Revisiting triple j’s Hottest 100s of years gone by: 2002

With the 2022 triple j Hottest 100 set to take place on January 228th, 2023, we’ve decided to take a stroll down memory lane, recapping the countdowns of yesteryear in the lead-up to the latest edition of musical democracy. Today, we’re taking a look back at the Hottest 100 of 2002.

After three years of Aussies winning the countdown, the tenth anniversary of the annual Hottest 100 was the perfect scene for a bit of an upset, with Unearthed icons Grinspoon being pipped at the post by Queens Of The Stone Age and their track, ‘No One Knows’.

Funnily enough, while this year was Queens Of The Stone Age’s official debut in a countdown, they had appeared on the CD compilation for the poll in 2000, after their track ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’ had been mistakenly included.

Check out Queens Of The Stone Age’s ‘No One Knows’:

Of course, the Hottest 100 was not without notable moments, and the 2002 countdown had plenty, many of which were thanks to Breakfast hosts Adam Spencer and Wil Anderson. In fact, when the pair were supposed to announce the #1 song, they revealed Nelly’s ‘Hot In Herre’ had made the grade.

After playing a portion of the song, they revealed that they were only joking, and broke the CD on air. However, another one of the pair’s jokes ended up making the biggest splash in the countdown to date.

Following a promo for triple j’s heavy metal show – Full Metal Racket – earlier in the year, Spencer and Anderson began joking about their favourite metal bands. After being asked for his favourite group, Spencer named “Salmon Hater” as his top metal act.

Creating a backstory for the group, the pair revealed that Salmon Hater were from the hills of Glenelg in Adelaide (when informed that Glenelg is devoid of hills, Spencer insisted they were “underground hills”) as members of the local Fish Metal scene.

Peers to bands like Trout Destroyer and Red Goering, Salmon Hater were best known for their single ‘6.66 (1/100th Of The Number Of The Beast)’, an homage to Iron Maiden and Spencer’s love of mathematics.

It didn’t take long for this impromptu radio bit to result in an actual song, which crafty listener Mitch Hertz created and sent in to the studio for the pair to play on air. Spencer and Anderson subsequently encouraged listeners to vote for the song in the Hottest 100.

Before long, the track’s popularity had grown, and by the time the countdown rolled around, ‘6.66 (1/100th Of The Number Of The Beast)’ managed to sneak into the 26th position, just edging out The John Butler Trio to claim that honour.

Check out Salmon Hater’s ‘6.66 (1/100th Of The Number Of The Beast)’:

One of the countdown’s other notable events was that of Dave Grohl’s massive success, with the iconic artist featuring on a whopping ten tracks in the countdown.

After not appearing in the 2001 poll (his first absence from the countdown since the annuals polls began), Grohl hit 2002 head-on, serving as Queens Of The Stone Age’s drummer on Songs For The Deaf, releasing a new album with the Foo Fighters, and releasing a previously-unheard Nirvana rarity.

With five tracks from Queens Of The Stone Age, four from the Foo Fighters, and one from Nirvana, Dave Grohl hit a record that still stands to this day for an individual musician, including one for the most amount of bands played with.

Incidentally, Grohl’s appearances between #11 and #13 with two Foo Fighters tracks and Nirvana’s ‘You Know You’re Right’ make him one of only two artists to appear on three tracks in a row. The other artist was Quan Yeomans in 1998, when he appeared with Regurgitator and Happyland.

Check out Nirvana’s ‘You Know You’re Right’:

At the end of the day, triple j’s Hottest 100 for 2002 featured songs by 62 different artists (the least variety in a countdown to date) from a total of 6 countries, including 50 from Australia, 31 from the USA, and 16 from England.

While the most successful artist was Dave Grohl with ten tracks, Silverchair and Queens Of The Stone Age trailed behind, with five tunes each.

The Foo Fighters, Grinspoon, and The Vines all charted four times, while Coldplay, Eminem, Machine Gun Fellatio, System Of A Down, and The Waifs all had three songs make it in. A further seven artists managed to appear twice.

Also, if you’re keen on some of the more obscure facts, the shortest track to appear in the countdown was The Vines’ ‘Highly Evolved’ at 1:34, while the longest was The Chemical Brothers’s ‘Star Guitar’ at 6:27.

Check out the full list of songs in the triple j Hottest 100 for 2002 below. If you’re keen to learn more, head over to the Hottest 100 Database, and check out the Hottest 100 songs that didn’t make the Hottest 100.

triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2002

#1. ‘No One Knows’ – Queens Of The Stone Age
#2. ‘Chemical Heart’ – Grinspoon
#3. ‘London Still’ – The Waifs
#4. ‘Karma’ – 1200 Techniques
#5. ‘Get Free’ – The Vines
#6. ‘Rollercoaster’ – Machine Gun Fellatio
#7. ‘Lose Yourself’ – Eminem
#8. ‘Pussy Town’ – Machine Gun Fellatio
#9. ‘By The Way’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
#10. ‘The Greatest View’ – Silverchair

#11. ‘The One’ – Foo Fighters
#12. ‘You Know You’re Right’ – Nirvana
#13. ‘All My Life’ – Foo Fighters
#14. ‘Lost Control’ – Grinspoon
#15. ‘No Reason’ – Grinspoon
#16. ‘The Zephyr Song’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
#17. ‘Without Me’ – Eminem
#18. ‘Toxicity’ – System Of A Down
#19. ‘Highly Evolved’ – The Vines
#20. ‘Cochise’ – Audioslave

#21. ‘Outtathaway’ – The Vines
#22. ‘Something Borrowed, Something Blue’ – Ben Lee
#23. ‘Times Like These’ – Foo Fighters
#24. ‘Keep Fishin” – Weezer
#25. ‘Without You’ – Silverchair
#26. ‘6.66 (1/100th Of The Number Of The Beast)’ – Salmon Hater
#27. ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ – The John Butler Trio
#28. ‘I Am Mine’ – Pearl Jam
#29. ‘Carry On’ – Motor Ace
#30. ‘Ms. Jackson’ – The Vines

#31. ‘One In A Million’ – Bodyjar
#32. ‘Release’ – george
#33. ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ – The Hives
#34. ‘Comfort Me’ – Pacifier
#35. ‘Luv Your Life’ – Silverchair
#36. ‘Here Comes September’ – Waikiki
#37. ‘Aerials’ – System Of A Down
#38. ‘The Bold And The Beautiful’ – The Drugs
#39. ‘In My Place’ – Coldplay
#40. ‘Fall For You’ – The Whitlams

#41. ‘What’s The Deal?’ – 28 Days
#42. ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ – The Streets
#43. ‘Breaking It Slowly’ – george
#44. ‘God Is In The Radio’ – Queens Of The Stone Age
#45. ‘Punk’s Not Dead’ – Darren Hanlon
#46. ‘Rock Star’ – N*E*R*D
#47. ‘1000 Miles’ – Grinspoon
#48. ‘Go With The Flow’ – Queens Of The Stone Age
#49. ‘What’s Golden’ – Jurassic 5
#50. ‘You Give Me Something’ – Jamiroquai

#51. ‘Down River’ – The Wilcannia Mob
#52. ‘One Said To The Other’ – The Living End
#53. ‘Get Me Off’ – Basement Jaxx
#54. ‘Do It With Madonna’ – The Androids
#55. ‘Disenchanted Lullaby’ – Foo Fighters
#56. ‘First It Giveth’ – Queens Of The Stone Age
#57. ‘Love Foolosophy’ – Jamiroquai
#58. ‘Hitting The Ground (feat. PJ Harvey)’ – Gordon Gano
#59. ‘Take It Slow’ – Machine Gun Fellatio
#60. ‘A Little Less Conversation’ – Elvis vs. JXL

#61. ‘We Are All Made Of Stars’ – Moby
#62. ‘Across The Night’ – Silverchair
#63. ‘Say Something’ – Something For Kate
#64. ‘Shot Shot’ – Gomez
#65. ‘Nobody Likes A Bogan’ – Area-7
#66. ‘This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers’ – Augie March
#67. ‘New Technology’ – Waikiki
#68. ‘Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘n’ Roll (Punk Song)’ – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
#69. ‘Clocks’ – Coldplay
#70. ‘Bucket Bong’ – Frenzal Rhomb

#71. ‘Do Your Thing (feat. Elliot May)’ – Basement Jaxx
#72. ‘Show Me How To Live’ – Audioslave
#73. ‘Dope Nose’ – Weezer
#74. ‘I’m A DJ’ – Sonic Animation
#75. ‘Dy-Na-Mi-Tee’ – Ms. Dynamite
#76. ‘World Upon Your Shoulders’ – Silverchair
#77. ‘Has It Come To This?’ – The Streets
#78. ‘Something To Talk About’ – Badly Drawn Boy
#79. ‘Who Put The Devil In You’ – You Am I
#80. ‘Highway One’ – The Waifs

#81. ‘You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire’ – Queens Of The Stone Age
#82. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ – Ben Harper
#83. ‘Take Me Away’ – 28 Days
#84. ‘Little By Little’ – Oasis
#85. ‘Star Guitar’ – The Chemical Brothers
#86. ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’ – Eminem
#87. ‘Innervision’ – System Of A Down
#88. ‘Everything’s Gone Bad’ – The Fergusons
#89. ‘Purple Haze’ – Groove Armada
#90. ‘Silent Sigh’ – Badly Drawn Boy

#91. ‘Being Followed’ – Rocket Science
#92. ‘Called’ – Antiskeptic
#93. ‘A Sorta Fairytale’ – Tori Amos
#94. ‘Arse Huggin’ Pants’ – Spiderbait
#95. ‘She Wears A Mask’ – Machine Translations
#96. ‘Lies’ – The Waifs
#97. ‘Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)’ – U2
#98. ‘Shock (Living Without You)’ – Cartman
#99. ‘Too Drunk To Drive’ – Bodyjar
#100. ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’ – Coldplay

Quick Facts:

Artists: 62
Most Successful Artist:Dave Grohl (10 tracks)
Number Of Countries: 6
Top Three Countries: Australia (50 tracks), USA (31 tracks), England (16 tracks)
Shortest Song: ‘Highly Evolved’ – The Vines (1:34)
Longest Song: ‘Star Guitar’ – The Chemical Brothers (6:27)

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