to hit #1. There were no further Hottest 100 entries though, a considerable drop off when they had 6 on the previous album. The reality of it is that they had two near misses, "Pick It Up Again" at #113 and "Lying On The Floor" at #117. I very much enjoy the latter which feels like the closest approximation of all the hits on "WACO". Good build up, good hook to lock it into place. Maybe a lot of time felt like it passed in 2020 and everyone just forgot about it. In general though, I don't think the album showcases their best for the most part. It's short and sweet, but drags on a bit, nonetheless.

"Vacation Forever" is a solid single though. It's the gift that keeps giving. You get a big hook, and then the chorus just keeps on going, and going. Only then do you finally remember that this is that one song with the 'baby boomer' lyric and it's the cement that holds it all together. Such great worldbuilding, what on earth is the context?

#226. Mallrat - Charlie (#3, 2019)

17th of 2019

"Charlie" was released on August 7th, 2019. At the same time it was released, there was a new #1 single in Australia. With the exception of a week when Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" took over, that same song remained at #1 all the way up until the end of the voting period for the 2019 Hottest 100. In that same time, "Charlie" could not quite managed to crack the ARIA top 100 (though it would reach #50 in 2020, Mallrat's only ever top 50 hit). That song landed just behind "Charlie" in the Hottest 100. I'm not making any comment on that song here (although you may have realised it still hasn't appeared), just that it is one of the most monumentally extreme examples of how the charts don't always dictate the poll in the way it might feel they do. It's a David vs. Goliath situation where admittedly, Goliath has been getting his fair share of victories lately, and arguably he still did in 2019 (another song is being omitted from discussion), but you never really know how the dice are going to land, and that's very interesting. Just this idea that a song can be well beloved, but in an 'off the grid' kind of way.

Maybe for Mallrat, it wasn't so surprising given that all the momentum was on her side. She was climbing higher and higher on the list each year with this being the logical zenith. Maybe "Groceries" (#313) really was the bigger hit, but it also fully put her on the map as an undeniable hitmaker. Maybe on those metrics she didn't do quite as well here, but she succeeded in a different way by pulling at the heart strings.

Do you know the story about Hachikō? He was an Akita dog born over 100 years ago who would wait for his owner after work every day. One day, his owner suddenly died at work, but Hachikō would continue to come back to Shibuya Station in Tokyo almost every day waiting for his owner to come back. He continued doing this for a decade until he also passed away. There's now a statue of him at Shibuya station. You might also know this story via that one episode of Futurama. I am informed by people who have very deep affection for dogs in general that this is a heartbreakingly sad episode. Don't let my dog agnostic feelings get in the way of that if you feel this way.

Mallrat doesn't go into that sad aspect of it, but it is a song about the joy that comes with returning to her dog when she gets home. Nothing about this is particularly explicit in the text unless you know her dog is named Charlie, and even then, it won't turn up until you're nearly at the end of the song. I am undecided on whether the whole song is about Charlie, and it's just a misdirection before that or not, because you can read a lot of these lyrics as being about a prospective partner as well. I promise there's nothing suspect in that. In any case, the Hottest 100 has a long history with songs about how dogs are great, and Mallrat has just set a massive benchmark for the next comer to try and top.

#235-#231

#235. SZA - I Hate U (#78, 2021)

12th of 2021

Since around 2014, triple j have held onto a pretty consistent ruling with regard to eligibility for the list. It's something that's been so hard locked in since then that it's well understood and remembered whenever the conversation comes up. The first day of eligibility is December 1st of the previous year, all up until November 30th. All roughly 2-14 months in advance of the countdown. It's not one of those things that falls out of place when the 365 (or 366) days of the year come into play, it's always those exact cut offs. So few hits actually end up released in December so they probably could get away with making it fully wrap around the year, but it's probably fair to give some more of a chance to build up hype, considering how poorly November hits tend to do anyway.

When the voting lists come out, this doesn't usually pan out exactly to plan. Understandable when you're dealing with a very large list of songs and the resources for accurate date checking not always being immediately obvious. It tends to be nowadays when the list comes out that some ineligible songs just end up on the voting list. Usually it's brief and fixed up once it gets pointed out, and it's no harm done. Save for all the people who just wasted a vote and won't get it reimbursed. Then I guess sometimes they just never fix it and we're stuck with it.

"I Hate U" probably should not be on this list. Well, maybe it should, but it probably shouldn't be on the 2021 list. It all depends on how you define the term 'released'. SZA originally put the song up on SoundCloud in August, 2021. The buzz around it was good, and so she released it fully on December 3rd, 2021. It starts to get a little odd here though because if you look at the upload for the song on SoundCloud now, it has that December 3rd release date, yet the oldest comments on it are from November 2021. I just don't know how the site works. The original upload is still around though, via an anonymous account that SZA was using to put out the songs (it was also titled "I Hate You" at that point). That's my proof that the song did exist in its very same form in August, 2021. I just don't know if I'd say that it counts as a released song like that. triple j didn't play the song once until the official release. This might just be me in the bargaining phase where I look at this song specifically as the one that kicked MAY-A's "Time I Love To Waste" outside of the top 100, a song I'd re-iterate as probably being my #1 pick for that list if it were there. This song's 12th place for me is a reasonable consolation, but the grass really is always greener.

In any case, another hit for SZA. Another notch towards finally releasing that album, and back when I didn't know what I might have been dealing with, was definitely a quick favourite for me. It's made to be a single. The synth hook is memorable and sets the tone for a nice pocket of spite. It's all that unbridled fury though, where at first she's being reasonable and calling out a shitty thing to do, but eventually the urge to just scream 'f**k you!' takes over. The switch up on the chorus is so unexpected but works so well.

#234. Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight (#65, 2015)

31st of 2015

I find myself wondering if there's an alternative universe where we're all just a little bit sick of Alabama Shakes. They achieved success right out the gate with their first album and even got nominated for Best New Artist at the GRAMMYs. They didn't win, but they'd cash in their cheque with the next album. The chart positions got better, and they actually started winning a bunch of GRAMMYs. The only one they lost out on was for Album Of The Year, losing to Taylor Swift. I do wonder if they may have been seriously in the mix to win it, but maybe Chris Stapleton diluted their votes a little bit. It's a fast track to being seen as one of those artists that are inexplicably obsessed over by the GRAMMY committee and that can tank your reputation pretty quickly. Instead what Alabama Shakes did was they just didn't release any more music. Their 2015 album "Sound & Colour" remains their latest full release. They did finally release a new song in 2025 called "Another Life", which I'll endorse, but at the time of writing, that's all there is. I'll update to say they also released "American Dream" a few weeks ago.

The part I'm leaving out here is that between these releases, Brittany Howard has embarked on a solo career. You might recall it from its specific characteristic of sounding absolutely nothing like Alabama Shakes. A lot of the time whenever I heard songs from her, I couldn't even pick out her distinct voice because the template surrounding it was just so different. Her debut album really just does everything all at once.

Brittany has always been the calling card of Alabama Shakes though. A singer with a big voice that's able to emote in such specific ways that stand out. I am one of the people who initially got fooled by her androgynous voice, something that sounds increasingly silly once you go back to "Hold On" and realise she name-checks herself and her much less gender-neutral first name. Part of me hopes this whole entry has been a big 'WTF' moment for someone reading it. It's always nice to teach & learn new things. Another interesting thing about the band is that they're from Athens, Alabama. The state makes sense, but the city provides the opportunity to have to say 'no, not that one' twice. It feels fair to say though that no city punches so far above its own weight in the world of music than Athens, Georgia.

"Don't Wanna Fight" has always been a big standout for me for all the same reasons. It feels like it should be their big breakout hit because it perfectly nails that crossover friendly blues sound akin to The Black Keys before them. Just hit 'em with a funky riff and it'll go a long way. It helps contribute to an extremely catchy hook though, where Brittany finds an even higher note to go crazy on. Well, I guess it's not as high as she goes, because there's the infamous introduction to this song that sounds like a kettle boiling. I forget who made that observation first but it's the only thing I ever think about now.

#233. Tate McRae - she's all i wanna be (#74, 2022)

14th of 2022

Today when I was watching the footy I heard a bit of an interview that caught my ear. It was Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick looking forward to the current season with optimism. The club had what most would generally agree was a very lucrative trade & draft period. The phrasing that got my attention is how he referred to these new player acquisitions as 'toys' to play around with. Maybe on some level, that's how people see it all, but it was language that felt dehumanising to me, and it's something that's rubbed me the wrong way no matter who's doing it.

I don't know how you might feel about Tate McRae, but I'm writing this in 2026, and it's fair to say that she's one of the biggest pop stars of the decade. It's a winning formula to be prolific and while her pace of releasing albums might not be quite on par with the Rihannas and Taylor Swifts of the world, it's harder to find moments in time when she doesn't have a hit doing the rounds than when she does. I don't want to talk about that part of her career though, that's all largely in the realm of a hypothetical sequel blog. I want to look at the early part of her career, before she had even released an album, and when her bid to be a star was still up in the air, it's where the story begins for me, and eventually everyone else.

For most people, I think the first time Tate McRae enters the picture was with her song "you broke me first". I'm pretty sure it's the first one I heard though I don't have any recollection of that moment anymore. The song was a slow burner though, released early on in 2020 and taking about 4 months to take off. In that intervening period, I was getting acquainted with her music. I'd taken a liking to some of the subsequent singles, "vicious" and "don't be sad" back when I had no reason to suspect she was hitting the big time very soon. They're fun songs. An interesting blend of pop and trap that stood out quite a bit. It feels important for me to acknowledge this period because I constantly forget about it. Once an artist gets as big as she's gotten, and feels like the go-to vehicle for all the big pop producers, you can forget about those humble beginnings because the idea that she was ever approachably niche just doesn't sound right anymore.

Another part of this is the way that a lot of people tend to use persuasive language to try and drive home their point of view. The part I left out about "you broke me first" becoming a big hit was the internet's collective response to it. Words to the effect of her just being a Billie Eilish clone manufactured by the labels but with none of the talent. I think having known her music for just a little longer than most, it stood out to me as a little disingenuous, and reeked of that hesitance that always comes with new faces if they haven't been manually approved beforehand. Whenever these artists come back through again, there's that sneering, dehumanising statement that comes around. Stop me if you've ever heard something along the lines of 'I thought we agreed the Jessie Murph experiment was over'.

Tate McRae was firmly in these leagues for years. I think she's well past it now but it wouldn't surprise me if some of those more steadfast individuals still refuse to give her flowers, still treating her as a C-lister no matter how far up the ladder she's managed to climb. It certainly seemed like the remaining sentiment when "she's all i wanna be" came out. A chance to smugly stroke chins and declare that after copying the 2019 success of Billie Eilish into 2020, she was now copying the 2021 success of Olivia Rodrigo into 2022. You can sound extra clever if you wrap it up into meta-context on what the song is about. It's all so very surface level, tiresome, and feels amplified due to this uncontrollable urge the world has to subconsciously pit women against each other. I'll concede that this is a bit of a genre experiment she hasn't really stuck with, but there aren't a lot of opportunities to break through in your career by doing something that isn't a little bit trendy. What I mean to say is that if you're looking for these angles to be critical, you'll find them.

As a brief aside, I should note that "she's all i wanna be" is an odd inclusion in this list. triple j had been sporadically playing Tate McRae as early as 2020, but generally steering around her hits. "feel like shit" got a whole lot of time on the station. By end of 2022, "she's all i wanna be" had been played once on the station. It felt a little lucky to make it onto the voting list, and because it was a big hit in the wider world, it snuck onto this list. It was probably a reality check moment for triple j who took it as a sign to further get behind her, and she's had a very strong showing in the last 3 countdowns as a result. If not for a rare case of triple j ignoring one of her biggest hits in "Just Keep Watching", she'd already be up to 10 entries to date in the Hottest 100. She's had as many entries as Violent Soho, and more than Tool and The Offspring. She feels like a main character of the recent countdowns who is just making an early cameo at the moment, so often earlier in the list I'd wanted to reference her but had to remind myself this was on the way, just so out of place here.

That's just on a meta level that it's out of place. I think this pop rock pivot makes for a generally easier sell than the more 2000s R&B influenced pop she's putting out now. It's the kind of song that I could completely imagine hearing on triple j, especially if it were by an Australian artist. I'm somewhat cautious when things like this happen, but I was ready to welcome this instance because it's always been a song I've really enjoyed. Enough so that I've gone so far as to put it above all of Olivia Rodrigo's pop rock adjacent songs, I don't see this as a pale imitation at all. Maybe my bias as something of an early fan still influences my feelings on her music. Hard to say really. I forget about that so much that it has to be on a subconscious level you'd think. Even when she's moved so far away from making music that's marketed for me, I can often find something to take away from it. No caveats for this one though, just highly enjoyable.

#232. The Jungle Giants - Love Signs (#18, 2021)

11th of 2021

There's a long running, well recognised bit that the signature component of all ska music is the phrase 'pick it up' being repeated very quickly. You don't even need to be able to think of a song that does it, it's just the calling card. It goes way back, even beyond the '90s, though if you want an archetypical example, then you want "Sound System" by Operation Ivy. Maybe the most famous ska song to do it is "Superman" by Goldfinger, but it's also entirely possible you know an entire Tony Hawk's Pro Skater two minute run of the song and have not even noticed it's there, slightly buried in the mix. I've always joked to myself that "Love Signs" is officially a ska song, because it says the phrase considerably more times than the songs I've mentioned here. The cadence and speed aren't right at all, but you can't tell me they weren't shitposting with this one. It's that and the fact that the opening words to this song are 'Love signs, baby'. I can think of exactly one 5 letter word that begins with S that I'd expect to see in that space and it isn't signs, or space. Who knew The Jungle Giants simply had no limits to what kinds of music they'd gentrify with their new sound?

I jest of course. Given what came before and after, there's an argument to be made that "Love Signs" is probably the least challenging Jungle Giants song. It doesn't sound remotely interested in threatening your perception of their music. I think they wanted a hit, because that's what they do. To an extent, they got it. Not quite on the level as the two that came before it, but you look at this sitting pretty snugly in the top 20 on a competitive year and you have to conclude that they did alright with this one.

There's a soft spot for me in it too because it's probably the only Jungle Giants song I've really gravitated to on my first listen. They've fared pretty well on this list overall, but they're all the consequence of me giving them the time to thrive. This one was just sending & receiving love signs immediately. I think they hit on a nice chill sound for this one, something that reminds me of deep cuts on Chairlift's "Something" album. It's the kind of song that helps you forget about what Subway's former spokesperson did.

#231. Childish Gambino - 3005 (#43, 2013)

40th of 2013

I have never been overly familiar with Donald Glover's writing & acting work. I've seen the occasional clips of Community and enjoyed those small bites (the GIF of him walking into a burning building with pizza is an all-timer), but otherwise it's pretty separate from me. With that in mind, I think of him as a rapper first and foremost. I'll probably exclusively call him Childish Gambino in all of these entries because that's my entry point.

Along with Disclosure, he's been something of a surprise package for this list for me. I've never really seen myself as a big fan or anything to that degree, but when we actually look at his stat sheet, we're looking at a pretty unimpeachable set of entries. He'll appear in this list 5 more times after this one, all with an eclectic set of songs that hardly sound anything like each other, taking big swings and consistently finding intrigue. He's had one more Hottest 100 entry since the cutoff with "Lithonia", and I greatly admire that one too. Inexplicably getting away with making a Weezer sounding rock ballad in the year 2024. I think it'd still be to come in this list if I subbed it in, so it's an incredible innings all up.

We have to start somewhere, and "3005" is the likely case. Jump back into 2013 and I was not fond of the song at all. It wasn't actually my introduction to Childish Gambino because I knew "Heartbeat" and "Do Or Die" by then. Good songs, and they had me generally rooting for him. "3005" felt like a step back to me where I just didn't enjoy the hook at all and that got in the way of everything else. It just felt a little more dull compared to my expectations and I started to resent its popularity.

I held onto these feelings for a really long time. I've been waiting years to share the story but it was actually in early 2020 when I had my revelation. I was at the BROCKHAMPTON show and there was a DJ playing assorted hits as a warmup, which I was vaguely paying attention to since that's the level of music nerd I am. I don't really remember what else was part of it, just that it was a lot of hip-hop. "3005" was in that mix though and maybe it was the good vibes of the time, maybe it was being outside, maybe it was seeing a bunch of people having fun in the mosh section, but something about it just clicked right there. That same hook that always felt momentum crushing just felt euphoric in the moment. In hindsight, I think it's always had that effect, but it's amplified much more strongly on the second iteration, after which I was usually checked out. Now I think it's probably the best part of the song, the glue that holds it all together. Gambino's rapping is still pretty fun though. I think he sets the tone pretty early with the legendary line 'Girl, why is you lying? Girl, why you Mufasa?'. I think if you can manage to accept that corny bar into your life, it's very easy to get on board with the whole thing. Surely won't be the last time he pulls off something like that in this list.

#240-#236

#240. Telenova - Bones (#91, 2021)

13th of 2021

It's very peculiar to have Telenova be part of this story. They feel especially modern even though they're not on the final year of this cut off. It is however their debut single that shows up here and it's the only time they've ever made the list. I have no idea how they wrangled this kind of support just this once and never again, and it's making this once-off just feel stranger by the year.

Telenova to me land squarely in that niche of extremely tasteful indie pop. It's basically my bread and butter and almost never amounts to anything. In fact, while "Bones" was getting the attention, I was more focused on some other Telenova songs that were meeting the usual quota. "Tranquilize" might still just be the quintessential Telenova song to me still. Something about the way Angeline delivers the title lyric is just hypnotic. I understand for many that "Bones" came in first and the two don't sound especially different, but that's the refined formula. The band has only gotten to be a tighter unit in the years since. The vocals are shining once again on songs like "Why Do I Keep You?" and "Temples", but it's that added instrumental punch that sends them over the edge. They've slowly turned into more of a rock band, which might not be as algorithm friendly, but it's worth keeping them around. A very solid grasp on catchy melodies.

If I had to guess what it is that got "Bones" over the line, it probably is that minimalist flair. There's a popular British band who will eventually appear on this list who probably set the stage for what popular indie pop was to sound like, and who asserted it when they were regularly pulling incredibly good stats for listener retention. "Bones" feels like a slight translation of that away from the more electronic elements. Also a little MS MR here just with a more light, feathery outlook. That and the way the chorus is just one unending hook with these big affirming statements that all look like they want to be the centre of attention. I always zoom in on 'run, baby run', because it's follows by a line that matches the exact syllable cadence of We The Kings' "Check Yes Juliet", and I'm here to make sure you never unhear that.

#239. The Preatures - Is This How You Feel? (#9, 2013)

41st of 2013

We've had The Preatures here before. I'm going to summon a magic link that roughly takes you to the post for "Somebody's Talking" (#397). This is the big one though, their crowning pop glory that took them to Platinum sales and a top 10 finish. Not bad for a fledgling band, but evidently something they had trouble navigating alongside a bunch of other things crumbling apart.

Something that might strike you if you listen to the first two Preatures EPs is how different the setup is. It's easy to forget if you never heard their initial breakthrough single "Take A Card" that Gideon was a main vocalist in the band, who sings half of the songs on those two EPs. In an interview with TheMusic back in 2013, Isabella Manfredi takes time to note the set up and how they both weighed up importance for those contributions. In any case, "Is This How You Feel?" turned out to be a big hit, and by the time the album rolls around, Isabella has become the face of the band. It's just her on the album cover and she sings on every song now. I don't know if this relates to Gideon's future departure from the band but it might factor in somewhere.

I had mistakenly believed Isabella and Gideon to be a couple, but it was actually Jack, the band's guitarist. They broke up in the late 2010s around the same time the band did, and from what I've heard from Isabella, it was the result of him taking advantage of her naïveté to control the relationship and also commit adultery. They were on good enough terms to briefly reunite in 2024 but it's gotta rattle the foundation. The band also cite an outdated record contract which brought everything to a halt. Everything points to The Preatures being a short-lived burst of excitement that could've been more, but at least they'll always have this song.

"Is This How You Feel?" is the sound of everything coming together. That undeniable hit that has everyone scratching their heads wishing they'd thought of it first. I always think about the Roxette songwriting process where they seemed to operate with a perfect understanding of how the listener took things in. A hook every 6 seconds, that sort of thing. I don't know if I'd say this song quite reaches those lofty standards, but as I listen to it, I never find it falling into the doldrums. The guitar and bass keep trying new things and the chorus keeps ascending to new highs. Not a moment wasted. Even the bridge, which feels more minimalist than the rest of the song, manages to land in that zone of intrigue, where the repetitive refrain just sounds so unique that it becomes one of the finest moments.

#238. One Day - Love Me Less (#92, 2014)

29th of 2014

Australian hip-hop lesson time. One Day is a supergroup. They might just be the biggest Australian hip-hop supergroup because there isn't a lot of competition and though short-lived, their credentials are pretty solid. They've got in them all the members of Horrorshow, Jackie Onassis, Spit Syndicate, and also Joyride. We've seen Horrorshow in this list before (#644), and Joyride also had a guest appearance as he loves to turn up on a Like A Version (#566). Spit Syndicate might be the most important segment for this entry because Jimmy Nice is singing the hook and first verse. I've got some familiarity with them because they were several albums deep at this point and have a handful of songs lodged in my head permanently. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" is a good one (and actually features Solo from Horrorshow), as is "Beauty in the Bricks", probably the one I heard the most. Jackie Onassis enter the scene a little later, and also have a Solo feature on one of their early releases. I want to say they're the "Crystal Balling" duo, a triumphant song it has to be said. One Day was formed out of mutual respect where they all basically grew up together and it seemed like a good idea to strengthen that bond.

If you need proof of concept for the supergroup concept, then here's what happens when you take some mostly less well known artists and put them all together: You get a #2 album. Well, in fairness Horrorshow did that on their own just a year before this one but it's impressive to pull the same weight like this. When P!nk & City and Colour made an album together, it got to #2 as well, so maybe the lesson is that unifying a tightly knit fanbase can work better than trying to lodge disparate ones together. At least that's in terms of album sales, the increased attention given to artists' top tracks on streaming services is certainly adding a bonus to ending up on as many of those lists as possible. It helped also that One Day has a bonafide hit with some minor chart presence, enough to get the word out and lend some credibility.

"Love Me Less" is that hit. I feel like it might have just gotten a little lost in the shuffle by the time voting opened because I was expecting it quite a bit higher than #92. It starts to look like the beginning of the end for this era of Australian hip-hop, where only Hilltop Hoods are able to carry the mantle going forwards. They're all usually on the fringe anyway, but the crossover hits very quickly became few, far between, and then nothing.

"Love Me Less" sounds like a crossover hit to me though. If not just because Urthboy flipped a similar sample just a year later on "Long Loud Hours" (#334), with the high pitch sounding like a crying child. I'm more convinced it actually is the sound of a crying child on this one though, and it's one of those funny samples that feels like a joke but then oddly just fits into place. Well, I listen to them rap about all these infidelities and it still pokes through at times and makes me laugh again.

It's a peculiar song from the jump that's asking us to make a moral judgement. Are we going to root for the anti-hero who is gleefully boasting about how unfaithful he is on the first line? Is it even the truth of what's going on though? Jump forward to the first verse and Jimmy is contradicting himself by saying he doesn't cheat on every girl. He's right that he's got my attention from that but I am left quite riddled by it. My best guess is that he's just presenting the dichotomy of how he might be perceived, or where the relationship might go. Engaging with a new person in your life is always going to be that question of whether or not you hit it off, and then whether or not you find out that they're just diametrically opposed to you on some key issue. Sometimes you've just got to decide if you're gonna take that risk. I'm also obliged to mention that later on in the song, Solo mentions a flat battery in his phone and then mentions receiving some flattery. It's been 12 years now and I still think of this song as the 'flattery' song, only that I'm reading it as a bizarre portmanteau. Haven't really added it to my lexicon but in fairness I tend to keep my phone charged.

#237. Spacey Jane - Weightless (#81, 2020)

15th of 2020

This is going to sound like a backhanded compliment but my favourite thing about this song is the pre-chorus, where everything calms down for a moment before ripping right into it. It'll be back-handed because for me, it's just emulating another song that'll be higher on this list. Not enough to call it a rip-off by any measure but I suspect my positive reaction to it is simply my brain being reminded of something I like a lot.

It's with this that I get highly critical of the way this band tend to be perceived. It sure sounds snappy to say that Spacey Jane, Ocean Alley & Lime Cordiale are all the same band (real comment I saw). The sentiment is so inherently uninformed on the outset but with all three bands occupying that mental slot of 'boring Australian band that inexplicably gets loads of Hottest 100 entries' for many, they become an outlet for the laziest of derision just because even within echo chambers that don't really ride for the bands, the affirmation of 'It can't just be me who doesn't get it' rings so loudly. You'll cling to any incoherent message that vaguely points in the direction you're facing. Relevant Simpsons clip. It's the kind of adversarial way of experiencing music that garners no sympathy. A mere sidestep away from inventing a person to get mad at them.

Don't deprive yourself of these moments. Sometimes all it takes is one song and suddenly everything clicks into place. You put it through the lens of them being able to make this, so the rest can't be so bad. This just feels like the pinnacle of it all. A similar build up to "Good for You" (#434), but added experience to make it really ascend.

#236. Baker Boy (feat JessB) - Meditjin (#98, 2019)

19th of 2019

Remember 9 months ago when I was talking about the "Lady Marmalade" Like a Version (#628), and how there was this cool rapper from Aotearoa on it that I couldn't mention. Here's the resolution to that and it's all because JessB snuck onto the list just prior to that. It was only a matter of months in fact, "Meditjin" was released quite late in 2019, and that cover was (unsurprisingly) very early in 2020. Just before this song came out, I heard of JessB through her song "So Low". That might have just been a vehicle for Paige singing the chorus, but they both show up well on it, she's absolutely got the Lil Kim flow on lock. JessB also used to be a professional netball player, gotta grab those multi-hyphenates when you get the chance.

"Meditjin" is absolutely a song I associate with sports now. It spent quite a while being used on TV commercials as a hype anthem, and more recently it's been part of the brutally small rotation of songs played after goals at Perth Stadium for Fremantle. I'm writing this just before the 2026 season starts and I'm just hoping they change it up this year (Update: they have). I'll grant that this is a good selection anyhow, but I've been to enough games to know that no one is feeling the "Viva la Vida" chant, where it seems to be an attempt to get everyone to say 'Freooooooo' over the bridge but it just isn't happening. That one game last year where it took 1.5 quarters and 8 behinds to get a goal might have just completely ruined it. "This Girl" by Kungs & Cookin' on 3 Burners though, goes pretty well for a song that I imagine most people do not know a scrap of metadata for, and wouldn't know how to look up either.

Also, "Meditjin" is the medicine. That's what the song means too. It's basically Baker Boy's mission statement boiled down to its simplest form. Baker Boy is once again proving he's a fanboy of Kendrick Lamar by referencing a song that I've not yet written about (or maybe I have by the time you're reading this, who knows). I don't think it's intentional, but I also get a bit of Sergio Mendes' "Mas Que Nada" in the wordless chanting, always a tick in my box. It's surprisingly intense for such a feel good song, but it's a level that Baker Boy and JessB are both capable of matching up to. Guest verses often run a little short so I'm fond of ones like this that give us enough time with the up and comer.

#245-#241

#245. Dune Rats - Scott Green (#34, 2016)

27th of 2016

There's a scene at the start of the mid-2000s comedy film "Eurotrip" where we're being introduced to all of the characters. The main character has just been dumped by his girlfriend and is at his high school graduation party. There's a rock band playing, and they bring his ex-girlfriend up on stage to perform a silly song where the singer gloats about all the times he was having sex with her while the main character was oblivious. One of those essential diegetic soundtrack moments that's instantly memorable and likely to get a whole wave of people quoting it from then on.

It's quite possible you know this song, it's "Scotty Doesn't Know" by Lustra, a song that has remained popular well beyond the shelf-life of the immature film it comes from, and it's brought about a whole wave of people being exposed to it without that context. I've seen so many people baffled by this song, otherwise standard pop punk but with disgusting lyrics, and it's fascinating that it causes such a different reaction like that. I can't imagine ever getting mad at it. A few months into his tenure as Australia's 30th prime minister, Scott Morrison's website wasn't renewed and lost the licence for the domain. A man from Melbourne quickly bought it for $50 and had the website just play the song "Scotty Doesn't Know" alongside a photo of Scott Morrison smiling. This isn't really relevant at all to "Scott Green" but when it came out, I think I thought of Scott Morrison as the most notable Scott at the time. I guess the title rhymes with Engadine.

If there's one important gimmick you need to know about Dune Rats, it's that they like smoking weed. It's actually not something that's come up very much with their Hottest 100 catalogue. They couldn't quite make the cut with "Dalai Lama, Big Banana, Marijuana". If there's ever been a good reason for that reputation to stick though, it's that "Scott Green" is probably their most famous song. This is the song where they take a similar line of thinking to "Ebeneezer Goode" by The Shamen, working with the fact that the phrase 'Who's got green?' sounds like 'Who's Scott Green?'. It might be a sign of how completely out of it they are that they don't even try to maintain it. I feel like if they had The Simpsons' writers here, they could get some serious mileage out of it, but they break the structure every other time they say it. Maybe that's just a further way to plant the message, commit to the idea that Scott Green is a real person.

To dabble in the world of Dune Rats, this is probably the most succinct way to do it. I wouldn't say they always knock it out of the park when they try to come up with memetic phrases for their songs, but this one passes with flying colours. To me, it's a very unlucky song to not be higher in the countdown. It landed right underneath "Bullshit" (#756) which gives off the impression that it was just collective voting for the band, but in reality this is a song that was released in the middle of November and just didn't have enough time to catch on. You'd think this means it was a late bolter but from what I saw in the vote counting, it wasn't. It just stabilised behind "Bullshit" at a relatively consistent rate but never started catching up to it. The win would only come a few years later when it landed at #139 in the Hottest 100 of the Decade as the sole Dune Rats representative. I suppose that's something else it has in common with "Scotty Doesn't Know", being a one-note joke that satisfies the sound it's going for so well that it far outlives the short buzz of a novelty.

#244. DMA'S - Do I Need You Now? (#97, 2018)

27th of 2018

I think sometimes we can get unnecessarily caught up in image when drawing comparisons and contrasts. It can be particularly interesting I think when you can find something that connects two seemingly otherwise completely irrelevant parties. A lot of it is all marketing anyway. Very easy to find pop music that sounds like electronic music, rap music that sounds like rock music, what have you.

I'm doing the Oasis bit again, but just once more to put it all to bed. It's extremely easy to make the comparison, and "Do I Need You Now?" isn't particularly subtle about it, with the trudging drums and big power chorus. But no, what this song takes me back to is actually Robbie Williams. The dressing is a little different, but at its core, we're working with the same playbook. I hear a song like "Supreme". It's in the way both songs seem to emphasize the melancholy through the verses, laying on moment after moment of frustration. The choruses lift immensely, but also don't resolve that prior issue. I enjoy both of these songs a lot, and I feel in hindsight that they're occupying the same space.

It's a peculiar situation that makes me want to re-assess the whole thing with DMA'S. I think I've said before that it's not necessarily Oasis that they make me think of, but just that general era, through certain production and songwriting choices. Locking it onto an artist that's contemporary of that era but not playing by the same rules makes complete sense to me. Whenever we unsuccessfully draw a memory, we're likely pulling back multiple parts of the same chapter, forgetting what goes where, and just running with it. You wouldn't necessarily think of this one because it feels like it's the muddled up version of the story, but then when reality makes less sense, we're just bound to tidy up to the most convenient narrative. I'm totally in on the idea of DMA'S being a turn of the century pop star, it doesn't need to make sense.

"Do I Need You Now?" pretty strongly encapsulates the whole idea though. A song that totally snuck up on me in the years that followed its release. Because I list and rank music so often, I basically have a recorded history of watching this song grow on me, to the point of being a genuine contender near the top rung. It won't go any further than this, but then who knows. Ask me again in a few years.

#243. The Smith Street Band - I Still Dream About You (#41, 2020)

16th of 2020

I apologise for the lengthy interruption, welcome back to The Smith Street Blog, where I pretend to have a deep and meaningful understanding of the inner workings and feelings of Melbourne suburbs I've never set foot in. I still dream about you Wil, it's a natural consequence of burning the midnight oil writing at length about your band. It's pretty much a ritual for me at this point.

My grand revelation about this song is that I think it sounds a little bit like "Notion" by Kings of Leon. I had it in my head that it was one of the two albums they put out in quick succession but I thought it was more likely to be the first. Let that be a point against anyone who suggests they radically shifted course between those albums, as I could readily imagine "Notion" being on "Because Of The Times". Swap it out with "Fans" and tell me something's out of place. Incidentally this could also be seen as The Smith Street Band's big level up moment because this comes from "Don't Waste Your Anger", their only ever #1 album. They've only had one other studio album even make the top 10, so it's a bit of an isolated moment, pun not intended.

If you're after The Smith Street Band at their best, then this is a pretty good place to look. A lot of the lyrics could easily scan as wanting to reignite a relationship from a long time ago despite all the time that's passed, or perhaps because of it, realising there are logistic issues but not truly being able to let go of what once was. Doesn't THAT sound like a Smith Street lyric? Anyway this is actually a song about giving up on smoking. It makes for some amusing anthropomorphising, and leads to the great lyric 'Lucy [Wilson] said I was a dickhead, Lucy knows me too well'. This is the second time here we've encountered a namedrop from someone who's no longer in the band, after "Passiona" (#366) mentioned 'Just me and Chris'. Otherwise, a lot of big cathartic releases, so you can probably get something out of it even if you've never smoked, I know I do.

#242. Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (#10, 2021)

14th of 2021

Vertical Horizon, Plain White T's, Soulja Boy, Jay Sean, Taio Cruz, fun., Iggy Azalea, Desiigner, Luis Fonsi, Lewis Capaldi, just a handful of artists. What do they all have in common? They all very quickly took the American public by storm and scored a #1 hit. They didn't completely disappear after that, scoring a second or third hit that might have been notable in its own right (Taio Cruz might be cheating here, his US #1 hit is not "Dynamite"), but the moment was a brief flicker and they very soon never troubled the Hot 100 again (maybe Lewis Capaldi could still do it but I'm getting doubtful). It's an incredibly common career arc. You can't entirely call them a one hit wonder, but they never fully escape the shadow of it, there's just enough interest in the moment to keep the lights on for a little longer. For a while, it looked like Lil Nas X might join the club.

Despite the implied omnipresence, I think it's very possible for many to be out of the loop for big hit songs. Often times they're engineered to perform well in exactly the fields that the charts are measuring, so if you're not clued into those specifics, it's gonna feel especially like there's a whole detached world out there. I'm writing this as "Ordinary" by Alex Warren is #3 on the charts, having hit #1 almost a year ago, I'm not cognizant of who's keeping the wheel spinning. "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X is not one of these songs. It demonstrably became the biggest song of 2019, managed to spark debate about genre inclusivity and remix politics while trolling its way to being the longest running #1 hit of all time in America. By all accounts, Lil Nas X had the world at his palm, and that can go a long way. Sometimes the sheer fluke of it all can draw so many eyes to find out what happens next. It's a bit like when PSY had to follow up "Gangnam Style", and you might be surprised at just how well "Gentleman" ended up performing.

Lil Nas X had a second hit, "Panini". It's considerably less novelty than "Old Town Road", with the most gimmicky thing about it being an interpolation of the band Nirvana's song "In Bloom". By his own admission, this was accidental and he'd not listened to the band before, but I'm not entirely sure I can believe it. The song was a pretty big hit too. It might have been riding on some pretty lofty coattails, but it did more than enough to prove itself even if you'd have a hard time imagining him breaking out with it. The same could be said of just how big "Black Widow" was for Iggy Azalea immediately after "Fancy". Usually though, you only get one, so Lil Nas X put out another single a year later called "HOLIDAY" and it didn't make a massive impression. The career arc is understood. Our GOAT might just have been washed, doomed to say funny things on social media and eventually hit the nostalgia circuit. He clearly didn't have another hit in him.

This is my way of saying that he clearly did have another hit in him. The kind of hit that completely stood on its own and set the stage for Lil Nas X being one of the biggest hitmakers of 2021. No longer was he living in the shadow of his monster hit, but instead stepping forward with a new persona. Everything had changed, but he was still causing a stir to gatekeepers, just a different kind this time.

Most of this all has to go through the lens of the music video. I can imagine someone just listening to the song and being completely oblivious to any controversy. The meta-text is all there, but a lot of the confirmation comes through easily missable pronouns and statements. Even the name, "Call Me By Your Name". It's obviously a reference to the book & film of the same name, close to the default answer for 'Name a homosexual piece of media'. Lil Nas X came out during the reign of "Old Town Road" but this was him putting himself out there like he hadn't before. He's just completely embracing the moment. He also uses a bunch of religious iconographies in the music video, riding a stripper pole into Hell, giving a lap dance to Satan before killing him, just very normal stuff. I'm just now learning that he was inspired by a notable music video from 2019, the artist for which I won't name yet, but didn't I do it for you? I just want to feel you're getting the references I'm putting down. In any case, Lil Nas X rode the moral panic to the bank. Perhaps in that sense he might have been inspired by a certain 2020 hit song.

I think what can be taken away from all this is that you do need a worthwhile tune if this is your business model. Lil Nas X has continued to court controversy lately but doesn't seem to have a free ride to success. It can be nice for some headlines, but I think the important thing in all of it is that "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" thrives on the fact that it's an incredibly catchy piece of music. The whole thing lends a lot of credibility to the idea of Lil Nas X as a popstar because he's so committed to the performance. The stickiest parts of this song come from all his different inflections and how the whole mood is warped around them. He comes in for the hook sounding gruff, but contrasts it by singing the same line in high notes moments later. He's working in tandem with the guitar which adds some nice flavour, but it's so minimalist. It's appropriate that he named the song after himself because he's selling himself as the package in this case, and evidently, succeeding with winged colours.

#241. Sticky Fingers - Just For You (#86, 2014)

30th of 2014

I apologise but I actually do have to bring up Oasis again. When you think of them, is there any particular word that you most immediately think of next? Just something you imagine Liam or Noel singing. For me it's a no brainer, it's 'shine'. I'm not the only one who's noticed this, and Oasis fans have been very diligent in documenting its extensive appearances in their catalogue. It feels like it's something that might have gotten exaggerated over time but even from the very beginning, Liam was absolutely making a meal of it. The one in particular that always sticks out to me (maybe because I've listened to it far more than the average person) is the one in "All Around The World". Complete and utter hubris. Noel can be just as guilty sometimes, but maybe a bit more self-aware, as there's a song on the first High Flying Birds album that says 'I don't care for the sunshine' over and over again.

It's this kind of rough exterior, poking their tongue out to good sense and taste, that I suspect has endeared the band to many over the years. I would be very surprised if Sticky Fingers do not find themselves around that circle. Mainly because Paddy admitted it in an interview with Tone Deaf. I'm specifically referring to the section on the song "If You Go", which has all the DNA of Britpop in it, and a chorus that sounds more than a little like "Some Might Say". They don't extend the same observation to "Just For You". Mainly because I don't think Britpop is the right fit for it. I just think of Oasis because that snarl is back. Also it's there, it's there, the chorus says 'sun is always shining' with the subtlety of the monster guitar riff behind it.

I get a lot of different ideas flowing through in this one. The piano anchors it in something closer to Madchester, but Dylan's faster pace takes it somewhere more modern. In reality though I think I'm mostly drawn to something contemporaneous to all that but completely different. Hear me out, "Just For You" sounds like The Prodigy. If you want to say that the piano sounds a bit like Cold Chisel then I won't stop you, but you might make Regurgitator fans upset. In all seriousness though, this song to me is all about the huge arrival of the guitar plummeting to earth in the chorus, and you can't convince me it doesn't do the same thing as "Voodoo People" or literally any single from "The Fat of the Land". I'm onto you 'Freddy Crabs'. I'm definitely charging them with the crime of illegal time travel, or just reminding me how much I love The Prodigy.

#250-#246

#250. Steve Lacy - Bad Habit (#4, 2022)

16th of 2022

In 2018, Kali Uchis released the song "Just a Stranger" which features Steve Lacy. It's a song I loved instantly and I think could one day find a bigger audience, the way many songs by both artists have in the years since it was released. It's the first time I really took notice of Steve Lacy as a solo artist and not just the guy who plays guitar for The Internet, though I'm not sure how much he contributed to the production of the song outside of a catchy hook. Both artists have certainly gotten more popular since then. Kali Uchis has a song that's closing in on 3 billion Spotify streams, and Steve Lacy has gotten a Billboard #1 hit, wait a minute, this is that Billboard #1 hit!

It's often hard to discern where you can draw or blur the line between a hit that seems accidental and one that seems planned. When a completely random band from years ago does it and then makes no notable headway from it (like Surf Curse or Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners), it's probably an accident. When it's a big artist on a major label, probably not. A somewhat big artist on a major label? That's where it gets blurry.

Steve Lacy prefaced this with his song "Dark Red". It's a very Dominic Fike type situation, in that it was chucked out years ago as part of a disorganised collection of demos that he recorded, with an average length of about 2 minutes. "Dark Red" is the kind of hit that just needs to be uncovered though. Just an incredibly sticky song that's dripping in catchy hooks and chill tones. If you're ever compelled to consider Steve Lacy a one hit wonder, it's worth considering that though "Dark Red" didn't chart quite as obviously well, it's managed to stave off "Bad Habit" and remains his most streamed song on Spotify, with a lead that is presently growing as I write this.

If it turned out that "Bad Habit" was written to try and capitalise on this success, I'd be willing to believe it. I don't think of it as a commercial sellout or anything like this, but the absolute density of hooks is not something you just accidentally stumble upon. One of those moments where a hip and cool artist writes an undeniable smash and nearly everyone's rooting for it to climb the charts. I wasn't obsessively in love with it, but it was clearly my favourite thing going on in the charts at the time. It feels appropriate to mention that I've dusted off the entire top 10 for 2022 on this list now. Somewhat ironic given that it was nearly the last one to open the pack (#688).

"Bad Habit" getting to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 feels like a fairy tale ending. I will break this illusion, because while it was absolutely a monster hit in its own right, it had a little helping hand. Its ascent was pushed up with the release of an official sped up version of the song. There's no magic to it; they literally just sped it up by about 21.47%. I know because I just mocked it up in Audacity and it sounds exactly the same as the official version. It's incredibly easy to re-create it. At present, this version has roughly 7.5% as many Spotify streams as the original version, which doesn't sound like much, but on its first and third weeks at the top, it was doing so with a razor-thin margin. The second week was probably fine either way, but it's a reminder that even those seemingly hip and cool artists (or rather their labels) are often times employing all the dodgy techniques that don't get associated with them.

The TikTok machine also revealed another wrinkle in the situation. Steve Lacy would go out on tour, and the obvious direction this would take is that it reveals a huge portion of the crowd that were only there to hear his big hit song. It's a familiar story, especially with one notable British band for a while. In Steve Lacy's case it was even worse. You can find a video of him performing the song in early October 2022, at the peak of the song's popularity to a crowd that immediately clams up after he gets past the 'I wish I knew' part of the song. They occasionally come back because the song has a few viral parts, 'I bite my tongue, it's a bad habit' and 'you can't surprise a Gemini', but it's an oddly fractured experience. He's performing to people who seemingly have only heard parts of the song. I'm not sure the crowd has clocked that he actually flips the title lyric on the second chorus into a question ('Can I bite your tongue like my bad habit?'). I remember the same thing happening not long later with Lizzy McAlpine, who'd perform "ceilings" to a roaring crowd that's screaming every word in 2022, but then a year later (after some viral success) has a whole bunch of people who try to sing the final chorus where the first one's supposed to go. You can tell in both cases that they're extremely irritated by this, and it's one of those things that can take some shine off the illusion of a beloved hit song.

Fortunately, it's not on me to judge a song on the merits of how it gets popular, and for those who are willing to engage fully with the conversation, it can be a means to put great music in the spotlight whether it truly is fulfilling the impression. "Bad Habit" remains a song that I have no beef with. It still sounds great, and we can always do with more songs about being socially awkward. I mean, who knows where I could be if I ever felt comfortable shooting my shot? How can anyone have the confidence to not feel like everyone's too good for them? Steve's speaking to my soul here.

#249. Duke Dumont - Ocean Drive (#13, 2015)

32nd of 2015

For a while, "Ocean Drive" was Australia's little secret. A hit song by an international artist that got incredibly popular, bigger than any song he'd put out before or since, while going mostly under the radar elsewhere. At this point Duke Dumont had two #1 hits in the UK in the past 2 years, but this one couldn't even crack the top 40. The system just worked here and the song caught on like wildfire, becoming one of the absolute biggest radio hits ever. The rest of the world has eventually caught up. It's firmly his biggest hit nowadays, very successfully carving itself a niche as a bouncy dance pop single that's fresh and original, no distracting elements at all.

There's a side of the story that's a little less fun, but I'm having trouble finding sources for it. My only assumption is that the hatchet has been long buried. I just have this strange recollection of the vocalist on this song (Boy Matthews) getting particularly peeved about the way Duke Dumont was acting once the song started to blow up. Taking the full auteur route of paying no credit to someone who was a big part of both performing and writing the record. There's nothing I can find from the immediate time, but from Boy Matthews' Twitter feed, he occasionally gets a bit (understandably) bothered about the way songwriters are often treated in the equation.

The reason I say the hatchet has been buried is because Boy Matthews has retweeted Duke Dumont many years later, suggesting better terms, while in his 2018 Under The Influence interview on triple j talking about the making of "Ocean Drive", Duke Dumont does take the time to absolutely spotlight Boy Matthews' contribution. He also mentions that the song was shopped around to potentially be sung by The Weeknd or a certain other R&B singer, as well as being very proud of the record, and very candid about Industry Rule #4080.

That's a happy ending I think. Except then in 2021, Duke Dumont got into an argument on Instagram with Kelli-Leigh over minimising her contribution for the song "Melt", which in a sign of either terrible misunderstanding or bad faith, had him instead citing her just singing a Whitney Houston top line on their previous collaboration "I Got U" (#441). This controversy was new to me but it looks exactly how I imagined it did for "Ocean Drive", so I guess some people never truly change. "Melt" actually comes from the same EP as "Ocean Drive" so it's one of three songs on there with uncredited vocals (the other one is "Won't Look Back").

Often times it feels like women get the worst shake of it, which is why I'm not sure I feel much better if Boy Matthews is just an exception in hindsight. At one point he quote tweets Bebe Rexha talking about unbalanced producer royalties. Bebe Rexha was a very public victim of these situations. When she sung the hook to David Guetta's song "Hey Mama", she was initially left off the credits under the belief that there were too many names on the song which becomes bad for business (it was credited as David Guetta featuring Afrojack & Nicki Minaj). A few months later she did get her name on it, but I often fear that not enough credit is given. Bebe Rexha unfairly became a massive punching bag for pop music fans as a permanent C-lister (even if she did eventually score an enormous hit for herself) that it's easy to dismiss her concerns, or worse, discredit her as a songwriter because of the way the industry treats her. I can certainly think of another artist who will eventually appear on this list with something to say about it all.

As for the song itself, yeah, it's delightful. One of those neat little packages that feels like opening a present every time. Nothing too flashy either, just a really solid groove, good vocals, and an insanely catchy hook. Duke Dumont says it himself that the phrase 'dance with the devil' works so well because the alliteration sticks it in your head, though he doesn't think he was smart enough at the time to make the same leap with his stage name. For me, that phrase always makes me think of the 1970 box office smash "Love Story". Can't imagine why. Poor Andy Williams, lived long enough to hear "Gangnam Style", but not quite long enough to also experience the joy of "Ocean Drive", and like, all those December royalties that really ramped up in the past decade.

#248. Kendrick Lamar - N95 (#41, 2022)

15th of 2022

It's been a few years so in case you've forgotten, this is the 'you out of pocket' song. You might have also forgotten that N95 refers to a specific kind of mask that was ideal for preventing spreading germs. It's also certainly a double-entendre in this sense given that he spends most of the song telling people to take off all kinds of metaphorical masks. I suspect Kendrick had some opinions about the geopolitical state of the world at the time, but surprisingly, it's a story for another entry. We're about to get introspective here.

"N95" is the sole representation here for "Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers". It's probably his most challenging album, because if you think it might be that other one, I think you should stack the two up together. I think you'll find this is the one that's considerably lacking in potential crossover singles. It says a lot that all you've got on the album is "Die Hard" (which just missed this list) and this song. Maybe it can be enjoyed as a mindless banger, but it feels far too confronting for that to actually stick.

When I think about "Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers", those aren't really the songs that come to mind. I'm thinking of those confronting moments. There's the lamenting of parental issues on "Father Time" (even if Sampha is steering it with a nice hook). There's the absolutely confronting experience of "We Cry Together", a scarily accurate depiction of a domestic dispute where everyone is in the wrong but too focused on getting the moral high ground to acknowledge it. Sure, you might have messed up, but that's nothing compared to what they did! You've got "Auntie Diaries", a song where I witnessed the global arrival in real time, where seemingly in the name of performative politics, the album's reputation took a total nosedive because Kendrick wrote a song about a family member transitioning but didn't follow the internet's guideline to saying the right thing because he's not online enough. The nuance did get through eventually, but it was an eye-opening experience. Towards the end of the album, you've got the album's crowning moment, the beautiful, evocative "Mother I Sober". Kendrick waxes on systemic sexual abuse and slavery with a hopeful turn to breaking the cycle, while Portishead's Beth Gibbons proves she's still got it with a harrowing performance. If you studied all the supplementary material in 2024, you might also recall it as the song that Drake mis-interpreted on one of his diss tracks. His final power play to land on his arse and embarrass himself, the way you could only wish could be the standard for genuinely awful takes that float around. I don't want to tap dance around the issue, but it is in fact the album with all the tap dancing.

On the whole though, it's a very introspective album, and I love it for that. I think a lot of people want Kendrick to use his platform to speak about all the injustices of the world again and again, and if you listen to "Mirror" at the end of the album, Kendrick probably feels some of that on himself. I don't know where he stands on it 5 years later, if the feeling of shame is still there, but I think there's something to be said about how many problems in the world could be alleviated if we took more time to better ourselves. Put on our masks before we help those around us. Just take off the superficial one before you do that as well.

In that regard, maybe "N95" resonated because it is the closest to something that does address the world at large. It's one that certainly feels more purpose built to be latched onto. Get a stopwatch out as you listen out for hooks and I guarantee you'll be hitting reset on the regular. And of course, if you're just listening out to hear Kendrick rap his head off with constantly shifting flows, well there's a lot to like here. I don't know what the general reception is on his high pitched voice he often does, but for me it always reminds me of Emperor Pilaf from Dragonball so I just get immensely amused by it. You can't rule the world with one Hottest 100 entry though, but I'd be lying if I said I thought it was supposed to rule the world. Kendrick just seems to have developed a holding pattern where he'll pivot between reaching for the stars and doing something completely different. I'm glad we get the best of both worlds. It makes me feel like there isn't a stone being left unturned.

#247. Bring Me The Horizon with YUNGBLUD - Obey (#71, 2020)

17th of 2020

The enjoyment of music isn't really a science you can pin down. Maybe on a grand scale there are sweeping gestures that can be made. Back in the early 2000s, a company named Polyphonic HMI developed a program named Hit Song Science. It would analyse music to spot similarities to hit songs of years gone by, and claimed to predict the hit potential of new releases, on the basis of familiarity. I don't know how much credit they get for it, but the claim that tends to get thrown around a lot is that it anticipated the monster success of Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" album. There's another more interesting one where a certain song was scoring exceptionally high in all the important metrics, which gave the record label confidence to push it on the radio. Radio listeners hated it and would change the station very readily. That song was "Hey Ya!" by OutKast. You can claim they had the last laugh, but given their claims of familiar rhythms and patterns making a song more instantly stick immediately, it doesn't feel like it should count.

Even so, we're only looking at broad strokes. The notion that a lot of people will like something, whether or not you, the person reading this, or I, the one writing it are part of that circle. You can excavate a big pile of sand but some will inevitably fall out the side in the process. Sometimes we're just subject to whims that may or may not be quantified. Did we all think that "Keith" by Playlunch was certainly one of the best songs of 2025? Maybe, maybe not, but it was operating on a different playing field. One where the intangible fun of yelling 'don't f**k with my trailer, c**t', or otherwise imagining an exaggerated version of ex-Western Bulldogs star Barry Hall doing it instead can outweigh the hard science behind it all.

Why am I saying all of this? Well let's be honest, tangents are the only way I'm getting any meat out of my 12th entry on Bring Me The Horizon. But it is relevant in this case. However it is that you receive "Obey", it's probably different to me. Personally, it's one of my favourite Bring Me The Horizon songs on a purely stupid level. At the time I tweeted out something along the lines of 'Oh, bae, I hope you have a lovely day :)' and I've never been able to hear the song any other way since. This is a deeply political song that's taking aim at authoritarian regimes that pacify their constituents. I choose to ignore all of this and instead sing along a little goddamn louder to a happy song (#309).

This is absolutely the right song for this kind of juxtaposition. It feels like part of the metatext when it's one of their loudest and most chaotic songs in recent memory, but it's just waiting to give you a big hook to sing along with. YUNGBLUD doesn't really detract from the experience. I like to imagine someone who doesn't know his music is hearing the start of his verse and imagining that he's a trap rapper who demands a trap beat under his performance. When he mimics Oli on the pre-chorus, he's pretty impressive though. But yeah, wake up sheeple and all that.

#246. Hayden James (feat GRAACE) - NUMB (#32, 2017)

27th of 2017

I'm not sure how well known or remembered this is, but GRAACE was actually a contestant on Season 4 of The Voice Australia. She didn't get especially far, but as this list may continue to prove, that isn't always a hindrance to future successes. She chose an interesting time to emerge mononymously though. A couple of years prior to this, Australia housed two distinctly different singer-songwriters who went by Grace. Not a big deal, but one of those Graces happened their way onto a #1 hit, and suddenly the other Grace was getting a lot of mistaken messages. The less famous Grace is now R.W. Grace, but then later on, the more famous Grace also changed her name to SAYGRACE. Now we're left with GRAACE as the closest proxy who has steadfastly kept the name for nearly a decade now.

I suppose as a follow up to the Duke Dumont situation, I'm finding it hard to draw the right conclusion with Hayden James. Nothing but the nicest exchanges between him and Boy Matthews, not just about the song he sings on and receives a feature credit for (#401), but also one that he just co-wrote (#624). It's just that if you look at DSPs, you won't find those writing credits there. I don't think it's under dispute or anything, so I don't know why it ended up like this. GRAACE on the other hand has her writing credit locked in, which if anything makes it stand out as more unusual. Good for her. I wouldn't think she ever imagined she'd ever pen a 3xPlatinum hit, so it's important to lock down those royalties.

For me, "NUMB" feels like the natural culmination of Hayden James' sound. It achieves a certain mysterious darkness to it through what sound like conventional tricks initially. Like that rising tension before the chorus, it's just bringing up the background synth to waft a little closer to the surface, while adding and then promptly removing some handclaps. You've likely heard this exact same trick in Flume's remix of "HyperParadise". When the chorus does hit, it feels like the sinister energy has just been displaced onto GRAACE, with her vocals being pitched down. She also starts singing faster and it reminds me a bit of what Kygo tended to do around this time where he'd chop up vocal snippets and create new hooks from them to pretty good effect. GRAACE is pretty clearly speaking full sentences, trying to bargain with the man causing her pain. Just a really strong single that paved the way to his greatest success.