More power to the people. When Triple J decided to do a music listener poll in late 1988, they effectively set in motion cogs that would revolutionise Australian music, and the lives of us all.
Conceived by Triple J presenter Lawrie Zion – yet stolen from Brisbane community radio station 4zzz which started the Hot 100 in 1976 – Sydney listeners were required to write their 10 favourite songs of all time on the back on an envelope. The music lovers of Sydney complied and sent in entries on paintings, sculptures and joints.
The following year the title changed to Hottest 100 and Triple J became a national broadcast station. The whole country was instantly onboard and with the first ever winner being Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division two years running, it was safe to say Triple J had stumbled onto a landmine. Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit took the crown in 1991.
A virtual staple of Australian music culture was then punched into the hearts of the population and has only grown in vehemence and authority since. Yet the one that shines brightest as the ultimate compilation, a veritable dream come true, is 1997.
Harken back to 1997. Maybe you just turned 18, maybe you weren’t born, but Triple J’s Hottest 100 was in full swing and we’re here to prove it.
It was the second time an Australian band had claimed #1 with Spiderbait taking the cake the prior year with Buy Me A Pony. Yet in 1997, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced the winner, No Aphrodisiac sung by his eponym The Whitlams.
Not to mention, it was the same year Radiohead released their magnum opus OK Computer, reinventing rock albums forever and landing two tunes in the top 10. Alongside them is Blink-182 with Dammit, Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People, and The Verve Bitter Sweet Symphony.
Ironically Blur’s eternally catchy Song 2 took out second place. Funnily enough Dan Armon would return to the Hottest 100 in 2005 with Gorillaz classic Feel Good Inc.
It’s honestly jam packed with some of the greatest acts ever with Rage Against The Machine, RHCP, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Chemical Brothers, The Cure, Metallica, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Smash Mouth, and Daft Punk just to name a few.
The Prodigy and The Offspring also make appearances followed by headlining slots at that years Big Day Out.
On the home front were a slew of epic Australian artists such as Grinspoon, Powderfinger, Kylie Minogue, The Living End, The Mavis’s, Jebediah, Spiderbait, Regurgitator,The Superjesus, and Pauline Pantsdown.
Take a peep at the list below and try not to drool. In fact if you like what you see there are copies of the CD going on eBay for a mere $9.
Here is the full list of Hottest 100 songs from 1997 as played on Triple J.
1 The Whitlams – No Aphrodisiac
2 Blur – Song 2
3 Chumbawamba – Tubthumping
4 The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
5 Pauline Pantsdown – Back Door Man
6 Blink-182 – Dammit
7 Radiohead – Paranoid Android
8 Marilyn Manson – Beautiful People
9 Radiohead – Karma Police
10 Jebediah – Leaving Home
11 Smash Mouth – Walkin’ On The Sun
12 Ben Folds Five – One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces
13 Silverchair – Freak
14 The Superjesus – Down Again
15 The Living End – Prisoner Of Society
16 Quindon Tarver & Lee Perry – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
17 Cordrazine – Crazy
18 Nick Cave – Into My Arms
19 Regurgitator – Every Day Formula
20 Cake – I Will Survive
21 Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
o22 The Verve – The Drugs Don’t Work
23 Spiderbait – Calypso
24 Korn – A.D.I.D.A.S.
25 Green Day – Hitchin’ A Ride
26 Nine Inch Nails – The Perfect Drug
27 Silverchair – The Door
28 Dana Lyons – Cows With Guns
29 Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
30 Tool – Forty Six And 2
31 Faith No More – Ashes To Ashes
32 Pendulum – Coma
33 Jebediah – Military Strongmen
34 Grinspoon – DCx3
35 The Sundays – Summertime
36 Ween – Mutilated Lips
37 The Mavis’s – Naughty Boy
38 Metallica – Memory Remains
39 Something For Kate – Captain (Million Miles)
40 Bloodhound Gang – Why’s Everybody Always Picking On Me
41 Beck – Deadweight
42 Cornershop – Brimful Of Asha
43 Ammonia – You’re Not The Only One
44 The Tea Party – Temptation
45 The Cure – Wrong Number
46 Bloodhound Gang – Fire Water Burn
47 Filter & The Crystal Method – {Can’t You} Trip Like I Do
48 Custard – Anatomically Correct
49 The Living End – From Here On In
50 Arkarna – Eat Me
51 Everclear – So Much For The Afterglow
52 Garbage – #1 Crush
53 The Whitlams – You Sound Like Louis Burdette
54 Everclear – Everything To Everyone
55 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Love Rollercoaster
56 Prodigy – Funky Shit
57 My Drug Hell – Girl At The Bus Stop
58 Diana Ah Naid – I Go Off
59 White Town – Your Woman
60 They Might Be Giants – New York City
61 Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats
62 Smashing Pumpkins – The End Is The Beginning Is The End
63 Grinspoon – Repeat
64 Faith No More – Stripsearch
65 Lemonheads – Outdoor Type
66 Powderfinger – JC
67 The Offspring – I Choose
68 Jamiroquai – Cosmic Girl
69 Ween – Waving My Dick In The Wind
70 Reef – Place Your Hands
71 Robyn Laou – Sick With Love
72 Front End Loader – Pulse
73 Live – Lakini’s Juice
74 Rage Against The Machine – The Ghost Of Tom Joad
75 Space – Female Of The Species
76 Imani Coppola – Legend Of A Cowgirl
77 Cardigans – Lovefool
78 Mark Of Cain – Degenerate Boy
79 Portishead – All Mine
80 Ben Harper – Faded
81 Kylie Minogue – Did It Again
82 Primus – Shake Hands With Beef
83 Lard – I Wanna Be A Drug-Sniffing Dog
84 Dave Graney – Feelin’ Kinda Sporty
85 Brainbug – Nightmare
86 Blackeyed Susans – Smokin’ Johnny Cash
87 Sneaker Pimps – 6 Underground
88 Beaverloop – Nothing
89 Dandy Warhols – Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
90 Pennywise – Society
91 Blue Boy – Remember Me
92 Sidewinder – Titanic Days
93 Skunkhour – Weightlessness
94 Rebecca’s Empire – Way Of All Things
95 Faithless – Don’t Leave
96 Local H – Bound For The Floor
97 Arkarna – Future’s Overrated
98 Daft Punk – Da Funk
99 Luscious Jackson – Naked Eye
100 Effigy – I Give In
