Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: It was 20 years ago tomorrow ...

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  • BenWilson,

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    Very nice.

    The idea that '89 was great for Europe, not so great for NZ, resonates for me. But student loans and other barbarities aside, it is still a time I remember fondly.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    And in the New Zealand Music Awards that year, Margaret Urlich won best album, best single and best female vocalist.

    You know, just recently I've started hearing this song being played around in airports, malls, etc. It's creeping me out because the undulating nature of La Urlich's voice is not something that works as passive background music. Wo-oh-OH-OH!

    But for me, 1989 was a good year for music (though I was only 14 so perhaps my requirements for a good song were simpler). I used to note my "song of the week" in my notebook, and was never short of good stuff. Also, 1989 was the year that Neneh Cherry released "Buffalo Stance" and that, like, totally changed my life.

    Also, I am very much loving what I've heard so far of the Bridle Path EP. What a splendid duo!

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    BTW, I'm biggin' up the Bridle Path, but you should offer your praise to David himself on his thread.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Also, 1989 was the year that Neneh Cherry released "Buffalo Stance" and that, like, totally changed my life.

    You're so right. That song is IT. Bomb the bass, rock this place.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Danielle, you'll like this: we saw Neneh Cherry perform that song the following year -- eight glorious months' pregnant. Damn, she was cool.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • nothingelseon,

    Russell we must have been at the same show - Astoria in London IIRC? I remember her pointing her mic at her belly & getting the baby to join in!

    Welling-Town • Since Mar 2008 • 38 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    The idea that '89 was great for Europe, not so great for NZ, resonates for me. But student loans and other barbarities aside, it is still a time I remember fondly.

    Student loans was 1993. Labour's fees were 1989. From a period where fees will still low enough that it was a prospect for you to pay them without a couple of decades of debt.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell we must have been at the same show - Astoria in London IIRC? I remember her pointing her mic at her belly & getting the baby to join in!

    Yes!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Yup, fees were first, and means tested. I seem to recall that means (of the parents) testing was also brought in for allowances around then too. Goff was the Minister responsible, IIRC. That opened the door. Are you sure about 1993? I remember 1992 as the first year of loans.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Wo-oh-OH-OH!

    Ah, Escaping.

    You know, just recently I've started hearing this song being played around in airports, malls, etc.

    Is my mind playing tricks or did I see a group singalong on the telly just this week (or so?)

    Yup, fees were first, and means tested.

    I think you're right about '92 being the first year of loans, but means-tested fees? That doesn't ring true for me.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Ethan Tucker,

    1989 wasn't a high point in NZ music by any means, but Urlich's Safety In Numbers was a perfectly reasonable and inoffensive pop album of the time. Dated, sure, but wasn't the point that people were pleased that a NZ pop singer of any description could get radio play and do fairly well in Australia?

    Most Promising Group at the NZMA 1989: The Front Lawn. So at least they had some songwriting cred in the mix.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2008 • 119 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I did my first year at uni in 93. I paid fees, had the option of a loan but didn't take it. Can't recall if the fees were means-tested or not.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I think you're right about '92 being the first year of loans, but means-tested fees? That doesn't ring true for me.

    1990 and 91 I paid 10% fees. So yes, they were means-tested but you pretty much had to be living in a shoebox in middle of t' road to qualify.

    1990, it took eight weeks for student allowances to be processed, during which period one was apparently living on lovely chewy oxygen.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • dubmugga,

    ACIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDD...:)

    ...and the rise of the native tongues

    those sooooooo were the days !!!

    the back of your mind • Since Nov 2006 • 257 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Regarding Monteith's and NZ bands, I remember back in '93 when the 3Ds were recording The Venus Trail at Dominic Stones' big flat (an old, ex-Masonic temple) in downtown Dunedin and they stocked up on so much Monteith's there was literally none available in the central city bottle stores.

    One of my flatmates visited them and told me there were so many empties everywhere that "you could see more bottles than floor".

    When the album was released, Mac's were given a special thank you in the credits and on the promo tour they made sure to do a gig in Nelson.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    1989 wasn't a high point in NZ music by any means, but Urlich's Safety In Numbers was a perfectly reasonable and inoffensive pop album of the time. Dated, sure, but wasn't the point that people were pleased that a NZ pop singer of any description could get radio play and do fairly well in Australia?

    Fair enough, but to plug her album Urlich was interviewed on TV3 by a rooster puppet. When your fan base is mainly 8 year olds you do what you must.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Clubfoot .,

    Lovin' the Brighton Shed Sessions - fancy pluckin' indeed!

    I remember Ice-T's 'High Roller' 12" hitting the shelves in mid '89. The most shocking cover I'd ever seen - Darlene the syndicate queen wearing togs that would shame even Borat. It was duly purchased and created its own Friday night party.

    The hungover Saturday morning walk to the dairy for a paper revealed a sobering front page image. It made our Friday night seem embarrassing. In hindsight, we should have flayed ourselves with some loud Margaret Urlich.

    Cook Strait • Since May 2009 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    1990 and 91 I paid 10% fees.

    I seem to recall dropping about $40 per paper.

    Urlich was interviewed on TV3 by a rooster

    Specifically, Russell Rooster.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    you pretty much had to be living in a shoebox in middle of t' road to qualify

    Because it's Friday

    Python

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Whilst we are on good things, it was a bloody good Media 7 last night--even if times it threatened to turn into The Jo Cotton Show. I know it will be used by teachers, especially in girls' schools.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • David Haywood,

    I remember Ice-T's 'High Roller' 12" hitting the shelves in mid '89.

    Yep, that cover was certainly attention-grabbing. I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw it.

    And, in defence of Ms Urlich, she had a great voice (although perhaps not matched by song choice, at times).

    Turns out that Bob-the-Toddler loves Neneh Cherry. He's just made me play it three times. There goes another 21'30" of my life (not that I don't think Neneh's great; just that my typing annoys Bob when he's watching important stuff, so no work possible...)

    Dunsandel • Since Nov 2006 • 1156 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    1990 and 91 I paid 10% fees. So yes, they were means-tested but you pretty much had to be living in a shoebox in middle of t' road to qualify.

    Not means tested. Just in 1990 and 91 still charging the fee that Labour set. National fobbed them off on the universities after a couple of years, so from 1993 you had the protests on campus at fee setting meetings as they ramped down the funding and screwed both the institutions and students.

    Yup, fees were first, and means tested. I seem to recall that means (of the parents) testing was also brought in for allowances around then too. Goff was the Minister responsible, IIRC. That opened the door. Are you sure about 1993? I remember 1992 as the first year of loans.

    Sorry yes 1992. Same year that means testing for allowances was brought in. All three changes were the result of their 1991 tertiary review.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    1990, it took eight weeks for student allowances to be processed, during which period one was apparently living on lovely chewy oxygen.

    Oh, don't worry, Studylink are still bastards. Before they closed the on-site UC branch, the manager had a hobby of making people cry about just this sort of conundrum. And if you've ever tried making a sober engineer cry in public, you'll appreciate just how much bastardry is involved in this.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    1990, it took eight weeks for student allowances to be processed, during which period one was apparently living on lovely chewy oxygen.

    Looxury....


    When I was at Wellington Polytech in 1982 they didn't come through till around the last week of the first term.

    And they were real terms in those days, none of your modern short terms.

    Student loans came in in 1992. (I didn't go to Uni until my mid-20s, remember it well).

    Labour tried a student loans scheme in about 1988, from memory (Phil Goff was minister). It involved loans direct from the banks and the banks wanted more guarantees than the govt was prepared to give so the scheme got dropped. The fees were upped instead. They went from something like $500 to something around $1250, from memory.

    1989? Yep, I remember the Front Lawn. Saw their show at the Maidment twice, they were great.

    Fair enough, but to plug her album Urlich was interviewed on TV3 by a rooster puppet.

    I think we should have more of this sort of thing. Much much more.

    I mean, why pretend?

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • webweaver,

    Ooh yes that was an amazing time. I remember the days before the Berlin wall came down and then the day it did, watching on telly as thousands of ecstatic Germans pulled the wall down pretty much with their bare hands. I so wanted to be there.

    And then when Nelson Mandela walked out through the front gates of his prison to an enormous crowd of (also ecstatic) people. Incredible. There was whole bunch of friends round at my house that afternoon and we put the telly on to watch it - and we all cried with joy.

    I remember thinking that the world was turning on its head politically - so many enormously significant events happening one after the other.

    I guess it was around that time musically that I saw The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Pixies (twice), Dead Can Dance, New Order, and I think possibly U2 (pre-stadium days). Very cool. It was a good time to live in England.

    And then in 1990 we went down to London for the Nelson Mandela concert at Wembley stadium. It was an impressive lineup of acts, but the best bit of course was when the great man himself came on stage.

    We went completely nuts, singing and cheering and yelling and screaming and chanting - and it was a full six minutes before we quietened down enough to let him speak. There's a very cool audio recording of the ovation here. You can't hear it on this recording, but a whole section of the crowd began singing the classic Liverpool football chant You'll never walk alone - Nelson had to ask Winnie what we were singing cos he had no idea what it was.

    Seeing as it's Friday - here's the football chant sung by the Liverpool crowd in 1965:

    And here's Free Nelson Mandela from the Wembley concert:

    ...and finally the BBC News report the day he was released (embedding disabled):

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 332 posts Report Reply

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