This is entry number 2 of my attempt to go through every song of every Triple J Hottest 100, starting with 1993, in the process figuring out exactly when Triple J died on its arse (figuratively speaking). For at least ten to fifteen years now this particular countdown has elicited a lot of criticism and general negativity among the public, and this year has been particularly bad. I started writing this series as an attempt to do something more than just complain, to better understand what alternative music used to be in this country and what it has become. You can see the previous entry in this series here, and a general overview of the rationale behind it in this introductory post. In this entry, I'll go through the songs that came in from 90 to 81 in the 1993 Hottest 100.
So far, I've been pleasantly surprised. The glasses I was wearing to view the past turned out not to be especially rose-coloured - though the general run of songs covered so far were, overall, more upbeat and generally happier than the mental image I had of alternative music in the early 90s (comprised of grunge and EDM, mainly). None of the songs I've covered have been ones that I completely hate (though some definitely inspire more cynicism than others). There's been a good range of genres, including a lot of light indie rock, some folksy or bluesier numbers, and more reggae than I remember being in the charts at that time. Looking ahead now, I'm hopeful that this diversity of musical styles is going to continue for the next ten songs.
90: "For Tomorrow" - Blur
Finally, something with a more pronounced low end. Apparently "For Tomorrow" was one of several songs Blur wrote as a reaction to grunge, which was enough of a trend amongst alternative rock bands that it became its own genre (post-grunge). If you can get past Damon Albarn's accent, the awful chorus (Albarn just singing 'la la la la la' on repeat), and the absence of anything else of significance in the lyrics, this actually quite a good song. The beat is good, I like the string section that chimes in and out. A song like this should sound more vacuous and corporate than it does. The lyrics are just vague and London-y, like they were going for something that sounds like it could have been written by Paul McCartney, with maybe just enough hints of subtext and metaphor that it could have been used by Tony Blair's election campaign a few years later. I think that's the most fitting way to describe it: New Labour post-grunge.
