12 June 2009

Sorry, but I disagree ... The The is nothing to be ashamed of

| Ari
Join the conversation
21

Back in the days before JJJ entirely lost its soul, it heaved and sweated and gave birth to a poll … the JJJ Hottest 100.

In the first couple of years you could vote for any song without restrictions … hence Joy Division won the first two years straight with the sublime Love Will Tear Us Apart. This was sung by a by-then dead guy with a bunch of people who would go on to form New Order after he topped himself. Incidentally this latter group would go on to have a massive club/underground hit about the dead guy … Blue Monday (which also made the poll’s top five).

Of course, it was inconvenient for JJJ to get such results as the poll was intended to hype the latest crop of music industry offerings and thus the rules had to be changed.

Anyway, among the top five in both of the first two years of the poll was an English band – The The – with a wonderful song called Uncertain Smile. The The released other great songs such as Sweet Bird of Truth, Slow Train to Dawn (watch out for Nenah Cherry) and Infected.

Given all this, I was rather surprised to come across this graffiti in a Belconnen library alcove this afternoon.

Just for the record I, for one, am not ashamed of The The. In fact I’m rather fond of them.

Join the conversation

21
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

the jays shoulda just gone with ‘da hotterest hundred evar!!!’ and no-one would have been the wiser…

From memory there was a court case and JJJ was ordered to pay ZZZ. No time to research it just now, will get back later (maybe)

The Hot 100 was created by Stuart Matchett, who also came up with the Hottest 100 for Triple J. The problem was the 4ZZZ owned the name the Hot 100.

It wasn’t that JJJ ripped the idea off, more that a staff member had been involved in a successful promotion with a previous employer and wanted to duplicate it with his current one.

With some context, that is actually an interesting bit of trivia.

Pommy bastard5:06 pm 12 Jun 09

Nambucco Deliria said :

They didn’t actually lose money on every copy sold. The original sleeve used an expensive die-cutting process; when the single took off and the record label, Factory, realised the potential costs involved they quickly switched to a regular sleeve. I think this myth has arisen because the band subsequently bemoaned making little or no profut from the record because they ploughed most of the cash derived into Factory’s Manchester Club, the Hacienda, which eventually became something of a money pit.

I stand corrected, thank you.

The Hot 100 was created by Stuart Matchett, who also came up with the Hottest 100 for Triple J. The problem was the 4ZZZ owned the name the Hot 100.

It wasn’t that JJJ ripped the idea off, more that a staff member had been involved in a successful promotion with a previous employer and wanted to duplicate it with his current one.

That said the Hottest 100 of all time will be interesting.

have always regarded jool’s solo piano in ‘uncertain smile’ as one of my fave solos on any instrument in any song. always rocks me…

be not ashamed, fair grafittoist – embrace the the!!

4ZZZ in Brisbane started the Hot 100, JJJ ripped it off from them

Because no radio station (or other media for that matter) had ever previously run a poll of what was popular with their audience, and “100” is such a random number that no one had ever used it as a sample size?

Baby I’m ashamed of The thermal underwear you found in my cupboard.

Nambucco Deliria12:30 pm 12 Jun 09

S4anta said :

Nambucco Deliria said :

Maybe we should do a Riot Act ‘Hottest 100 of all time’ to see how out-of-step we are with the nation’s youth.

If thats the case then I shall vote for Amanda vanstone.

with her 2003 hit ‘DIMMIA will tear us apart’?

Nambucco Deliria said :

Maybe we should do a Riot Act ‘Hottest 100 of all time’ to see how out-of-step we are with the nation’s youth.

If thats the case then I shall vote for Amanda vanstone.

Nambucco Deliria12:11 pm 12 Jun 09

Maybe we should do a Riot Act ‘Hottest 100 of all time’ to see how out-of-step we are with the nation’s youth.

Holden Caulfield11:45 am 12 Jun 09

That’s okay, Joy Division have plenty of other great songs to choose from. 😉

If ever there was a good example of someone becoming a martyr overnight for killing themselves rather than actual musical ability then Ian Curtis would be it. I’d sooner stab my ears with rusty forks than listen to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” again.

I just voted for Blue Monday yesterday. How lovely that other people like it too.

Nambucco Deliria11:07 am 12 Jun 09

Pommy bastard said :

“The The” built a whole career on one song. Not a bad song admittedly, but just one song.

Well… you didn’t wake up this morning
Because you didn’t go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes
Turn red

Extra trivia, new Order lost money on every copy of “blue Monday” sold..

They didn’t actually lose money on every copy sold. The original sleeve used an expensive die-cutting process; when the single took off and the record label, Factory, realised the potential costs involved they quickly switched to a regular sleeve. I think this myth has arisen because the band subsequently bemoaned making little or no profut from the record because they ploughed most of the cash derived into Factory’s Manchester Club, the Hacienda, which eventually became something of a money pit.

PS: Wikipedia (always correct) disagrees about New Order losing money on Blue Monday. They sold a fair few copies of it too .. you can still regularly find them floating around 2nd hand record stores in Aus.

I think it’s interesting to look at the first 3 years of the Hottest 100 and see which songs stayed, and which new ones came along.. they’re all listed at: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history.htm

Getting off topic, but reading the lists there reminded me of something: I was recently disturbed to hear my father say “hey, isn’t that Kate Bush” when Wuthering Heights was on the stereo .. because to the best of my knowledge he hadn’t listened to a new non-Jazz record since the early 70s!

Pommy bastard10:42 am 12 Jun 09

“The The” built a whole career on one song. Not a bad song admittedly, but just one song.

Well… you didn’t wake up this morning
Because you didn’t go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes
Turn red

Extra trivia, new Order lost money on every copy of “blue Monday” sold..

Oh and I agree, quite like The The myself

4ZZZ in Brisbane started the Hot 100, JJJ ripped it off from them

JJJ is doing a “hottest 100 of all time” poll right now, actually.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.