Tom W Clarke: Shoulda Been Higher: A Celebration of Triple J's Hottest 100

Join Tom W. Clarke for this fun retrospective of Triple J’s Hottest 100: insightful, light-hearted and deeply respectful celebration of the colourful history of ‘the world’s greatest musical democracy’.
Taking account of the thirty annual countdowns, Tom traces the social, musical and cultural impacts of the Hottest 100 over the decades and explores the fiery debate-starting questions that make the Hottest 100 what it is.

About the artist

Tom W Clarke is the author of Shoulda Been Higher: A Celebration of 30 Years of Triple J’s Hottest 100 (Melbourne Books, October 2023). He is a comedian and writer, fresh off a run of comedy shows at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Tom lives on the NSW south coast with his brilliant wife and sparkling five-year-old son. He can usually be found shouting about the superiority of instant coffee, thinking too hard about pop culture, and splashing inelegantly in the ocean.

About the book

The Hottest 100 is a national institution.

Every year since 1993, Australia’s national youth broadcaster triple j has held an annual countdown of listeners’ 100 favourite songs of the year, as voted by the public. It’s as iconic of modern Australiana as sausage sizzles and leadership spills. It has become so much more than music. It’s beaches, barbeques, and bonfires. It’s joy and despair, drama and debate, friendship and community.

This is the definitive account of the Hottest 100, a chronicle and a love letter – it’s the complete picture from Augie March to Ziggy Alberts, ‘Amazing’ to ‘Zombie’.

Host or Publisher Stonnington Library + Information Service