The APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time is a selection of New Zealand songs as voted in 2001 by members of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). The top 30 of this selection was used to create the Nature's Best CD and the rest of the list for follow-up compilations. A similar list was made in Australia of the top 30 Australian songs.
The list was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in New Zealand in 2001. Nine hundred candidate songs were chosen for APRA members to vote on. The top 30 songs were released on the Nature's Best CD.
Some artists feature prominently in the list. These include:
Music journalist Bruce Sergent notes that the list is highly skewed towards the 1980s and 90s to the detriment of earlier music, with notable omissions including Howard Morrison, Dinah Lee, and Ray Columbus & the Invaders. [1]
Some songs may also be claimed as both New Zealand and Australian. A list compiled by APRA at the same time of top 30 Australian songs also included Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" (at number 7). [2]
Political songs on the list include commentary on the 1981 Springbok tour riots in Blam Blam Blam's "There Is No Depression in New Zealand", and nuclear testing in the French Pacific through Herbs' "French Letter" and DLT's "Chains". [3]
The list of the top 100 is below.
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later band members included Finn's brother Tim who was in their former band together Split Enz, sons Liam and Elroy, as well as Americans Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod, with Neil Finn and Seymour being the sole constant members.
The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including blues, jazz, country, rock and roll, reggae, and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation.
Sir David Joseph Dobbyn is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then he has released the majority of his recordings as a solo performer.
Jennifer Patricia Morris is a New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter. Her first success came with New Zealand band the Crocodiles, who had a top 20 hit single with "Tears". Re-locating to Sydney in February 1981, she was a backing vocalist for various groups and formed a trio, QED, in 1983.
"Don't Dream It's Over" is a song by rock band Crowded House, recorded for their 1986 self-titled debut studio album. The song was composed and written by New Zealand frontman Neil Finn and released in October 1986 as the fourth single from the album.
Nature's Best is a two-disc compilation album of thirty New Zealand popular music songs, selected by a panel as the top thirty New Zealand songs of all time.
Nature's Best 2 is a two-disc compilation album of 35 New Zealand popular music songs, numbers 31-65 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time. See Nature's Best for more information on the selection process of this list.
Nature's Best 3 is a two-disc compilation album of 35 New Zealand popular music songs, numbers 66-100 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time. See Nature's Best for more information on the selection process of this list.
The Nature's Best DVD is a DVD release of 60 music videos to songs from the three Nature's Best compilation albums.
"Slice of Heaven" is a single by New Zealand singer-songwriter Dave Dobbyn with the band Herbs, released in 1986 on the soundtrack of the animated motion picture, Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tail Tale. The single reached No. 1 on the New Zealand Singles Chart for eight weeks and on the Australian Singles Chart for four weeks. It appears on Dobbyn's 1988 album, Loyal.
"Something So Strong" is a rock song written by Neil Finn and Mitchell Froom and performed by Crowded House for their eponymous debut album. The track was released as the album's fifth and final single in April 1987. The single peaked at No. 18 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, No. 3 in New Zealand, No. 7 in the United States Billboard Hot 100, and No. 10 on the Canadian RPM 100.
"I Got You" is a song by New Zealand rock band Split Enz. It was released as a single on 21 January 1980 by Mushroom Records in Australia and New Zealand, and August 1980 by A&M internationally, as the first single from their breakthrough album True Colours. Written by co-lead singer Neil Finn, who did not initially believe it to be a hit, it became the band's most commercially successful song, topping the charts in Australasia and placing in the top 20 of the British and Canadian charts. By July 1980, it had become the biggest selling single in Australian history.
"Loyal" is a single by New Zealand singer/songwriter Dave Dobbyn, released in 1988 from the album of the same name. The song reached number 19 on the New Zealand charts and has since become a cult song for the nation.
The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver Scroll Awards and song awards, selects an inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, and makes three professional development awards every second year. APRA also runs awards for its Australian members.
The 2012 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Thursday 13 September 2012 at the Auckland Town Hall, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The Silver Scroll Award was presented to New York-based pop artist Stephanie Brown (Lips), and reggae band Herbs was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
"Nature" is a 1969 single by New Zealand band The Fourmyula. The song peaked at number one in the New Zealand singles chart in 1970, won the APRA Silver Scroll songwriting award the same year, and in 2001 was voted the top song in APRA New Zealand's Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time. "Nature" was notably covered in 1992 by New Zealand rock band The Mutton Birds.
The 2008 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Wednesday 10 September 2008 at the Auckland Town Hall, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The Silver Scroll Award was presented to Jason Kerrison, Bobby Kennedy, Matt Treacy and Clinton Harris for the Opshop song "One Day", and the country duo Topp Twins were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. The event also paid tribute to singer-songwriter Mahinārangi Tocker who had died earlier in 2008.
The 2013 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Tuesday 15 October 2013 at Vector Arena in Auckland, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. This is the first year the ceremony was held at Vector Arena, moving from its previous location of the Auckland Town Hall in order to accommodate more of APRA's 8000 New Zealand members.
The 2016 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Thursday 29 September 2016 at Vector Arena in Auckland, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting.
"Dominion Road" is the debut single by New Zealand rock band The Mutton Birds. The song was released in 1992 as one of four singles to promote the band's debut self-titled album. Despite only spending ten weeks on the New Zealand singles charts and peaking at #31, the song has since become a New Zealand classic, being rated as the 23rd best New Zealand song of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association in 2001. The song has resulted in the installation of a brass plaque in the footpath approximately half-way down the song's namesake street, in a reference to the song's lyrics.