Over the past month, thousands of New Zealand music lovers voted on their favourite classic Kiwi album, and the winner has now been revealed.
Split Enz's 1980 project ‘True Colours’ came out number one, beating out over 400 other albums. Exactly 3,301 voters took part in AudioCulture’s poll, which set out to find “an album that readers thought was a significant artistic achievement, and with lasting impact on New Zealand music and the public,” their website reads.
Split Enz frontman Tim Finn said he is stoked about the result and reckons the album is a true Kiwiana piece of history that still resonates with live audiences.
“It's amazing, it's a great day for the Enz," he told 1News. “You know it was a perfect meeting of the band and New Zealand's history, and it's impossible to say what that is. But something did happen, and it made that album special for people and so playing the songs live was just a joyous celebration."
AudioCulture’s Chris Bourke said that ‘True Colours’ changed how Kiwis viewed New Zealand-made music for the better.
“If you did a vox pop on the street and asked ‘What kind of music do you like?’, people actually used to say, 'Anything but New Zealand music'. That just doesn't happen now, and ‘True Colours’ is part of that story, and part of that change."
“We've got several generations who have been listening to this record: the people there at the time, their sons and daughters, and now their grandchildren."
Over 450 albums were voted on, so ‘True Colours’ only received 7.69% of the vote. The number two album, Fat Freddy Drop’s 2005 ‘Based on A True Story’, had just 5.33%. Rounding out the rest of the top five is Split Enz’s 1975 ‘Mental Notes’, Various’ 1979 ‘AK79’, and Hello Sailor’s 1999 self-titled album.
Credit: AudioCulture
Goes to show us Kiwis know how to make some good music!
