You Am I’s Hi Fi Way is 30: Is this the best Aussie album of the ’90s?

1. The album was recorded in just seven days in New York at the end of You Am I’s American tour with Soundgarden.

2. It was produced by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo.

3. Initially, Tim Rogers didn’t think the album was any good. “I was totally freaked out,” he told author Craig Mathieson. “I thought, ‘I’ve totally f-cked up this record, this is sh-t!’ I spent the next three days at a bar called Boo Radley’s on a bender.”

4. The first single from the album, Cathy’s Clown, became You Am I’s first Top 40 hit, reaching number 36. “Lyrically, it’s a mess,” Tim Rogers confessed to the authors of Sound as Ever,“ but the attempt was to get fictional about the job my then partner Tracy was deep into. She was working at the State Library. She studied hard to get a senior position and her dedication to the profession was deeply impressive to me.”

5. Hi Fi Way knocked off Janet Jackson’s Janet. to enter the Australian charts at number one. It was replaced the following week by Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits. It was the start of a run of three straight chart-topping albums for You Am I.

6. The second single, Jewels and Bullets, did not crack the Top 40, peaking at number 93. The video was nominated for ‘Best Video’ at the ARIA Awards.

7. Hi Fi Way is one of the Top 10 greatest Australian albums of all time, according to the authors of The 100 Best Australian Albums. They called it “one of the finest Australian albums ever, and it is certainly the outstanding release of the 1990s”.

8. The third single, Purple Sneakers,features the line, “Had a scratch only you could itch underneath the Glebe Point Bridge.” There is no Glebe Point Bridge – it existed only in Tim Rogers’ mind.

9. The song Pizza Guy was inspired by Tim Rogers’ own experience working at a pizza shop in his home suburb of Castle Hill in Sydney during the band’s early days.

10. Jon Auer, from American band The Posies, played Hammond organ on Minor Byrd.

11. Hi Fi Way was nominated for ‘Album of the Year’ at the 1995 ARIA Awards, alongside Christine Anu’s Stylin’ Up, Tina Arena’s Don’t Ask,The Cruel Sea’s Three Legged Dog,and Silverchair’s Frogstomp. The trophy went to Don’t Ask. But Hi Fi Way did win an ARIA for ‘Best Alternative Release’.

12. The album’s second-last song, Gray, was a tribute to Tim Rogers’ friend and mentor Stephen “Goose” Gray, from Sydney band Box the Jesuit, who died when You Am I were making their debut album, Sound as Ever.

13. Hi Fi Way’s closing cut, How Much Is Enough, was released as part of the ultra-rare double A-sided single When You Got Dry/How Much Is Enough. Only 449 copies were produced.