The winner of the New Zealand music contest is my friend Mark Millard! Actually, he was the only one who even tried to take a stab at this and he was correct with the five he submitted.
I would be liar to say I wasn’t disappointed with the turnout. I mean, who doesn’t like a shot at getting some free iTunes (or any other downloadable booty). Maybe the “shame” of posting an incorrect answer was too great that it prevented most. Probably not. It’s more likely my failure to put the suffix “-ville” on it and embed it into Facebook leading to doom this discussion (non) starter. One funny explanation I received was, (paraphrased), “I know music but I don’t necessarily know what the performers look like.” This person would be a rather confused attendee at a live show. It also means the power of MTV is quite diminished since videos definitely helped raise a band’s ‘retention’ in the Eighties.
Well, I promised to reveal the answers as I present the winner.
Click to see the larger version.
I’m not going to bother with the bonus questions yet I will give a clarification with one who could result in some nitpicking. Although Richard O’Brien wasn’t born in New Zealand, his family emigrated there when he was a child and he spent most of his formative years on the island nation (a fate John Lennon avoided). The New Zealand government recently granted Richard an exception on permanent residency since he is a national treasure on par with film director Peter Jackson and Mt. Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hilary.
If you have any questions regarding the more obscure artists, feel free to ask me or seek them out through allmusic.com.
I’m not totally discouraged, I may try to pitch this celebration idea to Waterloo Records for next year.
I was going to enter but figured I would mess up and you would razz me!