After 20 years of it being a hotly-contested countdown, Double J has re-written the history books for the first time in Hottest 100 history, putting it to the Australian public to delve back into their late-90s music collection and re-vote the top ten of the 1998 Hottest 100.
After a week of voting, The Offspring recognising that ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)‘ probably shouldn’t have taken out #1 in the first place, and well over 65,000 people throwing their two cents in, the top ten tracks were replayed on Double J this morning with Zan Rowe.
There are some real surprises in this list, with a couple of tracks jumping all the way from the back end of the original countdown to the single-figure spots for the Double J re-count. Where will ‘Sex And Candy‘ end up? Check out the revamped pointy end of the 1998 Hottest 100 below and go the fuck off in the comments, fam.
10. MARILYN MANSON – THE DOPE SHOW
Originally coming in at #44 in the first iteration of the countdown, it seems that people have gotten…more into Marilyn Manson as the years have passed? Maybe there’s some huge underground Manson fanbase who campaigned for the song in this, the year 2019. Is Deviantart still a thing?
9. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE – NO SHELTER
https://youtu.be/6NEoesmnYU4
Another one that’s zoomed up from the back end of the original 100, this one from RATM comes in screaming from its original placing of #66 back in ’98. It was on the Godzilla soundtrack. I remember when that movie came out, I got a little Godzilla hand puppet from somewhere, and it used to make the classic dinosaur/giant lizard scream.
But this song? It fuckin’ slaps. I want to throw my computer out the window.
8. PURETONE FEAT. AMIEL DAIMONS – TOTALLY ADDICTED TO BASS
https://youtu.be/jU4VuN9EW9U
Something that was originally in the Top 20 (it came in at #16), and our first entrant from an Australian artist, is this absolute classic from Puretone (Josh Abrahams) and Amiel Daimons.
Now, THIS. This is a fuckin BOP. A true song that encapsulated the weird hard street techno of the late 90s, strong female vocals, and a perfect earworm with that “ah-woah-ah-wah-ohhhh” lyric. Iconic. I C O N I C.
7. THE BEASTIE BOYS – INTERGALACTIC
Not sure if there’s much more that screams the late-90s more than this one. Like, it still gets played at retro club nights and on wedding dancefloors 20 years later, a perfect moment for everyone who’s had a few too many champagnes and feels the deep need to show off their robot dance moves.
20 years ago it came in at #25, when it absolutely deserved to be in the top 10 the first time around, if only for that fantastic music video.
6. METALLICA – THE UNFORGIVEN II
This came in at #67 in the OG countdown and there’s no other explanation to this other than James Hetfield somehow rigged the system so it’d skip the list up to number six. Number SIX. How dare you steal this from Regurgitator.
5. GARBAGE – I THINK I’M PARANOID
Another one to come flying in from the back half of the countdown, this was one of Garbage‘s three (3) entries into the 1998 Hottest 100, and originally sat at #57. It replaces ‘Got The Life‘ by Korn so in my eyes, everyone wins her.
4. TISM – WHATAREYA?
HELL FUCKIN’ YES. HOW WAS THIS NOT #1?
3. ROB ZOMBIE – DRAGULA
What the fuck.
2. REGURGITATOR – ! (THE SONG FORMERLY KNOWN AS)
Oh, thank Christ. This Regurgitator song is a pure classic, and it’s extremely deserved that the Double J voters bumped this shit-hot track from #6 to the runner-up spot. Brb cranking this in my headphones and dancing at my desk.
1. THE OFFSPRING – PRETTY FLY (FOR A WHITE GUY)
We brought this upon ourselves, friends. We did this. Twice. And I can bet you a solid $20 that you’re all fuckin’ singing along too.
Just lean into it.
Well there you have it folks. Double J slammed through the top ten tracks of a never-before-done re-voted, re-counted, and re-vamped 1998 Hottest 100, and if it didn’t make people argue over the list the first time, my God I reckon it might do it this time.
