Many of the great New Zealand songs have one thing in common: a woman’s first name as their title. Alex Casey went on a mission to find the real women who inspired them. She keeps me waiting in the morning by tying ribbons in her hair. She’s just so sweet, so fine, so polite too. … Read more
To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the launch of DB Export’s new campaign, The Spinoff pays tribute to New Zealand’s most famous love stories. Love isn’t something that’s always come easily to New Zealanders. Our “man alone” colonial history has often demanded feelings be suppressed, and emotions were traditionally something to be bottled rather than expressed, … Read more
It’s competitive out there for high schools these days. It seems like there are a million exams schools claim to prep their kids for in order to propel them to global dominance. But which high school has produced the most number one albums in New Zealand music history? James Dann investigates. High school can be … Read more
In 2000, Fur Patrol dominated the New Zealand singles chart with ‘Lydia’, a song that merely a year later would be voted the 19th best New Zealand song of all time. And finally, 18 years later, ‘Lydia’ is streaming on Spotify. Tom Augustine pays tribute to a New Zealand classic. Some of the songs that … Read more
Calum Henderson dives deep into the New Zealand music archives to discover our greatest one-hit wonders – and the not-quite-as-successful songs by the same artists. What exactly is a one hit wonder? Everybody knows the term, but it seems none of us can quite agree on how to define it. In the strictest sense, the … Read more
New Zealand has a long storied history of pop music, from ‘Blue Smoke’ to ‘Poi E’ to ‘Royals’. Chelsea Jade and Sam Brooks did their best to cover some of the forgotten and not-so-forgotten gems in between. When the Cat’s Away: ‘Melting Pot’ Chelsea Jade: Let’s dive into the melting pot. It’s a palate cleanser. … Read more