This was another decade closer that seemed more interested in looking back on the greatest hits of its decade rather than exposing fresh talent to (then) modern audiences. Then again, that’s likely for the best, considering how many Kylie Minogue rip-offs there were that did make it through to the mainstream, which really cheapened the… Continue reading NZ albums of 1989
This is sandwiched between two of the worst years of the 80s, although the rest of the world was finally done with having older songs clog up their charts and instead allowed genres of the moment to dominate. This culminated by having the bombast of the decade compete with the more subdue genres such as… Continue reading NZ albums of 1988
If I were merely going off what was popular solely here in Australia, this would be much higher as this was an excellent year for queer music given how hi n r g dominated our airwaves this year. Alas, I have to factor in what was happening internationally this year, which drags it down as… Continue reading NZ albums of 1987
If it weren’t for the last quarter of the year being where the trend of older songs being featured in commercials took off internationally, this year would be even higher on this list as we had great offerings from the many pop divas of the moment as well as the introduction to sophistopop which sadly… Continue reading NZ albums of 1986
I’m tempted to leave my explanation of why this is my favourite year in music with two words, live aid. I’ll elaborate as naturally a concert that brought together the biggest names in music wasn’t the only thing this year had to offer. First off, there was the combination of older artists recharging themselves to… Continue reading NZ albums of 1985
If there’s one word to describe this year, it’s colourful as there was no shortage of colour both with the music and the visuals that accompany said music. Some will say that this year is overrated as naturally the songs with the wackiest music videos were pushed to the top of the charts, however they… Continue reading NZ albums of 1984
Don’t think for a second that me attacking the “woke” crowd means I’m against progressive music, if that were the case, I wouldn’t be ranking this year so high as this was when artists of any kind were able to find success regardless of the colour of their skin or sexual orientation or what genre… Continue reading NZ albums of 1983
This was where MTV truly kicked off, meaning that the new wave acts of the moment really let their creative juices run wild both musically and especially visually, resulting in some rather wacky music and videos. These were balanced out with the genres sophisticated cousin new romance which is a precursor to sophistopop as has… Continue reading NZ albums of 1982
The year MTV launched, although it launched fairly late in the year, meaning it was largely a continuation of 1980 when it came to adult contemporary and nursery pop dominating the airwaves. Thankfully neither genre was as dominating this year as this was when new wave finally took off in the mainstream which would of… Continue reading NZ albums of 1981
Disco might have been dead in America. However, it was merely being phased out internationally, which means there was still plenty of it worldwide this year. Still, I don’t particularly care for the rise of easy listening which dominated the Billboard charts this year, some of which did find its way into our charts here… Continue reading NZ albums of 1980
