Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included

Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...

Alec Bathgate Alec Bathgate is a New Zealand musician who was a key member of The Enemy and Toy Love, as well as being one half of the Flying Nun Records act Tall Dwarfs, alongside Chris Knox. In addition to playing guitar in these bands, he also released t ...

and

Paul Kean Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. History Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members w ...

History

was the band's front man and other members were guitarist

, bass player

, drummer Mike Dooley, and keyboard player Jane Walker. The band developed out of the earlier punk band The Enemy from

, and are often regarded as the progenitors of the

Dunedin sound The Dunedin sound was a style of indie pop music created in the southern New Zealand university city of Dunedin in the early 1980s. Characteristics According to Matthew Bannister, Dunedin sound "was typically marked by the use of droning or j ...

movement. Toy Love were together for less than two years (1978–80) and spent a large part of that time in Australia. They released just one album, which was self-titled ''Toy Love''. The band members were apparently appalled by the mixing of the tracks, which took the edge off the band's deliberately raw sound.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album a 3/5 rating. In April 2005, the album was remastered and released along with a number of demos and unreleased tracks as a double CD entitled ''Cuts''. In 2012, a further compilation, simply titled ''Toy Love'', was released on double LP, containing all singles, b-sides, compilation tracks, demos and some live recordings (this has the same front cover artwork as ''Cuts''). After Toy Love broke up, Bathgate and Knox remained together as the

Tall Dwarfs Tall Dwarfs are a New Zealand rock band formed in 1981 by Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate, who helped pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music. The duo were former members of Toy Love. The band lacked a drummer, but would use household objects and han ...

. Kean was later a member of The Bats. In 2012, Toy Love was inducted into the

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associati ...

and given the Legacy Award at the

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

. Jane Walker died in October 2018; her death was announced by

Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringin ...

on Twitter.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Extended Plays

Singles

Awards

Aotearoa Music Awards

The

Aotearoa Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

(previously known as ''New Zealand Music Awards'' (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in

New Zealand music The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including b ...

and have been presented annually since 1965. ! , - , 2012 , , Toy Love , ,

, , , , , -

References

External links

Official Toy Love Flying Nun artist page
Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Flying Nun Records artists Dunedin Sound musical groups New Zealand punk rock groups {{NewZealand-band-stub