Artist · chart history
Ammonia
Band Perth Australia Active 1992–1999
Ammonia formed in 1992 in Perth, Australia and was active until 1999. Ammonia has 3 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 1995–1997. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Drugs”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #27. The station that charted Ammonia most often is Triple J (Australia (national)), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1995.
Ammonia came out of Perth, Western Australia, in the grunge era, but they never wanted to sound as miserable as that label suggests. They called their sound "pop-metal", which is as good a name as any for a band that took grunge's churning guitars and bolted big, bright hooks on top.
It started in 1992 as Fuzzswirl, with Dave Johnstone on guitar, Allan Balmont on drums and Phil Natt on bass. When Natt left they got by on a string of fill-in bassists around town until Simon Hensworth joined in 1993, and the band got a new name at the same time. They almost went with Glorious Noise Earthquake, but Hensworth found the word Ammonia in a science textbook and they liked the simple ring of it.
Mint 400 came out on Murmur in 1995, and "Drugs" is the one that still hits hard: fuzzed-up guitars and a sing-along chorus that sounds like a band trying to have fun while the rest of the scene was busy scowling. They split in 1999.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Ammonia on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drugs | 2 | #27 | – | 1995 | |
| 2 | You're Not The Only One | 1 | #43 | – | 1997 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 43 | You're Not The Only One | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997 |
| 1996 | 70 | Drugs | WBCN Top 104 Songs of 1996 |
| 1995 | 27 | Drugs | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1995 |
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