All Th'Young Dudes

And now, the 70's.

One of the first questions I had when I saw the APRA list of top New Zealand songs of all time was "Who the hell is Dave Dobbyn?". Dobbyn has ten songs on the list, more than Neil or Tim Finn, and I'd probably heard his name before, but had no idea what he sounded like.

After going through youtube, Dobbyn sounds like New Zealand's answer to Bob Seger, a living legend in his own country, but completely unknown outside it. According to wikipedia, Dave Dobbyn was Neil Finn's contemporary at Sacred Heart College in Auckland, but he was closer musically to Craig Finn.

Dobbyn's first band Th'Dudes (lame name alert!) sound like the Hold Steady would have sounded if they'd started 25 years earlier and been more Anglophilic than Amerophilic (substituting Springsteen for Ian Hunter and Graham Parker). Their first single "Be Mine Tonight" sounds like an imaginary Hunter/Parker collaboration.



Curly hair and shades never go out of style. After Th'Dudes, Dobbyn formed DD Smash with former members of legendary unknown NZ bands Lip Service and Blue Sailor, worked with Grant McLennan and both Finn brothers, and made a bunch of solo albums that have turned him into a New Zealand "national treasure", like a cold can of Lion Red at a barbecue. Solid everywhere like a rock.