Soundtrack to your studies - 1984

The Flying Nun label was in the ascendance at this time and one person who was regularly involved was Doug Hood. He also spun off his own Looney Tours company and brought some of their best acts to play that year’s orientation at the University of Auckland - The Chills, The DoubleHappys (feat Shayne Carter), Children’s Hour, and They Were Expendable.

Shadows had recently opened as a bar on campus for students and it had more lowkey orientation events - a blues night (with the Bluesbusters), a performance by the University Folk Club, and the DJing of Hensley Dyer (from the 12 Tribes of Israel).

However the most memorable gig of the year was one that stuck in the mind for all the wrong reasons. Herbs, The Mockers, and DD Smash had been booked to play in Aotea Square, but the police were unhappy with the amount of drinking in the crowd so sent in their riot squad to pull out some of the troublemakers. This situation wasn’t helped by a long powercut in the midst of proceedings and when Dave Dobbyn finally got onstage he made a rude comment about the police’s heavy-handed behaviour. All hell broke loose and the crowd dispersed onto Queen Street, where they looted shops, overturned cars and threw blocks through office windows. Dobbyn was taken to court for inciting the riot, but fortunately he was acquitted.

On the upside, this was also the year that ‘Poi E’ reached No.1, showing that music in te reo Māori could be popular if it was put against the latest digital sounds. 

This was the final year of the Sweetwaters festival (aside from the disastrous attempt to revive it in 1999). The line-up had some big names of the time - Simple Minds, The Pretenders, Eurythmics and Talking Heads - but it failed to draw a sufficient crowd to cover its costs and fell over. More successful were huge gigs at Western Springs by The Police at the height of their fame and Deep Purple. The most popular international album of the year in New Zealand was An Innocent Man by Billy Joel, with sales driven by the mega-hit ‘Uptown Girl.’

What was on the turntable while you were on campus? Suggest songs to add to our 1980s playlist, and you could win $100 Flying Out voucher.