#98 sees a couple of examples of songs growing on me (from genres that aren't my normal taste), along with songs that I would expect to miss out in a hindsight vote, or at least be overshadowed by others within the artist's discography.
Songs in red are those that made my shortlist, at the time. Songs in blue are those where I voted for that artist, but for a different song, in that particular countdown. Songs in green are those where I have voted for that artist in other annual Hottest 100s. My voting goes back to 1998.
22. Faithless - "We Come 1" (2001)
21. Lyrics Born - "I Like It, I Love It" (2008)
20. Garbage - "Why Do You Love Me" (2005)
19. Them Crooked Vultures - "New Fang" (2009)
18. Sugar Ray - "Every Morning" (1999)
17. Bombay Bicycle Club - "Luna" (2014)
16. Hecate - By Myself (1995)
15. Kev Carmody - "Freedom" (1993)
14. Horrorshow - "Dead Star Shine" (2013)
13. Cartman - "Shock (living without you)" (2002)
12. Blur - "Out Of Time" (2003)
11. Kimbra featuring Mark Foster and A-Trak - "Warrior" (2012)
10. Daft Punk - "Da Funk" (1997)
9. Motor Ace -"Death Defy" (2000)
8. Tori Amos - "Professional Widow" (1996)
7. Gomez - "Catch me up" (2004)
6. Foo Fighters - "Baker Street" (1998)
5. Gossip - "Standing In The Way Of Control" (2006)
4. Foals - "Spanish Sahara" (2010)
3. Tea Party - "A Certain Slant Of Light" (1994)
2. Interpol - "The Heinrich Maneuver" (2007)
1. JayZ & Kanye West - "In Paris" (2011)
Why "In Paris" over "The Heinrich Maneuver"? After all, Interpol is a band I'm a fan of, and while I didn't vote for it, I found myself rather annoyed when it was played so early in the 2007 countdown (more so when I realised that "Mammoth" didn't place at all). Conversely, upon first listen, my reaction to "In Paris" was to question the hype around the song. I could understand the love for "Otis" (#33 in 2011), but initially I found "In Paris" to be disjointed and repetitive. Over time though, I've grown to appreciate it more and more, to the point where it's now one of the most played songs on my iPod. It may not be JayZ's nor Kanye's best ever, but at this point in time, I consider it the best to have placed at #98. If there was a do-over vote on the 2011 countdown, I suspect "In Paris" would now fare a lot better, so long as it is included on the voting list this time.
On the topic of songs being overshadowing others, I suspect that if a re vote were done for other countdowns we'd see a few different outcomes. In particular, it's difficult to image that "Da Funk" would be the highest (only) ranked song from 1997 for Daft Punk, and that the #58 song of all time would miss out. In a similar vein, I imagine that Kev Carmody's (much easier to find) collaboration with Paul Kelly - "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" would be rated higher than "Freedom".
As regards "Professional Widow", my take is based on the remix version that appeared on the Hottest 100 volume 4 CD (I don't recall any explanation there that "it would be cool to include a remix for the fans" like that which accompanied "Got the Life" for volume 6). This, like "In Paris", is a good example of a song from a genre that doesn't usually appeal to me, growing on me the more that I hear it (without reaching the point of revulsion that comes from over-exposure).
FasterLouder recent published a list of the 30 most forgotten hits to have appeared in the Hottest 100 - including the Foo Fighters' cover of "Baker Street". Given the Fooies back catalogue, this seems fair enough (aside from the description that not coming across it may have been for the best). There are two other songs to have placed at #98 that merit inclusion in this category. The first is Sugar Ray with "Every Morning" - while the song likely isn't that forgotten, it's one that I had forgotten even placed in the Hottest 100. The second is Hecate's "By Myself". The first page of results from a google search for does reveal a you tube video, but more relevantly, the prominent inclusion of "By Myself" in a discussion of hard to locate songs that featured in the Hottest 100. That makes for a truly forgotten song.
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