When Martin Phillipps passed away in 2024, the world lost a terrific, yet overlooked, songwriter. Phillipps, the son of a Methodist minister, formed The Chills in 1980. They signed to the Flying Nun label but were more sophisticated than most…
Even more album sorting. Can you match the songs to the albums starting with O? Are you on the beach or out to lunch? I made this quiz, so I’m not eligible to enter. Can you score full marks…
To what extent was punk rock an expression of dissent?
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 Faith by George Michael Topped the NZ chart: from 6 December 1987 for 7 weeks. Wham! evolved from a partnership to a vehicle for George Michael. So it wasn’t surprising when Wham! disbanded and…
If you’re an old man, shouting at the clouds about how modern music isn’t the same as it was in your heyday, you’ll probably enjoy the Americana of Jason Isbell. Isbell’s music could have been made any time in the…
Even more album sorting. Can you match the songs to the albums starting with N? Can you tell your Nilsson from your Schmilsson? I made this quiz, so I’m not eligible to enter. Can you score full marks this…
Ten worst pop stinkers ever I wrote this in response to a list published in a major New Zealand weekly magazine (The NZ Listener). It was published, despite its unusual format, in February 2002: Even though the enjoyment of a…
The success of Rhino’s 1998 Nuggets boxset justified a follow-up. The sequel covers the rest of the world since the first volume only chronicled the USA. Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 emerged in 2001.…
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die describes Gram Parsons as “Keith Richards’ citrus-heir drug-buddy”. Parsons blended rock and country into “Cosmic American Music”. I was initially taken aback by Parsons’ music. It’s not the commercially oriented country offered by…
More album sorting. Can you match the songs to the albums starting with M? Can you tell smoke on the water and madmen across the water apart? I made this quiz, so I’m not eligible to enter. Can you…
