Synchronised swimming appears in a music video, there’s a successful attempt at a cool urban scene and a less successful attempt at a gritty urban scene.
April 1994
When the Cat’s Been Spayed “Cream”
When the Cat’s Been Spayed were known for their kitschy performances of Kiwi songs like “Down at the Hall”, but here they tackle Prince’s pervy song from 1991, “Cream”. The video is dark and seductive and puts the Cats in water, surrounded by synchronised swimmers. Such is the magic of the group, the song and the video that it manages to be both over-the-top and understated.
Director: Grant Lahood
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
October 1994
Urban Disturbance “Robert Jane”
“Robert Jane” was a chilled-out track, a hint of what was to come with Zane Lowe’s next project, Breaks Co-Op. The video is set in a sparsely decorated apartment, with a camera in the middle of the room slowly rotating around the room as Zane and Ollie follow it. A Maori carving is one of the few decorative items in the room, setting the styley urban video firmly in New Zealand.
December 1994
Young & Ruthless “Run For Cover”
According to the YouTube description, Young & Ruthless were “a collective of Wellington High School students who wrote and performed the track as a project through school”. And it feels like it – this is such a high school band. The video puts the band in Myers Park, Auckland on a cheerful sunny day – a contrast with the black and white attempts at urban grit around the back of St Kevin’s Arcade. Sometimes the video works – the two frontmen are strong performers, but the rest of the band look like awkward music students. And I could do without hearing that thin, trebly and super annoying guitar ever again. Group member T Starks (*ahem*) explained on the Aotearoa Hip Hop forum in 2000: “we got to make a single and a viedo and shit was ok … but the track is wack as hell :)”
Director: Jonathan King
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision