Every New Zealand #1 single… 4 Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex Topped the NZ chart for 6 weeks from 5 March 1995. Rednex Inspired by Ricky Skaggs, Swedish producers Janne Ericsson, Örjan “Öban” Öberg, and Ranis Edenberg formed Rednex. They…
Over the last couple of days, a treasure trove of Beach Boys outtakes has slipped out into the wild. It’s on Google Drive, archive.org, and other places. The leaked songs span the band’s career, but I’m most interested in the…
I often try to steer away from single-artist quizzes. But I figure Three Dog Night are a level playing field – most people know some songs, but probably not many mega-fans out there. Can you complete the titles of these…
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started their recording career as Tom & Jerry in 1957, making teen-oriented Everly Brothers style pop. After a temporary split, they re-branded as Simon & Garfunkel, an earnest folk duo. Their debut album, 1964’s Wednesday Morning,…
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.…
I have an irrational love for John Finnemore’s Teddy Lester books. First published in the early 20th century, they were republished in the 1950s. My dad won some as school prizes, and I completed the collection on TradeMe (New Zealand’s…
Can you identify 20 artists by their third album? I identified them all in 1:03, although I had to resort to genre-based guessing for the last few. Congratulations to Rich Kamerman, who just pipped Max and jprobichaud for last…
On New Year’s Eve 1974, Mick Fleetwood invited guitarist Lindsey Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham insisted that his girlfriend Stevie Nicks was part of the package, and Fleetwood Mac’s tenth and most successful line-up was formed. The line-up of…
Warren Zevon emerged later than most of his LA singer-songwriter contemporaries. His work was often dark and nasty, like film noir in song. Zevon was born in Chicago – his father worked as a bookie for the notorious Los Angeles…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 2 Golden by Huntrix Topped the NZ chart for 8 (non-consecutive) weeks from 18 July 2025. KPop Demon Hunters The three pop stars/demon slayers of fictional KPop band Huntrix were the biggest pop-culture phenomenon of…
