"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.