John “Timberjack” Donoghue: the road less travelled
Windswept, I blew into townThe Number One I was running downDidn't know where I was goingOnly knew what I was running from. (From the song ';Forty...
Mark de Clive-Lowe
Radio With Pictures: history 1
Introduction Mention the words "Radio With Pictures” to a New Zealander who was a teenager in the 1980s, and their eyes tend to light up. They...
The Terrorways
Tina Cross
Lew Pryme
The Number One Hits – 1980-1989
Jon Stevens – Montego Bay (1980) This cover of a US one-hit wonder – the fantastically named Bobby Bloom – came hot on the heels of Jon Stevens’ f...
10 Wild Ones - part two
When AudioCulture posted its first list of wild rock performers and asked for suggestions for a second list, I expected someone to pipe up with a f...
Mark Williams: the New Zealand years
Mark Williams should really have been born hollering: "Here I come, ready or not.” Because, by the age of 20, his afro, satin flares and eyeliner w...
DJ Sir-Vere
Hey Bird: part one – Trevor King and the birth of Christchurch rock’n’roll
I 1957 meant big changes for Christchurch. It was International Geophysical Year and the United States Navy had arrived in town. And there were sy...
Hey Bird: part two – a meteoric rise
III Analytic Excursus What was the groove? Rock and roll music was as manufactured as country music had been since the 1930s. As soon as it was f...
Alan Brunton
Whirimako Black
Bernie Griffen
Songwriter's Choice: Jenny Morris
It's impossible to pick just 10, but here is a mixture of old songs and not so old songs, in no particular order of preference. Juice – Headless C...
The Androidss
Darren Watson
The Topp Twins: close encounters of the weird kind
The Topp Twins meet Robert Muldoon and Dizzy Gillespie 1981 was, of course, a pivotal year. It began at the Nambassa alternative lifestyle music f...
Musicians at War: The Kiwi Concert Party in World War II
The Kiwi Concert Party may not be well known to younger New Zealanders, but during World War II they served an important role in entertaining the A...
Opshop
Headless Chickens
Camille Te Nahu
The Topp Twins
On the Ball: New Zealand Rugby Songs part one
1887-1979 Rugby union is entrenched into New Zealand's psyche and is a major part of our collective DNA. A country that can boast three separate v...
C'mon - part 1
C'mon - watch the complete, remaining Series One episode, 1967 After the introduction of television in New Zealand in 1960, homegrown music an...
Pat McMinn: tap dance to Tanza
In November 2007 Pat McMinn shared memories and images from her photo album. Pat McMinn, mid-1930s. As a young dancer she won 300 medals and 10...
C'mon - part 2
C'mon Series One Final Episode, 1967 The New Zealand public's infatuation with C'mon continued unabated throughout the middle months of the fi...
Ten Moments in New Zealand Glam
Dr Ian Chapman, music lecturer at the University of Otago and Dr Glam after hours, considers New Zealand's flirtation with glam in the 1970s. Let'...
Edmund Cake
The Ormsby Brothers
Songwriter's Choice: Ariana Tikao
Ariana Tikao composes and performs music in Te Reo Māori and English, in a wide variety of settings. She draws on folk and pop, with a strong empha...
Pat McMinn
Phil Garland, Song Collector
When celebrated New Zealand troubadour and singing historian Phil Garland died on 15 March 2017 he left behind a substantial legacy of Kiwi folklor...
Bressa Creeting Cake
Edmund McWilliams first met Geoff Maddock in art class at Avondale College. Geoff was listening to REM and Tears For Fears at the time, and just be...
Phil Garland
Stu Buchanan
Womad and New Zealand music
Every family has a few annual traditions: for me and my oldest daughter, it's attending Womad. Each March, we haul out the camping equipment, s...
The Kings Arms - Maureen Gordon
There is a stereotype around old-school music pub managers: tough, rotund and contemptuous of the musicians who brought in the crowds. Maureen Gord...
Al Hunter of the Kings Arms
Newton, Auckland, 1993 – The man in the big hat is buying. And, as the Jerry Jeff Walker song of that name says, "Drink up, 'cause the drinkin' is ...