#780-#776

#780. Parkway Drive - Vice Grip (#58, 2015)

74th of 2015

I'm always interested in how metal groups get big. I'll have more to say on the topic when we get to a certain other stalwart group, but it always feels like two fighting forces in a genre that thrives on being uncompromising, but popularity requires compromise. Parkway Drive always struck me as a slight exception to the rule. The metal bands that get big enough to land on my radar generally have a way in, usually a melodic clean vocalist. Parkway don't really have that, it's all Winston doing his thing.

Maybe it's regressing into the point I was making before, but an odd thing happens with them in the Hottest 100. They've never been a reliable presence, never polling consecutive albums. In fact, they only seem to make it in here on albums where they're seen to jump the shark to an extent. This is a conversation I am not really part of, but even I could tell something was a bit off when I heard "Vice Grip". To be sure though, I went back and listened to the band's first two albums. Things get controversial after that, but those two are generally well received. I think I get it too. I'm leaning on the side of preferring "Killing with a Smile" over "Horizons" but it might just be because I listened to it first. They're a band that got their act together very quickly, and I can see why for a lot of music fans, Australia is known as the country Parkway Drive come from.

"Vice Grip" isn't a total departure, but the first time I ever heard someone compare it to Bon Jovi, that's a comparison I've never been able to shake off. Something about those chorus chant vocals is just a band out of their wheelhouse trying to make a stadium rock anthem. I can imagine accepting it for what it is and embracing the sheer cheese factor, but I prefer my Parkway to be a touch more unrelenting.

#779. Hilltop Hoods - I'm Good? (#9, 2020)

73rd of 2020

I said before that the music release cycle is too long to go to the 2020 countdown and expect it to be full of songs responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are exceptions. When something becomes history defining, you can't help but ponder how long it'll take to ripple out elsewhere. The first ever Jeopardy! clue mentioning the pandemic was in October 2021, and you could wonder what the first song written about it was. As best I can see, two Vietnamese singers, Min & Erik released a song explicitly about it in February 2020. In the west, the first notable ones were OneRepublic's "Better Days" and then twenty one pilots' "Level Of Concern". A little later, Australia caught up as Hilltop Hoods put out the song "I'm Good?" for charity. That incentive may have helped its sales, to date it's the group's last top 50 hit, but it wasn't just coasting on that since enough people liked it to land it in the top 10 of the Hottest 100. It's also their 8th and final song to do so, and shares a trait with their first, in that it's essentially just a solo Suffa track.

Initially hearing this song, it's possible to believe that the song was already written beforehand and just forced onto the theme. For the first verse it's just a song about being sick and stuck at home. By the second verse, there's no escaping it. Regrettably it's been 5 years now and there's probably no chance that 'Weird' Al will ever put out "My Corona". It's all pretty silly and yet makes for a solid time capsule of what 2020 was really like, on the off chance that future generations decades from now will get their perspective from obscure Hilltop Hoods songs.

If there's a criticism to be laid down, it's that you can definitely tell that the song was rushed out for a timely release. The beat is upbeat and fun, but the more you pay attention to it, the more limited it feels. There's a bit of a lift with a horn section on the chorus, but it's half-hearted. You get the same situation with the chorus lyrics. Somewhat catchy hook, but it gets drawn out for quite a while serving up mostly the same few words over and over again. Perfectly fine for the time, but it's been 5 years now, we're allowed to have more elaborate Hilltop Hoods songs again.

#778. Bombay Bicycle Club - Luna (#98, 2014)

76th of 2014

This entry has me wondering who the luckiest Hottest 100 entrant might be. A few ways you can look at this. Definitely worth noting Powderfinger, The Cat Empire and the lead singer for Birds of Tokyo and another band for landing at #100 twice, but what this had me wondering is if Bombay Bicycle Club has had the luckiest scraping over the line with two entries ever. It's made more potent with my strong suspicion that no other song of theirs has even come close, so their only two real attempts both did what they needed and little more. In case you were wondering, there's a rapper with two guest appearances, one credited and the other not, both no higher than #93. There's also another rapper with a decent few appearances but their two lead artist entries are no higher than #95. I would also be remiss to not mention Pennywise, three entries ever at #90, #91 & #96. We live in a society that mildly appreciates "Society".

The 2011 countdown is one I have a lot of fondness for. I know, your favourite Hottest 100 is the one when you were x years old but it's got a lot of things going for it that 2010 and 2012 didn't necessarily have. It's also the year I was introduced to Bombay Bicycle Club, notably their song "Shuffle". I thought that song was pretty alright. It's a bit like "Daylight" by Matt and Kim but with some of the more obnoxious elements ironed out. 14 years later and that main piano loop is unforgettable.

"Luna" doesn't have that same kind of character to it. I probably liked it more at the time for that reason, just a low thrills kind of song that sweeps you up in its big emotional swells. It's also one of those songs where the backing vocals are distinct, have their moment to shine, and the song is better for it. On paper, this song is everything and it's great. In reality I hear it now and it just washes over me. It lacks a certain grit, and the chorus isn't quite the payoff it wants to be.

#777. Lime Cordiale - Facts of Life (#15, 2022)

78th of 2022

This is a nice and pleasant song to kick off the countdown, real #95 finisher and its dedicated fans are stoked it managed to get in. Hang on, I'm being told to double check where this actually finished...wow. I jest but if I were to blindly recall all of the Lime Cordiale placements, I'd be wildly off on this one. In the two years since, they've not gotten especially close to this position again, so "Facts of Life" really snuck in while the getting was good.

Worst thing about this song is that there isn't really anything for me to criticise here. It does remind me of a Black Box Recorder song with a similar name that I quite like, but yeah, no scathing critique of what's gone horribly wrong here. Just shocked at how popular it was.

#776. Charli XCX - Boys (#60, 2017)

81st of 2017

I didn't do this intentionally, but it did work out very well to wait until after the 2024 Hottest 100 had aired to start writing about this. The whole Charli XCX Hottest 100 history was drastically re-written, largely in the space of about 2 hours. An artist who has perennially been dodged by the radar has finally gotten their time in the sun, plus probably a few more folks' time as well. I'm not here to debate the merits of that album anyway, but it sure is interesting that prior to scoring 8 entries in a single year, Charli XCX had only ever made the Hottest 100 twice before, first with "I Love It" in 2012, and then with this. If you find yourself saying 'but what about...', the answer is probably that triple j didn't play that particular song. Their response was always more scattershot, often in a way that worked to my liking. You wouldn't pick "End Of The World" and "5 In The Morning" as being among the anointed few, but I'm glad they were because they're probably my two favourite songs of hers.

There are two clear gimmicks to this song. Firstly, the unusual choice to sample the coin collecting sound from Super Mario Bros., arguably one of the most important sound effects in all of gaming because that sheer dopamine hit it provides will justify collecting so many mostly useless trinkets in that game and the next one. Collecting like twenty of them at once has the same effect as watching the King of Spades come bouncing down at the end of Solitaire, just the satisfaction of seeing the overlapping layers like that, but I digress. The other gimmick is the music video. It leans so aggressively into the song concept that we need that Celadon Gym old guy to say 'This video is great, it's full of boys!' That in itself is an example of what she's playing contrary to, because the whole video is full of said boys acting and occasionally dressing like we've all gotten used to seeing women doing in music videos. These two gimmicks work perfectly with each other too because with so many people in the video, hardly anyone gets enough screentime to be appreciated. It's all just 'ding!', on to the next one. It has to be said too; it's a truly fascinating cast. I won't go through them all, but just note that we've got Hottest 100 alumni in Flume, Stormzy, Denzel Curry, Vance Joy and Oli Sykes, to name a few.

The song itself? Charli XCX has constantly straddled between music for the radio and music for the blogs. Until 2024, there was a serious issue with finding a balance between the two, so the songs that do pop off don't seem to have many people sticking around for it. This song does a decent job of fitting between the two. It wasn't really a big hit, and isn't really most people's favourite song of hers. But it's worth noting that for a song that's stranded without an album, it has as many Spotify streams as "Break the Rules", a song that was a hit in its time. For me it's a cute song, but probably not the one I'd seek out when her catalogue has so much more to offer.