Showing posts with label Easybeats. Show all posts

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Australia: Top 100 Songs

First posted 10/23/2020; updated 10/25/2020.

Australia:

Top 100 Songs

This list is focused only on songs by Australian acts. It was compiled by aggregating more than 20 lists and also integrating chart data, such as songs which reached #1 in Australia, America, and the UK. Sources are at the bottom of the page.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Men at Work “Down Under” (1981)
2. Midnight Oil “Beds Are Burning” (1987)
3. The Easybeats “Friday on My Mind” (1966)
4. Gotye with Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know” (2011)
5. John Farnham “You’re the Voice” (1986)
6. Cold Chisel “Khe Sanh” (1978)
7. Hunters & Collectors “Throw Your Arms Around Me” (1984)
8. Natalie Imbruglia “Torn” (1997)
9. Icehouse “Great Southern Land” (1982)
10. INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” (1987)

11. Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” (1977)
12. AC/DC “It’s a Long Way to the Top if You Wanna Rock N’ Roll” (1975)
13. INXS “Need You Tonight” (1987)
14. Daddy Cool “Eagle Rock” (1971)
15. Divinyls “I Touch Myself” (1990)
16. Rick Springfield “Jessie’s Girl” (1981)
17. Kylie Minogue “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001)
18. Silverchair “Tomorrow” (1994)
19. Jimmy Barnes “Working Class Man” (1985)
20. Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (1986)

21. Savage Garden “Truly, Madly, Deeply” (1997)
22. AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long” (1980)
23. Daryl Braithwaite “The Horses” (1991)
24. AC/DC “Back in Black” (1980)
25. Olivia Newton John & John Travolta “You’re the One That I Want” (1978)
26. Australian Crawl “Reckless (Don’t Be So)” (1983)
27. AC/DC “Highway to Hell” (1979)
28. Redgum “I Was Only Nineteen” (1983)
29. Tones and I “Dance Monkey” (2019)
30. Kylie Minogue “The Loco-Motion” (1987)

31. Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (1981)
32. The Church “Under the Milky Way” (1986)
33. Bee Gees “Night Fever” (1977)
34. Moving Pictures “What About Me?” (1982)
35. Goanna “Solid Rock” (1982)
36. Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” (2003)
37. Yothu Yindi “Treaty” (1991)
38. Olivia Newton-John “I Honestly Love You” (1974)
39. INXS “What You Need” (1985)
40. Men at Work “Who Can It Be Now?” (1981)

41. Bee Gees “Tragedy” (1979)
42. Powderfinger “My Happiness” (2000)
43. Icehouse “Electric Blue” (1987)
44. Kylie Minogue “I Should Be So Lucky” (1987)
45. Crowded House “Better Be Home Soon” (1988)
46. AC/DC “Thunderstruck” (1990)
47. Andy Gibb “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” (1977)
48. Vance Joy “Riptide” (2013)
49. Paul Kelly “To Her Door” (1987)
50. Bee Gees “How Deep Is Your Love” (1977)

51. Russell Morris “The Real Thing” (1969)
52. Sia with Sean Paul “Cheap Thrills” (2016)
53. Little River Band “Help Is on Its Way” (1977)
54. Frank Ifield with Norrie Paramor “I Remember You” (1962)
55. Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing” (1976)
56. Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta with Grease Cast “Summer Nights” (1978)
57. John Paul Young “Love Is in the Air” (1978)
58. Sherbet “Howzat” (1976)
59. Bee Gees “Too Much Heaven” (1979)
60. Savage Garden “I Knew I Loved You” (1999)

61. Midnight Oil “Power and the Passion” (1982)
62. Bee Gees “Jive Walkin’” (1975)
63. INXS “Original Sin” (1983)
64. Ariana Grande with Iggy Azalea “Problem” (2014)
65. Olivia Newton-John with Electric Light Orchestra “Xanadu” (1980)
66. INXS “New Sensation” (1987)
67. Pseudo Echo “Funky Town” (1986)
68. Iggy Azalea with Charli XCX “Fancy” (2014)
69. Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (1980)
70. Helen Reddy “I Am Woman” (1972)

71. Split Enz “I Got You” (1980)
72. Sia “Chandelier” (2014)
73. Olivia Newton-John “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (1978)
74. Savage Garden “I Want You” (1996)
75. The Seekers “Georgy Girl” (1966)
76. The Living End “Prisoner of Society” (1997)
77. Slim Dusty “Pub with No Beer” (1957)
78. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “Into My Arms” (1997)
79. Andy Gibb “Shadow Dancing” (1978)
80. Little River Band “Cool Change” (1979)

81. The Models “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” (1985)
82. Joe Dolce “Shaddup Your Face” (1981)
83. The Seekers “I’ll Never Find Another You” (1965)
84. 5 Seconds of Summer “Youngblood” (2018)
85. Gang Gajang “Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)” (1985)
86. Silverchair “Straight Lines” (2007)
87. Midnight Oil “Blue Sky Mine” (1990)
88. David Guetta with Sia “Titanium” (2012)
89. Sia “Elastic Heart” (2015)
90. Icehouse “Crazy” (1987)

91. Stevie Wright “Evie” (1974)
92. 5 Seconds of Summer “She Looks So Perfect” (2014)
93. The Choirboys “Run to Paradise” (1987)
94. INXS with Jimmy Barnes “Good Times” (1987)
95. The Angels “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (1977)
96. Air Supply “All Out of Love” (1980)
97. Bee Gees “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (1971)
98. INXS “Suicide Blonde” (1990)
99. The Seekers “The Carnival Is Over” (1965)
100. Olivia Newton-John “A Little More Love” (1978)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Australia: Top 100+ #1 Songs”
96fm.com (1/26/2020). “The Essential 96 Australian Songs”
Australian Geographic (11/8/2013). “Top Classic Aussie Songs”
A top 15 list.
Australian Performing Rights Association (2001). “APRA Top 30 Australian Songs”
To celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2001, APRA assembled a panel of 100 music personalities to each list the ten best/most significant Australian songs of the past 75 years.
Billboard (2020). “List of Hot 100 number-ones by Australian artists”
A list of the 30 songs by Australian artists to top the U.S. pop charts.
Billboard.com (11/1/2017). “17 Great Aussie Songs for Australian Music Month”
A top-17 list.
BuzzFeed (4/25/2017). “45 Aussie Songs That Are Indisputably Iconic”
Culture Trip (7/30/2016). “12 Iconic Australian Songs You Should Know”
Dallas Observer (1/22/2009). “The ten greatest Australian songs”
EFTM.com (2/19/2018). “Top 20 Aussie Songs – a Millennial’s Take”
PerthNow.com.au (1/19/2020). “Top 20 Australian Songs for Australia Day”
RateYourMusic.com (4/25/2008). “The Greatest Australian Songs of All Time”
A list of more than 300 songs compiled by Rate Your Music user dfle3.
Rocking the Mahi (). “Top 500 Greatest Aussie Songs of All Time”
The list creator notes that he/she whittled down the more than 6200 songs by Australian artists which hit either the AMR or ARIA chart from 1958 on. There’s no indication, datewise, of when this list was created, but it is indicated when the songs first charted. The 500 list is sortable based on chart peaks, artists, and songs.
Scenestr (1/26/2014). “Top 100 Best Aussie Songs of All Time”
Spotify “Top 100 Australian songs ever”
Despite the title, this unranked list only includes 87 songs.
Sydney Expert (3/4/2020). “A Classic Aussie Playlist: the hits Aussie love to song along to!”
Unranked list with songs grouped by decades from the 1970s to present.
Tone Deaf (10/4/2020). “Check out the 17 most iconic songs in Aussie music history”
Top100Singles.net (2020). “Every Australian Artist to Chart”
A detailed account/database of the ARIA (Australian) pop charts.
Triple M (1/26/2018). “100 Best Australian Songs Ever”
Process for assembling list is unclear, but writer thanks the voters.
UK Official Charts (1/26/2020). “Every UK Number 1 single by Australian acts”
WA Today (1/26/2019). “Sounds of then: 100 Australian songs that shaped our lives”
Unranked list. Songs grouped by categories.
West Australian (1/26/2019). “Best Aussie songs 1958-2018: The 30 classics that just missed the cut”
It’s unclear what cut these songs missed.
WhatCulture.com“10 Greatest Australian Songs of All Time”
There’s no date to indicate when this list was created.

Friday, October 19, 1973

David Bowie Pin-Ups released

Pin-Ups

David Bowie

Released: October 19, 1973

Peak: 23 US, 1⁵ UK, -- CN, 4 AU

Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: glam rock/classic rock

Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

Rosalyn (Duncan/Farley) [2:21]
Here Comes the Night (Berns) [3:09]
I Wish You Would (Arnold) [2:49]
See Emily Play (Barrett) [4:11]
Everything’s Alright (Crouch/Konrad/Stavely/James/Karlson) [2:28]
I Can’t Explain (Townshend) [2:11]
Friday on My Mind (Young/Vanda) [2:56] (21 CL, 36 CO)
Sorrow (Feldman/Goldstein/Gottehrer) [2:53] (9/28/73, 69 CB, 18 CL, 6 CO, 3 UK, 1 AU)
Don’t Bring Me Down (Dee) [2:06]
Shapes of Things (Samwell-Smith/McCarty/Relf) [2:53]
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (Townshend/Daltrey) [3:07]
Where Have All the Good Times Gone? (Davies) [2:41]

Total Running Time: 40:30

The Players:

David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone, harmonica, Moog synthesizer)
Mick Ronson (guitar, piano)
Trevor Bolder (bass)
Mike Garson (keyboards)
Aynsley Dunbar (drums)
Ken Fordham (baritone saxophone)
G.A. MacCormack (backing vocals)

Rating:

3.283 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

About the Album:

After establishing himself as a glam-rock superstar with Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, David Bowie wanted his next project to be an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984. Under pressure from his record company to get new product out quicker, he released this stopgap covers album. ^WK

Over time, the album has been frowned on by critics who echo the sentiment of Rolling Stone’s Greg Shaw: “Although many of the tracks are excellent, none stand up to the originals.” ^WK As All Music Guide’s Bruce Eder said, “Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane had established Bowie as perhaps the most fiercely original of all England’s glam rockers…so an album of covers didn't make any sense.” ^AMG

The original idea was to release two albums. The first would focus on 1960s’ British hits and the second would focus on American hits. The second project never surfaced. ^WK Of the songs that made the cut, Bowie said “these songs are among my favourites from the ’64-’67 period of London.” ^WK The lead single, Sorrow, was a cover of a song first recorded by the McCoys in 1965. ‘Sorrow,’ which benefited from a new saxophone break, was actually a distinct improvement over the original, managing to be edgier and more elegant all at once.” ^AMG

“Aside from the Easybeats’ Friday on My Mind and the Yardbirds’Shapes of Things, little here was among the biggest hits of their respective artists’ careers.” ^AMG “The Who’s I Can't Explain and Anyway Anyhow Anywhere were the only ones whose original versions were easily available or played very often on the radio.” ^AMG

The album opens with the Pretty Things’ high-energy Bo Diddley homage Rosalyn” ^AMG followed by “a hard, surging rendition of Them’s version of Bert Berns’ Here Comes the Night, filled with crunchy guitars.” ^AMG “I Wish You Would and ‘Shapes of Things’ were both showcases for Bowie’s and Mick Ronson’s guitars” ^AMG while Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play “emphasized the punkish (as opposed to the psychedelic) side of the song.” ^AMG

While Pin-Ups was dismissed as “a quick album of oldies covers to buy some time,” ^AMG it served its purpose. It “was an artistic statement, of sorts, with some thought behind it” ^AMG and “marked the swan song for the Spiders From Mars” ^AMG who’d been so instrumental in establishing Bowie’s sound on Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. This served as “something of an interlude between the first and second phases of his international career; the next, beginning with Diamond Dogs, would be a break from his glam rock phase, going off in new directions. It's not a bad bridge between the two, and it has endured across the decades.” ^AMG

Notes: Bonus tracks on the 1990 Rykodisc reissue included covers of “Port of Amsterdam” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up.”