Rage baiting and how to avoid it

Hi guys, I thought I'd follow up on what I discussed on my one year anniversary post when it comes to rage bait considering how I briefly glossed over that in favour of how far I had come from being a toxic shithead on the internet since I launched this site of mine.

So, what is rage bait exactly? Basically, it's when a content creator puts out content that's meant to offend those who are consuming it, preferably otherwise sound minded individuals who normally wouldn't expend their outrage consuming media, but it also works for the terminally online given their refusal to touch grass from time to time. I brought up the main offenders for this trend on my previous post but felt I should go into more detail in what they collectively do so that anyone reading this can look for them in other media that's put out in the world.

We'll start with Velma as that show is the epitome of rage bait, the show is basically a bunch of rants from its star Mindy Kaling strung together to form a plot that vaguely resembles that of a traditional Scooby Doo plotline. The issue of course is that we're listening to a woman in her mid-forties rant about how much she hates men, Christianity, white people and wealthy people despite having two kids (although as far as I can tell, she's never been married) is known to be attracted to white men specifically and is of course a multi-millionaire (her hatred of Christianity makes sense given the recent backlash it's received and that she's a Hindu.) This is all obviously an attempt to rage bait right wing audiences, however it also manages to offend the left wing as well due to its offensive depictions of LGBT characters (not helped by Mindy being straight and thus engaging in queer baiting) non white characters (Velma is an offensive Indian stereotype, Norville an offensive African American stereotype and Daphne and offensive east Asian stereotype) and if I'm being honest, women as the show goes off on tangents about feminism that I doubt even the most devoted fourth wave feminist will find appealing. At least the animation is decent, in fact it's one of the few animated shows/movies to have this luxury which is more than I can say for what Disney has to offer.

When it comes to movies, there's plenty to choose from when it comes to clear rage bait, however I've decided to highlight Wish in this regard because I refuse to believe this is anything other than a middle finger to the legacy of Walt Disney. First off, the animation is garbage, I refuse to believe anyone looked at the final product and felt it was appealing in any regard. Apparently the animators knew what they were working on was complete crap but were too afraid to speak up against it due to the arrogance of the film's director who clearly only got the job due to politics I'd rather not get into on this site (look up the term DEI for more information) resulting in a bizarre hybrid of 2d and 3d animation that doesn't mesh well together like other movies that successfully pull off this technique such as the Spider verse films and the more recent offerings from DreamWorks. Compared to Disney's other recent films, Wish is rather A-political for the most part as there's no forced diversity whether it be racial or with LGBT characters, instead it focuses on the other big problem with the studio which is that the writing is exceptionally poor especially when it comes to characterisation. Asha is completely forgettable and has a bland personality purely so that she can spout off the terrible fourth grade humour that the writers of the film has, the villain is even worse as by all accounts, he's not really a villain as his descent into madness is believable due to how the other characters in the film treat him. If anything, the lack of diversity in this film just goes to expose how weak the writing in their other films really is as they can't gaslight us into believing we're just racists/sexists/anti LGBT etc for not liking the film like they do for their other projects as no such character exists here, instead we're left with the incoherent plot, childish humour even toddler's won't find funny and of course, the terrible music.

Now the music is what I should really talk about on this site given that's my area of expertise, it isn't just Wish that has a terrible soundtrack (in fact it might be one of the better soundtracks in recent memory from Disney) as the company has done away with hiring composers for Broadway/West end musicals in favour of trendy pop stars and of course Lin Manuel Miranda. The pop stars sort of make sense given how they tend to have the biggest reach to younger audiences, however the films run the risk of becoming extremely dated as a result which admittedly has been a problem for many decades at this point (we'll have to wait and see if people still remember Billie Eilish by the end of the decade.) Lin Manuel Miranda on the other hand, boy howdy is this guy a hack as he combines traditional Broadway melodies with the most dated trends of the 2010's resulting in songs that even now in 2024 are beyond cringe. Now obviously he didn't write the songs for Wish (hence why I don't think it's among the worst soundtracks in recent years) however he did write the likes of "The scuttlebutt" from the Little mermaid remake, the soundtrack for Encanto (which includes the intolerable "We don't talk about Bruno") and a whole bunch of other songs that I doubt anyone reading this will find appealing outside of a so bad it's good tone. It's especially egregious when these terrible songs are paired with terrible renditions of songs from older movies that we grew up loving, specifically those from the likes of the Disney renaissance which have all been butchered by the casts of their respective remakes with terrible autotune and a lack of personality from their casts. There are exceptions of course, any song sung by Halle Bailey from the Little mermaid are all decent due to her being a good singer, however it seems Disney goes out of their way to hire the worst vocalists out there from Emma Watson to Mena Massoud as Belle and Aladdin respectively. This is another example of rage bait in my opinion as Disney is renowned for having excellent music in their movies that were usually composed by well established artists of their day, instead we now have bad rehashes of these excellent songs paired with instantly dated original tracks from mediocre to talentless composers.

Now I've stated at several points in this site that the music industry has long since moved on from spouting out divisive political topics, yes you have the occasional outlier such as when Meghan Trainor briefly resurfaced in 2022 or when Jason Aldean made that racist country track that resulted in him becoming a lol cow in the music industry. Apart from these outliers, there hasn't been anything nearly as egregious in the music scene as what we've seen in Disney in recent years. Instead, it's whatever Tik Tok decides to make a viral sensation which is a site I'm convinced is little more than a constant breeding ground for rage bait which most hit singles these days have the misfortune of soundtracking. I'll swing back to Tik Tok in a bit, but I will say that the methods of what makes a song a hit more than qualifies for rage bait as we have tons of songs that never would've even touched the charts a decade ago finding massive success due to people on the social media site making a mockery of the song in question. What's worse is that music labels have gotten in on the formula and have convinced their artists to play into this trend, resulting in songs such as "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan thee stallion, "Unholy" by Sam Smith and Kim Petras and a whole bunch of others that have instantly fallen into obscurity as their reason for existing was to piss off the right demographic (usually the idiots from the Daily Wire) with their tasteless provocation in a way that "Old town road" from Lil Nas X did accidentally in 2019.

The good news is that like other harmful trends I've covered on this site, the music industry was the first to combat it as there's been fewer of these types of songs making it big in recent months. The downside is that there's been nothing to replace it with as no artist other than Taylor Swift seems to have any presence in the music scene these days, even then, it appears the public's patience with her is finally starting to run out given how insufferable her fanbase is as well everyone realising she's a bit of a one trick pony both musically and lyrically if the reception to her latest album is anything to go by (something I've been saying for fifteen years at this point, but I digress.) Even so, I'll take the fiftieth rehash of "I knew you were trouble" from her any day over her dire attempts at being political such as on "You need to calm down" or her attempts at rage bait such as "Look what you made me do," any day of the week. Basically as much as I don't care for her music, I'll always respect the fact that Taylor Swift is making music she believes makes the world a better place (barring those two outliers I brought up) this is more than I can say for the likes of Meghan Trainor or Halsey who were two of the worst artists of the 2010's with their pathetic attempts at social commentary during the height of the music industries venture into "woke" culture. I stand by that this culture died out in 2018 as everyone from both sides of the political isle were able to see through the facade these artists put up in their music, not helped by the fact that the songs in question were usually poorly performed and produced in addition to spreading toxic messages about how being unlikable is the way to get ahead in life among many other things. The pendulum appears to have swung the other way in America if the existence of "Try that in a small town" and "Rich men north of Richmond" is anything to go by, although thankfully those songs are little more than lol cow anthems throughout the rest of the world, so I wouldn't worry about "anti-woke" songs climbing up the ARIA, NZ or British charts anytime soon.

When it comes to gaming, there's not much to say really as the rage bait there is more from practices implemented into AAA games rather than through artistic merit (or the lack thereof.) Sure these companies will hire consultancy agencies to make a game that much more insufferable with identity politics, cringe urban Californian dialogue and otherwise completely unlikable characters even the far left would despise, however I've found this is a mere distraction from the real issue at hand which is that these games are plagued with microtransactions meant to bypass the intolerable grinding gameplay that these games have to offer. The best example of this is Suicide squad kill the justice league, everyone initially bashed the game for its terrible dialogue and obvious disrespect for the DC universe (not helped by it coming from the mindset of a company that endorses extortion in the name of "political correctness) however I like many others can ignore these aspects of a game if said game was any fun to begin with. This is where the true failure of this game comes into play as it's one thing for Harley Quinn to give a lecture to the Batman for what makes a person good or bad, it's something else entirely if this comes right after a bland boss fight that feels like it was ripped from Borderlands which itself comes after multiple levels of "fight off multiple waves of enemies" that feels ripped from Warframe (made worse that Warframe is a FREE game that's been out for a decade at this point.) The game developers knew that this was a weak premise for a game, so they decided to include battle passes which is clearly meant to incentivise gamers to replay the bland campaign in order to unlock in game rewards, said rewards being worthless and a cheap cash grab in the case for the DLC expansions. The best part of all of this is that when gamers made the connection that many of these games used the same consultancy agency, a curator group was created to expose this agency (even though it should be noted that they're not entirely to blame for why all these games suck) which resulted in said agency freaking out and unintentionally starting gamer gate 2 as a bunch of other agencies were exposed as a result of their freak out. This goes to show that even these agencies know that what they're working on is garbage, although they'll do whatever it takes to hide the fact these games are terrible.

This of course leads me into perhaps the biggest form of rage bait outside of Tik Tok, that being journalism as I of course can't bring up gamer gate 2 without talking about how journalists have reacted to it. Thankfully this appears to only affect online journalism as televised bulletins more have an issue with concealing news rather than twisting it to piss people off. I could summarise this part by simply mentioning Kotaku given how they're infamous for writing inflammatory articles that only serve to make progressives look that much more insufferable, however it isn't just them as we've had article after article from the likes of Rolling stone, Buzzfeed and Pitchfork about how everything is offensive except for the offensive media they actively promote on their sites. When it comes to Kotaku, rolling stone and Pitchfork, they're just bad hit pieces against anything that itself isn't rage bait to allow the likes of Velma, Suicide squad or Hasley to seem tolerable by comparison. Buzzfeed is where I believe journalistic integrity went to die as from the very beginning, that site has only existed to promote awful articles about how everyone's a bigot and how they can change their daily lives to not be the case. The problem of course is that these articles are written by some of the most entitled people on the planet who are themselves bigots as they promote harmful stereotypes for certain demographics whilst shaming others for things, they can't do anything to change (such as their skin colour, sexuality etc.) It doesn't help that the overall quality of these articles on a technical level is rather poor, from bad sentence structures to the authors clearly not knowing what certain words mean. Then there's the bad research these authors do for their articles, particularly from that deranged woman from Kotaku who straight up lied about what happened in gamer gate 2 and then pulled the race card when people tried to correct her on it (despite this being a white woman mind you, although she does seem like the type of person who is genuinely confused on what determines one's race if those crazy screenshots of her is anything to go by.) It's fairly obvious why these articles exist, which is why I recommend using AdBlock when viewing them for yourself as to not give them any financial engagement.

OK time for me to talk about the BIGGEST form of rage bait, that of course being Tik Tok as everything up till this point at least has the benefit of being made by professionals (supposedly.) Tik Tok is a social media app that has done nothing but made the world that much worse than it already was as its designed specifically for its users to engager with it due to the nature of its short form content. This alone is egregious as it’s been scientifically proven to damage one's attention span, however if it were simply kids dancing around like brain dead idiots to the latest hit single from Sam Smith like the media insists it does, that would be one thing. While that certainly does happen, that's only one of the many trends on the site and it's by far the most innocuous as we have other more worrying trends from the fat acceptance movement to the promotion of neopronouns to straight up unhinged rants about different ethnicities and religions that make the ones from Velma seem tame by comparison. At least Mindy Kaling has the excuse of suffering from a midlife crisis during her rants on the show (as well as the possibility of workplace harassment as I very much doubt, she willingly allowed these rants to be animated for the purpose of a mean-spirited spin off of a beloved kids show.) These individuals on the other hand are ranting about stuff that doesn't matter or is at best a minor inconvenience for them like they've been persecuted in a third world country, only to then blame their conundrums on normies as if anyone else is responsible for their poor decision making skills and delusions for being something they're clearly not. I won't even go into the legal issues with the site when it comes to one's privacy as I'm not exactly well educated in how that works on an international scale, but that too is something to consider if you're to continue engaging with the site.

To go into detail on why Tik Tok is a bad website, I'll bring up the three points I mentioned on my anniversary post, which being the fat acceptance movement, that moron who promotes neopronouns and the creep who makes content specifically for kids. I'll start with the fat acceptance as that's the easiest to tackle, these are a bunch of morbidly obese women who let's face it, are far too lazy to live their lives and have somehow convinced themselves that society is somehow to blame for it. The biggest culprit here is Tess Holliday who is a plus sized model who actively promotes unhealthy eating in her content which has led to an increase in mortality rates when it comes to obesity, at least Lizzo only encouraged her fans to not feel bad about their weight (which makes her fall from grace all the more ironic.) That stupid idiot claiming that you can identify as anything from a dog to a table is a different beast altogether, people say that they have good intentions as they admittedly do a plausible job in creating hypothetical scenarios where a conversation would take place that would involve explaining these pronouns. The issue of course is that pronouns isn't restricted to humans as in certain languages, even inanimate objects have male and female pronouns. Heck German is one of the few languages (that I'm aware of at least) that even has nonbinary pronouns by default (der/die/das=him/her/they) good luck explaining this concept for French or Spanish speaking individuals where that's not the case. Of course, the real issue here is that it's clear this person doesn't understand the concept of non-binary or why certain people identify as such, meaning that it's really strange for them to expand this concept for an audience likely looking to them for further explanation. Finally, there's Jeffrey Marsh who is that creep who likes to make content for kids, honestly just Google the guy, look at the results in the images section and tell me if he has ANY business being around kids from his face alone. This is especially not helped by how CREEPY his speaking voice is, yes, I know it's a falsetto but everything about him just screams child predator to me from his voice to his bad makeup to his overall demeanour. It's because of him specifically that the LGBT movement has received a ton of backlash in recent years as many people (usually idiots from the Daily wire) like to use him as the image of the community when I can assure you that most of us are NOTHING like this guy.

I'll end this off with going over rage bait on YouTube as that's honestly where most people get the wrong idea of what is actually is, many content creators like the Critical drinker and his many associates are incorrectly labelled as rage bait simply for pointing out topics I've brought up in this site in an admittedly harsher way than what I've done. Blair White is another creator that's often described as rage bait as is her associates even though if you watch her content, she's actually debunking many misconceptions people have of LGBT individuals, albeit again in a way harsher tone than I'm giving in this essay of mine. I think the only rage baiter people have correctly identified as such are members of the Daily wire as they often misrepresent media in order to fuel their agenda when it comes to right wing politics, this is very evident with the likes of Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro who both clearly have little knowledge of what they're talking about at any given moment. Believe it or not, most of the rage baiters on YouTube come from the far left as they're the ones spouting off nonsense in media no sound individual would take seriously even for a second. What's worse is that people act shocked when they're involved with scandals of their own, usually child grooming or internet scams which honestly makes the Daily wire seem like saints by comparison. It's almost as if they've joined the far left specifically to cover up for their misdeeds, much like how companies hire consultancy agencies to write "woke" garbage for their games in order to cover up their own multiple scandals.

I could write a separate essay about terrible YouTubers, however no one wants to read about that, so I'll instead give a short list of these creators to avoid like the plague. They include ACTUALLY HAPPENED, Butch Hartman, ImJayStation, Lily Orchard, Morgz, Nicole Arbour, SSSniperWolf and WatchMojo. I know all of these are fairly old but believe me, I begun avoiding these types of channels like the plague a long time ago at this point and as such, I haven't bothered to memorise the names of channels that have pissed me off in more recent years. Besides, all of these channels are fairly well known even in more recent times, so they're a perfect sample of the types of channels I'm talking about regardless.

Well, that's about all I have to say about rage baiting, from the divisive political takes to bad faith criticism of media both current and from the past, we've looked at some truly vile examples of content that only exists to make the world a worse place. Hopefully one day, all of it will be lost media and that those responsible either find their inner peace from whatever mindset caused them to make this vile garbage or are at the very least blacklisted from the entertainment industry (I obviously prefer the former to happen.) I also hope the companies that have pushed this vile content onto the world get exposed for whatever crimes this is clearly meant to be distracting us all from as believe me, there's no other explanation for why Velma is allowed in HBO or why Disney and these gaming companies keep hiring a bunch of no talent consultancy firms to "diversify" their products for a "wider audience." Speaking of, I also hope these agencies go out of business as they're clearly taking work and money away from those who deserve it given how they clearly don't care about the end product that their services go towards. Most of all, I hope that we as a society can find a way to stop making this practice so lucrative as many of the worst online content creators are driven by the low-risk high reward nature it offers. Until we do, vote with your wallets and your engagement (or lack thereof) by not giving these individuals a second or your time or by buying their garbage products.

This site's one year anniversary

Hi guys! Can you believe it's been a full year since I launched this site of mine already? OK so I know nobody was here from the start as let's face it, I had a bit of an identity crisis when I originally constructed it which meant that there was no way to have this be picked up by any search engine until I sorted myself out about a month after its creation. I won't reiterate what I had to do to revamp an older and uglier side I had to what this is today but I came across an old backup file I had of that site and suffice to say, I don't even recognise the toxic individual who came up with that site, let alone what mindset they had to be in to write some of the vile shit that was on there.

I guess I should elaborate on who I am now that I know that I'm in this for the long haul (I'm as amazed as you are that I've found a way to keep making new content for as long as I've done.) I'll start with who I am as a person as we're currently in a time where it's becoming increasingly difficult to reveal who you are without a bunch of cancel pigs dogpiling you for not lining up with who you want them to be. While I reserve the right to keep my gender as anonymous on this site as I can allow myself, I can confirm that in addition to being queer (that is, I'm attracted to those in the same sex I was assigned at birth with) I was one of those mindless sheep who fell into the whole nonbinary craze that honestly has gotten out of hand in recent years. Now this isn't me denouncing the identity of anyone reading this as I do respect those who don't identify as a man or a woman, rather I'm on the firm belief that there are only three genders and thus three sets of pronouns (he/him, she/her and the dreaded they/them) and think that any other pronoun is invalid and only exists to rage bait people on the internet. I've also long since distanced myself from the LGBT community as like everyone else, I believe that the people in said community (many of which I question should even be there in the first place as they don't come off as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/or non-binary to me) have become some of the most toxic people on the planet and give everyone who SHOULD be in this community a bad name. Rest assured that those people who have also felt alienated by this “community” can comfortably call this website a true safe space as I refuse to tolerate any form of bigotry or harassment on here even if I can agree that many of my "peers" will resort to the very type of violence I'm advocating against in this post.

I guess at some point I'm going to have to talk about the music of the 2020s given how much detail I've gone into for the music of 1975-2019, however, I'm not looking forward to it as in addition to its being completely overrun by some of the vilest people on the planet (it's really sad when Lizzo is among the least contemptuous people in the said industry) I just don't resonate one way or the other with most of the songs that have gotten popular this decade that wasn't originally released in another decade. I've already made my disdain for TikTok and other social media platforms that make the music of today as popular as it is more than clear on this site (you can check out why here) but to elaborate, it has become all about appealing to the lowest common denominator which is a far cry even from the reality show goons of the 00's or the "political correctness" of yesteryear which placed several bands and artists at a huge disadvantage during their heyday. Thankfully I don't have to talk about how films and other media have fallen in despair in recent years as they've arguably suffered a worse fate than what the music industry has, at least the music scene is largely a-political these days as opposed to 2014-2018 where anything leftist instantly shot up the charts (yes I'm aware that America is gravitating towards conservative music, but that's more out of rage bait and thankfully has yet to impact any charts outside of Billboard.)

What made me want to take this first-anniversary post in the direction I'm taking it in is the recent Gamergate 2 which successfully exposed how toxic the gaming industry has been since 2014, to be clear, I'm not one of these "anti-woke" morons who hate diversity by design, rather I'm against people who don't want to be in the gaming industry being antagonistic towards gamers and then using their minority statuses (or in most cases, perceived minority status as again, I don't consider many of these people to be genuinely part of the LGBT community) as shields for criticism against their toxic behaviour. I'm not even sure who's worse, the woman in charge of that consultancy agency who advocates for extortion to allow companies to hire her just so that she can self-insert herself in every game she's hired to consult for (you know the one, I'm not naming the company because they don't deserve any mention on this site) or that journalist who is so deranged that she engages in rage bait just to justify her existence on the internet even after she made a poorly researched article where she admitted to her incompetence as a journalist in said hit piece against a community of gamers boycotting the company run by the self-insert extortionist (again, this individual has no place on this site of mine even in name.) Then there's the film industry, more specifically, Disney. I've never seen a company comprised of so many people that actively despise their affiliation with it spend so much of their resources defending the actions of said individuals, just from an outsider’s perspective it has to be the most toxic company in existence based on the nasty comments made by the individuals working there, let alone the horror stories I've heard about how things work internally. Don't be fooled by their identity politics, these people are sad and miserable and don't even have the courtesy of improving their environments to make their lives just that little bit more worthwhile. Again, this kind of attitude has thankfully died out in the music industry which makes it that much easier for me to talk about on this site (not so much in the YouTube sphere, but then again, that's never really taken off outside of their niche demographic so I'm not too worried.)

The real concerning issue I have with media can be summed up with the second season of Velma, talk about a show that wants nothing more than to make EVERY demographic possible as angry with it as the people who made it are with, well their lives judging by the mean spirited writing of the show which goes after every demographic humanly possible as a way of "being edgy " (whatever that means in this day and age.) This show is the end point of what being needlessly cruel and nihilistic can do to a person as it's clear the people who made it despise the Scooby-Doo franchise and only worked on it due to contractual obligations, made worse by the fact that there’s plenty of people in the industry who would've gladly worked on an edgy take on the human characters of the franchise due to their love of the series. This show also confirms what many people have speculated in recent years, namely that being hateful in media (be it TikTok or streaming services) is lucrative due to how much revenue you'll receive from people negatively reacting to it. I think that explains the negative mindset I had on my older site as I admittedly went down this direction when it came to discussing the music I disliked like I was the nostalgia critic or something (failing to take into account the backlash he received for that awful Pink Floyd review he made.) My only hope is that by this time next year, the show will be lost media as everyone realises that the people behind it only care about prophetic off of people's misery (despite claiming to be anti-capitalists, among many other things that'll get you free money from the right people it seems.) If you haven't seen it, don't watch it as it thrives off of negative attention and is an insult to, well everything in this plane of existence.

What I'm trying to say here is that I'm not like these people who claim to be all about love and positivity but in reality are the very embodiment they claim to rally against, I may think that JK Rowling is wrong with her stance against the trans community, but that doesn't mean I'll stop being a Harry Potter fan just because she has those beliefs (especially when it's understandable where those beliefs came from considering she thinks that those people who claim to be trans to spread their hatred of the world are the same as true trans people who are among the most beautiful and compassionate individuals this world has to offer.) The same goes for the likes of Michael Jackson Elvis Presley or anyone affiliated with Harvey Weinstein, sure I can agree that they did some truly bizarre things that tested the limits of what is socially acceptable at any given point in time, but they made great contributions to the world which is far more than I can say for the "activists" of this world who do nothing but spread their hatred of the world in the name of "social justice." Believe me, these people have deep skeletons in their closets that they want to keep hidden as long as possible before they inevitably come to light in a scandal waiting to happen. Don't give these individuals a second of your time, it's what they want because, at the end of the day, they're attention addicts with nothing to offer other than their tiresome rants about how awful their lives are.

If you've read this far, then you have my respect as my ultimate goal here is to assure you that so long as you don't bring up any of the toxic bullshit I've brought up on this post towards this site, you'll be welcomed with open arms here. Of course, this goes for bullshit peddlers as well as like any sane person, I have little patience for the likes of the Daily Wire or any other "anti-woke" nonsense. But let's face it, those people aren't reading this anyway, so this is more letting people know that of course I don't stand with those individuals either. That's about all I have to say, take care and let's keep this site up for another year!

I'll include some of the media I consider to be harmful to society that you should avoid for the sake of your sanity.

The Daily Wire: a bunch of bullshit peddlers looking to fearmonger normies with their hatred of non-conservatives.

Anything made by Disney post-2019: a collection of bad stories or bad retellings of their classic stories complete with shoddy identity politics (that they made up as no one else in the world has these identities they shove in their media) that seem to only exist to justify the Daily wires bigotry of non-conservatives. Special mention to Wish, She Hulk and the Mulan remake which all serve to destroy the company with their awful stories, cringe attempts at humour and hypocritical messaging.

Velma: a sick, twisted show that only exists to anger those who watch it, at least we've had good reviews of the show from talented online reviewers.

Anything from Soundcloud rappers: your typical rage bait as presented by poorly rapped tracks with terrible production to boot. 6ix9ine is the poster child for this nonsense.

Anything on tik tok: a site that only exists to push content meant to rage bait onlookers, special mention to the fat acceptance movement, the moron promoting neo pronouns based on animals and inanimate objects and that creep who tells their young viewers to keep secrets from their parents while sounding like that creepy old guy from family guy. Speaking of....

Family Guy post-2010: a show that wants to die and goes out of its way to be as offensive as possible so that it can die. Velma's mean-spirited approach to its existence was its way of ending it.

Channel awesome: a bunch of bad-faith reviews made by a guy who's upset he couldn't make it as a credible filmmaker. Yes we all have fond memories of his content, however, it's because of his hatred towards an industry that rejected him that we now have such a nihilistic approach to life over a decade after hire made it big (besides, was he ever that funny outside of "bat credit card" or "the ogre's butt?" Thought not.)

Watchmojo.com: while not intentionally hateful, they personify the quantity over the quality mindset that makes smaller content creators such as me struggle to find an audience.

Any game made with a consulting agency: mainly because said agencies do nothing other than insert their identity politics and third grade humour into these games, they also tend to be filled with everything else gamers hate including season passes, loot boxes and pointless grinding. If anything, the bad writing from these companies feels more like a distraction from these other shady practices.

Go set charts 1970's IV

I've decided to show what was popular during the waning years of the go set charts in Australia, although again I haven't included any commentary here as I feel uncomfortable with talking about songs that I struggle to form opinion about while also feeling that talking about the select few that I do have strong feelings about would reveal my biases in a negative way on this site. I'll also include stats from the last quarter of 1974 to evenly round out this list even though I'm obviously using AMR stats for those entries.

There are two versions of this track that exist, there's the version with the disco trio Love unlimited which features vocalist from the three women of colour on the track. The other version is the instrumental version which is the version that became a massive worldwide hit given how it was commissioned from a group of session musicians by Barry White for one of his concerts with the girls.

#61 for 1974 (#55 AMR)

The Carpenters were on a roll when they released their second big hit around the world, in fact this nearly topped the Billboard charts much like their top entry on this list which confirmed the brother and sister duo as the real deal moving forward in the decade.

#64 for 1971 (#68 AMR)

Although these guys had success in their native America prior to this hit, this was the first of several Billboard chart toppers that Three dog night had likely due to them taking an Eric Burdon track and running through the funk sound with their interpretation. The rest of the world liked what they did with the track which allowed it to crossover internationally.

#67 for 1970 (#74 AMR)

I wasn't expecting to add another entry from an artist who would go on to become a politician apart from Peter Garrett on this site, however that seems to be the case for Mike Curb as the future politician for California would score a hit with the theme to the Clint Eastwood flick Kelley's heroes a decade prior to taking office in the west coast state.

#68 for 1970 (#58 AMR)

You'd think that "Stairway to heaven" would be the big hit from Led Zeppelin's fourth self-titled album, alas it wasn't as that honour goes to this track instead which is more of a conventional rock track as opposed to the prog classic that continues to invade our airwaves even to this day.

(this is Led zeppelin "Black dog)

#68 for 1972 (#70 AMR)

I'm shocked this was only a moderate success for Bob Dylan here in Australia, although that might be due to how Guns n roses revived this song's popularity in the 90's with their rendition which coincidentally came out the same year I was born (1992.) In any case, this was the second hit that the folk legend had here in Australia following "Like a rolling stone" from 1965.

#66 for 1973 (#84 AMR)

This was the only hit for Australian actress/singer Abigail Rogan, I'm guessing this was the case due to the popularity of a TV she was on at the time of its release (it's surprisingly hard to find information about this woman) given how this saw a release in the UK where it predictably flopped.

#67 for 1973 (#78 AMR)

This was a hit for Brian Hyland a decade after his first hit "Itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polkadot bikini" (I can't believe I had to type that up on this site even after mentioning its 1990 cover on the NZ side of my site.) This meant that the former teen idol was able to escape the one hit wonder bin here in Australia with this track about a Romani woman he's in love with (though not enough to not refer to her as a slur.)

#65 for 1971 (#56 AMR)

While these guys only had one inescapable hit here in Australia with "Hot love," their fortunes were much better in their homeland as this became yet another chart topper in the UK for the glam rock band as well as another staple on oldies stations to this day.

#69 for 1972 (#80 AMR)

We have another two for one deal on this list, this time it's from the king of rock and roll as Elvis Presley bundled his cover of a Dusty Springfield classic with a song that's long been forgotten by even his diehard fanbase for decades at this point.

#66 for 1971 (#57 AMR)

This was the only hit to come from American singer Bobby Bloom, mainly because he would tragically pass away four years after its release due to a self-inflicted gun wound (there's actually speculation on if it was a suicide or his gun misfiring on him.) The song would be covered by Australian band Allniters a decade after his death where it became a modest success for them (albeit a sleeper hit.)

#69 for 1970 (#72 AMR)

We've looked at the Boy George cover from 1987 on the NZ side of my site, time now to look at the original non reggae version from Bread which was a hit here in Australia fifteen years prior to when George's version briefly scrapped our top ten before quickly leaving our charts (making it a fan single in my opinion.) This failed to crack our top ten but stuck around for quite some time regardless.

#70 for 1972 (#65 AMR)

There was a popular TV crime series known as Van der Valk (Dutch for "of the falcon") which aired from 1972-1977 back in the day. As with most popular TV series, its theme song was quite popular in the music scene here in Australia as well as in the show's native UK where it topped the British charts.

#62 for 1974 (#67 AMR)

This is the final hit that Axiom achieved during their short time together, it was the lead single to their second and final album which proves that although they weren't quite as popular with their first album, there was still love for the band regardless even mere months prior to them calling it quits.

#67 for 1971 (#67 AMR)

This was a short-lived covers band from Australia who scored two hits during the first half of the decade with cover songs, this one being of the Merry Clayton track that's best known nowadays for Cher's rendition for her film Mermaids. These guys likely would've had more success here had they stuck around once Countdown launched, alas they called it quits mere months after the show premiered.

#63 for 1974 (#65 AMR)

This was George Harrison's final hit here in Australia for eight years as he wouldn't touch our charts again until 1981 with his tribute to John Lennon "All those years ago." It was a much bigger deal internationally where this topped the Billboard charts for the former Beatle likely due to its strong message about world peace.

#68 for 1973 (#86 AMR)

This was another huge hit that Slade had throughout the world during their heyday, it was coincidentally their second UK chart topper given how it was their second biggest hit here in Australia for the glam rock band.

#71 for 1972 (#67 AMR)

This will be the last entry from Don Mclean on this site given how he didn't score any other hits throughout his career, indeed this was only a hit here in Australia likely due to the massive success of his two earlier entries on this list as well as the album they came from which didn't seem to be much of an incentive for the rest of the world in making this a hit.

#69 for 1973 (#61 AMR)

This was the last major hit that the Masters apprentices had in their career, although their next single "Because I love you" would receive plenty of airplay due to a 1988 release of the track that flopped but was regardless what made them a favourite on oldies stations. Their success was more prevalent in the 60's due to their sound fitting in perfectly with the hippy revolution.

#70 for 1970 (#76 AMR)

This is one of the many moderate hits that the Partridge family had here in Australia between their two earlier entries on this list, I'm guessing this song's success was due to how well it went over with us Aussies when it was performed on the show.

#68 for 1971 (#63 AMR)

This is a song that could've only been popular from the 60's or the start of the 70's, it comes to us from Daddy Dewdrop who scored his one and only hit worldwide with this novelty track that still pops up here and there in pop culture.

#69 for 1971 (#83 AMR)

We have another entry from the brothers Gibb, this will be their earliest entry to feature on my site as I don't think I'll ever be looking at what was popular in the 60's where most of their pre disco success came from.

#70 for 1971 (#60 AMR)

This is one of only two entries from Stevie Wonder, that's right, one of the biggest names of the decade only had two hits here in Australia even if his albums did do considerably well with us Aussies (which somewhat makes him an album artist as far as we're concerned.) At least this was a chart topper on Billboard even if it's one of his rare slow jams that got popular over the years.

#70 for 1973 (#79 AMR)

It's puzzling to think that this was the big hit from blues legend JJ Cale and not "Cocaine" here in Australia, although I guess the fact that he had a hit here in Australia is proof that we Aussies did at least love him for one single as opposed to his fellow Americans who completely ignored his catalogue.

#72 for 1972 (#76 AMR)

This is the only entry from Marie Osmond to appear on this side of my site, mainly because her duets with Donny failed to become a success here in Australia (possibly due to their incestual nature which was unintentional on their part.)

#64 for 1974 (#80 AMR)

We've featured the Joan Jett cover on this site on my list of Countdown performances, time now to look at the original version of the glam rock track from Gary Glitter which continued the icon's winning streak back in the day given how it was the lead single to his second album Touch me.

#71 for 1973 (#71 AMR)

Mark Lindsay was the lead single of Paul Revere and the Raiders, an American band who curiously failed to score any hits here in Australia despite how popular they were in their homeland. He did win us Aussies over with this ballad about a girl named Arizona (not the state) which sadly did no favours for his band at the time.

#71 for 1970 (#67 AMR)

This was the first song that John Farnham released in the decade; it was a guaranteed success for him given how this was coming off the heels of his top entry on this list which coincidentally was when the original version from BJ Thomas took home the academy award for best original song.

#72 for 1970 (#73 AMR)

Well, this is something different from Chicago, here we have a jazz rock track in the vein of early Santana or Blood sweat and tears which became a moderate success at the start of the decade worldwide for the band. I guess the genre became more niche as the decade went along, hence why they transitioned to a soft rock sound with their hit "If you leave me now."

#73 for 1970 (#83 AMR)

This is the only hit to come from Brownsville station, a rare American glam rock band who quite surprisingly managed to make it big in their homeland give how rare it was for glam rock to become a success on Billboard (even from local artists such as Suzi Quatro.) Motley Crue fans will know this as one of that band's signature tracks due to their rendition being a minor success on Billboard in the 80's.

#65 for 1974 (#75 AMR)

We have our final Oscar winning track on this list, I've saved the best for last as it's the title track from the Shaft series courtesy of Isaac Hayes who scored his only American hit with this jam. For the rest of the world, he scored another hit in the late 90's as his character in South Park Chef with "Chocolate salty balls" from the Chef aid soundtrack (it only barely failed to appear on this site.)

#73 for 1972 (#64 AMR)

This was a modest success for Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds (what a weird band name) here in Australia, likely due to it being a huge hit in their native America where this type of ballad reigned supreme on the Billboard charts.

#71 for 1971 (#82 AMR)

This was John Farnham's final hit he had until his 1980 comeback with "Help," I guess he was seen as a relic of the 60's by this point in time which was a stigma that wouldn't hold once he released his magnum opus in 1986.

#72 for 1973 (#83 AMR)

This was the only hit for Leon Russell, one of the less influential icons of the hippy culture despite doing quite well with his albums here in Australia during the first half of the decade. I'm not sure how we Aussies came across his work given how little success he had in his native America.

#72 for 1971 (#80 AMR)

This was the last hit that the Brothers Gibb had before they had transitioned to disco, it's a good representation of their sound while they were a trio but before they were having us jam to their music on the dance floor.

#66 for 1974 (#71 AMR)

Bread was another band who managed to achieve quite a bit of success in their native America throughout the decade, this was their biggest hit here in Australia despite it not being their biggest hit on the Billboard charts (we'll get to what was in a bit.) Bread are one of those bands who are often described as "white people music" mainly due to their lack of appeal in other demographics.

#74 for 1972 (#62 AMR)

#67 for 1974 (#90 AMR)

These guys had been active since the mid 50's, which means they scored their final hit in Australia and most parts of the world two decades after their initial breakthrough. They had another hit earlier in the year with "Like sister and brother" meaning this RNB ballad didn't come out of nowhere for the band down under, indeed they were fairly successful worldwide as both of these songs were huge in the UK.

#68 for 1974 (#72 AMR)

#73 for 1971 (#87 AMR)

This was the second hit that the Doors had from their final album L.A woman, it's another song that's been fondly remembered over the years due to how much oldies stations love to play it. I guess if the album weren't so successful, it would've been even bigger here due to our charts revolving around physical sales which the album ate up for this song.

#74 for 1971 (#81 AMR)

Given the success of the Mike Curb congregation from earlier on this list, these guys had to be referred to as the English congregation here in Australia as well as anywhere else in the world that "Burning bridges" had charted in order to avoid confusion with them. In any case, this was a decent hit here in Australia, although it was much bigger internationally likely due to the lack of confusion.

#75 for 1972 (#78 AMR)

This was a hit a year after its initial release, I guess it wasn't released as a single here in Australia initially due to it having to compete with "Imagine" from earlier on this list as that was the Christmas chart topper of 1971 down under. It had its full chance to shine the following Christmas where it was too little too late for it to make an impact on our charts.

#73 for 1973 (#85 AMR)

This was John Farnham's penultimate hit here in Australia until his comeback from 1980, it's a song released during our Christmas which makes its lyrics about how things go out of season appropriate given how we Aussies have Christmas in summer as opposed to most of the world which has it during winter.

#74 for 1973 (#74 AMR)

This was the lead single to CCR's final album Mardis gras, or rather it was a throwaway track they released following the success of Pendulum that they included on the album due to the behind-the-scenes drama they went through during the album's conception.

#75 for 1971 (#84 AMR)

This is another one of those cheap covers of an international track from an Australian artist that got big throughout the decade, although at least we'll eventually get to the original version of this track further down the list as opposed to some of the other entries that missed out from appearing on this list.

#69 for 1974 (#81 AMR)

This was a hit for Lobo two years prior to his other two entries on this list, likely because it's a love song that revolves around a couple and their puppy which I'm sure melted the hearts of listeners back in the day despite how lame it seems for modern audiences.

#76 for 1971 (#79 AMR)

Go set charts 1970's III

I've decided to show what was popular during the waning years of the go set charts in Australia, although again I haven't included any commentary here as I feel uncomfortable with talking about songs that I struggle to form opinion about while also feeling that talking about the select few that I do have strong feelings about would reveal my biases in a negative way on this site. I'll also include stats from the last quarter of 1974 to evenly round out this list even though I'm obviously using AMR stats for those entries.

Well, I guess calling yourself a Bootleg band is one way to let people know you're nothing but a covers band cashing in off the success of much more famous bands and artists, here was the first of their two hits in Australia which came at the expense of the original from Loggins and Messina. At least their other big hit was a cover of a song from a decade prior.

#44 for 1973 (#50 AMR)

We have another entry from the debut album of Daddy cool on this list, this was the second single from said album which was released around the time the album dropped around the time the album was released in order to cash in off said albums success. It wasn't as inescapable as their earlier entry on this list, hence why you don't hear it much on oldies stations.

#38 for 1971 (#47 AMR)

This was the other hit that Vicki Lawrence had here in Australia, again it was far more a success with us Aussies than it was with her fellow Americans, suggesting that it was a hit here due to a tour she had rather than her involvement with the Mary Tyler Moore show.

#47 for 1974 (#43 AMR)

If it wasn't for "Say you'll stay until tomorrow" from later in the decade as well as his revival period in the 90's, this would've been the final hit in Tom Jones's career worldwide given how his popularity seemed to fall off a cliff despite ending the 60's on a high note with a highly successful live album based on a Vegas show of his.

#39 for 1971 (#37 AMR)

This was the only hit that South African singer John Kongos had in his career (side note this was an excellent time for African artists if this list is any indication) it's a song that's since been eclipsed here in Australia due to the Party boys cover from 1987. It's a song that's best known for its strong African style production from the drums to it having somewhat of a tribal ambience to it.

#40 for 1971 (#38 AMR)

We haven't had many musicians of colour on this list so far, let's change that by featuring the final hit from 5th dimension which was a huge success for them here in Australia as it was in their native America. I will say that these guys did quite well for themselves with us Aussies throughout their career given how they scored a few hits in the 60's in addition to this late entry from their catalogue down under.

#46 for 1972 (#49 AMR)

We looked at the big hit these guys had as Drummond earlier on this list, time now to look at their other big hit they had once they rebranded themselves as Mississippi a year after that big hit. From what I can gather, this is an original track from the band which meant that there was appeal for their original music as opposed to many of their contemporaries from this list alone.

#47 for 1972 (#54 AMR)

Even though Kevin Johnson is an Australian country singer and that his one and only hit was far from the most successful here in Australia upon its initial release, this somehow managed to become a minor international hit for him likely due to being based in the UK when he released it as a single.

#45 for 1973 (#68 AMR)

It took him a while to release a new album following the demise of his band Simon and Garfunkel, however Paul Simon found instant success once he did release new music on his own given how much of an instant success said album and its lead single was throughout the world. True to the title, this is a song about a mother reuniting with her son after a long time apart which naturally connected with audiences.

#48 for 1972 (#60 AMR)

Bobby Goldsboro is a country singer whose best known for his 1968 hit "Honey" which was a massive chart topper throughout the world that year including here in Australia. Fast forward five years and he managed to escape the one hit wonder bin with this ballad about the summertime albeit only here in Australia and the UK of all places.

#46 for 1973 (#55 AMR)

This is the most recent entry from the king of rock and roll on this list, although he did continue to find success during the second half of the decade right up until his untimely death in 1977.

#47 for 1973 (#67 AMR)

This was a moderate hit in Gary and Dave's native Canada from the previous year, indeed it took quite a while for it to crossover here in Australia as it was released at the start of the year to deafening silence only for it to gain popularity towards the end of the year. As it turns out, the two men were also aviators which would explain why they didn't have another hit in their career.

#48 for 1974 (#49 AMR)

While this wasn't meant to be used as an anthem for unionisation, the fact that this folk-rock track has such an anthemic chorus with the subject matter has since made it a popular choice for union protests over the years. It was the Strawbs only hit here in Australia and their native UK, although that might be due to the rest of their catalogue being more in line with prog rock which typically didn't spawn many hit singles.

#48 for 1973 (#47 AMR)

Named after the famous American settler, Daniel Boone (real name Peter Green) scored a huge international success with this track that seems to replicate the relaxed vibes of "In the summertime" from earlier on this list. Although this was his only hit in most parts of the world (including his native UK) he was quite popular in NZ with several of his other tracks around this time.

#49 for 1972 (#68 AMR)

This feels like a sequel to Lobo's earlier entry on this list, naturally this made it the perfect follow up to "I'd love you to want me" which is perhaps why it did so well internationally for the American singer/songwriter. It would be his final hit worldwide likely due to cheesy ballads like this falling out of vogue as the decade moved along.

#49 for 1973 (#44 AMR)

Well, we looked at their big hit they had here exclusively in Australia, time now to look at the big hit these guys had internationally which curiously had a bit of a delay to its success here as it only peaked in the early months of 1973 as opposed to Christmas 1972 like it did in NZ. Again, we have an instrumental track on this list, proving how popular this genre of music was around this time.

#50 for 1973 (#41 AMR)

This guy isn't the bassist for Queen despite them sharing the same name, instead he was an Australia TV composer who scored his one and only hit for the TV show Rush which was a popular Australian crime show from the 70's that was remade in the late 00's. From what I can gather, it was the Magnum P.I of its time, making this another occasion that American media stole from Australian media throughout history.

#49 for 1974 (#50 AMR)

This was originally an instrumental theme for the Hollywood blockbuster Love story; however, it was turned into a love ballad at the last minute when the producers decided to recruit American crooner Andy Williams to sing over the instrumental theme in order to score a hit for the film's soundtrack. This gambit paid off here in Australia where it was a huge hit, not so much anywhere else in the world where it wasn't.

#41 for 1971 (#41 AMR)

From what I can gather, this song was released internationally purely thanks to the success of Shocking blue's earlier entry on this list given how Tee set was another band from the Netherlands to find success at the start of the decade worldwide. It's even in the same genre which further links these guys to the geniuses behind "Venus," although sadly there's no 80's cover of this song like that track has.

#50 for 1970 (#44 AMR)

This was originally released in 1967 as the third single from Procol harum's debut album albeit only here in Australia, I guess we Aussies weren't that thrilled at having an exclusive track from these guys despite giving them two hits in the form of "A whiter shade of pale" and "Homburg" that year. It was given a second chance as a live track where it became a massive success worldwide.

#50 for 1972 (#57 AMR)

This was the second single to come from George Harrison's double album All things must pass, it was a massive hit for the former Beatle worldwide even with the strong album sales somewhat hampering its success in countries such as Australia which consist of data based on capitalism. This continues the spiritual theme of his earlier entry on this list which is a theme present throughout the album.

#42 for 1971 (#46 AMR)

We have another two for one entry on this list, although this time we're looking at a song that's already appeared on my site given how "Castles in the air" became a hit on its own a decade after this was released. "Vincent" was the main reason for this entries success due to it feeling like a John Denver track, particularly with the opening lyrics being "starry starry night."

#51 for 1972 (#52 AMR)

This has a bit of a weird story to its success, namely that despite being a real band, Kincade didn't exist when their debut single was released as it was merely the stage name of their frontman John Carter when it came to be. It was a surprise hit here in Australia as well as in certain parts of the world despite it failing to chart in their native UK.

#51 for 1973 (#54 AMR)

This was the final hit for Tommy Roe anywhere in the world, although this was another 60's carryover so it's tough to say if this was a last hurrah for the previous decade that just took too long to take off or if there was genuine interest for keeping this guy around in the 70's that was quickly discarded. Either way, it's a good representation of his bubble-gum pop sound as well as a bad representation of his early rockabilly sound.

#51 for 1970 (#65 AMR)

This is the first of two entries to come from the Kinks, it remains as their final hit single in most parts of the world due to the 60's band struggling to carryover their success into the 70's likely due to their two hits from the start of the decade being very different to the garage rock of their earlier material. It could also be that there's more of a novelty both of these tracks have compared to their earlier work lyrically.

#43 for 1971 (#50 AMR)

This was a surprise hit for Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky Nelson) given how this is actually about how he had faded into irrelevancy since his heyday as a teen idol from the 50's and early 60's. I guess we Aussies and his fellow Americans felt pity for his career trajectory (particular him getting booed while on stage) which is how this managed to become a huge hit for the former teen idol.

#52 for 1972 (#50 AMR)

It took us a while to get to a second hit from the Rolling stones on this track, however we finally have one with this lead single to their album Sticky fingers which was a much bigger hit in America and in their native UK likely due to strong album sales eating up its success here in Australia. This is their last entry on this site of mine as they only had three hits in the 70's down under (their two entries on this list and "Miss you.")

#44 for 1971 (#49 AMR)

Neil Diamond was on a roll when he released this single from his album Moods, it was his second Billboard chart topper proving how popular he was in his homeland as well as it being a huge hit internationally thanks to how in vogue his brand of soft rock was with the times.

#53 for 1972 (#44 AMR)

If you didn't know, Cher is in fact biracial or as she puts it, a half breed (half Native American and half Italian to be precise.) I guess this was a strong enough premise for her second Billboard chart topper as a solo artist given how the song is about how both sides of her family rejected her very existence due to the nature she was conceived (which she doesn't go into detail about as it's NSFW.)

#52 for 1973 (#56 AMR)

This was a big hit for American soft rock band the Gallery here in Australia as well as their native America and interestingly enough, Canada where it was a huge chart topper for them. Despite its international success, it remains their only hit worldwide given how the band only lasted a few years together before calling it quits in 1974.

#54 for 1972 (#48 AMR)

This was the first song that Diana Ross released following her acting debut in the Billie Holliday biopic the Lady sings the blues which she received an Oscar nomination for, naturally this song was guaranteed success given how that film was able to remind audience of her phenomenal talent as a vocalist given how well received her performance of Billie was both as an actress and singer.

#53 for 1973 (#48 AMR)

This was the first solo single that Ringo Starr released in his career, naturally it was an immediate success for the drummer of the fab four given how his former bandmates had dominated the charts with their earlier entries on this list following their breakup from the start of the decade. His true peak in success would come with his second solo album which contains his other two entries on this list.

#45 for 1971 (#45 AMR)

Shortly before she had most of her success stolen by Liv Maessen with her earlier entry on this list, Mary Hopkin managed to begin the decade with this track that does a great job in showcasing her abilities as a vocalist as well as bringing to life songs that were discarded by the members of the Beatles for whatever reason. It's a shame that her popularity died out after the first year of the decade came to an end.

#52 for 1970 (#55 AMR)

One of the stranger songs to become a hit throughout the 70's, we have this signature track from Three dog night which was by far their biggest hit both here in Australia and in their native America where it topped the Billboard charts due to how energetic it is. For whatever reason, Mariah Carey interpolated parts of this track for her cover of the Christmas hymn of the same name for her 1994 Christmas album.

#46 for 1971 (#53 AMR)

This guy was a frequent collaborator of Jigsaw back in the day, so it's interesting to note that his biggest hit was a solo entry that wasn't a cover of a more popular track (at least that I'm aware of.) He's also another pop crooner who dabbled as a TV presenter back in the day, a fairly standard practice for Australian male musicians it seems.

#54 for 1973 (#51 AMR)

This was the second big hit that Axiom had during their brief time together, I forgot to mention earlier that "Arkansas grass" was a carryover from the 60's, meaning that they were another band that began the 70's in the top ten that fell off fairly early into the decade.

#53 for 1970 (#46 AMR)

This was the only hit that Robin Jolley managed to score in his music career, although like many Australian pop crooners, he found more success as a TV presenter which seems to be how the music industry worked here in Australia back in the day.

#55 for 1972 (#51 AMR)

This was the first of three hits that Michael Nesmith scored here in Australia throughout the 70's, it's worth noting that although he was popular as a member of the Monkees, he never found much success in his native America likely due to his solo outing being considering "real" music compared to the prepackaged music he made for the TV show.

#54 for 1970 (#40 AMR)

Russell Morris was another Australia artist who began the 70's on a high note given how he came out of the 60's with not one but two chart toppers under his belt (those being "The real thing" and "Part 3 into paper walls.") That said, this was his biggest hit throughout the decade which was a far cry commercially from what he achieved with his earlier work.

#47 for 1971 (#40 AMR)

This was the first song that Elvis Presley released this decade, naturally it was a hit here in Australia given that it followed up "Suspicious minds" which remains one of his most iconic hit singles in his catalogue.

#55 for 1970 (#51 AMR)

If you're wondering how Murray Head could score a hit single in the mid 80's when he was pushing forty, that might be due to there being enough fondness for his first big hit from fifteen years prior which he recorded for the Jesus Christ superstar soundtrack (despite this version not making it onto the album.) It was a massive success in the southern hemisphere and even a minor success on Billboard.

#56 for 1970 (#63 AMR)

This was Dave Edmunds second hit here in Australia, although from what I can gather it's an Australian exclusive single given how it didn't appear to chart anywhere else int he world. I would've thought that it would at least touch the Billboard charts given how America seems to be the promised land in question going by the lyrics, however it was only us Aussies that appreciated this folk ballad.

#56 for 1972 (#47 AMR)

This was the only hit that Blue mink had in Australia, likely due to it being a plea for world peace given how the titled the track after the phrase "melting pot of friendship." They were far more successful in their native UK as well as NZ likely due to them having a woman of colour as their main vocalist in a band otherwise consisting of white men, a lineup that helped them stand out from the crowd back in the day.

#57 for 1970 (#54 AMR)

By far one of their most easily recognisable hits in their catalogue, we have this ballad from the Carpenters which became their biggest hit in the UK likely due to how tender it sounds despite it clearly being about nostalgia for the years that had gone by. It was also a huge hit in their native America, although not quite at the dizzying heights of their earlier entries.

#55 for 1973 (#77 AMR)

Well, the Osmonds might not have had any success here in Australia, however the same can't be said for their Canadian knockoff the Defranco family who managed to score a huge hit with their debut single as well as in America and their homeland. Basically, we have a rip-off of a rip-off here as the Osmonds are widely considered to be a knockoff of the Jackson 5 (who we'll thankfully get to eventually.)

#50 for 1974 (#59 AMR)

#58 for 1970 (#87 AMR)

We have another solo entry from Donny Osmond on this list, he was just racking up the hits here in Australia back in the day which is odd because the rest of his family didn't see this level of success (except Jimmy and maybe Marie with an entry we'll get to.)

#57 for 1972 (#75 AMR)

Barry Crocker is perhaps the most well-known pop crooner turned TV presenter in Australian music history, not for his music career but rather for how well known he is as a presenter. This was his only hit as a singer which was one of many entries on this list that has largely been lost to the sands of time over the years.

#56 for 1973 (#65 AMR)

This is by far the biggest hit that Charlie Rich had throughout the world, although this wasn't the case in NZ given how this bombed on the Listener charts and that "On my knees" from later in the decade was his big hit over there. I guess the kiwis weren't that into country music like the rest of the world was given how few of these country entries were a success on those charts.

#51 for 1974 (#56 AMR)

We've already looked at this song on the NZ side of my site when it was rereleased in the early 90's due to it being featured in a jean commercial in the UK, time now to look at its original release where it became the big breakthrough for the Steve Miller band due to it topping the Billboard charts for them. It was a huge hit here in Australia as well, hence why it managed to appear on this list of mine.

#52 for 1974 (#61 AMR)

Linda George is best known for her role as the acid queen in the theatrical adaptation of the Who's concept album Tommy, however she also had a hit this year as Miss Linda George (back when underage performers were referred to as Miss or Little) that became a hit for her this year. She mostly stuck to theatre after she became a one hit wonder, as did most female artists from the pre-Countdown era.

#53 for 1974 (#53 AMR)

This is the second rendition of the Christian hymn to make this list, although at least this one is a more conventional cover of the hymn as opposed to it being an (in my opinion) bizarre instrumental rendition played on bagpipes. Judy already appeared on my site with her rendition of "Send in the clown," meaning she wasn't a one hit wonder with us Aussies throughout the decade.

#48 for 1971 (#65 (AMR)

This was the second hit that John Lennon had with the Plastic Ono band, the first being "Give peace a chance" from the end of the previous decade which helped put Yoko Ono and her band on the map due to its success. There's speculation that Yoko was responsible for breaking up the Beatles due to her music receiving backlash over the years, the real reason for their breakup was due to John mistreating everyone in his life at the time.

#59 for 1970 (#62 AMR)

This was the big breakthrough hit that Bread had in their career, it's easy to see this as their debut single but it wasn't as they had a few failed releases in their native America in the 60's before making it big with this ballad. It was a huge chart topper for them on Billboard, which ensured its success throughout the rest of the world.

#60 for 1970 (#64 AMR)

If this sounds like an ELO track to you, then you're not far off as several members of this band would go on to be a part of that band later in the decade. This also has members of the Move who were a 60's band that was a part of the psychedelia movement which explains those elements on this track. This was their only hit here in Australia, however they were quite popular in their native UK this decade.

#57 for 1973 (#49 AMR)

We have one final appearance from Neil Diamond on this list, it's another big worldwide hit he had proving yet again that he was on top of the world during the first half of the decade regardless of where you're from.

#49 for 1971 (#76 AMR)

#50 for 1971 (#89 AMR)

The best way to describe Lynsey de Paul is if Olivia Newton John began her career as a country artist whilst also having her sexual appeal she acquired from the Grease soundtrack, at least that's how I'd describe her one and only hit she had here and in her native UK with this entry.

#58 for 1972 (#56 AMR)

This is the earliest entry from Sherbet to feature on my site, naturally it was the song that finally caught the mainstream's attention of their work after several minor hits that failed to put them on the level of many other bands that have appeared on this list.

#58 for 1973 (#64 AMR)

This was the only hit for Australian country singer Reg Lindsay, it was a song written about Neil Armstrong following his overnight fame of being involved with the moon landing a year prior to this song's release. Apparently, he had tried to find success for over a decade by the time he released this track, proving how hard it's always been for Australian country singers in our music landscape.

#51 for 1971 (#58 AMR)

Although Tin tin was a duo from Australia, it took a year for this song of theirs to become a success here likely due to them releasing it in the UK to deafening silence and not releasing it here around the same time for whatever reason. Honestly the story behind the song is more interesting than the song itself as it's your typical bubble-gum pop track that history has long forgotten about.

#52 for 1971 (#72 AMR)

This is another entry from the Partridge family on this list, making it the fourth appearance from the TV band so far and proving just how popular they were with Australian audiences.

#53 for 1971 (#75 AMR)

I get the feeling this song was originally meant for Elvis Presley due to the vocals heavily reminding me of the king of rock and roll on this track, it's instead the one and only hit from country legend Faron Young outside of his native America as this was a surprise hit both here and in the UK for him. Interestingly, this bombed on the Billboard charts, meaning I have no idea how we Aussies and Brits came across it.

#59 for 1972 (#61 AMR)

This is one of two hits that Badfinger managed to achieve here in Australia, we'll get to the other one in a bit but suffice to say, the Welsh band who gave us the original rendition of "Without you" was decently successful back in the day even if that success down under was pitiful compared to what they achieved throughout the rest of the world.

#60 for 1972 (#63 AMR)

I'm not sure what to feel about this signature track from Joni Mitchell having most of its success come from Australia back in the day, I guess it was a modest hit in the UK and her native Canada which would explain how we Aussies came across it in the first place. For a song that's quintessentially a hippy track, it's amazing how well it holds up all these years after DDT has been outlawed.

#61 for 1970 (#59 AMR)

This was a massive worldwide hit for the Canadian band Ocean, likely due to how unapologetically religious it is which connected with spiritual audiences back in the day. It appears there weren't many Aussies in that audience given how much less successful it was here compared to the rest of the world.

#54 for 1971 (#73 AMR)

John Denver had been active in the music industry for the better part of a decade at this point, sure he had success in his native America, but it was when this lead single to his album Back home again became a surprise success in the UK that he finally saw massive international success. The song has become a bit of a meme over the years due to how overdramatic the ballad has remained since its initial release.

#54 for 1974 (#57 AMR)

I bet you were beginning to wonder if these guys had any success on our charts back in the day given how long it's taken for me to feature one of their quintessential tracks. Suffice to say that this is the first of two entries on this list which became a success around the time of Jim Morrison's tragic death.

#55 for 1971 (#64 AMR)

Ever wanted to hear a comedy track about a dead skunk? Well, you're in luck as Loudon Wainwright wrote a song with that subject matter as a comedy track which helped him score his one and only hit here in Australia by us Aussies who found this tale rather amusing to listen to at the time.

#59 for 1973 (#76 AMR)

There was no shortage of underage performers who made it big in the 70's, our latest entry comes from the Moir sisters who were a family trio of young women who scored their one and only hit with a song they wrote. I guess the fact they wrote this did put them on a higher league than the likes of the Osmonds and the teen idols from the second half of the decade, although they sadly remain a one hit wonder regardless.

#55 for 1974 (#58 AMR)

Glen Campbell was on a roll during the first half of the decade given how this was another easy hit he had throughout the world, although curiously it wasn't a huge hit in his native America which was also the case for his other entries on this list.

#62 for 1970 (#66 AMR)

We have another appearance from the king of rock and roll for this list, I wish I could say something more interesting about these tracks of his, but they're honestly in one ear and out the other for me, proving that he could release anything at this point in his career and it would be a hit with us Aussies.

#63 for 1970 (#77 AMR)

Well, I did mention that this was a huge hit for Sherbet earlier in the year when we looked at their other big hit they had this year, so let's look at this title track to Sherbet's third album which indeed confirmed them as a household name a year after "Cassandra" from their previous album put them on the map. They did have minor success during the first half of the decade; however, this was where they made it big.

#56 for 1974 (#60 AMR)

This is the only notable hit that the British group Fortunes had here in Australia, although like many British bands back in the day, they were far more lucrative in their homeland than they were internationally as they scored a ton of hits in their homeland throughout the 60's.

#56 for 1971 (#71 AMR)

There was a good chance that reggae was going to be the genre of the 70's if this track from Bruce Ruffin is anything to go by, it was a big hit here in Australia and even decently successful in the UK for the Jamaican singer likely due to the ad libs that pepper the track as well as that admittedly catchy reggae groove it has going for it.

#60 for 1973 (#43 AMR)

Well, we had to get to this track eventually, this is yet another song on this list that has gone down in infamy due to the subject matter which depicts Ringo Starr "owning" a sixteen-year-old he has the hots for. This was originally a hit for Johnny Burnette in 1960 (the father of Rocky Burnette of "Tired of toeing the line" fame) who would tragically pass away four years after his version made it big.

#57 for 1974 (#54 AMR)

This was the biggest hit that the New seekers had in their native UK as well as in America, this is due to the song being sampled for a Coca-Cola add shortly after its release which boosted its popularity throughout the world. Naturally this add had no affect on the song's popularity here in Australia given how it was far from the most popular song of its day here.

#61 for 1972 (#72 AMR)

This is one of several hits that Elvis Presley had during the first half of the decade that time hasn't been particularly kind to, I feel this is due to hindsight following his death from later in the decade as he would often perform many of these songs at Vegas which was obviously not good for his wellbeing.

#64 for 1970 (#60 AMR)

From what I can gather, Johnny O'Keefe is the earliest Australian artist to find international success given how his cover of "Shout" from 1959 managed to become a big hit throughout the rest of the world. Just before he released that track, he released the original version of this track which bombed back in the day but was given a second chance in 1972 where it became his final hit.

#62 for 1972 (#59 AMR)

We've look at the Jason Donovan version of this ballad, time to look at Bobby Vinton's take on the Brian Hyland track from a decade prior which proved to be quite popular for the aging (former) teen pop crooner from the 50's. Bobby did have a massive hit a decade prior with "Roses are red" which many consider to be one of the worst songs of the 60's due to its cheesy lyrics.

#63 for 1972 (#37 AMR)

Long before she was an Oscar nominated actress in Hollywood, Bette Midler was a throwback performer who scored her first big hit with this cover of the Andrew sisters track from thirty years prior. It was equally as popular here in Australia as it was in her native America, likely due to nostalgia for music made during the height of WWII.

#61 for 1973 (#57 AMR)

This was the other big hit that Jamie Redfern had during his time on Young talent time, this being a cover of the Frankie Avalon track from the late 50's (with no relation to Shocking Blue's track of the same name on this list.) Jamie was another victim of the Countdown purge despite being an Australian artist, I guess this was due to him failing to appear on the show during its run.

#62 for 1973 (#60 AMR)

This is the only other hit that the Kinks had this decade in most parts of the world, it's also (to my knowledge) the earliest hit single about a trans woman given that the titular woman is described as such. This has led to a polarising reception of the song in recent years as it's both praised for being ahead of its time for humanising these individuals and criticised for not going far enough (the latter usually by "woke" individuals.)

#65 for 1970 (#61 AMR)

#57 for 1971 (#52 AMR)

There are two songs with this title that appear on this list, although this was by far the bigger of the two entries due to how well it did in America for Looking glass. I guess we Aussies weren't that keen on having a love ballad dedicated to a girl named Brandy be that successful given how low it appears on this list.

#64 for 1972 (#79 AMR)

We've looked at the second hit that James Taylor had here in Australia (at least as a solo artist) "Handy man," time now to look at the fire big hit he had which is of course his signature track that he released at the start of the decade. This was such an instant success for the folk singer that it boosted the popularity of the album it came from to the point where it became a best seller here.

#58 for 1971 (#48 AMR)

#58 for 1974 (#85 AMR)

This was the last solo hit that Neil Diamond had in Australia, although he continued to find massive success with his albums and even scored a hit with a duet with Barbra Streisand later in the decade. I guess Countdown prevented him from scoring any more hits here but allowed his popularity to flourish with his albums.

#59 for 1974 (#62 AMR)

This was the debut single for Tony Orlando and Dawn, a song that wants you to believe came from a real band judging by its cover art (much like "Knock three times" and its cover art from earlier) but instead was from the crooner and his two backup singers of colour like all the other tracks in their catalogue.

#66 for 1970 (#57 AMR)

This was the first of many hits that Slade would have in their career, it was their biggest hit here in Australia likely due to it not being included on any of their albums like some of their other entries on this list we'll get to in a bit. I'm not sure why they titled their earliest songs the way they did other than to offend the Grammar Nazis of the world, at least they stand out among other generic titles.

#65 for 1972 (#53 AMR)

Although we'll look at Danyel Gerard's version of this track much later on this list, this version from Matt Flinders proved to be the big hit here in Australia which makes this yet another example of a local artist stealing the success that an international artist would've otherwise had back in the day.

#59 for 1971 (#44 AMR)

It was surprisingly hard to research this track given how it and the band behind it has fallen into obscurity over the years. From what I can gather, Dusk was a trio who were formed to compete with Dawn commercially, they only seemed to have success in the southern hemisphere given how this was a big hit for the girls in both Australia and NZ.

#60 for 1971 (#62 AMR)

Now if you felt that the previous entries comprising of Australian artists stealing the success of an international song with their inferior covers was infuriating, allow me to present to you a band whose entire gimmick revolved around this practice known as Jigsaw. This was their biggest hit as the band took the Mouth and McNeal track and made it their own in lieu of that track becoming a success.

#66 for 1972 (#41 AMR)

This is one of two entries from Jamie Redfern to make the list, Jamie of course being best known for being the first breakout star on the TV series Young talent time which was similar to that of the Mickey mouse club for Australia when it came to breeding child stars in the entertainment industry. This is another two for one deal as this comes with "Rainbow on the river" (which I couldn't find album art for.)

#67 for 1972 (#58 AMR)

From what I can gather, Tex Morton was an aging NZ country singer who scored a surprise hit with this track about a horse here in Australia during the first half of the decade. The horse in question was one of the most valuable in horse racing (a sport which I'm heavily against) much like that of Phar lap.

#63 for 1973 (#62 AMR)

This was the big breakthrough hit that David Essex had in his career, it's a bit of a far cry from all the other songs we've featured so far on this list given how this feels more in line with the glam rock scene of when it was released rather than the more pop friendly tracks from the second half of the decade. Interestingly enough, it remains his only hit in America despite how much bigger his later catalogue was over this.

#60 for 1974 (#47 AMR)

While this wasn't his debut single, this was the song that put Elton John on the map given how it was a massive success in most parts of the world due to how sentimental it was compared to many of the other ballads on this list. He would continue to find success for the remainder of the twentieth century with his subsequent follow ups.

#61 for 1971 (#61 AMR)

This was a reggae track that became a success here in Australia due to its massive popularity in the UK of all places, I'm not sure why it took off over there other than the Brits always seeming to have a soft spot for reggae over the years. It was Dave and Ansell Collins only hit down under; however, they did score a second hit in the UK after this.

#62 for 1971 (#59 AMR)

This was written by Burt Bacharach during the height of the Civil rights movement, meaning that this is less about world peace and more about racial harmony (even though the two are of course interchangeable with each other.) Dionne Warwick's version is the most well-known, however it's this version from Tom Clay that managed to be a big hit back in the day, at least it was here in Australia.

#63 for 1971 (#55 AMR)

This was the second single from Elton John's album Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player, this is a more sombre ballad compared to "Crocodile rock" which I'm guessing was a reminder to his (then) older fans of his blues roots given how he had begun to dabble with glam rock around this time.

#64 for 1973 (#58 AMR)

Petula was one of the biggest names in music throughout the 60's, so it's not that surprising that she would have one hit final during the first half of the decade even if that hit was only as such here in Australia. It's worth noting that this likely appealed to us Aussies because of nostalgia of her work from the forties as a child star.

#65 for 1973 (#66 AMR)