“There’s too many to narrow down to a shortlist. Childish Bambino did an amazing video and there’s so many good Gangs of Youth songs. Tell Your Mum I Said Hi is an instant classic too. This is hard.”
Voting has recently opened for the 2018 Hottest 100, a countdown of the hottest new songs of 2018, to be held in January 2019.
The countdown is the biggest music countdown in the world, and is organised by Australia’s youth radio station, Triple J. Very broadly, voters fall into two distinct categories:
1. Young people
2. People approaching middle age who are desperate to convince the world how young at heart they are.
Andrew Winter (38) falls squarely in the second category. Andrew does have a history of voting in the Hottest 100. He distinctly remembers voting for Buy Me A Pony in the 1996 countdown. And Silverchair a few years later. But not much since then.
This year, he seems to be making a comeback. He has been all over social media, declaring that there are “too many ridic songs to choose from”.
That is not poetic licence. He actually used the word "ridic".
We caught up with Andrew as he struggled with what he insists is an extremely important decision.
“A lot of Gangs of Youth tunes really speak to me. But narrowing them down is hard. And then Childish Bambino had that great video clip. And Dane Lewis is on fire too. I've got a lot to mull over.”
We inquired as to whether Australia’s youth station really spoke to a man approaching middle age.
“Shit yeah. I’m younger at heart than most of the so-called youth. I reckon I could carve a DF or a moshie way harder than them if I was so inclined. So yeah it definitely speaks to me. In fact, I feel like the latest Hillside Hoods track was legit written for me. I feel that track in my soul. Plus I look younger than 38 yeah?”
It became apparent that this was about far more than a music countdown, and Andrew was grappling with a few things as he approaches forty.
We finished by asking who he wanted to be number one in the countdown. His lips said he didn’t know yet. But his eyes said Amy Shark.