Soundtrack to your studies - 1967

One of the most important events on the student calendar was the Graduation Ball, which both took place at the Peter Pan cabaret at the top of Queen Street.

The previous year’s Student Administration had left a large debt due to financial mismanagement. As a result the activities during capping week were lowkey and the yearly Revue performance was a stripped back affair. However there was a Capping Cabaret held at the Mt Eden War Memorial hall with entertainment by Ray Woolf & the Newfolk and The Silhouettes.

Ray Woolf would later be known as a popular entertainer on television, but in those days he was more of a rocker as shown by this performance on the final episode of the TV pop show, C’Mon.

The winner at that year’s Loxene Golden Disc Awards was Mr Lee Grant with his song ‘Thanks To You.’ Here he is singing it, also on C’Mon.

In April, Eric Burdon and the New Animals toured New Zealand and Australia. For this entire run, they were supported by one of Auckland’s hottest bands, Larry’s Rebels. They’d made their name as the resident band at the Top 20 club on Durham Lane (now the Bluestone Room), where they played through the hits of the day. However their breakthrough song ‘Let’s Think Of Something’ was written by local songwriter Roger Skinner and went on to win the Silver Scroll Award the following year.

The best-selling album of the year was Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles made music videos for ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ but were banned by the Musicians Union from miming along with the songs, which inadvertently made them look more like the non-performance style of music videos that would become popular over the following decades.

What was on your turntable while you were on campus? Suggest songs to add to our 1960s playlist, and you could win $100 Flying Out voucher.