Are you a passionate music enthusiast who wants to listen to an excellent variety of impressive Kiwi music? Well, if yes, then look no further as you have landed to the right page! Needless to mention, in the historical and cultural aspects of New Zealand, music has always played an influential and important role.
New Zealand although a small country has also made a significant contribution to the global music industry by producing a myriad of music artists and music bands who have effortlessly composed “inspiring Kiwi Music.” In this context, this article will acquaint you through “Five Popular New Zealand Produced Songs” from some well known and not so well known Kiwi musicians. Therefore, keep reading to discover more information.
Check out Five Kiwi Made Songs Below:
1. OMC – Otara Millionaires Club – How Bizzare:
This popular song was produced by OMC – Otara Millionaires Club. Here to mention, “Otara Millionaires Club” is one of the most famous New Zealand-based two member music groups that had produced many hit albums, songs, and music creations in its profound music career from 1993 to 2000. Among that list, “How Bizzare” is one of the greatest songs that had been ever produced by this rock music band. This track was globally released in 1996; it became extremely popular among the avid Kiwi music fans and followers; as a result, it gained the top-most rank on the NZ music chart list.
Furthermore, when this song was released for the international audience, it witnessed a massive popularity too. For an instance, “How Bizzare” gained the impressive ranks in a total of 8 different countries, such as Canada, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Australia, and the United States etc. Here to mention, “How Bizarre” was the debut single that had been produced by OMC. This song is the part of their debut album (entitled as “How Bizarre”). This tune received the “Platinum Certification” in Australia and a “Triple Platinum Certification” in New Zealand. Plus, this soundtrack helped the band to earn the title of “New Zealand Music Awards” for being the “Single of the Year” (in 1996).
How Bizzare was labelled a “Rap and Pop” music style song. The band members consisted of Pauly Fuemana and Alan Jansson, tragically Pauly passed away at only 40 years of age in 2010 due to respiratory complications from other issues. Alan these days owns and operates a state of the art music recording studio called “Uptown” in the Auckland city Freeman’s Bay. “Brother Pele’s in the back, sweet Zina’s in the front Cruising down the freeway in the hot, hot sun…….” take a listen below 🙂
2. “Loyal” Song Produced by Dave Dobbyn:
In the list of “Five Popular New Zealand Produced Songs”, this particular song certainly holds a special position. This song is considered to be one of the top-rated and most popular New Zealand Produced Music of all time. Plus, it has gained a spectacular rank on the Top 100 APRA Song List. Here to mention, “Loyal” is the single that has been produced a Kiwi singer cum songwriter – Dave Dobbyn. This song was officially released in 1988. It’s a part of a studio album, entitled as “Loyal”.
After the release of this song, it successfully gained a great rank on the NZ chart list. Since then, “Loyal” Song has remained a cult tune for the entire nation. According to the reliable statistics, Dave Dobbyn wrote this song when he was in Sydney (featuring a perfect rhythmic association and harmonic progression with his newly bought guitar).
“Loyal” Song was voted for being the third best New Zealand Produced songs of the twentieth century by APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association).
3. Counting the Beat:
In the list of “Five Popular New Zealand Songs”, the song which will be described now is “Counting the Beat”. This single was composed and produced by The Swingers – A New Zealand-based rock band. It was released in the year of 1981. It’s a part of their studio album, named as “Practical Jokers”.
Coming to more details about this song, well Phil Judd (the official frontman of The Swingers) performed this particular soundtrack. Here to mention, this superior music band with their outstandingly talented band members had produced a string of hit music for the avid music lovers of New Zealand. Among those hit list, “Counting the Beat” certainly helped them to earn a great success, fame, and popularity. This song witnessed a major chart success in Australia. For an example, in Australia, “Counting the Beat” gained the top-most rank and it made an incredible selling record of having 100,000 copies sold only in Australia.
Apart from being a major hit number in Australia, this marvelous Kiwi song gained the impressive rank in New Zealand too. With its memorable music compositions, enchanting rhythm, and catchy beats – it gained the top two rank in NZ for a consecutive period of 9 weeks.
4. Sway:
This is an impressive song as produced by an eminent music artist of New Zealand – Bic Runga. This song was a part of her debut studio album which is named as “Drive”. This soundtrack was produced and released in 1997 as the second single of “Drive”. Here to mention, this song mainly covered the pop and rock music genre.
Obviously, Bic Runga is quite famous among the Kiwi music lovers for her enchanting and melodic voice. However, with the release of this particular song, her music career definitely witnessed an accelerated direction. Needless to mention, Sway received a great critical acclaim by the music pundits; in fact, it received rave reviews from the audience too. This song also helped the singer (Bic Runga) to win a handful number of prestigious awards and accolades, such as New Zealand Music Awards (for three times in the year of 1998) for producing the best “Single of the Year” and for being the “Best Songwriter” etc.
Furthermore, this song featured in two epic movies, such as American Reunion and American Pie. APRA has recently nominated it as the Sixth best New Zealand Produced song of all time.
5. Victoria:
This is another popular song that has been produced in NZ. This song was released by “The Dance Exponents”. Note, “The Dance Exponents” is a rock band which has exhibited a moderately successful music career. This song is a part of their debut studio album, named as “Prayers Be Answered”. It was produced in 1982. This was the debut single (as produced by The Dance Exponents) which gained the number # 6 rank on the NZ singles chart list.
Coming to the actual theme of this song – Victoria is inspired by Jordan Luck’s (a band member) landlady who lived in Christchurch. Whilst the original name of his landlady was Vicky; he used the pseudonym of Victora and produced this song. The landlady (Vicky) used to run an escort agency and she lived with an abusive man. This song represented or clearly depicted Vicky’s life and also questioned her relationship with that abusive boyfriend.
This song gained impressive reviews by the Kiwi music critics and general audience alike; it received a grand success and helped the band to generate a fervent fan base. APRA has nominated this music creation as the eighth most famous New Zealand produced songs of all time.