Soundtrack to your studies - 1975

In 1975, the music on campus gave a good sense of where the local music scene was at. Waves played Orientation that year and brought a folk-rock sound that still showed the influence of the 1960s.

Even more of a hippie-era style was brought to campus by BLERTA who were being toured through universities by the Student Art Council.

Later in the year, Dragon played on the other side of the Quad, with the building works for the Maidment Theatre viewable behind them. At the time, they played a loose form of prog-rock and were still a few years from the pub rock behemoths that they would become.

Outside of the university scene, the pub circuit run by Lion Breweries was still going strong and relied on a steady stream of covers band who toured throughout the nation. Sometimes these bands were even named after Lion’s products, with band names like Distillery, Pilsner (actually an imported Welsh band) and Beam (which had been put together to promote Jim Beam). Country-rock group Rockinghorse won Best Group and Best Album at that year’s music awards, but their celebrations meant they were late for a gig at a local pub. The bar manager complained and they were banned from the Lion Circuit for a year. Even the best band in the land was under the thumb of Lion.

There were hints of funk's rising popularity in New Zealand with Mark Williams becoming the first kiwi act to get to No.1 on the newly created official NZ music charts, with ‘Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life.’ One of the most popular and critically acclaimed albums of the year was Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan, though it didn’t sell as well as the Greatest Hits of Roger Whittaker.

What was on the turntable while you were on campus? Suggest songs to add to our 1970s playlist, and you could win a $100 Flying Out voucher.