Image: Patrick Avenell / Supplied

This ‘Historical Hottest 100 Playlist’ Shows How Music Tastes Have Changed

Triple j‘s Hottest 100 of 2016 is just days away, so to celebrate, self-described “Hottest 100 enthusiast” Patrick Avenell (who last year tried his hand at predicting the countdown’s top 10) has put together a huge historical playlist which shows how our music tastes have changed over the years.

Update: Hottest 100 of 2016 Countdown (Live Updates)

Avenell has trawled through the history of the Hottest 100 to come up with his ‘Ultimate Historical Hottest 100 Playlist’ of 100 songs — one from each spot on the countdown, from 100 to one, taken from various years.

Avenell tells Music Feeds that his playlist shows the Hottest 100 “has evolved from a predominantly guitar-based indie/alt-rock countdown that skewed heavily male to a more electric and inclusive list”.

But, he says the biggest change throughout the Hottest 100’s history might just be its Aussie-ness.

“You could show the 1998 Hottest 100 to an American or a Brit and, save a few Living End tracks, they would broadly approve of its representational applicability,” Avenell says.

“The more recent countdowns, so heavily populated with Australians, don’t carry that same historical document cachet. The list has become much more local and, as a result, less authoritative to a non-Australian.”

Avenell says the idea for his historical playlist came while he was listening back to the 1997 Hottest 100, which is one of his all-time favourites.

“I thought about how some songs that placed quite high in that countdown have all but disappeared from our consciousness, while others are simply ghastly,” he says, before pointing out that Daft Punk’s classic hit ‘Da Funk’ came in at #98 in 1997, but is now seen as one of their most popular tracks.

“This dichotomy stretches across the history of the countdown, which acts as a document preserving the prevalent tastes of the day.”

Avenell’s playlist (below) features a wide variety of genres, a James Bond theme song, some Kanye West, an old Muse track, some classic Good Charlotte and heaps more from years gone by. He also says he’s done his best to provide a mix of old stuff and new stuff, as well as tracks from various “years, genres, male/female vocals and cultural transcendence”.

Voting for triple j‘s Hottest 100 of 2016 closed yesterday, with the results to be broadcast live on triple j from midday AEDT this Thursday, 26th January. What’s more, the 1996 Hottest 100 will then be broadcast on Double J from 12pm AEDT on Saturday, 28th January.

Stream Patrick Avenell’s historical Hottest 100 playlist (which goes from #100 to #1) in full, below.

Patrick Avenell’s Historical Hottest 100 Playlist

(NOTE: #1 Is Really #100, And So On)

Gallery: 15 Things The 2015 Triple J Hottest 100 Taught Us About Ourselves

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