30 Years of Obsession and Wonder
This week, I turned 30 years old. And as is inevitably the case with arbitrary milestones, I couldn’t help but reflect on my life so far, and in particular, the ways that life has been shaped by music. Is this post shamelessly self-indulgent? Of course. But it’s my blog, and to quote Dr Bob Kelso from the sitcom Scrubs, “I want to get all nostalgic and crap.”
Music has been a central tenet of my life for as long as I can remember. What a shame I didn’t have any actual musical talent. But there was always the obsession, less from a musician’s perspective than from a historian’s. Artists were fascinating studies, the most impossibly brilliant people I could fathom. I wanted to be a rock star so badly, and when I realised how unlikely that was, I settled for trying to understand them instead.
I listened to my Dad’s old records with intensity and wonder, like a marine biologist (or James Cameron) studying the ocean floor to discover its magic. AC/DC, Elton John, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, Goanna, Midnight Oil, Mental As Anything, and above all, David Bowie. Bowie was everything.
The first album I ever received was Aquarium by Aqua (thanks Santa!). The first album I ever bought was International Superhits by Green Day (thanks Sanity!). I vividly remember running downstairs in a panic to apologise to my Mum after accidentally saying the f-word while singing along to ‘Minority’. My CD collection grew, my love of Aussie music ignited by Powderfinger, Grinspoon, Jebediah, and the band that would quickly become my favourite of all time, Something For Kate. Eventually I came around on genres I had previously neglected: the face melting appeal of heavy metal like The Amity Affliction and Parkway Drive, and the swagger and storytelling of hip-hop, working backwards from Kendrick Lamar through to Outkast, Biggie and Snoop Dogg.
And of course, through it all, there was the national broadcaster: triple j. The platform that gave so many amazing and influential Australian artists their start, that allowed me ground floor entry to some of my most enduring favourites: Tame Impala, The Preatures, Tkay Maidza, Gang Of Youths, Ocean Alley, The Buoys. The Hottest 100 quickly became my favourite day of every year. It remains a crucial marker of time amongst my best friends, the way we remember where we all were each year, and where so many of our stories start. This obsession, this hilariously absurd and all-consuming passion, led to the largest project I’ve ever undertaken - a comprehensive and comedic retrospective of the Hottest 100 which will be published by Melbourne Books in 2023.
When I was 12, I convinced my Dad to take me to see The Rolling Stones in Sydney. He still jokes that I’m the only person to fall asleep during a Stones show (it was way past my bedtime!), but it also awoke in me a love for live music that endures to this day. There have been more memorable gigs than I can count.
Ngaiire. Delta Riggs. The Rubens. Powderfinger’s last ever show in Sydney. Emotionally farewelling Bluejuice in Towradgi. Sticky Fingers and Dune Rats at the first ever Yours and Owls festival in Wollongong (when it was just one small stage in the park). A concussion in the Hard Aches mosh pit at the now-shuttered Newtown Social Club. Buying tickets to Foo Fighters just to see Rise Against, only to have our minds blown by Dave Grohl’s 2.5 hour stadium spectacular. An intimate gig with Paul Dempsey at the Gasometer in Fitzroy - one of my first nights out with my wife after our son was born. Eating a burger and dancing in our chairs at a COVID-safe Boo Seeka show in 2020. Kissing my now-wife for the first time, while being serenaded by Boy & Bear at Groovin’ The Moo in Canberra.
Music shaped me. Taught me so much. Morrissey taught me it was ok to feel lonely. Missy Higgins taught me that vulnerability could be strength. Andre 3000 taught me to embrace my weirdness until it became my power. And Bowie taught me that gods really do exist - just not the way I had been told.
All this reminiscing convinced me to create a time capsule, a collection of the music that has mattered most to me over the first 30 years of my life. My 100 favourite songs of all time, in order. You can listen to it on Spotify here.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the list:
The most represented artist is Something For Kate with four tracks. David Bowie and Kendrick Lamar appear three times, while The Amity Affliction, The Avalanches, Camp Cope, Fleetwood Mac, The Hard Aches, Missy Higgins, The Rolling Stones, Sampa The Great, and The Smiths have two each.
The oldest track on the list is ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles (1966).
The newest track on the list is ‘Never Forget’ by Sampa The Great (2022).
The longest song is ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst’ by Kendrick Lamar (an immense 12.04 minutes).
The shortest song is ‘Just Ace’ by Grinspoon (a skittering 1.46 minutes).
There are 64 songs by Australian artists on the list.
The most represented year is 2014, with eight tracks - and four in the top 20!