Pump Up the Jams

As I’ve suggested previously, the New Zealand soundtrack is a bit behind the times. The Kiwis really do party like it’s 1999! A regular feature in one of the Welly newspapers involves asking people on the street what’s playing on their ipods. [side note - I recently shared an elevator with someone listening to a discman.] The selections are often old. Not old enough to be classic (Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation); just old enough to be unexpected (Janet Jackson, Damita Jo).

One day, a shoe store was playing a late 90s boy band dance song. I don’t remember which one – maybe NSync’s "Bye, Bye, Bye," or Backstreet Boys’ "I Want It That Way." Honestly, who can tell the difference? In any case, those chart-toppers are undeniably catchy. You still hear them in American malls from time to time. You bop along and reminisce – “prom night was totally awesome!” In the US, the experience ends there. In New Zealand, the shoe store proceeds to play the entire CD. The CD is at least a decade old, and some of the songs were never popular in the first place.

In another retail/musical mash-up, I was recently Rickrolled in a convenience store. Never gonna get that song out of my head!

To go even further back in time, I can watch hours of music videos on C4 TV. This was my favorite pastime in the 7th grade, which is the last time MTV has shown a music video. In a shocking twist of events (brace yourself...), the music videos broadcast in New Zealand are actually very new and “with it.” Some of the bands are so hip that I’m too old to know them. If you find yourself shoe shopping in New Zealand in 2020, this is the music you’ll hear.