Various Artists - TripleJ Hottest 100 JVD

Tue 4th May, 2004 in Music Reviews

Roast pork with apple sauce, baked veggies, Christmas pudding, pavlova, champers, beer, cocktails of all concoctions and all of this over numerous functions including staff parties, family bashes, catch-ups with friends etc. And that’s just the lead up to Christmas! We then have New Years Eve, which goes without saying, is generally one of the biggest days of the year. So the month of January is mostly one to kick back and enjoy the famous Aussie summer.

Suddenly, creeping up on us is the decision we all hate to make. Do I go to the Big Day Out and catch a ton of great bands live? Or do I stay home, organise a mass BBQ, and listen to the annual Triple J Hottest 100 countdown? Or if I do go to the Big Day Out, how am I going to keep track of the countdown and who wins the coveted number 1 position?

Phew…...it’s just all too much to handle! Luckily, thanks to our friends at Triple J, we can now catch the action on the Hottest 100 JVD. Containing some of the great videos of 2003, an extensive photo gallery, and footage from the studio as the countdown progresses we should all be cheering!

Though we don’t get the full 100, or even the top 20, what we do get is 34 solid, beautiful, funked-up, crank-the-volume-worthy randomly selected tracks. Pete Murray’s Feeler sees us settle us into some chilled tunes and in Ben Harper’s Diamonds on the Inside we get some awesome scenery to go with it! From the beautiful Missy Higgins we see her heartfelt track Greed For Your Love, The Cat Empire give us their ‘funky empire tunes’ with the upbeat Hello and Butterfingers keep us more than entertained with a friday afternoon anthem in I Love Work. Not to forget the ironically sexy stares from The Dandy Warhols’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor in We Used To Be Friends.

For those who need a jumping off point for a debate, we are provided with the political tracks and fantastic videos of 77% given to us by The Herd and Franco Un-American by NOFX. You can also rock your heart out with The Butterfly Effect and One Second of Insanity, Placebo with The Bitter End or The Living End’s Who’s Gonna Save Us. Even The Mars Volta get to have their say with Inertiatic ESP. And who can forget the number 1 song – Are you Gonna Be My Girl by Jet!

Besides the videos, and those mentioned don’t even account for half, there are also a few little treats in the extra features. A photo gallery containing a shot of each artist claiming a position on the DVD is a great way to take a good hard look at those who we respect and pay so much attention to.

The complete Hottest 100 list is also available for viewing, just in case you’d forgotten who came where and what-not. Remember the beginning of Star Wars where the story scrolls up the screen? The list takes on this effect, so unless you want to keep hitting pause, I hope you can read fast!

If you don’t want to listen to all the tracks at once, there is also a jukebox section that allows you to select specific tracks. The best part about this section is that once the track is selected, you also hear the introduction from the live broadcast for that song.

And last but certainly not least, we are privileged to put faces to voices as the Triple J crew show us how it’s done. From the studio, hosts such as Adam Spencer, Wil Anderson, Rosie Beaton, Mel Bampton, Robbie Buck and Steve Cannane talk to listeners from around the country and the Hottest 100 parties that were held, and also some regular guests from their respective programs, including the gorgeous Mary from Junee!

Worthwhile for when you can’t quite remember that video, or at that party that needs some visual inspiration. Either way, everyone wins!