The seemingly never-ending saga as to whether or not Taylor Swift, magnificent dork and flaxen haired rose in the thorn bush of life, is actually eligible for Triple J‘s annual Hottest 100 countdown continues, refusing to die until the curtain is finally lifted on Monday.
And we, as the gleefully salivating media industry, are more than happy to continue squeezing blood out of that particularly fruitful stone.
Yesterday came the soft revelation that KFC had kind of jumped on board the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign, running a social media competition through Facebook that piggy backed off the attention the issue has been getting, and that that campaign kind of violates a discretionary rule in the Hottest 100 eligibility terms and conditions. We also had the blanket assertion from former J’s presenter Angela Catterns who went so far as to say Swifty had been given the boot on ABC’s The Drum.
The problem with being a former employee of Triple J, however, is that it means you are not a current employee of Triple J. Thus, you’re not exactly privvy to everything that’s been going on inside the youth broadcaster’s offices over the past couple of weeks. And lord knows those that have been have suddenly turned into a field of Johnny Tightlips.
Since making the statement on The Drum, Catterns has now gone on the record and recanted that assertion, returning the whole situation to its regular projected outcome of “WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?“
Opening her radio show on 2UE this afternoon, Catterns stated that she “may have spoken too soon.” And as for if any tracks off of 1989, the indisputable album of the year (fight me), have been given the arse from the countdown, Catterns confirmed nothing other than the fact that she isn’t an employee of Triple J at the moment.
“That hasn’t happened yet. That’s not my call.”
“Triple J is not saying anything. But as I understand it if there’s a commercial involvement it defeats the purpose of having a listener-driven poll. I still believe with a fast food chain jumping on the bandwagon it’s a classic example of the commercialisation of youth culture.“
Frankly, we’re still about as close to an answer as we were when this whole mess started.
For what it’s worth, a Twitter account tabulating posts of votes made to social media reckons that if TayTay’s allowed into the countdown, Shake It Off will sneak into the ton at number 75. But this is with an extremely small sample size of only 2000, so it’s best to take that with a grain of salt.
Still, their pick for number one based on the numbers analysed? Peking Duck – High.
So there’s that.
Photo: Mike Coppola via Getty Images.
via SMH.
