What songs are worthy to be unofficial Aussie anthems?

Does anyone actually listen to the radio anymore? Numbers of listeners across the nation fell during lockdown, surprisingly, given our thirst for information about COVID. The most recent radio survey also suggested that less people are tuning in.

I was only listening because I forgot to plug my phone in. Love Spotify. No ads. No annoying radio presenters. Nothing annoys me more than radio presenters, are they still called DJs?, with awful grating voices. It's like being a print journalist and not being able to spell. She says running the spellcheck over this story for the third time.

I often wonder who these people are. I haven't really been interested since Scotty and Nige left what seems like a lifetime ago. I think Nige is back. But these young faces on the back of buses, who are they? The excellent adventures of Ned and Josh sounds like a movie from the 1980s.

On this particular morning I was hoping to be transported to that very decade. But I was hoodwinked.

The young presenter was back on after the news wrap-up, probably lifted straight from the pages of The Canberra Times, and was seducing me with the idea of 50 minutes of ad-free music. I didn't really care, my commute was ending in about two.

"Let's kick it off with the unofficial anthem of Australia," she said, or words to that effect.

Cool, I thought. I have not heard Land Down Under by Men at Work, circa 1980, for a very long time. Am I that strange lady who makes you nervous, here's your Vegemite sandwich ...

But no!! In this young woman's mind Untouched by The Veronicas was the said anthem. Oh lord. If my heart was a record player (she was probably too young to even remember those), it would have skipped a few beats.

The radio itself filled my formative years with anthems. You young things have no idea what it was like to sit in your bedroom on a Sunday night, just you and Barry Bissell and a blank cassette, or one you had filled a few months ago and could just tape over. You'd sit there with your finger on the pause button, there was an art to avoiding the voiceover, to keeping the last few chords.

But I digress with a very Gen X observation. The Veronicas? I posed a question to the newsroom. If someone says The Horses I will cry, I noted. Someone did. I had a crush on Daryl Braithwaite, but he'll always be connected, in my heart at least, with Sherbet.

So I got to thinking what would be the "unofficial anthem of Australia" if we had to name one.

You're the Voice, John Farnham's masterpiece from 1986? Whispering Jack himself was on his way back from a shaky stint touring with the Little River Band and this song put him back in the spotlight. And supercharged so many comeback tours.

I love Great Southern Land, from Icehouse, inspired by a trip to Uluru, it complemented yet questioned the country at the same time. Melodious. So too Sounds of Then by Gang Gajang.

I saw Goanna once, live at the old Royals Rugby Club in Weston. Once one of Canberra's best live music venues. Solid Rock is a super song.

What Midnight Oil song would we choose? Beds are Burning? Power and the Passion? Short Memory? Let's just have a never-ending stream of songs and rather than stand with our hands on our hearts, every time we hear the anthem we must dance like Peter Garrett himself.

Australian Crawl would have to be considered. James Reyne's scratchy voice. Errol? Downhearted? Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama? Cold Chisel? Khe Sanh? Ita? Forever Now? The key change in Flame Trees still gets me every time.

So too does Throw Your Arms Around Me, by Hunters and Collectors. I wish someone would.

Does Kylie Minogue have a worthy song? What about the Divinyls? INXS or Mondo Rock? How could I leave out The Easybeats or Powderfinger? John Williamson or Silverchair? AC/DC and The Angels.

Perhaps my playlist indicates I am mired in the 1980s, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's my list.

All power to The Veronicas but Untouched will remained untouched on my radio dial.