May 5, 2025 • 7 mins
It's fifty years since the official New Zealand music charts were launched - and there have been plenty of number ones from Kiwi artists in the five decades since.
Many records have been broken in that time too - including some artists who managed the feat of knocking one of their own songs from the number one position.
To discuss the history of the charts, Wellington Mornings' music man James Irwin joined Nick Mills for Music Time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said b Niggs, new releases and keeping
tabs on local artists. It's music time on Wellington Mornings.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well that's my favorite time of the week. We get
James Erwin from his studio next door. It comes into
our studio and we talk music. And this is a big,
big one, this one, because we've got the next two times.
We have it today and next time is New Zealand
Music Month. JAMESI welcome to the show. Music. Music Month's
a big deal.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
It's a huge deal. I love It's one of those
things I love and I loathe. I love it, but
I loathe it because I think it should be all
year round New Zealand Music Month, and I think we've
almost got there. But I do love it. I love it.
I'm I'm a big collector of records and CDs as
of always banging on to the listeners. But and sometimes
I kind of, you know, I go down these rabbit hole.
A lot of people go down rabbit holes watching YouTube
(01:04):
and they you know, follow things. I go down a
rabbit hole reading the website audio Culture, and I've again
I've talked about that before on the show. It's a
terrific website where if you're into a band and you
start looking at who the members were, it's all New
Zealand based and I really if you're into New Zealand
music and arts and culture, audio, audioculture, dot co, do
or and Zeta's fantastic. So I've been trying to work
(01:26):
out lately where my obsession with music came from, because
I do I know, I'm very obsessed with it. I
had a grandparents who were incredibly musical, concert pianists, double
bass players, all that sort of malarkey. Maybe my mum's
Roger Whitaker collection didn't quite get me going, but you know,
having those black vinyl discs in the house, I was
really upset, I remembering a young kid, and you would
(01:46):
have been the same, I'm sure Nick as well. The
record was you know, a fascinated me how the music
came out of those plastic discs. But there was a
show on TV and a lot of our listeners will
recognize this theme that really kicked me into music and
it was a must watch for me. Let's have a listen,
you recognize.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
This ready to roll?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
So I've got ten versions. So well that played for
two seconds. This is the original version. This is the
Comodol's of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well I didn't know
that for you and years, but I was probably you know,
I would have been seven years old and yeah, yeah, yeah,
so I didn't realize. So that's the first version. And
then this was the studio jingle version. I'm pretty sure
this was written in the house, so it was more
(02:28):
into the mid eighties. You can hear that mid eighties sound.
This was the later later years of retroll.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I didn't know they changed the music.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
They changed the music. I think about eighty.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Six commodols must have found out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, probably weren't paying any royalties. Roger Gascoyne was the first.
No that do you remember that.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I know Roger. Well, Roger's a great guy.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Great New Zealander.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now right now you can walk Papa and he's not
one of the one of the items on it, you know,
he just.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
He should be one of the items. They could have
a little section for Roger to give you a little week.
So yeah, and that had a ready throw had over
one point two million viewers. That it's at its absolute
peak and rivaled the six o'clock news because it was
in a six o'clock slot when it was playing, it
was on ten two. Yeah, on a Saturday, so rivaled
that news show. So that's where my obsession came with.
So then I got you know, after listening to your
(03:18):
interview with Mark Williams that was magnificent you had the
other week and it's on the website. If someone hasn't
heard it, here's the number one that someone knocked themselves
off the number one, and you're going to know it probably.
So what happened is in December nineteen seventy nine, this
song came out and then it stayed at number one
(03:40):
for four weeks and then in the end of January
that was the best place to have a number one
because they didn't do the charts again, didn't do the
charts again until this end of January, and the same
artist knocked his own number one off And I don't
think it's happened ever before in New Zealand. Let's have
a listen. Probably had a few bruisal them, reason well, yeah,
(04:04):
John Stevens Jezebel was the number one here and then
he comes along. He has a nice summer break, hangs
out at the Mills household and then goes, oh, I
might write a song about a great little place in Jamaica,
Montego Bay, Jamaica, isn't it Yep?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Monteg classics.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So that hadn't happened before.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So I think he was the first person to have
two songs on the top five. And I think he
had three because he had one with Sharon o'deill.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yes, when we had the Sharon O'Neil one as well.
So three number ones in the top five. I don't
know if that's been being in either. That's pretty spectacular.
Why was he singing about Montego Bay Montego Bay?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
He was, you know, he was sixteen years old, was
seventeen years old, and he was having movie record producers
to sell it.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Someone said in front of the microphone saying this, let's
fast forward to eighty one. So we've got the spring
We're in Springbrook Tour Territory, Michael Fowlers the miraor Wellington.
If you're into your sitcoms, like Dallas Jr. Jr. Ewing
gets shot, you know at the beak Ji Gallon Bloody
had Trevor Chapel basically pauses pants down on television by
bowling and under our ball steel considered the most disgraceful
(05:11):
sporting moment in the universe. Eighty one and the All
Whites qualified for their first ever World Cup. So I
imagine Jason Pines absolutely going nuts out there in Tawa
at about what ten eleven years old. And this number one,
this number one was the first ever to have some
treo lyrics in it. And then it's also so it's
the first ever treo song, but it's also the first
(05:33):
song to be knocked off by another New Zealand musician.
So let's have a listen there the weed. Do you
recognize this already? With Dean? What a team? Bridge the bridge?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I remember this to the bridge.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And then this next little banger comes along with someone
who's been fired from well not if it's fired, but
moved out of split ends. So first time a New
Zealand artist knocks the New Zealand artist, a separate New
Zealand apart from obviously John Stevens knocked himself off. This
is the first time another band knocked.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Up, So let's move on.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Eighty two the first co Hangareo ever opens and it
was in Weinuiyamada, the warehouse opens its first store in Takapoona,
and a punk rock anarchist called Neil Roberts tries to
blow up the old Wanganui Police computer. And an up
and coming band originally named Dave Dobbins Divers, they thankfully
changed their name to d D Smash had had the
very first New Zealand album that debuted at number one.
(06:34):
The album was called Cool Banana is the terrible cover.
I've got it in my record collection at home. There
was a couple other number ones. Bill and Boyd had
a number one album and split In has had a
number one album, but they didn't launch into the first
place first week. So let's have a listen. Terrific so
soon of the air that's probably about it?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Wow, amazing, What a basic bit of information.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
We'll give you more. We'll keep moving in the next
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You know what, I might actually talk to the executive
producer and see if we can have you on every
week over we do that, you know, we could do that.
I know you're a very busy man, but I'd like
to keep the flow going. Thank you very much. James Erwin.
Always always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said b Niggs, new releases and keeping
tabs on local artists. It's music time on Wellington Mornings.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well that's my favorite time of the week. We get
James Erwin from his studio next door. It comes into
our studio and we talk music. And this is a big,
big one, this one, because we've got the next two times.
We have it today and next time is New Zealand
Music Month. JAMESI welcome to the show. Music. Music Month's
a big deal.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
It's a huge deal. I love It's one of those
things I love and I loathe. I love it, but
I loathe it because I think it should be all
year round New Zealand Music Month, and I think we've
almost got there. But I do love it. I love it.
I'm I'm a big collector of records and CDs as
of always banging on to the listeners. But and sometimes
I kind of, you know, I go down these rabbit hole.
A lot of people go down rabbit holes watching YouTube
(01:04):
and they you know, follow things. I go down a
rabbit hole reading the website audio Culture, and I've again
I've talked about that before on the show. It's a
terrific website where if you're into a band and you
start looking at who the members were, it's all New
Zealand based and I really if you're into New Zealand
music and arts and culture, audio, audioculture, dot co, do
or and Zeta's fantastic. So I've been trying to work
(01:26):
out lately where my obsession with music came from, because
I do I know, I'm very obsessed with it. I
had a grandparents who were incredibly musical, concert pianists, double
bass players, all that sort of malarkey. Maybe my mum's
Roger Whitaker collection didn't quite get me going, but you know,
having those black vinyl discs in the house, I was
really upset, I remembering a young kid, and you would
(01:46):
have been the same, I'm sure Nick as well. The
record was you know, a fascinated me how the music
came out of those plastic discs. But there was a
show on TV and a lot of our listeners will
recognize this theme that really kicked me into music and
it was a must watch for me. Let's have a listen,
you recognize.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
This ready to roll?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
So I've got ten versions. So well that played for
two seconds. This is the original version. This is the
Comodol's of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well I didn't know
that for you and years, but I was probably you know,
I would have been seven years old and yeah, yeah, yeah,
so I didn't realize. So that's the first version. And
then this was the studio jingle version. I'm pretty sure
this was written in the house, so it was more
(02:28):
into the mid eighties. You can hear that mid eighties sound.
This was the later later years of retroll.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I didn't know they changed the music.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
They changed the music. I think about eighty.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Six commodols must have found out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, probably weren't paying any royalties. Roger Gascoyne was the first.
No that do you remember that.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I know Roger. Well, Roger's a great guy.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Great New Zealander.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now right now you can walk Papa and he's not
one of the one of the items on it, you know,
he just.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
He should be one of the items. They could have
a little section for Roger to give you a little week.
So yeah, and that had a ready throw had over
one point two million viewers. That it's at its absolute
peak and rivaled the six o'clock news because it was
in a six o'clock slot when it was playing, it
was on ten two. Yeah, on a Saturday, so rivaled
that news show. So that's where my obsession came with.
So then I got you know, after listening to your
(03:18):
interview with Mark Williams that was magnificent you had the
other week and it's on the website. If someone hasn't
heard it, here's the number one that someone knocked themselves
off the number one, and you're going to know it probably.
So what happened is in December nineteen seventy nine, this
song came out and then it stayed at number one
(03:40):
for four weeks and then in the end of January
that was the best place to have a number one
because they didn't do the charts again, didn't do the
charts again until this end of January, and the same
artist knocked his own number one off And I don't
think it's happened ever before in New Zealand. Let's have
a listen. Probably had a few bruisal them, reason well, yeah,
(04:04):
John Stevens Jezebel was the number one here and then
he comes along. He has a nice summer break, hangs
out at the Mills household and then goes, oh, I
might write a song about a great little place in Jamaica,
Montego Bay, Jamaica, isn't it Yep?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Monteg classics.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So that hadn't happened before.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So I think he was the first person to have
two songs on the top five. And I think he
had three because he had one with Sharon o'deill.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yes, when we had the Sharon O'Neil one as well.
So three number ones in the top five. I don't
know if that's been being in either. That's pretty spectacular.
Why was he singing about Montego Bay Montego Bay?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
He was, you know, he was sixteen years old, was
seventeen years old, and he was having movie record producers
to sell it.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Someone said in front of the microphone saying this, let's
fast forward to eighty one. So we've got the spring
We're in Springbrook Tour Territory, Michael Fowlers the miraor Wellington.
If you're into your sitcoms, like Dallas Jr. Jr. Ewing
gets shot, you know at the beak Ji Gallon Bloody
had Trevor Chapel basically pauses pants down on television by
bowling and under our ball steel considered the most disgraceful
(05:11):
sporting moment in the universe. Eighty one and the All
Whites qualified for their first ever World Cup. So I
imagine Jason Pines absolutely going nuts out there in Tawa
at about what ten eleven years old. And this number one,
this number one was the first ever to have some
treo lyrics in it. And then it's also so it's
the first ever treo song, but it's also the first
(05:33):
song to be knocked off by another New Zealand musician.
So let's have a listen there the weed. Do you
recognize this already? With Dean? What a team? Bridge the bridge?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I remember this to the bridge.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And then this next little banger comes along with someone
who's been fired from well not if it's fired, but
moved out of split ends. So first time a New
Zealand artist knocks the New Zealand artist, a separate New
Zealand apart from obviously John Stevens knocked himself off. This
is the first time another band knocked.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Up, So let's move on.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Eighty two the first co Hangareo ever opens and it
was in Weinuiyamada, the warehouse opens its first store in Takapoona,
and a punk rock anarchist called Neil Roberts tries to
blow up the old Wanganui Police computer. And an up
and coming band originally named Dave Dobbins Divers, they thankfully
changed their name to d D Smash had had the
very first New Zealand album that debuted at number one.
(06:34):
The album was called Cool Banana is the terrible cover.
I've got it in my record collection at home. There
was a couple other number ones. Bill and Boyd had
a number one album and split In has had a
number one album, but they didn't launch into the first
place first week. So let's have a listen. Terrific so
soon of the air that's probably about it?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Wow, amazing, What a basic bit of information.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
We'll give you more. We'll keep moving in the next
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You know what, I might actually talk to the executive
producer and see if we can have you on every
week over we do that, you know, we could do that.
I know you're a very busy man, but I'd like
to keep the flow going. Thank you very much. James Erwin.
Always always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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