When four young Liverpool musicians landed in Wellington on a lazy Sunday afternoon in June 1964, seven days of pandemonium erupted. Young New Zealanders flocked in their thousands to hear or just catch a glimpse of the famous 'Fab Four'.
New Zealand Music Month was developed to support the New Zealand music industry by creating a commercially successful platform for local performers. To mark New Zealand Music Month in 2007 we compiled 31 reasons to love New Zealand music.
The cover of the 1985 record State House Kid by Last Man Down shows singer/songwriter Ross Mullins, in an unkempt 1950s school uniform, standing in front of burnt-out state house.
Seven thousand screaming fans waited as The Beatles touched down at Wellington airport on 21 June 1964. As the band stepped off the plane, the fans' shrieks drowned out the noise of the jet engines.
Folk musicians at the Monde Marie coffee house by Wayne Taitoko Entertainment generally and music in particular have always been a part of the Wellington cafe scene.
Although the American forces worked hard, they all craved some time off. But New Zealand leisure-habits were very different to American ones. So the visitors devised their own forms of entertainment and established enclaves of American culture.
What do Kiri Te Kanawa and 1970s punk legends Suburban Reptiles have in common? Both feature in the 31 daily stories celebrating New Zealand Music Month. It’s a rich mix – from 'Pie cart rock 'n' roll' to 'Poi E', from 'She's a mod' to Shihad.
For many people of both nations the most memorable aspect of the American invasion was the home visits. Often these were arranged formally, with New Zealand families signing up to offer the Americans a weekend at home.
In 2001, to celebrate 75 years of its existence, the Australasian
Performing Right Association (APRA) invited its members and an academy
to vote for what they believed to be New Zealand's top songs of all
time.
New Zealanders have become accustomed to hearing the national anthem before major sporting events such as All Black tests. But many may not know that ‘God defend New Zealand’ is one of two official anthems.
In February 1949 a disc featuring the song ‘Blue smoke’, written by Ruru Karaitiana and sung by Pixie Williams, became the first record wholly produced in New Zealand from composition to pressing.
In 1980 Split Enz put New Zealand music firmly on the international scene with their album True colours. They were the first New Zealand act to break into the highly lucrative British and United States markets.
Sandy Edmonds was New Zealand's first pop superstar of the TV age – a 1960s New Zealand Paris Hilton – and she rose to be the swinging, groovy face of youth on pop show C’Mon.
The year 1981 was a time of great economic anxiety and social and political unease in New Zealand. This was captured by the Auckland band Blam Blam Blam, which released ‘There is no depression in New Zealand’.
Kiwi Records was a saviour of New Zealand composers. The label, started by publisher A.H. & A.W. Reed in 1957, was one of the few local outlets for recording classical music.
Timberjack's song shocked many with its chorus of ‘Come, come, come to the Sabbat/ Come to the Sabbat – Satan's there!’ The notoriety certainly helped sales.
The music scene in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, is dominated by electronic music and DJ culture. This dance floor revolution is a relatively recent phenomenon, which began in the early 1980s.
Sporting ties with South Africa during the apartheid years became a source of great debate and division in New Zealand society. Kiwi Records released a 45 to mark the 1960 All Black rugby tour.
The Wellington-based band Riot 111 played on the back of a truck outside Avalon studios to protest against Television New Zealand's refusal to screen the video clip for their single 'Writing on the wall'.
New Zealand isn’t famous for its railway songs and has produced little to compare with the American folk classics, but few home-grown folk songs are as iconic as Peter Cape’s ‘Taumarunui (on the main trunk line)’.
Dave Dobbyn is one of the most significant New Zealand musicians of the past 30 years. He's enjoyed success as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Th'Dudes and DD Smash.
Breaking into the lucrative United States market is seen as the key to commercial success for many musicians. It’s a tough nut to crack, but after the success of their fourth album, The general electric (1999), the New Zealand rockers of Shihad were optimistic they could.
New Zealand music wouldn’t have been the same without Wanganui. It was at a pie cart in this North Island town in 1957 that New Zealand rock ’n’ roll was born.
In May 2005 the Wellington band (or perhaps the musical collective) Fat Freddy’s Drop burst onto the national scene with the release of their first studio album Based on a true story.
No New Zealand song captures the joy, dizziness and sheer optimism of the 1960s youth experience better than the Ray Columbus and the Invaders’ three-time hit 'She’s a mod'.
Sea shanties, work songs sung on board sailing ships, were a feature of seafaring life in the 19th century. Although most shanties were of British or American origin, some had a distinctly New Zealand flavour.
Herbs are considered pioneers of the Pacific reggae sound. Their 1982 hit 'French letter', questioning French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, expressed the country's anti-nuclear stance.
By 1995 airplay for New Zealand songs on commercial radio registered at 1.6%. A campaign was begun for the introduction of a quota system that would force commercial radio stations to play more New Zealand music.
This is the Somme bell in the Carillon at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand. The inscription reads: To the Glorious Memory of The New Zealand Division, 1916–18. Its Record does honour to the land from which it came and to the Empire for which it fought.
