During triple j’s week-long Requestival celebration yesterday, the youth broadcaster seemingly lifted their silent ban on Sticky Fingers, playing the bands most beloved song, ‘Australia Street’. In light of this, the band’s bassist Paddy Cornwall released a statement, addressing the alleged ‘blacklisting’ from the station, and apologising for previous comments he made about the station.
In June 2018, The Industry Observer reported that triple j had silently boycotted Sticky Fingers. Using data collected from J Play it was determined that the j’s had slowly phased out playing music from the band, following a slew of controversy that shrouded them.
The Sticky Fingers silent streak was broken during the station’s monolithic Hottest 200 of the Decade countdown. The fan-voted affair saw the band appear five times — with Caress Your Soul tracks ‘Caress Your Soul’ and ‘Australia Street’ coming in at #140 and #15 respectively, whilst Land of Pleasure tracks ‘Liqourlip Loaded Gun’ ‘Gold Snafu’ and ‘Rum Rage’ coming in at #94, #58 and #33.
Requestival marks the first time the station has played a song by the band on their own volition. Which beckoned the question, has the station lifted their ban?
In response to the Requestival feature, Paddy Cornwall took to Instagram to share a statement, apologising for the previous comments (/tirade) directed towards the station.
“Cheers to everyone who voted Sticky on Requestival week and in Hottest 100 of the decade,” Cornwall wrote in a post on Instagram. “It’s clear our relationship with the jays is something special for many, including us over the years.
“I’ve seen a lot of people frustrated by the idea of the band being blacklisted by the station, but we haven’t,” he continued. “Let’s be real. It was my actions last year that ultimately soured the relationship.”
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Cornwall continued to write off his outburst against the station — which included the choice phrase, “you’re a bunch of fucking maggots”— as “dishevelled”. Revealing that he was “not dealing well with personal battles of my own.”
“There’s no excuse,” he continued. “What I did wasn’t cool. It was lame, and for me embarrassing. I’m sorry to the people I hurt at the station, as well as my own team.
“I hope sharing this helps find a resolve on this situation.”
