"Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel

Reranked Position: #1

Last updated: March 9, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 1998: #94
• All-Time 1989: #95

I'm always going to be strongly biased for anything by Cold Chisel - they were from Elizabeth, South Australia, where my family is from and many of them still live. My father is heavily into Australian music; he made sure I had an awareness of where great local music came from.

Khe Sanh is great karaoke music, and is also fantastic for drunken evenings with friends. The thing is, Khe Sanh's lyrics aren't really as upbeat and positive as the music would have you believe. If people were to actually listen to the lyrics, they'd soon discover that the character that sings the song is suffering PTSD, sleeping with prostitutes, has drug addictions and just can't settle down - not surprising, considering the character was a Vietnam War veteran.

Don Walker, Khe Sanh's composer, writes damn good music and knew how to push buttons. Khe Sanh was originally banned for its lyrics and the only station that would play it was 2JJ (now Triple J). I can listen to Khe Sanh over and over and over and over... There's something about the simple arrangement, the balance between guitar, piano, drums and harmonica, the country sound, the positiveness even when the character's life hasn't exactly been the most settled post-Vietnam that just meshes together and works.

Khe Sanh is full of brilliance, and all of Australia knows it. APRA members even placed it number eight on its list of all-time best Australian songs in 2001. There should be no surprise when I say that this is the new number 1 on Hottest 100 Reranked.

Still Not Dead, or, An Update on the Personal Front

Well, NaNoWriMo, Christmas and returning to study (fashion at TAFE) has severely screwed with updating on a regular basis. So, here's a post to say that I'm still not dead!

While I've been away, the Hottest 100 2013 list was released - Vance Joy's Riptide was voted number 1. I've made a quick diversion from the All-Time 1989 list to rank that into the mix. Up soon will be Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel... I've had the review sitting on my netbook half-finished. ^^'

Hopefully, I'll be able to start posting regularly again. Finding time to listen to music properly and write posts up has been made a lot easier thanks to hour train rides to and from TAFE.

"Riptide" by Vance Joy

Reranked Position: #5

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• 2013: #1

I must admit I was genuinely surprised that Riptide managed to beat out 2013's number 2, Royals by Lorde. Everyone I asked could tell me the title was Royals and that it was composed and sung by New Zealander Lorde. As for Riptide? People could tell you that the song was used in an advert for health insurance, but that's about it... I went one step further - I couldn't even tell you which provider it was for.

That's not to say that Riptide isn't a great song - it is - there's just nothing about it that makes it memorable in the same way that Wonderwall by Oasis is (the 2013 All-Time #1). The guitar/ukulele (not 100% sure here) sounds beautiful, and the way the instruments build up into that chorus is fantastic. To be quite honest, the vocals, while a joy to listen to, are the most forgettable component to Riptide.

Riptide does grow on you over multiple listens. However, don't do what I did and listen to it more than a couple of times on loop (this is how I review and rank songs). I can guarantee you will get bored and go back to disliking it with a passion.

Would I listen to more of Vance Joy's work? Absolutely. Is it number 1 material? Not quite, but it's definitely right up there. At the very least, it's better than Do-Re-Mi's Man Overboard.

"O Superman" by Laurie Anderson

Reranked Position: #3

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 1989: #96

Massive fangirl of Laurie Anderson over here - you can blame my time at The University of Adelaide for that one. Seriously, Laurie Anderson is one of THE GREATS of experimental music and is worthy of the word artist.

O Superman is a beautiful and angelic piece that requires multiple listens to really appreciate the depth that comes with the lyrics, the vocoder, the vocal layering, the synths... I could go on and on. O Superman is incidentally the piece I would recommend people who don't listen to experimental music to start with when it comes to Laurie Anderson's work.

Reranking this was actually really difficult for me. I adore O Superman. At the same time though, it's not catchy in the same way that The Cicada (That At Five Dock) is, but is just as artistic as The Mercy Seat, albeit in very different ways. In the end, I have gone with O Superman at #2 - it's a brilliant work of art, but sometimes you want something that's a bit more catchy.

"Say Goodbye" by Hunters & Collectors

Reranked Position: #8

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 1990: #71
• All-Time 1989: #97

Hunters & Collectors have done stupidly well over the years on the Hottest 100. In the All-Time 1989 list, Hunters & Collectors ended up with four songs ranking (including Say Goodbye), plus an additional 11 entries over the years. Mind you, there's only six different songs of theirs on the list, which would make for interesting analysis, but I feel like that's a special post down the track.

Listening to Say Goodbye isn't that enjoyable. The arrangement itself is nice, but listening to it is a massive borefest. Maybe this is a song that I have to listen to a live version for, but Say Goodbye is a song that I could just listen to once and be satisfied with it, never to hear it again. Great music isn't like that, and Hunters and Collectors have done so much better - Holy Grail and Throw Your Arms Around Me immediately come to mind.

Triple J listeners know good music when they hear it - the only reason why I can imagine that Say Goodbye made an appearance in the 1989 and 1990 lists is because it was their highest charting single at the time (24 in Australia, 20 in New Zealand). So Say Goodbye currently sits at #5 at the date of publishing, but I can honestly see it dropping out as I go through more and more of the lists.