In 2015 I first did a retro Hottest 100 thread, covering the years 1975-92, where I tried to predict what the actual Hottest 100 of each of Double/Triple J's first 18 years of existence might look like, with a few personal favourites getting moved a bit higher. I revised these lists in 2017.
Then from 1993 I kept going, but as there were actual versions of these lists in existence, I did these lists purely from personal preference, while including the actual Hottest 100 to make up lists of 150-200 songs for each year. I slowly went through the '90s/'00s/'10s and up to 2020 this way.
At the start of 2020, in tandem with OBOne's personal '90s lists, I decided to actually take some more time and revise my lists from 1999 back to 1993, do some more research in doing them and extend these lists to 200 songs.
That brings me to where we are at now - revising the 1975-92 lists purely from my own personal POV, in line with 1993-2020. I'll leave the predictive lists from 1975-92 in their original thread (though will tweak them slightly to be more from my head and not my heart), and leave the personal choice to this thread.
Tomorrow morning I'm going to stay in step with OBOne and start posting my 1992 list (hopefully finishing on Monday), then slowly work backwards to 1975. I'm not going to do 200 songs each year any more, but will post at least 100 for each year back to the late '70s at least.
The grungiest of grungy years, and the year I turned 18
There was some debate over whether Pearl Jam's Ten hit in in 1991 or 1992, but I'm putting the songs from it in 1992 as that's the year they were everywhere. Besides, my 1992 shortlist was thinned out considerably when I made the call to include the 1992 releases that made the 1993 Hottest 100 in the 1993 list.
Still some fantastic music/albums released that year tho.
Here are 125-101 to kick things off:
My H100 posn
Song
125
THEM BONES Alice In Chains
124
SO WHAT'CHA WANT The Beastie Boys
123
BLACK TICKET DAY Ed Kuepper
122
THE LIFE OF RILEY Lightning Seeds
121
WE THE PEOPLE Hunters & Collectors
120
YOU JUST GOTTA KNOW MY MIND The Hummingbirds
119
TEEN ANGST Cracker
118
NOTHIN' BUT A G THING Dr Dre
117
WE HATE IT WHEN OUR FRIENDS BECOME SUCCESSFUL Morrissey
At #20 (the same position as 1994) are indie stalwarts James with their very catchy (well all of their songs are very catchy) 'Born Of Frustration'
19
MIDLIFE CRISIS Faith No More
Faith No More returned with their stomping first single off of Angel Dust, Midlife Crisis. It was following the Epic (pun intended) The Real Thing, so it needed to be good, and was.
Closely following Nick Cave at #16 is PJ Harvey with Sheela-Na-Gig, her first ever charting single, and one of her most wonderfully vicious
15
YOUR EYES Underground Lovers
If you've seen my 1993 list, you may recall how I consider the 4 minute remix of this song that came in at #2 that year, and this still excellent 8 minute guitar driven version off of the Leaves Me Blind album as different songs. So, here it is at #15.
Automatic For The People is regarding by many as REM's finest album and it's certainly up there. A couple of songs from it appeared in 1993, but lead single Drive remains my favourite track from it, especially with Peter Buck's 'driving' guitar.
13
SHE'S A SUPERSTAR The Verve
At #13 are t'Verve with another brilliant psychedelic, shoegaze epic from A Storm In Heaven (with the single predating the album).
From Wigan we move to Oldham and their finest Madchester band, the Inspiral Carpets with their protest anthem Two Worlds Collide. So cool that Noel Gallagher was their roadie for a few years Great Clint Boon keyboard - tick. Great film clip - tick. Impassioned Tom Hingley vocals - tick.
11
TRUE TEARS OF JOY Hunters and Collectors
At 11 is the Hunnas best song since Ghost Nation (and one that lives too much in the shadow of freakin' Holy Grail that came immediately afterwards), the beautiful, passionate True Tears of Joy. One of Mark Seymour's finest vocals and great instumentation from the rest of the band.
I'm going to be out for most of tomorrow, so won't be doing a lot of posting, but I might get a couple of songs out if I'm lucky. I'll only be posting one at a time for the Top 10. I should be able to finish this list on Monday. Last edited:
"Oh these little earthquakes Here we go again These little earthquakes Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces"
In something of an antidote to all the grungy guitars, Tori Amos released her piano-tinged, soul-baring first solo album, Little Earthquakes in early 1992. The sprawling album-closing (yes another closing track) title track comes in at #10.
9
JEREMY Pearl Jam
"At home drawing pictures of mountain tops With him on top, lemon yellow sun Arms raised in a "V" And the dead lay in pools of maroon below"
At the turn of 1991-92, Ten by Pearl Jam was released. There's been some debate which year to put it in to, but I've gone with 1992 as that's when the singles from this album were released and the year that Pearl Jam really entered my consciousness
At #9 is the disturbing Jeremy (see lyrics. Eddie Vedder does disturbing very well indeed), with it's fantastic dual-guitar intro.
"Wish there was something real wish there was something true Wish there was something real in this world full of you"
Never mind The Downward Spiral, at eight is Trent and NIN at their most angry and angsty with Wish, from the Broken EP, complete with it's famous "Beyond Thuderdome" film clip
7
WILD HORSES The Sundays
"I watched you suffer a dull, aching pain And now you've decided to show me the same No sweeping exits or offstage lines Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind"
The Sundays come in at 7 with their beautiful cover of the Rolling Stones classic (as heard on Buffy The Vampire Slayer).
Nothing complicated about it, just a beautifully sung cover, with great, laid back instrumentation
If 100% pure, crystal clear water fresh from a spring could sing, it would sound like Harriet Wheeler Last edited:
"I'm back again in love, I'm back again a dove Where'd you get your light, your smilin' sugar life Another lovers day, another cracked up night Every night I say, the light is coming"
Indie veterans (and some say grunge pioneers) Sonic Youth came into their own in grungy 1992 and come in at 6 with their six-minute third single from their Dirty album, Sugar Kane.
5
JESUS BUILT MY HOTROD Ministry
"Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world So there was only one thing that I could do Was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long"
Back to the industrial metal again. At #5 is Ministry with 'Jesus Built My Hotrod' aka 'the Speeding Fine Song' , the first single from their Psalm 69 album and their best known 'industrial era' song. Looking more closely, it could have made the 1991 list, but 1992 was the year I got my driving licence, so here it is Last edited:
"And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds Of what was everything Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black Tattooed everything"
At #4 is the fourth song from Ten on this list, Black. Eddie Vedder's ode to letting go. So raw for Eddie in particular that the band refused to release it as a single.
3
SAFARI The Breeders
"He didn't cry on a safari In over his knees He couldn't leave a finer life Always hugging the ground And crying out for me"
In third place is my favourite all-time Breeders song, Safari, from the EP of the same name, with one of their last releases with Tanya Donelly and Britt Walford in the band. This one just builds up nicely to the big guitar outro.
I hear a voice, "You must learn to stand up for yourself 'Cause I can't always be around."
Runner-up is Winter from Tori Amos. Subtitute me for Tori and my late mother for Tori's Dad and it sums up our relationship pretty well Just beautiful. The orchestration is stunning in and of itself.
1
LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND Ride
"Wheels turning around into alien grounds Pass through different times, leave them all behind"
Edit: Sorry...didn't have time to put my blurb in this morning, but it did give the post a bit of gravitas...I had forgotten about this stunning song, and when I did hear it again courtesy of OBOne, the fact that it came out in 1992 (thought it was a couple of years earlier)!
The YouTube playlist was an enjoyable list, thanks! Although the playlist that played included Euphoria's One In A Million and that doesn't feature in your chart! A few differences between the two but still a good listen!
Finally, at long last, I have put my 1991 list together.
At this stage, I'll commence posting #150-#101 tomorrow, #100-#51 on Wednesday, #50-#21 on Thursday, #20-#11 on Friday, #10-#1 on Saturday. Last edited:
Finding that the further back I go, the more these lists are a weird blend between the songs that I was into then (to give it that authentic flavour), and the songs I am into now.
Here is #100-#51 (Decided to spread it out more, but do the Top 10 all on Saturday)
Number
Song
100
CHARLY The Prodigy
99
MISTADOBALINA Del The Funkee Homosapien
98
LABOUR OF LOVE Frente
97
DON'T FIGHT IT, FEEL IT Primal Scream
96
MONOCHROME Lush
95
BENEATH Ride
94
FADE Glide
93
GREY CELL GREEN Ned's Atomic Dustbin
92
92 DEGREES F Pop Will Eat Itself
91
1000 MILES AWAY Hoodoo Gurus
90
LIFEBOAT Tall Tales and True
89
ALEC EIFFEL Pixies
88
JENNIFER Falling Joys
87
PEARL Chapterhouse
86
OPERAA HOUSE Malcolm McLaren
85
SLIP INSIDE THIS HOUSE Primal Scream
84
DON'T GO NOW Ratcat
83
LYIN' The Meanies
82
DULL The Hard-Ons
81
THE UNFORGIVEN Metallica
80
LOVESICK Gang Starr
79
PEOPLE ARE STILL HAVING SEX La Tour
78
CAR WASH HAIR Mercury Rev
77
LET IT SLIDE Mudhoney
76
JACK Moose
75
DEAD ROO Cosmic Psychos
74
SENNEN Ride
73
BUTTER A Tribe Called Quest
72
WE ARE NOW Def FX
71
THE GIRL WITH THE LONELIEST EYES The House Of Love
Everybody in da club! This groove was around during my early clubbing days and takes me back there. Stil sounds great.
RIP to Denise Johnson, who provided the powerful backing vocals to this and several other PS songs.
19
FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY Crowded House
Just another sublime Neil Finn/Crowdies creation. They seemed to have a beautiful song like this on each of their albums.
(Apologies for the delay - busy day)
18
SOUL EATER Clouds
Music is littered with songs having a dig at the predatory nature of the music business, and here is The Clouds' entry - Soul Eater. It still rocked when they played it in a concert in 2018.
17
THERE'S NO OTHER WAY Blur
It wasn't their first single, but There's No Other Way was my introduction to Blur, complete with bowlcutted Damon Albarn. It sounded so cool (still does), though to me, they wouldn't sound quite so cool again until 1995.
16
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT Nirvana
It feels weird not having this song at #1 for a 1991 countdown, but here we are. Confession: I didn't like this song at the time, and without the aid of insleeve lyrics sheets or internet-based lyics websites, didn't have a clue what Kurt was banging on about. But over years I've come around to everyone else and realised what a game changer this song was and still is.
15
FROM HERE KNOWS WHEN My Bloody Valentine
At #15 is the big hit from Loveless, From Here Knows When. They went all Cocteau Twins on this one. It's a bit of a Marmite song but I'm a fan of it, very hypnotic.
14
RUMOURS OF WAR Billy Bragg
The Bard Of Barking released his Don't Try This At Home Album in 1991 and made an impression on this little first-year uni student. At 14 is the solemn, short but beautiful string-based warning of impending doom which still resonates today, Rumours Of War
13
HUMAN NATURE Gary Clail and On-U Sound System
Another club classic. I thought it sounded so much like the future in 1991! With a special appearance of Lana Pellay on backing vocals. Still bangs today I have to say.
12
HIERONYMOUS The Clouds
Their biggest hit, huge on JJJ, and still sounds good and fresh today. It's still a favourite to several other Aussie musicians from the time. A nice nod to Hieronymous Bosch's artwork.
11
NOTHING NATURAL Lush
The one that started my love affair with Lush, and you can certainly tell Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins produced it. Love it, especially the harmonic vocals from miki and Emma, even despite the corny film clip which they themselves hated, evidently even while filming it. Last edited:
"Put on that dress I'm going out dancing Starting off red Clean and sparkling he'll see me"
The first single from PJ Harvey, and she started as she meant to go on. I could tell she was different from the beginning. Awesome guitar and I don't recall too many solo female artists before this that were are ballsy as this. Last edited:
"When do you know You know you learn D'you die in sin Born again With will to wind & wander Climb through needle neck to consent"
Coming in at 9 is Talk Talk with the serene opening track, Taphead, from their final album, Laughing Stock. Time (and his passing in 2019) has shown what a genius Mark Hollis was.
"Say your prayers, little one Don't forget, my son To include everyone Tuck you in, warm within Keep you free from sin 'Til the sandman, he comes"
You can take the boy out of the southern suburbs of Adelaide etc...and yes I did see them live two years later.
Still one of the great opening riffs, and the rest of the song rocks too - despite some of the lyrics. It was slowly downhill from here, though some say The Black Album was already on a downhill slope.
"I can't tell if I'm a kingpin or a pauper Greedy little people in a sea of distress Keep your more to receive your less Unimpressed by material excess Love is free love me say hell yes"
I'm not a huge Red Hot Chilli Peppers fan, but this is their finest moment. They reached peak funky here.
"So here I am, alone with you The Sunnyboys? - God bless them And God bless you"
My favourite single from Died Pretty's acclaimed Doughboy Hollow album. The nod to The Sunnyboys is worth the price of admission alone, but the rest of the song bops along nicely with a great vocal (as always) by Ron Peno. Last edited:
"Midnight rockers City slickers Gunmen and maniacs All will feature on the freakshow"
The opening track on Blue Lines, and what an intro to that album, and trip hop in general. Featuring a sublime vocal from Shara Nelson, backed by some smooth samples from Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham.
"Arms held out In your Jesus Christ pose Thorns and shroud Like it's the coming of the lord"
At #4 is Track 4 from Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Jesus Christ Pose. What an introduction to them...and Chris Cornell's vocal range. And the playing easily matches the vocals. Like OB said, a brutal song, but one that left an impression.
"I closed my eyes and when I looked Your name was in the memorial book And what had become of all the things we planned I accepted the commiserations Of all your friends and your relations But there's some things I still don't understand"
Number three is Billy Bragg's sad, but beautiful, Tank Park Salute, which he wrote in honour of his late faher who passed away in the mid-70s. I can tell you it works for mothers just as well as fathers, and was one of my go-to songs when my own mother passed away a few months ago
"Losing sight of that familiar touch you know, Sinking into unknown beauty for a day, Living everything as it comes and goes, The only times you know have passed away."
I read somewhere that the beauty of shoegaze music is that you can shut the other senses out and concentrate on making good music. This is very much in evidence in Ride's Unfamiliar, where it matches OBOne's position. Just a great showcase of distorted guitars, and harmonic, ethereal vocals.
"Really hurt me, baby, really cut me, baby How can you have a day without a night? You're the book that I have opened And now I've got to know much more"
Topping one of my yearly lists for the third time are Massive Attack with Unfinished Sympathy. Although they were simply known as 'Massive' at the time of the song's release. This is the one that brought trip hop to the world and still sounds amazing, still makes Hottest 100 of All Time Lists, has another great Shara Nelson vocal, and some nice string sections (which I seem to be a sucker for these days).
Finally - my 1990 'indie' Hottest 150 list is (just about) ready to go, save for some minor tweaking - watch the space below.
I'm planning to post #150-101 on Thursday 28/10. #100-51 on Friday morning 29/10 #50-21 on Friday evening 29/10 #20-11 on Saturday 30/10 #10-1 on Sunday 31/10
1990: Madchester was in full swing, as was shoegaze. Some notable acts of the old 80s indie guard were still releasing good music, and grunge was making some small steps.
Me, I was in my last year of high school and it was the first full year of JJJ availability where I lived. Very, very eye opening.
Here are #150-101:
My H100 posn
Song
150
MONEYTALKS AC/DC
149
CHRISTO The Plunderers
148
BEEN CAUGHT STEALING Jane's Addiction
147
TOUCHED BY THE HAND OF CICCIOLINA Pop Will Eat Itself
146
WORLD IN MOTION New Order
145
BEING BORING Pet Shop Boys
144
WHERE DID SHE COME FROM? The Hard-Ons
143
ALL TOGETHER NOW The Farm
142
OMEN Orbital
141
STEP ON Happy Mondays
140
FEELIN' The La's
139
THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILISATION TISM
138
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES Sinead O'Connor
137
FORGOTTEN YEARS Midnight Oil
136
HIPPYCHICK Soho
135
ON AND ON Club Hoy
134
PEACE BY PIECE Sound Unlimited Posse
133
WORD GETS AROUND The Hummingbirds
132
NOVEMBER SPAWNED A MONSTER Morrissey
131
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN Midnight Oil
130
TOM'S DINER Susanne Vega and DNA
129
VOGUE Madonna
128
I AM ONE Smashing Pumpkins
127
DIG FOR FIRE The Pixies
126
DON'T GO IN THE WATER Ratcat
125
WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW Ed Kuepper
124
A DREAM'S A DREAM Soul II Soul
123
METROPOLIS The Church
122
I'M FREE Soup Dragons
121
RIDE IT ON Mazzy Star
120
SHE COMES IN THE FALL Inspiral Carpets
119
LOVE SCHOOL Divinyls
118
THIEVES IN THE TEMPLE Prince
117
LOVE ITSELF Curious (Yellow)
116
RIBBONS Sisters Of Mercy
115
I SOAR The Chills
114
TIME TO GET READY The Bats
113
UNBELIEVABLE EMF
112
I TOUCH MYSELF Divinyls
111
ONE LOVE The Stone Roses
110
LOVE REARS ITS UGLY HEAD Living Colour
109
PART PAST PART FICTION The Chills
108
IT'S ALRIGHT NOW The Beloved
107
COME TOGETHER Primal Scream
106
SACKVILLE Inspiral Carpets
105
NEVER TOO POPULAR Crash Politics
104
ALL OVER THE WORLD The Pixies
103
FORTUNE PRESENTS GIFTS NOT ACCORDING TO THE BOOK Dead Can Dance
The big hit from Bloodletting. I must admit that I wasn't much of a fan of this one at the time, but it sounds a lot better with age, due in no small way to Johnette Napolitano's sweet vocal.
19
TUNIC (A SONG FOR KAREN) Sonic Youth
A tribute to Karen Carpenter from Kim Gordon, this song packs a punch in more ways than one. Another song covering someone's tragic situation.
#18 comes from the maddest of the Madchester bands, the Happy Mondays, with Kinky Afro from their Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches album. As OBOne mentioned, it was quite the groove over the summer of 1990-91, and still is a groove.
17
THE WEEPING SONG Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
1990 saw Nick Cave clean, living in Rio De Janeiro and releasing (along with the bad Seeds of course) the divine The Good Son album, which was much lighter than their previous two. The bouncy second single, The Weeping Song, comes in #17, along with its corny film clip featuring Nick and Blixa singing long in a very unconvincing boat. Despite that, it was one of the first of Nick's songs I remember hearing and has always been amongst my favourites.
I didn't quite like the Sisters Of Mercy's Vision Thing album as much as their previous two, but there are still some good songs on there. The standout is 'More' and it comes in at #16. Mix Andrew Eldritch with Jim Steinman's production and you were only going to get an intense epic.
15
THE PROMISED WOMB Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance's Aion album embraced centuries old lyrics and instrumentation, and when you combine this with Lisa Gerrard's vocal ability, you get some stunning music. The Promised Womb is far and away the best example of this.
Kim Gordon is totally what it says on the label. Even though it was their first album for a major label, Goo is my favourite Sonic Youth album and Kool Thing is my favourite track from it. Even Chuck D gets in on the act without the song missing a beat. Worrd up.
13
GROOVE IS IN THE HEART Deee-Lite
AKA the big hit of my Year 12 formal. Packed the floors then and if I went to any floors these days, I'm sure this one would still pack them. De-groovy.
Number 12 doesn't quite get to Madchester, but the West Midlands. It's 'Then' from The Charlatans' debut album, and the driving bassline with Tim Burgess' soaring vocal has ensured that it remains my favourite Charlatans track to this day.
11
LOOKING GLASS The La's
We now move slightly north to Liverpool for #11, and the epic 8 minute album closer for the La's acclaimed self-titled album, Looking Glass. Such a shame that this was the last song they put to record. But what a way to go out.
"It's been so lonely without you here Like a bird without a song Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling Tell me baby, where did I go wrong?"
I didn't see this coming from Sinead O'Connor in 1990. I only knew her from Mandinka. But it was stunning and full of heart then, and still sounds that way today. Last edited:
"My name's Ivan. My occupation? Well I've been working 20 years at the gaskrankinstation downtown. I love the cars, y'know Without me they wouldn't go very far"
We're off to New Zealand and Flying Nun Records for #9. Another song that evaded me at the time (I was more familiar with their Cruise Control/Mr Moon/Juice/Choppers era), but was brought to my attention relatively recently.
Not only is it a brilliant piece of social commentary on the state New Zealand at the time, but it works its way up to a anarchic, killer climax.
"And save your face of changing colour And your smile of fading colour 'Cause you'll never know another Who will give you ever after"
For #8 we stay in New Zealand, and with Flying Nun Records. A little bit of an atypical song from them, but one I've come to appreciate over time. Just a beautiful, straightforward love cons. Rightly named as one of the best New Zealand songs of all time.
"Sat on the steps and we watched the view The house was full but there was only you Time was right because you told it to"
Off to Canberra for #6, with easily the Falling Joys' best song, Lock It. It's the singalong chorus, Suzie Higgie's vocals and the bass guitar that does it for me.
"Teach them how to live they said Humiliated them instead Taught them that and taught them this And others taught them prejudice"
We move now to Melbourne, via Balranald, NSW. Uncle Archie comes in at #7 with his signature song, 'Took The Children Away'. The lyrics are uncomfortable reading, but the song has not lost any impact 31 years later. Still hits me in the 'ol feels.
"Sat on the steps and we watched the view The house was full but there was only you Time was right because you told it to"
Off to Canberra for #6, with easily the Falling Joys' best song, Lock It. It's the singalong chorus, Suzie Higgie's vocals and the bass guitar that does it for me.
TOMORROW WENDY Andy Prieboy and Johnette Napolitano
"I told the priest, don't count on any second coming God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us No, I don't wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us"
Back to the depressing songs (about the titular character dying of AIDS). But a very beautiful one. The Concrete Blonde version of this song is better known, but seeing as Andy Prieboy wrote the song and I like a good duet, and it still contains Johnette's vocals, this is the version that I'm including. I seem to recall both versions getting heavy airplay on JJJ.
"True leaders gone, Of land and people. We choose no kin but adopted strangers. The family weakens by the length we travel...'
I'll admit to not being the biggest Jane's Addiction fan, and that this masterpiece eluded me at the time. It also keeps my run of 8+ minute songs in the Top 10 going. Take a bow Dave Navarro - two epic guitar solos, and you too Perry Farrell. The definite highlight of Ritual de lo Habitual.
"First you look so strong then you fade away The sun will blind my eyes, I love you anyway Thirsty for your smile, I watch you for a while You are a vapour trail in a deep blue sky"
A love song this time. I'm relatively new to the Ride 'ride', but this is their most famous song, and it's easy to see why. In several other years this could have topped the list. The ultimate shoegaze song.
"We talk about it all night long We define our moral ground But when I crawl into your arms Everything, it comes tumbling down"
Runner up is Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds with The Ship Song. It's a close thing between this, The Mercy Seat and Into My Arms as to my favourite song of his long career. It's just beautiful, right up the piano and chime outro. I sometimes wish that he could have come up with a more imaginative name for it though.
"They told me that you were a really bad news. They said you were no good for me. They told me you were a bad bad person. But you seem alright to me"
Topping the chart is That Ain't Bad by Ratcat. I rocked out to this song as a teenager and still do now - it bodes well for these type of countdowns when I have a consitently good reaction to a song. I didn't realise at the time but it did signpost grunge a fair bit. A classic. Shame that they never really approached this level again.
I’ll be working on my 2021 list primarily in the next few months, but as that is ahead of schedule, I should be able to work on 1989 sooner rather than later.
50 latest reviews
Great Clint Boon keyboard - tick. Great film clip - tick. Impassioned Tom Hingley vocals - tick. 
Just beautiful. The orchestration is stunning in and of itself. 
