Sunday 28 December 2014

Top Fives - Artists never to make the Hottest 100

A cursory glance at almost every list I've published yields some link to Triple J's Hottest 100. With voting now open for 2014, before looking at which songs made my shortlist, I've decided to revisit five artists that have never placed in the top 100.

Ground rules: they need to be artists that I have actually voted for, in the annual countdowns, at a time voting was limited to 10 songs. Bands like Machine Head (I didn't vote when songs from Burn My Eyes would have been eligible, and their most recent work hasn't been on Triple J's shortlist) miss out for this reason (my notes around my voting history go back to 1998 (and while I can be held accountable for "Got the Life", I directed no votes in the way of "Pretty Fly" that year)).





Presented in alphabetical order:

Calling all Cars
Voted for:
  • "Hold, Hold Fire" (2009)
  • "Reptile" (2011)


You can likely add "Standing in the Ocean" to that list for 2014. I can see it with a chance of the top 200 (a feat that "Reptile" achieved in 2011, when it placed 165. A great live band, who have done well supporting hottest 100 favourites like The Butterfly Effect; they do get a lot of play on Triple J (ranked 87 out of 14,394 per JPlay), but yet to crack the annual top 100 list.

The Drones
Voted for:
  • "The Minotaur" (2008)
  • "How to see through fog" (2013)

They also should have placed in the Hottest 100 of the last twenty years, and the Australian albums list (where Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By placed 148 and Havilah came in at 180). Hopefully a new album will be forthcoming in 2015.

Fear Factory
Voted for:
  • "Invisible Wounds (Dark Bodies)" (2001)

I likely voted for "Digimortal" or "Cars" around the same time frame, but these didn't feature in my core lists. With heavier music (mostly nu-metal) well represented around that time frame (compared to some of the more recent lists), it is somewhat surprising Fear Factory never placed.

The Horrors
Voted for:
  • "Who can say?" (2009)
  • "Still Life" (2011)

"I can see through you" was probably the Horrors song most likely in 2011, but it (like the others) failed to make the top 200. Which is surprising, as that was all over Super Request at the time. They'll feature in my long list again for 2014, but probably miss out on my top 10.

Trial Kennedy
Voted for:
  • "Sunday Warning" (2008)
  • "Strange Behaviour" (2010)

 "Neighbours" was apparently the 7th most played song on Triple J in 2008 (per the comments in Richard Kingsmill's blog), though their best finish was "Colour Day Tours" (#168 that year). I probably should have redirected "Sunday Warning" that way, but it wouldn't have made a significant difference.

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