Greg Johnson “My Ship Is Sitting Low”
This video has plenty of humour, crazy and cameos from the bFM cool kids. The Paul Casserly-directed adventure starts with Greg in the back of a cab, getting grilled by the taxi driver on his music style.”Oh, just songs, you know.” Greg is dropped off at a bold turquoise-painted house, where he sings his song...
Greg Johnson “Liberty”
So, there’s a young woman. Let’s call her Liberty, because that’s what Greg sings in the lyrics. She’s wearing a bad wig. It looks like one of those old lady op shop wigs, made of ratty white nylon. If a character in a music video is wearing a bad wig, there has to be a...
Missing videos from October 1996
NZOA describes Bobby Owen‘s single “Falling” as a “moody soulful ballad” that was recorded at Fuemana Studios. Another track from Dam Native. “Extremities” was produced by Zane Lowe. Five years before Dimmer‘s first album was released, and before Shayne Carter had even figured out exactly what the wanted to do with his new project, there...
Greg Johnson “If I Swagger”
Catch-up time: bad google fu had let this one slip through the cracks. Remember the blizzard of ’96? A crapload of snow was dumped all over the eastern United States. Greg Johnson remembers it too, for it was during the snowfest that the video for “If I Swagger” was shot in New York City. Directed...
Greg Johnson “Don’t Wait Another Day”
Finally the video clouds have come, the online content rains have fallen, the Greg Johnson drought has broken! NZ On Screen have a sparkling copy of sweet “Don’t Wait Another Day”. Boh Runga returns on backing vocals – perhaps her crunchy, grungy vocals in Stellar were a direct attempt to not sound like Greg Johnson’s...
Missing songs from February 1995
Greg Johnson threatens to make a video comeback with “You Stay Out of Your Life”, but the internet cannot provide the twin scooter adventures of Greg and Boh Runga. More Pacific pop from Igelese with “Groovalation”. A slight hint of New Jack Swing, some boy-band harmonies and Pacific drumming make for a sound that can...
Missing videos from February 1994
The mysterious Ted Brown returns with a new band (the Italians) and a cover of “How is the Air Up There”, a song best known in New Zealand for the La De Dahs version, but which originated as a Brill Building composition that did the rounds of pop bands in the mid-’60s. The Greg Johnson...
Missing videos from August 1993
Hamilton bogan rock gods Blackjack brought their anthem “Now You Fly”. I grew up in Hamilton and it was kind of frustrating when this kind of music was the main style associated with Hamilton. *Sniff* But this funding round features another Hamilton group that, unlike Blackjack, I actually saw live several times. Love & Violence...
Missing videos from June 1993
Merenia‘s song “U Know (I Like It)” was on the “Once Were Warriors” soundtrack. From the 10-second preview I found online, it’s a funky 90s soul-pop house jam groove. I see a pattern forming. The one Greg Johnson video that’s been online was “Isabelle”, also Greg’s highest charting song. “Winter Song (Suddenly Cold)” was one...
Missing videos from December 1992
Oh, David Parker, what happened to the video for “The Phone is Ringing”? It’s quite a nice song – a little Roy Orbisonish, with a futuristic Jack Johnson vibe. Fuemana‘s single “Rocket Love” sounds like George Michael singing a James Bond love theme. This song is so fly, it makes me sad there’s no online...
Missing videos from June 1992
David Parker returns with another absent video. I haven’t heard “In Summer I Fall”, but I’m going to imagine it’s a breezy reggae-infused beachtime love song. There have been 14 songs in the New Zealand charts called “Big Love” none of them are by a group called DVS. I’m beginning to wonder of some of...
Greg Johnson Set “Isabelle”
Inspired by the impact of the conflict from the Croation War of Independence upon the ordinary people of Croatia, “Isabelle” was Greg Johnson’s attempt at connecting with the country on the other side of the world while he was “stuck on an island”. The video does a good job of creating a landscape that might...
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