#730-#726

#730. The Wiggles - Elephant - Like A Version (#1, 2021)

80th of 2021

Often times you can get some measure of appreciation for an artist's impact by looking at the stat sheet they leave behind them. If there's a contemporaneous artist with similar chart peaks to their name, that can be a gateway to understanding what it might have been like back then. The Wiggles don't really allow this to operate in any logical fashion.

Part of the problem is that there isn't really a modern equivalent to The Wiggles. The internet is rife with children's entertainment that ranges from sensible to off-the-rails with seemingly no consistency as to what's able to reach into the tier of billions of YouTube views, and to what degree that content actually impacts the upbringing of those watching it. Maybe we'll get stories from the Cocomelon generation as they reach adolescence in the coming years.

The other minor problem is that for whatever reason I can't figure out, The Wiggles in their budding years just didn't appear on the ARIA Chart. They were constantly touting Platinum sales figures but I've no way to really see where they went with it compared to everything else. It's actually only in the last decade that it's become normal to see The Wiggles reach the charts with most new albums they put out, though not with the sorts of sales they once could boast when they were a cultural phenomenon.

With that in mind, the only real positive proof of their impact I can quantify is the fact that I'm writing all this right now. The Wiggles' relentless touring schedule and constant album releases (perhaps a necessity when you're fostering an audience that's destined to outgrow you in record time) has evidently managed to secure them in the hearts & minds of '90s kids and beyond for good. Plenty of bands and artists have ridden some quantity of nostalgia to land in the Hottest 100 over the years, but The Wiggles went so much further by taking the #1 spot. That's a spot that's always been reserved for some manner of zeitgeisty artist, kind of as a rule. The list of artists beaten to the post in 2021 matches that description perfectly, but this is a popularity contest they were soundly beaten in by a band that formed 30 years ago with some members in their 60s.

It's perhaps worth noting that The Wiggles took to international stardom in the 2000s. There's an odd result that came about where the band got considerably more fame in the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks, as their touring schedule was unperturbed and the uplifting quality of their music served a greater purpose in that moment. They've been used in Jeopardy! clues 8 times over the years but only first in 2005. They've also kept in the news with the frequent discussion of their Ship of Theseus line up. It started in 2006 when original Yellow Wiggle Greg Page had to retire due to chronic illness that continues to affect him to this day. He's occasionally performed with the group since but suffered a heart attack on stage in 2020. He's actually the youngest original member by quite a distance; Purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt was roughly twice his age when they started up. The yellow skivvies have changed hands multiple times since then, and for the past few years there have been two of each colour as official members. As it stands, founding Blue Wiggle Anthony Field is the only original member still performing with the group and it may make you feel somewhat old to know that he now performs alongside his daughter Lucia, who was born not long before Greg originally left the band.

You'll see a lot of half-joking responses about how people want to bring back the original line up. The same year this cover was released, an actual senator for the National Party pulled the 'go woke...go broke' line with regards to The Wiggles having a more ethnically diverse line up. There's a fine line for millennial nostalgia getting hung up on everything being catered perfectly to childhood memories and we as a generation are failing it all too often.

In any case, accepting the impracticality of Greg being part of the proceedings, this cover is probably as close as you can hope to get for reliving it. Murray and Jeff both came in to perform on this cover alongside Anthony and then-current members Lachie, Emma & Simon. It's just complete bait through and through, that we willingly bought into.

The other factor I haven't mentioned yet is that this is obviously a Tame Impala cover, of their 2012 hit "Elephant". That's right at the cusp of Tame Impala becoming a serious international star but obviously one that's very well known to Australian listeners as the highest polling Tame Impala song prior to 2015 (it landed at #7). Tame Impala had just recently landed at #1 in the Hottest 100 of the Decade poll in 2020, with a song that I continue to dangle like a dollar bill on the back of a pickup truck, but this is probably the only time a Tame Impala song will top the annual poll. It also helps lend to my earlier promise that we get to talk about every Tame Impala album in some capacity despite two of them pre-dating this time period. It's pretty much the perfect choice of song to cover and fits the Wiggles vibe perfectly. Anthony performs the whole cover while wearing an elephant costume over his head. In what has become an increasingly common instance, the band played mashup duty. There's a little bit of their own classic "Fruit Salad" slotted in over the song's long instrumental section. Say what you will, but this band know what the people want.

As for where I stand on all this? Make no mistake, I was a Wiggles kid. I don't think I ever saw them perform at my local shopping centre, but definitely wore out a VHS or cassette at home. I even recall having to sing "Hot Potato" at school at a very young age which goes some way to show how indoctrinated they were at that point. I moved onto top 40 pop music not long after but I don't think I ever lost my respect for The Wiggles and what they do.

For me, this cover is a bit of silly fun. Not really something I go out of my way to listen to. There's a lot of uproar about this winning the poll but I think when the countdown got to the pointy end I found myself rooting for it. It's a bit of potluck as to which hyped upstart gets to put the #1 spot on their résumé, and probably too much discourse for it. Charts often favour that sort of functional competence that doesn't inspire much intrigue for those outside the circle. Sometimes the Hottest 100 can get caught up in that too so it can be refreshing to have a laugh with a result like this. A good reminder to never take it all too seriously.

#729. The Wombats - Your Body Is a Weapon (#25, 2013)

79th of 2013

While you might think of The Wombats as a band who'd need to keep releasing music constantly to stay afloat, they actually have been spacing their albums out by 3 or 4 years consistently from the beginning. Instead of flooding the music market, their strategy has been relentless touring, almost comparable to The Wiggles. It's become something of a joke to see them announce another Australian tour for good reason, because from 2010 to 2018 there were 9 straight years where The Wombats played a show (or 10) in Australia without fail. If not for a lean 2019 when they only toured Europe, you'd be inclined to say that it took a global pandemic to get them to stop coming to our country, but fret not because they came back in 2023 & 2024, and they're already booked to play more shows this year.

I often forget this isn't just a loose single. It came out in 2013, right between two album cycles but it's tucked into the middle of the track listing of their 2015 album "Glitterbug" so technically it is the lead single. It also just doesn't sound like it fits in with that album as their sound felt like a tad more modern glitch than this by then. The rambunctious energy on this actually feels best suited to their debut album. The way it immediately revs up on the intro in particular generates that notion.

This song was perfectly generated to be a Hottest 100 hit. It was released reasonably late (but not too late) in the year, and following a bumper success year for The Wombats in 2011, was the only single they had out at the time. Their next single has definitely moved past it now, but for the purposes of the annual poll, this one performed just slightly better.

It's pretty much what you expect from The Wombats at this point. A big soaring chorus to relieve the building tension during the verses. The first half of the song plays the whole set up so straight that you have to think they were aware of it. After the second chorus we're treated to a softer bridge with oddly angelic backing vocals. I've seen this before. It's a bit of a rehash of what they do on the last chorus of "Our Perfect Disease". I won't dock points for that, but "Our Perfect Disease" is still my favourite song they've ever put out, and that's my favourite part of it, so it's a comparison that this song is always going to fall short on. They even do another similar thing as the last chorus gets accompanied by a 'woo!' that really works to kick it up a gear. It always feels missing when it's not there for the first half of the song. They could probably end the song at the 3 minute mark but they keep it going for another minute, just with the same lyric repeated over and over again. I'm not immune to the charms of things like this (good dog), but I wouldn't miss this outro if it wasn't there.

#728. Vera Blue - Regular Touch (#15, 2017)

73rd of 2017

Last time I talked about Vera Blue was when she was the featured artist on "Papercuts" (#857). It's not the last time she'll take that role, and it'll provide the biggest hit of her career, but she also has 6 more Hottest 100 entries just on her own. Incidentally, I am starting with what is arguably the biggest of them. I'm not contrarian, you just haven't had a chance to see all the instances when the opposite happens.

In case you need a refresher or are just wondering where all of these Australian musicians are coming from, this is one that we have a pretty simple answer for. Vera Blue was originally a contestant on The Voice Australia. She was quite popular on that show too, finishing in 3rd place on the second season. That's when the show was still a certifiable big deal, and with help from the quirk of the show encouraging people to vote via iTunes downloads, she actually managed 7 top 40 hits in Australia under her real name of Celia Pavey. It's actually quite amusing to see her charting adjacent to Flume for one week, 6 years before they'd collaborate. 

After the fanfare from The Voice Australia faded, she followed a similar career path to Matt Corby and Lisa Mitchell, which is to say that she signed to a major label and slowly rebuilt her fame with seemingly low key releases. Maybe it'd be better to compare her to that other Australian Idol contestant who could show up any day now because she also adopted a new stage name, making it even more likely that she found fans who were divorced from that initial hype cycle, or would be more likely to distance themselves if they were aware of her origins. Talent can go a long way and shows like that are not immune to unearthing it.

The other thing that links all of those artists is the fact that the music they put out was at least a little bit outside of the usual affair of those shows. They might have eventually landed a crossover hit, but triple j was a natural home for them. It's certainly true of Vera Blue's early music. She rose to fame with her folk stylings, playing the guitar and singing songs by Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell and the like. While her voice was still at the centre stage, she took a more electronic turn that's quite apparent on early singles like "Hold".

Her sound has definitely moved around since then, pivoting to a more upbeat pop sound. You might be surprised to know that despite all of this, she's maintained the same primary producer for this entire period of her career, with Andy Mak credited on every song she's ever put out under the Vera Blue moniker. He's not alone though, his brother also worked on her latest album, while her first album, which this song comes from features co-production from Adam Anders. I must warn Green Day that he's a Swedish producer who's been active since the late '90s, and is most notable for being the primary producer behind the many, many songs from "Glee" that populated the charts for several years.

Of the many hits on Vera Blue's first album, "Regular Touch" is probably the one that best predicts the stronger pop pivot that her music would take on from then. It's a rare instance where she isn't really settling in with a low tempo mood but instead just has fun with it. It's not a complete divorce however, with the song being very much anchored down by its obligatory drop, which I think is probably the weakest part of it. I think when she's singing alongside it, it's a strong partnership as there's charisma to spare, with a kind of performance you wouldn't normally expect alongside the skittery production. She's doing the best she can with a song that feels increasingly of its time.

#727. Cloud Control - Dojo Rising (#82, 2013)

78th of 2013

I've been trying to pin down the period of time around 2012-2014 as a significant changing of the guard for the Hottest 100. This was always largely based on vibes so I thought I should look a little closer. So taking a look at the 2013 Hottest 100, something I've caught is that excluding one-time entrants, there are 15 artists (mainstays you could say) who make their final Hottest 100 appearance to date in 2013. You get a similar number in 2012 & 2014, but slightly less in 2021, a year where not everyone has even come back for a new album cycle yet. I'm very curious to see what this looks like for later years, where it feels like so many of the same artists are checking back in year after year.

Cloud Control are one of those 15 artists in 2013. It feels like an extended tenure but they were only on their second album by that point. I first heard of them around 2008, with songs like "Death Cloud", which in hindsight I have to put under that umbrella of songs that sound a little bit like "Hey Now Now" by The Cloud Room. Maybe there's something psychological in that, or maybe it just was the forgotten sound of the times.

I've had mixed feelings with the band over the years. They're prone to get overly twee akin to some of my less fondly favoured artists of their time. They can somewhat get away with it because they do it with songs that I don't generally encounter anymore, but when a song like "There's Nothing In The Water We Can't Fight" lands at a very generous #18 in the 2010 countdown, I guess it makes me want to be more on board than I actually am.

Their pair of entries in 2013 fare better at least. "Dojo Rising" doesn't fully get there, I struggle to connect much with the repeated 'I just wanna get lit' lyric. Similarly, the verses just feel like a promenade between all the interesting things. I like those interesting things though; few songs start as strongly as this one does with that arresting oscillation.

#726. Lime Cordiale - Addicted To The Sunshine (#20, 2020)

65th of 2020

It was a nice gap getting to talk about artists I haven't rinsed into the ground yet. This is our 11th outing with Lime Cordiale and it does not get any easier. Outside of the oddities that come about when they work with Idris Elba, it's hard to imagine a version of this band that offers less for me to dig into, for better or worse (in the case of writing these things, it's definitely worse).

Well, I can make a start with this one with one tidbit. Lime Cordiale is primarily the work of two brothers, Oli & Louis Leimbach. Typing that out has made me finally realise it's probably where they got the name from. Louis is probably the face of the band, and fronts most of their famous songs. I have trouble telling them apart but Louis usually has scruffier hair. This is one of those occasional exceptions where it's largely Oli singing on it. "Colin" (#754) is another one. It's funny in this instance because I never even noticed it until I just watched a video performing this song. At the 30 second mark, Oli just shifts into a higher register to make it sound like he's passed off the microphone to someone else, but it's still him. I'm reminded of a posse rap song we'll eventually get to, don't call me stupid if I forget to mention it.

Louis isn't completely gone from this song though; I have to give him credit for contributing to the harmonies on this song's chorus. That's the song reaching its utmost moment for me. It's not something that always works for me (I've never loved "Here Comes The Sun" which operates on a similar level), but here they meet the task perfectly and I have no notes in that other than the prior build-up being a little tepid. Now if you don't mind me, I'm just going to walk out of here with my Lime Cordiale > The Beatles take and enjoy my week.