JJJ hottest 100, 2006

I've just voted in the Triple J hottest 100. Voting closes in about 15 hours or so, I guess I just snuck in there. Here is what I voted for:

Always Worth It - Sarah Blasko
Counting Sheep - Sarah Blasko
My Boyfriend's Back - Spazzys
Blue Orchid - White Stripes
Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - White Stripes
Passive Manipulation - White Stripes
Dare - Gorillaz
Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
O Green World - Gorillaz
Gangsters & Thugs - Transplants

It was pretty hard to work out what to vote for this year. I spent a lot of time looking at the list of songs to vote for on the JJJ website and thinking, "Shit, I haven't heard most of these songs". I guess it's just another sign that I've been away from home for quite a long time. I remember that I listened to last year's Hottest 100 while sitting in my office in Brisbane and bashing away at my thesis (see also here and here). I wonder where, or even if, I'll listen to it this year? It will kinda be played in the middle of the night here in Austria, on a school-night no less, so I'm not sure I'll get to listen to it live. Then again, maybe me and some of the other Innsbruck-based Aussies will burn the midnight oil to listen in.

Anyway, why did I vote for what I voted for. Well, even though I was struggling to recognize most of the music that has been played on the J's this year, there were definitely a few standouts.

Both here in Austria, and when I was back home in Oz, I've heard a lot of people rave about the White Stripes album "Get behind Me Satan" and the Gorillaz "Demon Days". I predict that these albums will get a hellishly large number of votes in this year's hottest 100. Both of these albums have been huge internationally. I might be biased, because I'm a fan of both bands (especially the White Stripes) but I think that these two albums were really ahead of the game this year and we'll keep hearing songs from these albums in the years to come. I voted for three songs from each album. It was hard limiting it to just three from each, I think if I did the same tomorrow I'd probably make a different selection. I was really splitting hairs in my choice.

As for my other votes... I gave Sarah Blasko two votes, I absolutely loved her debut release "The Overture and the Underscore". I gave the Spazzys one vote for "My boyfriend's back", one day I'm going to post a review of their debut album, I've got a draft of it sitting on my computer but I never quite get around to finishing it. Finally, I gave a vote to the Transplants, not so much because I think that song is so great, but because I think that they are a band that is totally under-rated in Oz. I guess that's because of all the gangsta crap that they sing about, but musically, goddamn, they are really good.