Where would we be without egocentric musicians turning up on lil old, mediocre, irrelevant NZ music vids telling us like it is? Well apart from our accents, bungee jumping, Lord of The Rings, hot springs and MaorisMaori Warrior: Photograph by Geoftheref on Fotopedia; there really is only one thing that can truly define that sense of who we are as a nation, today being Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national public holiday we cast an eye back at bands from across the ditch that we’d love to claim as our own.

Every nation has their own national anthem, a statement to the world if you like, of, not just who we are, but what our beliefs are and while we’d love to claim them as our own the truth is…for as long as I can remember Australia and New Zealand have had a strong sense of camaraderie and Waitangi Day being New Zealand’s equivalent to Australia Day, there’s simply no better way to celebrate our differences than through music.

A lot of NZ chart success goes way back to the very beginning with the Finn Brothers and their first, very successful band, Split Enz in the 70’s and early 1980’s and then from the late 80’s, Crowded House.

Never mind that Crowded House have become the biggest selling musical artist in New Zealand since the keeping of sales records and musical charts began, it doesn’t help that Split Enz moved to Australia in the 70’s and like Crowded House after them, were based out of Melbourne and enjoyed huge chart success and popularity in Australia all that time. You can’t really blame us for claiming them as our own then, can you? But then don’t mention Crowded House’s major success in the US and Britain as well, by that metric, anybody could claim them as their own. If anybody had any doubts as to their origins, you only have to look at their 1993 album, ‘Together Alone’.

Which was recorded in a homemade studio at Kare Kare beach out of Auckland and features a Maori log band and singers on a couple of tracks. And then there are 80’s and 90’s survivors The Chills, surprisingly re-emerging in 2018

after a ten-year hiatus with their first album in ten years, ‘Snow Bound’. Proponents of the “Dunedin sound”, named after the South Island town from which they come, with jangling guitars, minimal bassline and loose drumming comprising the sound, The Chills reached the peak of their success in the early 90’s with hits, ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’ in 1990 which even reached no. 17 on the Billboard US charts and ‘Male Monster From The Id’ in 1992.

‘Heavenly Pop Hit’ hailed from their then-celebrated album, ‘Submarine Bells’ in the broader context of a glorious explosion of high-quality indie music in the early 90’s right around the world. Which in New Zealand was followed most notably by two more electronic and synthesiser based bands, Headless Chickens, both temporarily featuring the lovely but powerful and searing vocals of female singer, Fiona McDonald on each of their two most significant albums, Headless Chickens’ 1991 record ‘Body Blow’ and Strawpeople’s, ‘Broadcast’ in 1995. Both bands formed in 1988 and plugged away solidly, but really hit their stride in the 90’s.

Most notably for Headless Chickens’ ‘Cruise Control’ in 1993 and Strawpeople’s chillingly beautiful ‘Trick With A Knife’ in 1995. Both songs were big hits in Australia’s alternative underground at the time and both groups did a whole lot of other work. So can we claim those two as our own? Really, no, well, can we at least borrow them? Also in 1995, soul and funk based group Supergroove, best known for their massive, infectious, feel good party hit ‘You Gotta Know’ were so wildly popular in NZ that for a time they overtook Crowded House as the biggest selling artist in New Zealand’s history. ‘You Gotta Know’ was their only hit in Australia so well, ok New Zealand, you loved them so much, you can keep them.

Meanwhile in 1996 with a sudden swerve into pop land, OMC gave us ‘How Bizarre’, a summery, playful, upliftig and tongue-in-cheek single with a breezy chorus that went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland and Austria. While it was not permitted to be listed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the US given the rules at the time, it reached the top spot on the US Mainstream charts as well as Casey Kasem and Rick Dees’ Top 40 countdowns as well, so ‘How Bizarre’ was indeed effectively a US number one hit as well.

‘How Bizarre’ is noteable amongst other things for being a worldwide number one smash from a Polynesian group, an unheard of feat and a wondeful achievement putting Pacific Islanders on the map in popular music. While OMC were only a one hit wonder around the world with ‘How Bizarre’, they had several hits in New Zealand, such as ‘Land of Plenty‘. OMC stands for Otara Millionaire’s Club, which was a joke referring to founding members Phil and Pauly Feumena’s home suburb Otara being one of the poorest in Auckland.

Bic Runga also crossed the ditch with her big Australian hit ‘Sway’ in 1997 and aww, she was so cute, we’d love to keep her. In the early 2000’s punk pop band Elemeno P emerged, who while looking like an emo group, sounded more like punk funsters Blink 182. While really good songwriters and sounding great, Elemeno P have never really had much chart action in Australia, but they’re so good, we’d love to smuggle them across the ditch and clam them as our own. No, again? Oh, alright, then. Also in the noughties New Zealand gave us indie synth pop maverick, Ladyhawke, who beguiled us with hits like ‘Magic’ and ‘Paris Is Burning’.

As suggested by her name, taken from the early 80’s fantasy film of the same name, Ladyhawke was influenced by and interested in dark, rich, swirling 1980’s synthesiser sounds and a very proficient pop technician she has proven to be. Big in Australia and loved here, we would love to claim her as our own but yeah, she’s pretty good, ok New Zealand, you deserve to keep her. And finally in the second decade of the millennium, NZ gave us teenage instant international superstar Lorde, who seemingly burst out of nowhere and effortlessly made herself a global pop star with lush, synthesiser dream pop hits such as ‘Royals’ and ‘Tennis Court’.

Well, of course we’d love to claim her as her own but Lorde is huge not only in New Zealand but the US, Britain, South Africa and several European and Asian countries, we think we’d have quite a fight on our hands trying to say she was Australian, so we’re not even going to try. You earned this one New Zealand, so you can rightly claim Lorde as your own international pop superstar.

And that’s a wrap, it’s been quite a ride NZ, thankyou for all these amazing artists you’ve given us over the decades. And while we’d love to claim them as our own, we begrudgingly acknowledge they’re yours. All yours. Happy Waitanga Day and keep producing that amazing music!