One Step Ahead

One of the first videos ever aired on MTV, according to wikipedia.



From the same wikipedia, "the video clip has keyboardist Eddie Rayner performing a moonwalk two years before Michael Jackson made it famous. Eddie performed the move walking slowly forward rather than backwards". So it wasn't a moonwalk!

If only the song had been called "One Step Behind"!

Counting the Beat

After Phil Judd left Split Enz in the late 70s, he made a couple of albums with the Swingers. Their biggest (only?) hit outside of NZ was "Counting The Beat", #4 on the list of greatest Kiwi songs ever and a song that deserves a comeback!

Six Months In A Leaky Boat

It's going to be Finn Brothers week here at Hot Rox. Here's brother Tim performing his biggest hit with the Wiggles (I love the idea of pre-schoolers being turned on to this song!).



The song was originally a hit for Split Enz in 1982, but I also like Ted Leo's cover, which told me how Ted came up with an album called
The Tyranny of Distance.

I Got You

Back to NZ month, here are Split Enz, making their U.S. television debut on "Fridays", complete with Col. Sanders bolo ties and a young-looking Neil Finn.



Anyone from the Northern Hemisphere who claims they knew about Split Enz before this song or album (True Colours) is probably lying.

From the coast of California

to the shores of the Delaware Bay,
a Happy July 4th to everyone.

Nature enter me

Kicking off my Kiwi music month with New Zealand's greatest song of all time according to the APRA, "Nature" by the Fourmyula.

The original isn't on youtube, but this 1997 performance by songwriter Wayne Mason and Don McGlashan reproduces it fairly faithfully.



Their version rocks a little harder than the original, and sounds like one of Don's own songs. I didn't even know it was a cover until I checked the writing credits. McGlashan and the Mutton Birds also covered the song in the early 90s. Their version rocks a little harder than the original, and sounds like one of Don's own composition. I didn't even realize it was a cover until I checked the credits.

En Zed

I've been having trouble coming up with an artist of the month to blog about for July, since I'm running out of career spanning artists to profile. So I've decided to dedicate this month to music from an entire country; the country of New Zealand.

I didn't celebrate New Zealand music month when it rolled around in May, so I'm having my own NZ music month in July. The format will either be four or five albums by different "artists of the week", or a series of different artists in chronological order, starting with the La De Das.



Meanwhile, Happy Canada Day!