Being the kind of self-righteous snob who doesn’t consume a lot of commercial media it can sometimes happen that absolutely fantastic and hugely successful songs entirely pass me by, only for me to randomly stumble over them well after they’ve been moved into the realm of old.
For instance back in 2023 a YouTube playlist threw up Walk the Moon’s Shut Up and Dance. I’d somehow missed this absolute banger for almost a decade and had to resist the urge to run up to everyone I saw shouting “HAVE YOU HEARD THIS SONG!? YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS SONG!!” when they’d almost certainly heard the song so much back in 2014 that they’d be happy never to be reminded of it again.
Well it’s happened again this week, with a little ditty named Pompeii by a little known British group named Bastille…
Now I wasn’t completely unaware of this track thanks to the legendary Important Videos YouTube playlist which included this gem…
…but it’s still kind of remarkable that such an amazing song has passed me by for (in this case) over a decade!
Did you know that the chant that features throughout the song is actually Latin? And that the line and the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love is a reference to the earthquake of AD 62 that severely damaged Pompeii and Herculaneum 17 years before the eruption that destroyed them? Well I do now, and my life is unmeasurably improved by that fact!
There’s also a Latin version – although the singer (one Heleen Uytterhoeven) appears to have missed the memo about eheu meaning “oh no”, “alas” or “oh crap”. Nonetheless it’s a great cover!
I wonder what hit ancient songs I’ll stumble over next?
Andrew Eldritch pops up in the most unexpected places. From the Wikipedia article on Numbers Stations…
In the British television spy drama Spooks episode “Nuclear Strike”, a Russian sleeper agent is awoken by a numbers station broadcast to detonate a nuclear suitcase bomb in central London. The radio broadcast states in Russian, “2.5.0.0.2.5, Finland Red, Egypt White, It is twice blest, It is twice blest, rain from heaven, rain from heaven.”
After agonising over it for weeks I eventually decided to simply jump in and vote for the first 10 tracks I thought of for the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. This worked pretty well, except for the realisation a few days later than I’d left out Wide Open Road – a sin so grievous I expect to be asked to return my Western Australian citizenship at any moment.
In any case, here’s how I went…
Yes, it’s pretty old stuff but I am old and someone has to stand up for the classics.
Here is a clickable list for those who like that kind of thing
(As much as I love Long Loud Hours it probably would have been shuffled out to make room for the Triffids if I’d been thinking straight).
In addition to the Hottest 100 there are a few songs that have really caught my ear lately. First up, Shy Girl by Haute and Freddy. I have no idea who these people are, but they’ve come up with something incredibly 80s sounding in this, the Year of Our Lord 2025, and I’m 100% there for it.
Secondly is this effort by G Flip. I’ve always through G Flip is cool, but their music has never really done that much for me – Disco Cowgirl though grabbed me from the very first time I heard it. The acapella bit followed by the key change at 2:30 is clichéd as hell, but it works so well!!
And finally a surprising blast from the past. I’ve always been a Florence and the Machine fan (not least because Florence Welsh is clearly some kind of ethereal goddess from the realm of the Fae) and I’ve known of Shake it Out ever since it first came out back in 2011, but I’d only ever heard some kind of chopped down radio edit, and never heard it before through headphones. The full version happened to pop up on my playlist at work and it just about blew my eyes out my head! It was like a goddamn spiritual experience! Honestly, you could found a religion on that song! OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO!! OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO-OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO-WOO!! OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO!! OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO-OOOO-WOO-OOOO-OOOO-WOO!! TAKE ME NOW FLORENCE!!
Ahem. Sorry about that. Suffice to say I quite enjoyed it.
So, it’ll be interesting to see if any of my choices end up in the countdown. Roll on the 26th!
On Monday (Australian time) the Pope died. So did my parent’s dachshund Rudy who managed to make it to 21, which is not just extremely good going for any dog but pretty close to the longest recorded lifespan for any dachshund.
Rudy was a good boy, but what about Pope Francis?
In my personal opinion Francis was one of the better Pontiffs of recent times – keeping in mind that the bar for Papal decency is simultaneously pretty low and disturbingly difficult for so many of them to reach. He made some good statements and implemented some good policies, while not being outstandingly horrible to the Vatican’s usual punching bags. With an institution as ancient, hidebound and prejudiced as the Catholic Church that’s about the best you can hope for.
So now the race is on for a new Pope. Unfortunately the prophecies of Saint Malachy have now run out, so we can no longer have fun speculating on which Cardinal best fits whatever nonsensical aphorism he (or a 16th century forger more likely) scrawled down. The big question is whether a progressive (for the Papacy of course) like Francis will make the cut, or if there’ll be a conservative backlash and we end up with someone only slightly to the left of Attila the Hun. There’s also the increasingly traditional speculation over whether they’ll choose someone from the global south, or go with yet another European.
Time will tell I guess. However the dice fall, as long as they don’t elect anyone named Peter the wider world will probably be alright.
Anyway, here’s the song I always think of whenever a Papal conclave rolls around.
While stumbling out of bed towards the shower this morning my brain told me I should rewrite The RCMP (1965) by obscure Canadian satirical band The Brothers-in-Law to be about the BPRD from Hellboy.
I strongly suspect that people who drink don’t have to put up with this kind of nonsense.
In my close to half century of listening to music there are two sequences of notes that – from the very first time I heard them – affected me so deeply that I can only presume they speak directly to whatever twisted and shriveled thing within me that passes for a soul.
The first may be found in a number of tracks by the British music/art/prankster duo of Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, known by a variety of names such as the JAMs, the KLF, K2 Plant Hire and the Timelords. A pattern of seven notes, played twice, repeated in several keys baroque style, I first heard it in Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent) from the album The White Roomat 2:13.
It had appeared earlier however on the Chill Out album in the ancestral version of Last Train, Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard. It features twice, at 2:04 and 4:29.
Finally it can also be heard at 2:23 in Go to Sleep – the intermediate version of Last Train from the unreleased original version of The White Room.
The other sequence is the guitar riff from Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Love Missile F1-11. There seem to be dozens of mixes of the track (I’m personally aware of at least five) so I’ve picked one where the riff is particularly apparent, occurring in its full form at 2:51.
I cannot say what it is about either sequence that speaks to me so deeply, but should heaven exist and should I end up there I would not be at all surprised to hear either of them while passing through the pearly gates.
The last humans to leave Low Earth Orbit were the crew of Apollo 17 in December 1972. Rock band Van Halen was founded in 1973. This means that NASA just missed the opportunity to play Van Halen in the Van Allen Belt.
Original by Booyabazooka at English Wikipedia, idiot mutilations by me
It’s Hottest 100 day so I thought I’d better get off my lazy backside and post the songs I voted for. Based on previous performances – and the fact that I am an ancient fossil increasingly finding the music preferred by the young folks to be unlistenable crap – I expect that only 3 to 4 of my choices will make it in, with maybe one of them in the top 20. Nonetheless I shall continue to vote until either death, dementia, or the music police take me!
My selections, in no particular order
Close to You – Gracie Abrams
This track grabbed my attention the first time I heard it, and has not let go since. I think it’s the baseline – I’m a sucker for a song built around a pounding 80s style synth base.
Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan
Chappell continues to be utterly amazing. Incredible voice, incredible control of that voice, and amazing songwriting. I consider this the most likely of my votes to make it in, and the only one with a chance at the top 5.
360 – Charli xcx
I’ve always like weird, tinkley, synth sounds – they are somehow pleasing to my autistic brain. This song is entirely made of them.
Cheapskate – Dune Rats
Some good, old-fashioned, energetic pop-rock. You could have released this in 1997 and no one would have bat an eyelid – although the uncanny valley crowd at the motel in the video clip would have terrified everyone.
Touchy Subject – Peach PRC
One of those songs that’s kind of sweet and melancholy until you actually pay attention to the lyrics and realise it’s straight up devastating.
The Future is a Foreign Land – Ghost
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard Ghost played on Triple J, but I still had to vote for this one. Part of Ghost’s Gorillaz-style fictional back story, it’s supposed to be from the 60s version of the band and looks forwards to a 2024 when a fascist regime is no more. Talk about your dark irony…
Disconnect – Fanning Dempsey National Park
A big, rocky, horn-infused track from two of the biggest names of Australian alt-rock of the 90s. There was no way I wasn’t going to vote for this! The video does a pretty clever job of pretending to be filmed in 1980s West Berlin.
Soup – Remi Wolf
If you want for me to vote for you in the Hottest 100 then write a catchy (but slightly melancholy) tune, put big drums behind it and feature an awesome toad in the video clip.
One of Your Girls (Like a Version) – Missy Higgins
I mean it’s Missy Higgins! What more needs to be said?
Physical Medicine – The Rions
I was kind of struggling to come up with a final track, and I remembered this one. Funky beat, catchy chorus, all good!
At the time of writing we’ve just hit 50 in the countdown and only one of these tracks (the Missy Higgins one) has made it in. I’ll update the list as we go.
194 – Touchy Subject – Peach PRC
192 – Soup – Remi Wolf
66 – One of Your Girls (Like a Version) – Missy Higgins
46 – Physical Medicine – The Rions
45 – Close to You – Gracie Abrams
35 – 360 – Charli xcx
1 – Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan
NA – Cheapskate – Dune Rats
NA – The Future is a Foreign Land – Ghost
NA – Disconnect – Fanning Dempsey National Park
YES!! @#^!(%(&%(**(&(&%(&% YES!!! Chappell Roan at Number 1! WOOOO!!
Best number one in years, and with the highest number of votes in Hottest 100 history! Also the first solo female artist to reach number one with their sole entry!!
Excuse my enthusiasm, but I’m used to turning off the radio feeling slightly disappointed at this point, so this is a fantastic change! 😀
Edit: It’s now Monday and they’re doing the 200 to 101 countdown, so I’m updating as appropriate.
