Taking a ride in a music time machine: The year is 1996 and Spiderbait are bringing their short and sharp alternative punk to our fascinated ears. Our Track Of The Day is Spiderbait’s “Buy Me A Pony”, from Spiderbait’s third album, Ivy And The Big Apples.
No one used the word ‘banger’ at the time, but Janet, Kram and Damian’s one minute and 45 second long “Buy Me A Pony” was a definite banger. Growled vocals, flowing lyrics, catchy grunge guitar, peppy pace and unique song structure pull the listener along from start to finish on this fluid short story of the rolling and evolving machine that is the music industry.
“You’re almost on your way
To popularity
And we’ll teach you to play
With icy stare
And punk rock hair
And beatnik flair
We’ll take you there”
Lyrically, “Buy Me A Pony” sounds like a collection of statements made that you could imagine rolling past the lips of a smarmy music exec as they make promises about fame and fortune, about creating a star, before everything falls into a heap and the relationship turning sour and controlling.
At its peak, this addictive play-it-on-repeat track was so popular with Australian listeners of radio station Triple J that they voted it as #1 on the annual ‘Hottest 100’ in 1996, making Spiderbait the first Australian group to have achieved the milestone.
Check out “Buy Me A Pony” via Spotify or YouTube video (in its full 90s chaotic splendor). We dare you to see if you can listen to this track just once.
