it started today
91Back in Black
AC/DC
AuthorsAngus Young, Malcolm Young, Brian Johnson
ReleasedJuly 25, 1980 on Back In Black LP
Produced byRobert John ‘Mutt’ Lange
Recorded atCompass Point Studios, the Bahamas
Possessing one of the most instantaneously recognisable opening riffs, ‘Back in Black’ is, quite simply, an awesome rock song: just try to listen to it without developing a strut. It was dedicated to former frontman Bon Scott, found dead in a mate’s car in London after another night of hard drinking months earlier.
Asked years later by Costa Zouliou about his first gigs for a triple j AC/DC tribute, Brian Johnson admitted, “I cannae remember much about the early ’80s at all, mate… the gigs in Australia were magic for me. I happened to be replacing Bon and he was a bit of a national hero to the Australians – and he should be, rightly so.”
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92Skinny Love
Bon Iver
AuthorsJustin Vernon
ReleasedFebruary 19, 2008 on For Emma, Forever Ago LP
Produced byJustin Vernon
Recorded atNorthwestern Wisconsin
“It’s not for me to decide what it’s about for people,” says Justin Vernon of his gentle lullaby. The Wisconsin singer secluded himself in a snowbound cabin to pen his ode to a broken relationship, capturing ‘Skinny Love’ – a break-up letter/suicide note.
“It shouldn’t be my job to worry about that,” Justin told jmag, when asked if he thinks the story of his recording experience overshadows the songs themselves. “The reality of it for me is that whatever visions people have of what happened to this person who went into this cabin and recorded an album… there is a resonance,” he insisted softly. “And it spawned this record.”
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93Unfinished Sympathy
Massive Attack
AuthorsGrant Marshall, Andrew Vowles,
Robert Del Naja, Shara Nelson, J. Sharp
ReleasedFebruary 11, 1991 (single, later appeared on Blue Lines LP)
Produced byMassive Attack, Cameron McVey, Jonny Dollar
Recorded atAbbey Road, London
The huge influence and evocative power of the Bristol-based outfit’s killer single remains just as potent as it was back in ‘91. Fusing British club beats with hip-hop in a whole new style – later nicknamed ‘trip-hop’ – former DJs Massive Attack pioneered new musical ground with this, lifted from their debut LP.
The video also broke tradition, filmed in one continuous take. “We don’t feel like, ‘Were Massive Attack, we’re important,’” 3D confessed to Richard Kingsmill. “If you’re a band and you have a frontman, then that image gets rammed down your throat. But people actually recognise us less. We’re becoming more… cipher-like.”
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94Float On
Modest Mouse
AuthorsIsaac Brock, Dann Gallucci, Eric Judy
ReleasedFebruary 14, 2004 (single, later appeared on
Good News For People Who Love Bad News LP)
Produced byDennis Herring
Recorded atSweet Tea studio, Oxford, Mississippi
It took Modest Mouse a decade and four albums to rise above cult status, but through ‘Float On’ the Seattle indie rockers were paid tribute to on ‘American Idol’. Frontman Isaac Brock relished the irony.
“I have a sense of humour. Nothing seemed funnier to me than hearing ‘American Idol’ contestants ‘soul-delling’ away – which is the combination of soul and yodelling that they all do,” he told Myf, Jay and the Doctor in ’07. “The idea of seeing them soul-del away to it was too funny for me to pass on. I like to laugh. That did it.” ‘Float On’ reached No. 11 on the ’04 Hottest 100.
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95Superstition
Stevie Wonder
AuthorsStevie Wonder
ReleasedOctober 28, 1971 on Talking Book LP
Produced byStevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff, Malcolm Cecil
Recorded when he was a mere 22-years-old, the first slice on side two of Stevie’s 17th – that’s right, 17th – release is still one of the funkiest tracks around. The former child star debuted this song (which he wrote on the drums, humming the melody) while on tour supporting the Rolling Stones in the summer of ’72. Stevie took home two Grammys in ‘74 for the hit track: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. It’s unthinkable to imagine ‘Superstition’ sung by Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck – but that’s who he actually wrote the track for If his manager hadn’t convinced Stevie to keep the tune, we’d never have had the opportunity to catch him grooving on down on “Sesame Street”.
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96One More Time
Daft Punk
AuthorsThomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo,
Anthony Moore
ReleasedNovember 13, 2000 on Discovered LP
Produced byDaft Punk
Recorded atDaft House, Paris, France
Leading the charge of the Gallic dance brigade in the ’90s, Daft Punk possessed a seemingly inexhaustible collection of funk-flecked stardust to sprinkle over their records. ‘One More Time’ became their biggest global hit. Singer Romanthony’s vocodered-to-buggery vocal was anchored to effortless breakdowns to create a perfect crystallisation of the duo’s future disco that simply dared you to not to raise your hands skywards.
Their spectacular live show finally came to Australia in ’07. Old friend and manager Busy P told Zan Rowe, “With this live show, the Daft Punk boys show once again that they rule this game.”
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97Beds Are Burning
Midnight Oil
AuthorsRob Hirst, James Moginie, Peter Garrett
ReleasedAugust 1987 on Diesel And Dust LP
Produced byWarne Livesey, Midnight Oil
Recorded atAlbert Studios, Sydney, NSW
A musical bombshell: a pummelling, horn and dust-filled demand for the land rights of Indigenous Australians to be recognised. Five years before Mabo, the Oils – inspired by their Black Fella White Fella tour of remote communities alongside the Warumpi Band – wrote a song which captured the road rhythms of driving in the outback alongside their anger.
John Howard confessed to ABC Radio in Perth that he “quite liked” the track (he refused to comment on ‘US Forces’, however). It’s a song he’ll never forget – or anyone else who watched the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where an all-in-black Oils performed the anthem with ‘Sorry’ printed across their chests.
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98Kashmir
Led Zeppelin
AuthorsPage, Plant, Bonham
ReleasedFebruary 24, 1975 on Physical Graffiti LP
Produced byJimmy Page
Recorded atHeadley Grange, East Hampshire, UK
“It was an amazing piece of music to write to, and an incredible challenge for me,” explained Led Zep frontman Robert Plant to Richard Kingsmill, about the band’s eight-and-a-half minute Middle Eastern-influenced epic. “Because of the time signature, the whole deal of the song is… not grandiose, but powerful: it required some kind of epithet, or abstract lyrical setting about the whole idea of life being an adventure and being a series of illuminated moments. But everything is not what you see. It was quite a task, ’cause I couldn’t sing it. It was like the song was bigger than me. It’s true: I was petrified, it’s true. It was painful; I was virtually in tears,” Robert admitted.
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99Wolf Like Me
TV On The Radio
AuthorsTunde Adebimpe
ReleasedJuly 6, 2006 on Return To Cookie Mountain LP
Produced byDavid Sitek
Recorded atStay Gold Studios, Brooklyn, NY
“We wanted this one to be an accurate depiction of what we’re capable of,” explained David Sitek to jmag, shortly after the release of ‘Wolf Like Me’, the lead track from the Brooklyn collective’s breakthrough second album. “The trajectory of our music has gotten more optimistic,” he pointed out.
“At the time we did [debut EP] Young Liars, we were literally in a city that had just blown up, so it was hard to piece together the whole, ‘Where do we go from here?’ thing. But this is like… we can’t exclude all these other factors in our life. It’s not about one thing, but that’s where we are at: we are concerned with our fellow humans.”
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100Take Me Out
Franz Ferdinand
AuthorsAlex Kapranos, Nicholas McCarthy
ReleasedJanuary 12, 2004
(single, later appeared on Franz Ferdinand LP)
Produced byTore Johansson
One minute and four seconds into the Glasgow art-rockers debut comes a tempo change that wallops you in the stomach. ‘Take Me Out’ was the defining track of ’04, coming first place in the Hottest 100 countdown.
With lyrics urging the track’s subject to give it their best, ‘Take Me Out’’s winning structure was a bit of a cheeky pun for the former club promoter-turned-songwriter. “Lyric writing, it’s like having a very dry, sardonic sense of humour,” Alex reckons of lines like, “I know I won’t be leaving here with you.” “People often can’t tell when you’re joking!”
