Powderfinger - Double Allergic (1996)

Powderfinger's second album, Double Allergic, gained the Brisbane-based band the sort of attention that had eluded them with their first album (Parables for Wooden Ears) two years earlier. With Double Allergic, Powderfinger managed to successfully create an album of melodic pop songs coupled with noisy guitars, a trick that few bands have mastered (Therapy? and Catherine Wheel being two contemporary exponents of this sort of songwriting). Australian radio picked up Double Allergic straight away, mainly due to the strength of the first single "Pick You Up," although several other tracks also became radio staples (including the superb "D.A.F.", named for the chord progression in the song). A cohesive and mature effort, Double Allergic established Powderfinger as one of the most exciting Australian rock acts of the late 1990s.