Monday, January 29, 2007

Hottest Parochial 100

A beautiful day on Friday, and even though we barely listen to the Js any more, we have a soft spot for the station that started us listening to real music. (Fun fact: I used to listen to TTFM. True dat.) So we sat around and burned sausages and opened cans and talked shit to celebrate Hottest 100 Day.

From an Oz perspective, the list was pretty decent. Here's the Australian sublist:

1   VIC  Augie March            One Crowded Hour
2   WA   Eskimo Joe             Black Fingernails, Red Wine
3   SA   Hilltop Hoods          The Hard Road
8   VIC  Gotye                  Hearts A Mess
10  QLD  Grates                 19-20-20
11  WA   Little Birdy           Come On Come On
12  WA   John Butler Trio       Funky Tonight
17  QLD  Grates                 Science Is Golden
21  NSW  Youth Group            Forever Young
23  SA   Hilltop Hoods          Clown Prince
32  QLD  Butterfly Effect       Gone
33  NSW  Cops                   Call Me Anytime
36  WA   Bob Evans              Nowhere Without You
37  WA   Bob Evans              Don't You Think It's Time
38  NSW  Josh Pyke              Memories & Dust
39  QLD  Butterfly Effect       A Slow Descent
41  SA   Hilltop Hoods          What A Great Night!
42  QLD  Grates                 Inside Outside
43  NSW  Angus & Julia Stone    Paper Aeroplane
45  WA   Karnivool              Roquefort
51  VIC  Something For Kate     Cigarettes And Suitcases
52  NSW  Herd                   Unpredictable
53  VIC  Living End             Wake Up
55  NSW  Wolfmother             Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)
56  SA   Hilltop Hoods          Stopping All Stations
57  NSW  Josh Pyke              Private Education
58  NSW  Sarah Blasko           Always On This Line
64  NSW  Something With Numbers Apple Of The Eye
68  NSW  Darren Hanlon          Happiness Is A Chemical
71  QLD  Grates                 Lies Are Much More Fun
72  VIC  Jet                    Put Your Money Where Mouth Is
76  VIC  Jet                    Rip It Up
77  SA   Hilltop Hoods          Recapturing The Vibe
79  NSW  Sarah Blasko           Explain
80  NSW  Wolfmother             Love Train
82  WA   Freestylers/Pendulum   Painkiller
83  QLD  Butterfingers          Get Up Outta The Dirt
88  WA   Pendulum               Tarantula
94  VIC  Gotye                  Learnalilgivnanlovin
95  WA   Eskimo Joe             New York
96  NSW  Red Riders             Slide In Next To Me
100 VIC  Blue King Brown        Come And Check Your Head

So 42 of the 100 are Australian; looks like the Js are well doing their bit to promote homegrown stuff, as we'd hope. Good to see some lowish profile groups in there: Gotye, Cops, Something With Numbers, Red Riders, Butterfingers. The state breakdown is interesting:

NSW:   10 groups, 13 entries,  avg place 57
QLD:    3 groups,  7 entries,  avg place 42
SA:     1 group,   5 entries,  avg place 40
VIC:    6 groups,  8 entries,  avg place 57
WA:     6 groups,  9 entries,  avg place 45

TOTAL: 26 groups, 42 entries,  avg place 50

What does that tell us?

That there's a New South Welsh bias. Look at Something With Numbers, Cops and Red Riders. Three low-profile semi-indie acts who each get a song in the list thanks to a fair bit of JJJ airplay. Take nothing away from the bands, especially Red Riders who I reckon are quite good, but there are plenty of bands as good as them in other cities. OK, they have to be in the right place at the right time, but it appears that the right place is the Annandale... And this is not surprising, because most JJJ programming comes out of Sydney.

Cause they're pretty much the only bolters on the list. Well, apart from the continuing saga of Gotye's amazing success. All the other Melbourne bands (Augie, Jet, Living End, SFK!) are pretty established.

Anyway, it's not that bad, I suppose. Just disappointing. At least we've got RRR and PBS.

4 Comments:

Blogger Pat said:

I don't think it was good to hear Butterfingers on that list. Have you heard those guys?

6:50 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said:

you guys seem too obsessed with the melbourne vs. sydney thing!

12:21 pm  
Blogger Dave said:

Nah Sean, that's just me. It's not fair! ;-)

Haven't really heard any Butterfingers but if they are lower profile (are they?) then my point stands. Despite the merits or otherwise of the act in question. And they are a bit shit.

3:40 pm  
Blogger Dave said:

...though on Melb vs Syd, I note that Ben Butler has echoed my stance in his weekly column:

"...Victorian artists are under-represented, despite Melbourne's status as the live music capital of Australia."

11:54 am  

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