This TikTok Account Is Dedicated To Unearthing Forgotten Aussie Bangers

Depending on whether your TikTok For Your Page is full of dancing e-boys or people ripping on Tame Impala indie-lovers, you might have stumbled across the account of Michael Farrer.

Farrer, a radio announcer from Adelaide, has devoted his wildly popular TikTok page to forgotten (and not-so forgotten) bangers in Australian music history. Choosing a year at random, he’ll comb over the charts and pull out tracks that you wouldn’t have thought about it years — everything from Reece Mastin’s ‘Good Night’ to t.A.T.u’s ‘All The Things She Said’ to the horrifying Rogue Traders INXS remix ‘One Of My Kind’.

He’s released 26 parts in the series so far, focusing mostly on Australian tracks, but he’ll also drop in some international goodies. Each video racks up thousands — sometimes nearly 100 thousand — likes. The idea seems shockingly simple, but the hook is obvious: We love a bit of nostalgia and love some cringey pop bangers.

“On my old breakfast radio show, we had a segment called ‘Throwback Throwdown’,” Farrer told Music Junkee. “Me and my co-host would pick throwback tracks and listeners would vote to decide which got played in full. It was by far our most popular segment.

“Then seeing the influence TikTok has had this year, I thought if I chucked some of these songs in little bite sized instalments, maybe people would like them and it could start to gain some traction? I knew it was working when people who I’m not super close to were like ‘Hey! You’re on my FYP!'”

He’s garnered a devoted following who now request specific years and deep dives on certain artists — Samantha Jade and Timomatic are very popular choices — and who’ve asked him to kick off a new series about songs that would have soundtracked our 18th birthdays and school formals.

At his followers urging, he’s also compiled a massive Spotify playlist of the forgotten bangers — most of which are Australian, but plenty aren’t.

“I think people wanted to be transported back to a simpler time. Nostalgia is always is a big winner,” he says. “My biggest thrill is whenever people tell me ‘I play your playlist in my shop! The customers love it!’ It’s so cool to hear. When bars and clubs open up again, if I start to hear some of those again, it will have been all worth it!”

Farrer hasn’t been that surprised by the songs that have cropped up, but he has been shocked by how well some of them still hold up.

“[T.A.T.u] are often thought of as one hit wonders, but ‘Not Gonna Get Us’, ‘All About Us’ and ‘How Soon is Now?’ all charted in the top 40 in Australia and are bops,” Farrer says. “Also Billie Piper’s music career is so fun but almost completely forgotten! When I posted a song of hers, people were like ‘Rose from Doctor Who! She sang!?’ Yes. Yes she did.”

Tumble down memory lane through Farrer’s TikToks below, and get stuck into the playlist while you’re at it. As for what he reckons is the greatest Aussie banger of all time, he says he can’t go past Stephanie McIntosh’s ‘Mistake’, or anything by the Rogue Traders.