Hard News by Russell Brown

I'm really stoked to have discovered the quality Shaz! For the first time I was able to appreciate the power the video had over a generation of NZ teen boys.

By the way, I have an epic blog post about NZ Music ready to publish next week. Keyword: saxophone.

Keyword: saxophone.

Feeling fear.

Beck covering Bowie's 'Sound and Vision'

That is the nuttiest, but best, intros to the song you're ever likely to hear. I was less excited when you mentioned it, until I listened. Wow.

ETA: Although there is a nagging question; If you're going to go to all that trouble, why not just get Bowie to do it? Still good.

Beck covering Bowie's 'Sound and Vision'

Wow is right. It's not often that you feel proud to be human. That is just wonderful.

ETA: Although there is a nagging question; If you’re going to go to all that trouble, why not just get Bowie to do it? Still good.

In this case, because a car manufacturer paid Beck to create it ...

In this case, because a car manufacturer paid Beck to create it …

Oh right. Missed that bit.

I loved Sharon O'Neill. To young women at the time, me anyway, she evoked glamour and cool and elegance of a very down to earth variety. Shark tooth earrings were the height of sophistication.

Girls Songs got good exposure on Music 101. A bright spot on National Radio on a Saturday afternoon,

New Strokes song on Soundcloud.

I loved Sharon O’Neill. To young women at the time, me anyway, she evoked glamour and cool and elegance of a very down to earth variety. Shark tooth earrings were the height of sophistication.

She was cool. And I think it was unusual at the time for a young woman to be writing and performing her own songs.

I'm also pretty sure that a free gig she played outside Christchurch Town Hall was the first gig I went to with my friends.

And it's not just the menz thinking about Sharon O'Neill all those years ago. ;-)

Totally cool, and very hot. She gave an aura of being confident in her sexuality without it being "slutty" or gratuitous in a skin-exposing kind of way. Lots of my friends modelled themselves on her, which given some of the other potential rolemodels of the time, was great.

...On another note, there aren't that many varieties of English where this couplet rhymes:

And it's telling me that
You're so hard to forget

So endearing. :-)

She was cool. And I think it was unusual at the time for a young woman to be writing and performing her own songs.

I liked her really early stuff best of all. From Foreign Affairs onwards they started putting that benighted 80s reverb sound on her albums that ruined so much other pop of the time, but this song was exquisite. Love that lovely pause and chord change at the chorus.

Hype Wrong - having your release hit the number one spot is most surely gratifying... but it is way better to climb and maintain position (thus sales) than to appear for an instant... pat yourself on the back only to see chart position and thus sales slide away.

Especially for a independent release, ie those that have limited to very limited marketing budgets

Build your fanbase, build your sales and with (serious) luck build a career

Saying all that well done @peace

its a sunny day

But unless I’m mistaken, iTunes sales count towards the national charts and Bandcamp sales don’t.

You'd be mistaken Russell. Artists and labels can, and frequently do, submit Bandcamp sales for the national charts (Official Top40 and IMNZ). As @Peace's team have done this week... so expect a pretty good showing on the charts on Monday.

You’d be mistaken Russell. Artists and labels can, and frequently do, submit Bandcamp sales for the national charts (Official Top40 and IMNZ). As @Peace’s team have done this week… so expect a pretty good showing on the charts on Monday.

Thanks for that, Paul. I've updated the post accordingly. I'm also really pleased that's the case.

Am I alone in really not loving the Beck thing? The things I love about the original are its sparseness and the emotional flatness of the lyric. It's the song of a man who is right at the end of his ability to express how he feels. The song's charm lies in it's awkwardness and sadness.

I ws unsurprised to learn Beck's version was made for a car manufacturer. I admit that it's very clever but, to me, it looks like showing off and rings a bit hollow.*

*i am tired from an overnight school camp and am coming down with a cold so am probably being a bit curmudgeonly.