The first single for Wellington band The Holidaymakers was a cover of a little known song by Bill Withers. It spent six weeks at No. 1 and was the biggest-selling single in NZ in 1988.
The Chills: I Love My Leather Jacket, 1986 (Alternative, Flying Nun)
The Chills visited England in 1986 and this video features their tourist footage along with a simple rehearsal room performance. The clip isn't especially flashy, but it's such a great song it still does the job nicely.
Avalanche City: Love Love Love, 2011 (Folk)
A delightful animation accompanies this No. 1 single from folk-poppers Avalanche City. With its big, catchy chorus, the song delivers the feel-good factor and the video captures its quaint essence perfectly with its cast of storybook pirates and penguins.
Ian Morris: The Game of Love, 1987 (Pop)
The video for Tex Pistol's chart-topping, electro-pop tinged remake of The Game of Love is a stylish triumph for budding teenage director Paul Middleditch - and one of the high points of New Zealand music video making in the 1980s.
Dave Dobbyn: Oughta Be In Love, 1986 (Pop)
The Footrot Flats soundtrack marked Dave Dobbyn's first steps as a solo artist. Inspired by his love of '50s crooners, Oughta be in Love accompanied Wal Footrot's wooing of Cheeky Hobson (but sung, perhaps mercifully, by Dobbyn and not Footrot's voice, John Clarke).
Kimbra: Cameo Lover, 2011 (Pop)
The second single from Kimbra's debut album Vows is a plea to a disconnected and emotionally unavailable male character to abandon the dark side and embrace the world. Against a dazzling, infinite white background Kimbra and her crew are a riot of colour as they attempt to win over this would-be object of her attentions with song, dance, colour, tambourines and confetti.
Allison Durbin: I Have Loved Me a Man, 1968 (Pop)
This Janice Weaver song was originally recorded by American singer Morgana King (who played Mama Corleone in the first two Godfather films). Allison Durbin's epic version featured backing from Quincy Conserve and was produced by Howard Gable (who she later married).
Misfits of Science: Fool's Love, 2003 (Hip Hop)
Fool's Love was a chart topping debut for Misfits of Science - Auckland hip hoppers who were determined not to be carbon copy gangster rappers (and possessed of a sense of fun that wouldn't let them). This song about "people in love with themselves" (complete with Doris Day sample) gets an award-winning (Best Video at the 2004 bNets and Juice TV Awards) treatment from directors Shane Mason and Mark Trethewey.
Avengers: Love, Hate, Revenge, 1968 (Pop)
One of Wellington's leading 60s bands present a dark and troubling tale of revenge via voodoo doll. The clip - made for the Studio One TV show - rather incongruously took its cues from music video precursors like early Beatles films and The Monkees TV series (where the default position was zany and madcap).
- nzonscreen.com
