Nuggets II: Social End Product by The Bluestars

Aphoristical
November 8, 2026
Nuggets II

More than a decade before the Sex Pistols, this surprisingly punky track also didn’t stand for the Queen.

Social End Product—The Bluestars

Track 61, disc 3
Year: 1966
From: Auckland, New Zealand.

8/10

More about Nuggets II

Credits

PERSONNEL/JOHN HARRIS: vocals, lead guitar * RICK VAN BOKHOVEN: rhythm guitar, vocals * MURRAY SAVIDAN: bass, vocals * JIM CROWLEY: drums
Produced by WAHANUI WYNYARD
Recorded in Auckland, New Zealand
Allied Int’l single #JAR-540 (1966) [New Zealand]

The Bluestars

John Harris met Murray Savidan at a second-hand music shop in Auckland. They formed The Nomads. When The Beatles released Please Please Me, they cancelled all their upcoming gigs to learn the entire album, and soon became a leading local group.

Murray Savidan, John Harris, Jim Crowley and Rick van Bokhoven in 1965, taken in the old Farmers building in Auckland’s Hobson Street (from Audioculture)

They also started writing their own material and became the first New Zealand act signed to Decca Records. They recorded four songs in a clandestine recording session, sneaking into the studio before the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.

‘Social End Product’ is the band’s second single. The first line, “I carry my girl through the main city streets”, recalls a real-life incident: an argument between John Harris and his girlfriend when he carried her “kicking and screaming” around downtown Auckland. “I don’t stand for the Queen” refers to his defiance in staying seated when the British national anthem played in movie theatres – a daring stance in conservative mid-1960s New Zealand.

“Social End Product expressed the way I felt about the world in those days. There was something badly wrong with the world – and still is – this was just me lashing out in an angry young man’s way, trying to say ‘this world is rotten, and I feel helpless to change it.’
John Harris, RNZ

It’s perhaps a touch too musical to be proper proto-punk, with the harmonies. But it’s still remarkably edgy for its era, and it’s not surprising that the single is now a sought-after collector’s item.

The Aftermath

The band opened their own teen club, The Gallows (menu specialty: “The Hangburger”), but it closed down soon afterward after complaints from neighborhood busybodies.
Mike Stax, Nuggets liner notes

John Harris later composed and recorded songs with St Paul’s Singers, and became a television producer. Murray Savidan became an advertising agent and a professional photographer.