Dinners With Dan #13 - Triple J and Political Correctness

Hey, so this week I thought I would share my thoughts on a couple of things. The main being the JJJ Hottest 100 Countdown, since it just happened over the weekend and to be fair I have next to no energy to think of a topic that’s creative.

Anyhow, to be fair, I didn’t sit next to the radio all day on Saturday and listen to every song that was played. Nope, because firstly I have a child who needs my undivided attention (and loves The Wiggles too much), plus I was really tired from the little sleep I had the previous couple nights. I did follow the countdown on the JJJ Facebook page and I had a overall feeling of ‘meh’ (apparently so did most of you..).

To be fair, the countdown just goes to show how out of touch I am with what the ‘rest’ of Australia thinks, so many artist and songs came through that I had ZERO idea about. I’ve heard of a couple of their names but I could never pick them out of a line up. Also the distinct lack of Aussie Metal bands was surprising. Now, I’m not the biggest metal fan myself but the Aussie Metal scene has had such a huge year I was really surprised when there was hardly any – if any in the top 200.

I was happy to see the Smithies (The Smith Street Band) make their way in there a couple of times, they weren’t as high as I would have thought, but at least they got in there. Amy Shark was another I was happy to see in there again, she’s had a steller EP release and can’t wait for more. The top 20 I can honestly say I knew some of the names, but none of the songs – Hey The Killers are still a band, who’d have known right? I don’t know if that says more about my own listening habits or more about the listening habits of Australia, but surely so many people can’t be wrong? Right?

This is the song that took out first, I get it its popular but Gang Of Youths came second to this ugh, Seeing an Aussie just short of victory hurts.

Now there is the big elephant in the room that I don’t want to discuss but will share a thought or two on. That is ‘change the date’ of the countdown due to ‘Invasion Day’ and what not. I’m pretty politically incorrect most of the time, so I don’t really cop to the PC environment the Internet has allowed our society to become. I’m all for saying what’s on your mind and standing up for what you believe, and I’m not against the date being changed, I'll leave it at that.

Either way, I probably wouldn’t listen to the countdown purely because the music on there is clearly not what I listen to, Its a shame shows like Short.Fast.Loud and The Racket are not played a little earlier. I think we see a common trend in songs that were voted for. But hey, I get a long weekend so that’s good and I don’t ever feel any more of a human being than anyone else no matter what date it is so that won’t really change for me either. Music and Politics always go hand in hand, why wouldn’t it, music is the easiest way to express your dissatisfaction about anything and there is always something to be dissatisfied with when it comes to politics.

But sometimes it’s all about the way you approach it…

Look at Camp Cope right, I really enjoy their music and I enjoy the fact they stick up for they believe in and I’m all for what they believe in, but a statement that would have really ‘fucked’ over Falls Fest was by not playing. I know, that is easier said than done because who wouldn’t want to play a big Fest like that, but if you are going to stand up for what you are against, it would have been a HUGE statement to boycott the festival all together, not just produce a shirt and some eye rolls.

I’m not meaning to single out Camp Cope, it’s just the most recent, local thing I could come up with. There’s been plenty of bands who have stood up for what they believed in and have taken some action to make a change that could have been done better, but who am I to judge right? It must be working cause when we (Behind The Scene) put on our first ever line-up we caught a bit of flack having no females on board – which was completely unintentional due to the fact it was our first gig EVER and we only played bands who responded to us directly – but lesson learnt and that’s a tick in the right direction for Camp Cope and the change they are hoping to lead, plus we’ve got some seriously awesome bands who are now interested in playing, so that’s good. With that in mind, if you're intentionally not putting female bands on bills. GET FUCKED.

To sum things up, I love music and have no bias based on it due to gender, nationality or sexual preference. If I don’t like a song, I simply don’t like the song, no matter who is playing it or singing it. JJJ have appealed to their mass listener audience by changing the date, and I know people did get the shits over it - which is fair enough, I can’t tell someone they are wrong for feeling a certain way, but I think when it comes to something so political and such a hard issue to dive into without hurting anyone’s feelings, maybe it’s best sometimes to just leave the politics out of music and enjoy what you have – I know being a white male in Australia that might sound a bit cheap, but it’s my honest opinion, sometimes battles are worth fighting, sometimes they aren’t and sometimes who gives a fuck?

One last thing, HOW THE HELL DID SLOWLY SLOWLY // ALIENS not make it in to the top 100 or even 200 at that. That’s what is wrong with Australia! You wouldn’t know a good tune if it bit ya on the ass.

ARGH!