Kings of Leon? - Meh!

The Australia Day tradition continued at alternative youth radio station Triple-J, with the annual countdown of the previous year's "Hottest 100" songs as voted by the listeners.

Obviously 2008's hot band was the Kings of Leon:

#1 - Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
...
#3 - Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
...
#24 - Kings of Leon - Closer
...
#70 - Kings of Leon - Crawl

Once I was at a record store and the song "Sex on Fire" was playing. Not knowing who it was, I assumed it was the latest single from Australian idol alumnus Shannon Noll, or perhaps some other graduate of that "music" franchise. Whoever it was, it actually made me fell quite nauseous.

Later when I found out it was that supposedly credible alternative band Kings of Leon, I was shocked. Maybe it was a one-off concession to the mainstream taste for overblown drivel? But no, hearing "Use Somebody" confirmed my dislike for the music of these alternative darlings.

I'll have to put it down to outgrowing Triple-J's target market. Some great alternative music from 2008 didn't even get a look in: Mogwai, The Raconteurs, Elbow, Goldfrapp and Portishead all failed to make the top 100. At least Nick Cave and Sigur Ròs managed to get a song each on the chart.

[This is the first rant in over six months - blame it on the extreme heatwave we're experiencing in Adelaide at the moment. Today it was 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit)!]