Kiwi music survey: Are we a nation of pub rockers?

Rotorua's top music industry figures are questioning the results of an online survey to find New Zealand's favourite song.

Dave Dobbyn's Loyal was voted the greatest New Zealand song in an XtraMSN poll of nearly 3000 Kiwi music fans.

But the survey to find New Zealand's top 50 songs has been queried by Sir Howard Morrison and other leading Rotorua musicians.

Although the results included some surprises like Shihad's Home Again at No 7 and Wandering Eye by Fat Freddy's Drop at No 11, it was dominated by "pub rock anthems" such as Why Does Love Do This To Me? by The Exponents and Bliss by Th' Dudes.

Sir Howard said he was intrigued by the songs in the top 10, which did not reflect the diversity and styles of New Zealand music.

"It shows there is not what I would call a wide horizon of choice. I am not questioning the musical talents of Dave Dobbyn or Neil Finn or any of the other musicians on that list, but I think if you did that survey in another couple of years you would get names like Scribe and Dei Hamo and Savage [at the top].

"All those artists have made a huge impact."

The Patea Maori Club's Poi-E and Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven were Sir Howard's personal favourites.

"Slice of Heaven was a great combination [with Herbs]. It's a great, unpretentious song that denotes everyone's fantasy about having their own slice of heaven.

"That would be a dead heat with Poi-E in my book."

Bar Barella owner and former Chills member Jonathan Armstrong said he was also amazed by the "pretty simple tastes" reflected in the survey's findings.

"The top 10 are great songs, but no way are they my favourites. A lot of those songs are the ones that the radio stations get into and thrash until you never want to hear them again."

Mr Armstrong said he was hard pushed to pick a single favourite New Zealand song.

"Right now it would be Keep on Pushing by The Black Seeds, but it's really tough because there are so many I love equally and immensely."

Singer Craig Davson said he agreed with most of the survey's findings.

"It would be interesting to know the age of the people who took part in this survey.

"Oddly we have never been requested to sing Loyal at any of our shows, but we get Why Does Love Do This To Me? all the time.

"I love singing it, solely because of the great crowd reaction every time we do it."

A survey of music industry insiders taken by APRA in 2001 determined the top five to be Nature by The Fourmyula, Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House, Loyal by Dave Dobbyn, Counting The Beat by The Swingers and Six Months in A Leaky Boat by Split Enz.
Top Ten NZ songs

1. Loyal - Dave Dobbyn

2. Why Does Love Do This To Me - The Exponents

3. Slice of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn

4. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

5. Sway - Bic Runga

6. April Sun in Cuba - Dragon

7. Home Again - Shihad

8. Victoria - The Exponents

9. Bliss - Th' Dudes

10. I See Red - Split Enz