20 Years, 100 Songs...

Triple J's Hottest 100 of the past 20 years has been counted down to numero uno, with Oasis' 'Wonderwall' taking the top spot. The cheers of anti-'Thrift Shop' punters could be heard around Australia, or more specifically in my bedroom, as the realisation that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis failed to place AT ALL hit home. Australian acts made up just over a quarter of the list, but female artists found themselves severely underrepresented. No PJ Harvey, Bjork or Courtney Love to be seen. But 'Thrift Shop' didn't make the list, so it does have that going for it. What else did we learn, let's see... well, The Killers remain surprisingly relevant, while former Hottest 100 #1 artists Denis Leary and Alex Lloyd do not. And did I mention 'Thrift Shop' didn't make the list? Well it didn't and we all lived happily ever after.


I attempted to do up a list last month in preparation for voting in this Hottest 100 and now, I share it with you. Culling down to 100 of my favourite songs over the past two decades and then only being able to pick twenty was quite a hard thing to do. To not venture into crazy personal choice territory too much, I tried to limit myself to tracks that had featured in the previous Hottest 100's as much as possible. There were only five exceptions to this rule (I think). This list will be by no means perfect to some/everyone (duh!), but if the J's Hottest 100 of the past 20 years told us anything, no list is. But it comes close if it doesn't have 'Thrift Shop' in it. Enjoy!

20 Years, 100 Songs...

by Matt Bond

1. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Didn't Make the Hottest 100)
3. Foo Fighters - Everlong
4. Powderfinger - My Kind of Scene (Didn't Make the Hottest 100)
5. Oasis - Wonderwall
6. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
7. Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) (Didn't Make the Hottest 100)
8. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
9. Bjork - Hyperballad
10. Blur - Song 2
11. System of A Down - Chop Suey
12. Massive Attack - Teardrop
13. The Prodigy - Breathe
14. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Ship Song
15. Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
16. Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Home
17. Radiohead - Creep
18. Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know
19. The Cranberries - Zombie
20. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
21. Garbage - Vow
22. Killing Heidi - Weir
23. PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me (Didn't Make The Hottest 100)
24. The Waifs - London Still
25. Pearl Jam - Given To Fly
26. Missy Elliott - Work It
27. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
28. Silverchair - Miss You Love
29. Spiderbait - Buy Me A Pony
30. Hole - Violet
31. Tame Impala - Elephant
32. The xx - Angels
33. M.I.A - Paper Planes
34. Crystal Fighters - At Home (Didn't Make The Hottest 100)
35. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
36. Seeker Lover Keeper - Even Though I'm A Woman
37. Kimbra - Cameo Lover
38. Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith - Not In Love
39. Kanye West ft. Pusha-T - Runaway
40. Pearl Jam - Better Man
41. Rage Against the Machine - Killing In The Name
42. Kylie Minogue - Confide In Me
43. Silverchair - Tomorrow
44. Ben Folds Five - Brick
45. Powderfinger - These Days
46. Augie March - One Crowded Hour
47. Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
48. Garbage - Push It
49. OutKast - Hey Ya!
50. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
51. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
52. Bjork - Human Behaviour
53. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
54. Placebo - Every You Every Me
55. Nine Inch Nails - Closer
56. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
57. Beastie Boys - Sabotage
58. Custard - Girls Like That (Don't Go For Guys Like Us)
59. No Doubt - Just A Girl
60. The Killers - When You Were Young
61. The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
62. Spiderbait - Calypso
63. Garbage - #1 Crush
64. Fuel - Shimmer
65. Killing Heidi - Mascara
66. The Dresden Dolls - Coin-Operated Boy
67. Hole - Celebrity Skin
68. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
69. Portishead - Glory Box
70. Bush - Glycerine
71. The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
72. Ben Lee - Cigarettes Will Kill You
73. Grinspoon - Chemical Heart
74. Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
75. Silverchair - Freak
76. Hilltop Hoods - The Nosebleed Section
77. Presidents of the USA - Lump
78. The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
79. Sia - Breathe Me
80. Regina Spektor - On The Radio
81. The Presets - Talk Like That
82. The Grates - Science Is Golden
83. The Offspring - Self Esteem
84. Muse - Time Is Running Out
85. The Presets - My People
86. MGMT - Kids
87. Art Vs Science - Parlez Vous Francais
88. Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
89. The Superjesus - Down Again
90. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
91. Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches
92. Frenzal Rhomb - Never Had So Much Fun
93. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
94. Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet
95. The Whitlams - No Aphrodisiac
96. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds ft. Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow
97. Custard - Apartment
98. Magic Dirt - Dirty Jeans
99. The Smashing Pumpkins - Today
100. Veruca Salt - Seether