29 Songs Aussie Millennials Absolutely Jammed To In High School

    Pretty sure a couple thousand young dudes picked up the guitar just so they could try and play like John Butler.

    Jordan King-Lacroix
    by Jordan King-Lacroix

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Everyone knows that the music you listened to in high school will always be the best music in the world. Everything before it is old and lame, and everything after it is weird and confusing. Although some of it might be cringe in retrospect, our brains are still absolutely chock-full with the lyrics of these songs and memories attached to them. Here are some you might have forgotten.

    1. "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" by Eskimo Joe

    Eskimo Joe, one of them carrying a shovel, stand in the red wash of car brake lights
    Mushroom Records/Warner Music Group

    Getting in on the emo movement of the 2000s, this song was an emotive banger. This album became their first-ever number one on the ARIA charts — and with good reason.

    2. "Untouched" by The Veronicas

    The Veronicas rocking a wedding
    Sire Records

    An absolute anthem at the time, it's rad to see the Veronicas smashing back onto the music scene. But this song will forever be the banger that lives on in every Aussie millennial's mind. 

    3. "Rip It Up" by 28 Days

    Lead vocalist James 'Jay' Dunne rapping in your face
    Sputnik Records / Mushroom Records

    Although 28 Days are listed as being a punk rock band, it’s pretty obvious that they're, like, one of the only Aussie contributions to the nu-metal genre. Every single radio station and party played this song at least once.

    4. "Lost Control" by Grinspoon

    Grinspoon rocking out in the 'Lost Control' video clip
    Grudge Records/Universal Music Australia

    Grinspoon were already pretty established by the time they released "Lost Control", but that riff became instantly synonymous with live shows and partying.

    5. "Animal" by Jebediah

    Kevin Mitchell looking sad on a street corner from the 'Animal' video clip.
    Murmur Records/Sony Music Australia

    Jebediah are one of those bands that came and went so fast it feels like we all got collective whiplash. They were everywhere for three songs — "Animal", "Leaving Home" and "Teflon" — and then disappeared just as quickly as they arrived. They rounded out the Coca-Cola Live 'n' Local tour, alongside other bands on this list. For those of you unaware, Live 'n' Local was a concert put on by Coke where you had to collect a bunch of Coke labels to get tickets.

    6. "Cold Hard Bitch" by Jet

    Jet stylized as the background of a pinball machine
    Capitol Records

    Jet, of "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" and iPod commercial fame, released something like half the songs off of 2003's Get Born as singles. One of them, somehow, was the song "Cold Hard Bitch". It's a banger, don't get me wrong, I'm just amazed that a song that said "bitch" this many times went uncensored on the airwaves and none of us batted an eye.

    7. "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me" by TISM

    A cartoon bunny with a red number one on its chest
    genre b. goode

    This is probably a controversial pick because TISM have a lot of dope songs, but I'd argue that, as the rise of viral videos was beginning during this time, this song's video clip probably made this track more famous than any other TISM banger. And everyone in high school feels like they’re not having enough sex, so that made it pretty relatable.

    8. "Hello" by The Cat Empire

    Vintage looking still of Felix Riebl, with the word "hello" in red superimposed over him
    Virgin Records

    It's hard to overstate how much of a splash this song made when it was released in 2003. Put out into a sea of hip-hop and emotional rock, the chipper and jazzy "Hello" had everyone forever changing the way they say that word to each other.

    9. "Zebra" by John Butler Trio

    Black and white John Butler, sitting and playing
    Jarrah Records

    Pretty sure a couple thousand young dudes picked up the guitar just so they could try and play like John Butler. This chilled-out but funky song played in every cafe well into the time all millennials were at uni.

    10. "No Aphrodisiac" by The Whitlams

    Tim Freedman and band member, playing in a black void, under blue light
    Black Yak Phantom/Black Yak Records

    Some might argue that "Sound like Louis Burdett" is more famous, but I defy anyone to tell me that they didn't have some emo times – at home alone, on the train or at a party during an intense D&M — to this song. Everyone got off on the lyric "there's no aphrodisiac like loneliness" and anyone who says they didn't is a liar.

    11. "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" by Powderfinger

    Powderfinger, in greyscale and upside down, playing in a carpeted room
    Universal Music

    Powderfinger was already a huge name, and this song was — and still is — their third-highest-charting single. It was inescapable and we loved it.

    12. "Wish You Well" by Bernard Fanning

    Bernard Fanning handing off a picture of himself to someone else
    Dew Process

    The entire country was obsessed with this charming man's first solo album for, like, one full year.

    13. "Never Had So Much Fun" by Frenzal Rhomb

    A hand steals the word "fun" from inside a dreadlocked man's head, in the style of a collage
    Shagpile Records/Fat Wreck Chords

    Still going strong after several decades of prominence on the Aussie punk scene, legends Frenzal Rhomb released this party staple in 1999. Usually, it and "Punch in the Face" were played back-to-back. Or if you wanted a more chilled song, "I Miss My Lung".

    14. "Joker & the Thief" by Wolfmother

    Vintage-looking footage of Wolfmother playing outside, surrounded by fans
    Modular Recordings

    The 2005 self-titled debut album from Wolfmother was actually full of fun, heavy songs, but "Joker and the Thief" — with its rad organ solo and punchy riff — really took the cake.

    15. "I Am" by Killing Heidi

    Killing Heidi rocking in the middle of an apocalyptic street
    Columbia Records

    These guys were huge back in the day! "I Am" was probably their most well-known song — it got featured on the official Aus/NZ soundtrack for Spiderman 2 after all! I remember seeing TV ads for the album this was released on. Hey, remember when bands advertised their new albums on TV? 

    16. "Superstraight" by Regurgitator

    Frame-in-frame of Quan Yeomans looking out a suburban window
    East West Records

    This 2001 track came off Regurgitator's fourth album, but it got played on Rage pretty much all the time. There were definitely lots of poorly choreographed bedroom dances to this song.

    17. "Sister" by S2S

    Christine, left, in a purple top on a purple background, and Sharon, right, in a green top on a green background
    Festival Records

    This may offend some people, but S2S (short for Sister2Sister) were not particularly good. They came and went in a flash, leaving behind a couple of singles and this song that got so brutally overplayed that my mind blanked out its existence until writing this article. They were Australia's answer to...t.A.T.u, I guess?

    18. "Absolutely Everybody" by Vanessa Amorosi

    Vanessa Amorosi singing into a blue and black void, similar in style to the movie Tron
    Transistor/Sony Music Entertainment Australia

    Nothing more needs to be said about this song other than ~absolutely everybody~ grooved to it, most likely at Cargo Bar if you're a Sydneysider.

    19. "Get Free" by The Vines

    The Vines, playing on a dirt patch, surrounded by lights. Lightning strikes between them
    EMI/Capitol Records

    The lazy, screaming vocals of Craig Nicholls blasted across the nation to the point that this — arguably their most famous track — made it into a 'Weird Al' Yankovic polka mash-up. This is the true mark of fame.

    20. "Anthem for the Year 2000" by Silverchair

    A young Daniel Johns singing against a blue background
    Murmur/Sony Music Australia

    Definitely not their most famous song, but there was something weirdly prescient about it, and it definitely made us — the group entering high school in and around the year 2000 — feel like something big was coming.

    21. "You're Going Down" by Sick Puppies

    Shimon Moore pointing at the audience while singing
    Virgin Records

    The intensity of the opening bass riff definitely got every Australian's heart pumping. We all shouted "if it’s a fight I’m ready to go" in the mirror as motivation.

    22. "Plastic Loveless Letter" by Magic Dirt

    A quadrant of images. Going clockwise from top left: guitarist in red dress and amp, mouth with red lipstick, mouth with red lipstick, drummer at black drumkit
    EastWest/Warner Music Australasia

    This was a fantastic, dirty-sounding anthem for teens who were trying to convince themselves that they were over a crush they definitely weren't over.

    23. "Rollercoaster" by Machine Gun Fellatio

    A man with bleached blond hair lies back in bed, his belly visible, while he is being caressed by four women, one of whom is blowing bubbles
    Sputnik Records/Mushroom Records

    Before there was Machine Gun Kelly, there was Machine Gun Fellatio. This ever bizarre band put out some fun, upbeat songs, much to the chagrin of many parents due to their nudity-focused onstage antics. This was a dancey song for that mid-party moment when everyone was just starting to get a little messy.

    24. "Black Betty" by Spiderbait

    Kram enthusiastically playing drums, with Damien Whitty behind. Both wear sunglasses
    Universal Music Australia

    This cover of the 1960s Ram Jam song, which was itself a cover of a Black American work song attributed to Lead Belly, became the song to play during a road trip. Nothing quite beats driving to a distorted banjo. It was a number-one single on the ARIA charts, a top 20 single in the USA and generally a weird phenomenon. 

    25. "Snakeskin" by Gyroscope

    Gyroscope rocking out in what looks like an abandoned building full of hay bundles stacked at the back wall
    Festival Mushroom Records

    Gyroscope are definitely one of those bands that people have probably, for the most part, forgotten about. But there was a time — however brief — where they and this song were everywhere.

    26. "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee

    Ben Lee singing and playing his acoustic guitar in a white void as cheerleaders dance behind him
    Ten Fingers/Inertia

    Who’d have thought that a mini piano would make a killer intro to a feel-good song? A song that got featured on '00s TV obsession Grey’s Anatomy no less! This summery acoustic track brought many-a-millennial together with its whimsical feel and stomp-clap rhythm.

    27. "Crave" by the Butterfly Effect

    Lead singer Clint Boge singing, guitarist Kurt Goedhart visible behind, surrounded by stadium lights.
    Modern Music / Roadshow Music / Sony International

    Australia's answer to Breaking Benjamin, the Butterfly Effect emotively crashed onto the scene in Brisbane in 1999. "Crave" was their first single off their debut record, 2003's Begin Here, an album which reached gold three years after its release.

    28. "Light Surrounding You" by Evermore

    A circle formation of lights in a field at night. The band is barely visible, playing in the centre of the circle
    Warner Music Group

    Though technically from NZ, they're Australia-based now and we love to claim their stuff as our own. This type of droning alt-rock definitely seems to have disappeared from the popular music scene, but this video is still quite pretty. It definitely brought numerous hormonal teens to tears with its melancholy chord arrangement. I bet at least 100 people played it for someone they like, giving it their all on, "I see the light surrounding you!" Ah, young love.

    29. And lastly, "Do-Do's & Whoa-Oh's" by Kisschasy

    The single cover for Kisschasy's 'Do-Do's & Whoa-Oh's': an oil-painting style image of a boat against a cloudy sky on blue water. Someone in the boat waves a triangular red flag
    Below Par/Eleven: A Music Company

    Simple, catchy, inoffensive. It's hard not to have a good time with a band that also seems like they only existed for a hot minute.