Get me a beer, a barbie and 100 good songs...

As one of my favourite long weekends of the year approaches, the Australia Day holiday, I am often filled with an overwhelming sense of pride and loyalty.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who drapes themselves in the Australian flag and runs around drunkenly on the foreshore waiting all day for a 20 minute fireworks display. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

No, my sense of pride actually has nothing to do with the fact that it's Australia Day.

It all boils down to the fact that it's the day in which our national youth radio station, Triple J, broadcast the Hottest 100.
In what has become an Aussie insitution, the radio station counts down the top 100 songs of the year - and the top 100 songs played on Triple J are always going to be quality.

In a world where we are fed musical tripe in the form of monotone R 'n' B (thanks 50 Cent - but I just thought I'd point out there's very little rhythm and not a hell of a lot of blues in the crap you create) it is refreshing to still have a national broadcaster with standards.

A national broadcaster that provides people with a huge range, from metal, to hip-hop, to drum and bass, to the downright bizarre (yes, I'm talking to you, Architecture in Helsinki).

A national broadcaster that provides a bond between like-minded music-loving people across the country. I, for one, often describe myself as a "Triple J listener" when people ask me what sort of music I like.

To me, Australia Day means a healthy combination of sun, beer, barbecue and the Hottest 100.
I can't wait :)