I’ve come late to the whole Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time thing. I was a devoted J listener in the 90s, and it was that decade that formed my musical tastes. So it strikes me that Triple J listeners must still be comprised of that same core of Gen Xers (now ageing) that brought the station to prominence – people in their 30s, like me, whose fondest musical memories are those epic songs of angst from the 90s.

The result was as if someone had plucked my musical tastes directly from my brain and assigned them random numbers between 1 and 100. Nirvana. Smashing Pumpkins. Tool. Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Radiohead. Pearl Jam. The Verve. Metallica. Silverchair. Faith No More. Nine Inch Nails. Jeff Buckley. Led Zep. Rage Against the Machine. Ben Folds Five …

These bands were the voice of a generation, and that voice predominantly appears to be male (at least in alternative rock). These bands gave Gen X their anthems. Is it any wonder that the results went the way they went?

On a somewhat unrelated note, it seems to me that humanity is becoming increasingly, senselessly insane. Perhaps the gene pool is drying up? There’s nothing in particular that makes me feel this way, just a lot of little things that I’ve seen in the media, of late.

I’m kinda hoping some sort of apocalypse will end civilisation as we know it. To borrow from the Tool songbook … “I’ve a suggestion to keep you all occupied: learn to swim.”

Bring the rain, 2012. In the meantime, I need a drink.