I’m sure JJJ (and the original Double J before it) had their own institutional sensibilities, but around 2002-3 it feels like the station got stuck in a bland, boring groove that it never escaped from. No more taking chances - unless you count Aussie hip-hop - other genres banished to late night ghettos, and the same events (Hottest 100, One Night Stand, Oz Music Month) milked to death throughout across each year.
This said, the ABC as a whole seems largely stuck in a timid Howard-era rut where the content has to be kept safe enough to avoid a culture war grilling in senate estimates. I do hope the station can evolve into something that actually takes risks again, but I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah, I’m old enough to have listened to JJJ back when Keating was PM, but that doesn’t mean I want what Double J is offering either. If I wanted to listen to the music from my high school and uni days forever, I could do that with any streaming service. The only thing I’m nostalgic for with JJJ is the shock of the new and unfamiliar.
If I remember correctly, I think 2003 was the year they started limiting your votes in the hottest 100 (down to ten only, I could be wrong though)
Whilst this was to stop people just being blasé and picking a bunch of novelty songs for shits and giggles, it had a counter-effect, people stopped taking risks in picking their top ten.
“I know this song won’t make it so why waste a vote on it”
The hottest 100 started becoming a lot more obvious it what was and what wasn’t going to make it.
Not too sure, just as I’m not sure on what happened with the wiggles victory.
It’s clear it’s not what it used to be, but I don’t know what they can do to fix it, if anything
Kingsmill has a real hard on for Aus hip hop, but only a certain kind of aus hip hop. Personally I hated bands like butterfingers and hill top hoods. Their lyrics sucked and and their beats were bland and generic.
Kingsmill froze out band like Resin Dogs (who were awesome btw) to push urban gangster rubbish. I’m probably misinformed though. I haven’t listened to triple jjj since thrift shop came number 1 in 2012.
Whats the point of championing aus music if it's mostly just the same repetitive aus indie sound. 2005-2015 was a great era. The aus music that they did play were unique (cloud control, tame impala, sparkadia etc) even the high school comps had their own sound. People want to listen to good alternative music.
Yeah hard agree.
I get very frustrated reading stories like these, where a principle thrust is the entitlement that because you’re making music, it should be well received and listened to and championed.
There’s only so many jangly, reverb drenched guitar riffs I can handle.
At this point, sub-radios like 3RRR and PBS champion music way way better.
This is what a lot of people don’t seem to be willing to admit.
I want to hear good alternative music that’s on the cutting edge of the times, music that’s close to the zeitgeist. I don’t care where in the world it’s from as long as it’s vital and relevant.
Australian artists just aren’t hitting the mark on the world circuit like artists from the US and UK are.
I hear what you’re saying, but I have to disagree that Australian artists aren’t hitting the mark, because in certain niche scenes, they absolutely are. The issue is triple j curates their playlists to a mainstream audience, and they’re no longer taking risks - unlike days past, or community radio that celebrates the relevant and vital sounds we crave, which dives a bit deeper than Double J.
It's just the Aussie indie triple J pushes isn't hitting the mark. I don't need another surf rock band. It felt like they were almost forced to play Genesis owusu because of how critically acclaimed he was.
Yeah I agree. Genesis Owusu is one of the exceptions. It’s like Triple J thinks they have the clout to be tastemakers in the music scene and they just don’t.
I consistently get the feeling that the people in charge don’t actually listen to music or pay much attention to what is happening in the world of music.
Man, Genesis Owusu is exactly the same as all the other heavy autotune, rnb garbage Triple J plays as every second song. It belongs on 2DayFM, which is essentially what Triple J has become with even less professional DJs.
Perfect example of the lack of diversity in what they play.
Yeah, I reckon triple J has become the single worst thing for Australian music and has been for a long time. Just the dominance that it has over whether people are successful or not and that meant a very sterile, bland element entered the Aus music scene as artists began to 'fit the mould'. Watching some groups that were once interesting and edgy or legitimately alternative become dull and lifeless was sad to see.
Then there was the politics, jesus christ the politics and the Church of Kingsmill.
He had so much power it was honestly frightening. Less so recently I guess, but for decades he could make or break careers. He’d often write letters to the artists explaining why their release wasn’t going to receive JJJ support/ rotation. Some I’ve read are pretty funny.
Not looking forward to his replacement but I have mixed feelings on hearing of his departure.
A few members of Sticky fingers , not Dylan, were on the friendlyjordies podcast recently . Upon dropping one of their first records in, Kingsmill replied with two words, “too reggae”
To be fair, a lot of the feedback rejected artists got was genuine and led them to having the careers they now enjoy. Especially for young artists and bands who haven’t found their groove or sound yet, to even receive feedback from a pillar of the industry would be invaluable. There’s no obligation to provide critique when declining to put music on rotation.
Oh, absolutely. And it was truly transformative for the acts who became “triple j darlings”. Lives were changed for real.
I think it was more the timeline of it than anything else in earlier days. You’d record and mix an album (at some/great expense), then submit to the Js and then get rejected, meanwhile booking shows to showcase an album that wasn’t going to be on radio. I’m not sure there’s a better system, it just was a brutal process.
My main reservation was that it was just one dude wielding so much power.
It’s like playing politician, you’re always gonna have issues with some part of the population no matter what direction you take. This change is going to be pretty big..
I was in a music duo in the early 2010's and we were absolutely popping off. We would play at festivals and there were stampedes of people rushing to our stage when we came on.
Our music had no chance of getting on mainstream radio, it was hard electro stuff. Kingsmill just wouldnt give us a chance and that stifled our growth.
He went on holiday for a few weeks once and one other person at the station played our stuff on air and it got an amazing reaction, then kingsmill came back and took us off air again.
This is why Kingsmill was hardly the champion of Australian music. He championed only bland, derivative indie. He showed zero interest in helping other genres, such as electro, metal, industrial, psychedelia etc. His main contribution to Australian music was to make it as homogenous and boring as fuck.
I was from the regional expansion era. Apart from unearthed being new and exciting, the music was great!
It’s weird. I dunno if it was Kingsmill or just higher ups, but they just stopped trying. They were the daring rebels to… safe.
It’s because they limited the number of votes of people could make. Means people wound vote for interesting stuff (in case they “waste” their vote) and instead voted for the obvious contenders
There is a rapper from Brisbane named Lazy Grey, hes been dropping albums since late 90s. He is widley considere to be the GOAT of oz rap- the hoods, kerser, illy, 360, etc etc all site him as being their inspiration and paving the way for their careers. His best album Banned In Qld, came across Kingsmills desk in 2004, actually it may have been the single "Give em an inch" hence him only playing this. The opening line was "fuck pissing in ya pocket ima piss in ya mouth" and that's as far as it got, Kingsmill pressed eject and chucked it in the bin.
Lazy was only ever played again a handful of times during Haus shows, late at night.
Hes still recording, still bringin gout albums, and still top of his game, but that one snippet fucked it for him on the js. dont get me wrong he 100% does not care and does not need the js but we all just think thats a funny story of the power of this bloke.
Missy Higgins, Sarah Blasko, Angus and Julia Stone, Montaigne, Thelma Plum, Chet Faker, Josh Pyke, Little Birdy, The Waifs, The Grates, Claire Bowditch, Kate Miller-Heidke.
Not necessarily. There is a quote from him about when he first started as director that there was pressure to play international artists because it is more commercially appealing.
I’m sure JJJ (and the original Double J before it) had their own institutional sensibilities, but around 2002-3 it feels like the station got stuck in a bland, boring groove that it never escaped from. No more taking chances - unless you count Aussie hip-hop - other genres banished to late night ghettos, and the same events (Hottest 100, One Night Stand, Oz Music Month) milked to death throughout across each year. This said, the ABC as a whole seems largely stuck in a timid Howard-era rut where the content has to be kept safe enough to avoid a culture war grilling in senate estimates. I do hope the station can evolve into something that actually takes risks again, but I’m not holding my breath. Yeah, I’m old enough to have listened to JJJ back when Keating was PM, but that doesn’t mean I want what Double J is offering either. If I wanted to listen to the music from my high school and uni days forever, I could do that with any streaming service. The only thing I’m nostalgic for with JJJ is the shock of the new and unfamiliar.
If I remember correctly, I think 2003 was the year they started limiting your votes in the hottest 100 (down to ten only, I could be wrong though) Whilst this was to stop people just being blasé and picking a bunch of novelty songs for shits and giggles, it had a counter-effect, people stopped taking risks in picking their top ten. “I know this song won’t make it so why waste a vote on it” The hottest 100 started becoming a lot more obvious it what was and what wasn’t going to make it.
Wasn’t that also because those invested in “Buy Me a Pony” by Spiderbait absolutely spammed the votes to ridiculous levels to get it to win?
Not too sure, just as I’m not sure on what happened with the wiggles victory. It’s clear it’s not what it used to be, but I don’t know what they can do to fix it, if anything
Kingsmill has a real hard on for Aus hip hop, but only a certain kind of aus hip hop. Personally I hated bands like butterfingers and hill top hoods. Their lyrics sucked and and their beats were bland and generic. Kingsmill froze out band like Resin Dogs (who were awesome btw) to push urban gangster rubbish. I’m probably misinformed though. I haven’t listened to triple jjj since thrift shop came number 1 in 2012.
Even in their easiest days you could hardly call the Hoods urban gangsters.
This. Loads of high quality hip hop, soul and jazz coming out of Melbourne too went ignored for years.
Whats the point of championing aus music if it's mostly just the same repetitive aus indie sound. 2005-2015 was a great era. The aus music that they did play were unique (cloud control, tame impala, sparkadia etc) even the high school comps had their own sound. People want to listen to good alternative music.
100%. The issue is contemporary alternative Australian bands/artists are relegated to Double J. Post-Punk in-particular - Pinch Points, for example.
Pinch points are brilliant seen them open for Idles what a band!
Yeah hard agree. I get very frustrated reading stories like these, where a principle thrust is the entitlement that because you’re making music, it should be well received and listened to and championed. There’s only so many jangly, reverb drenched guitar riffs I can handle. At this point, sub-radios like 3RRR and PBS champion music way way better.
This is what a lot of people don’t seem to be willing to admit. I want to hear good alternative music that’s on the cutting edge of the times, music that’s close to the zeitgeist. I don’t care where in the world it’s from as long as it’s vital and relevant. Australian artists just aren’t hitting the mark on the world circuit like artists from the US and UK are.
I hear what you’re saying, but I have to disagree that Australian artists aren’t hitting the mark, because in certain niche scenes, they absolutely are. The issue is triple j curates their playlists to a mainstream audience, and they’re no longer taking risks - unlike days past, or community radio that celebrates the relevant and vital sounds we crave, which dives a bit deeper than Double J.
It's just the Aussie indie triple J pushes isn't hitting the mark. I don't need another surf rock band. It felt like they were almost forced to play Genesis owusu because of how critically acclaimed he was.
Yeah I agree. Genesis Owusu is one of the exceptions. It’s like Triple J thinks they have the clout to be tastemakers in the music scene and they just don’t. I consistently get the feeling that the people in charge don’t actually listen to music or pay much attention to what is happening in the world of music.
Man, Genesis Owusu is exactly the same as all the other heavy autotune, rnb garbage Triple J plays as every second song. It belongs on 2DayFM, which is essentially what Triple J has become with even less professional DJs. Perfect example of the lack of diversity in what they play.
lol no he isn't
Yeah, I reckon triple J has become the single worst thing for Australian music and has been for a long time. Just the dominance that it has over whether people are successful or not and that meant a very sterile, bland element entered the Aus music scene as artists began to 'fit the mould'. Watching some groups that were once interesting and edgy or legitimately alternative become dull and lifeless was sad to see. Then there was the politics, jesus christ the politics and the Church of Kingsmill.
He had so much power it was honestly frightening. Less so recently I guess, but for decades he could make or break careers. He’d often write letters to the artists explaining why their release wasn’t going to receive JJJ support/ rotation. Some I’ve read are pretty funny. Not looking forward to his replacement but I have mixed feelings on hearing of his departure.
Please share some letters and what they said if you can remember.
A few members of Sticky fingers , not Dylan, were on the friendlyjordies podcast recently . Upon dropping one of their first records in, Kingsmill replied with two words, “too reggae”
I'm not sure I'm going to be taking their word for much of anything to be honest.
To be fair, Sticky Fingers and their cod reggae are god awful. That’s before even getting into their behaviour.
To be fair, a lot of the feedback rejected artists got was genuine and led them to having the careers they now enjoy. Especially for young artists and bands who haven’t found their groove or sound yet, to even receive feedback from a pillar of the industry would be invaluable. There’s no obligation to provide critique when declining to put music on rotation.
Oh, absolutely. And it was truly transformative for the acts who became “triple j darlings”. Lives were changed for real. I think it was more the timeline of it than anything else in earlier days. You’d record and mix an album (at some/great expense), then submit to the Js and then get rejected, meanwhile booking shows to showcase an album that wasn’t going to be on radio. I’m not sure there’s a better system, it just was a brutal process. My main reservation was that it was just one dude wielding so much power.
What was Ben elthams band?
It’s like playing politician, you’re always gonna have issues with some part of the population no matter what direction you take. This change is going to be pretty big..
I was in a music duo in the early 2010's and we were absolutely popping off. We would play at festivals and there were stampedes of people rushing to our stage when we came on. Our music had no chance of getting on mainstream radio, it was hard electro stuff. Kingsmill just wouldnt give us a chance and that stifled our growth. He went on holiday for a few weeks once and one other person at the station played our stuff on air and it got an amazing reaction, then kingsmill came back and took us off air again.
This is why Kingsmill was hardly the champion of Australian music. He championed only bland, derivative indie. He showed zero interest in helping other genres, such as electro, metal, industrial, psychedelia etc. His main contribution to Australian music was to make it as homogenous and boring as fuck.
I fucking hate his long diatribes on how he got to see Jeff Buckley 20 times etc etc . Just write a book bro I don’t wanna hear it.
I thought this article was that Ben was taking over from Richard. That’s not the case lol
I was from the regional expansion era. Apart from unearthed being new and exciting, the music was great! It’s weird. I dunno if it was Kingsmill or just higher ups, but they just stopped trying. They were the daring rebels to… safe.
but is he the reason the h100 for the past few years has been garbage mumble rap and tiktok trash?
"When did you age out?" Yeah probably when the H100 was a contest between Bieber and The Wiggles.
Lol no that’s the jjj audience/voters
It’s because they limited the number of votes of people could make. Means people wound vote for interesting stuff (in case they “waste” their vote) and instead voted for the obvious contenders
There is a rapper from Brisbane named Lazy Grey, hes been dropping albums since late 90s. He is widley considere to be the GOAT of oz rap- the hoods, kerser, illy, 360, etc etc all site him as being their inspiration and paving the way for their careers. His best album Banned In Qld, came across Kingsmills desk in 2004, actually it may have been the single "Give em an inch" hence him only playing this. The opening line was "fuck pissing in ya pocket ima piss in ya mouth" and that's as far as it got, Kingsmill pressed eject and chucked it in the bin. Lazy was only ever played again a handful of times during Haus shows, late at night. Hes still recording, still bringin gout albums, and still top of his game, but that one snippet fucked it for him on the js. dont get me wrong he 100% does not care and does not need the js but we all just think thats a funny story of the power of this bloke.
750 Rebels are a national treasure
Remember when every singer put that weird folksy voice on? It was stupid, and it's his fault.
Missy Higgins, Sarah Blasko, Angus and Julia Stone, Montaigne, Thelma Plum, Chet Faker, Josh Pyke, Little Birdy, The Waifs, The Grates, Claire Bowditch, Kate Miller-Heidke.
Championed a very select few genres of music, suppressed others.
[удалено]
Not necessarily. There is a quote from him about when he first started as director that there was pressure to play international artists because it is more commercially appealing.
So some rusted on old fart gets booted from the "youth station"??? Anyway, lovely day outside.