The Knobz were a New Zealand pop band, originally based 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 ...

, but not considered part of that city's main wave of

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 ...

bands. They became famous in 1980 with their political song "Culture?" criticising

Rob Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...

, who was

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

at the time and had stated that New Zealand's pop music was not culture. Muldoon had made the remarks in the context of refusing to lift a 40%

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

on sales of music. The Knobz were fairly typical of the New Zealand pop scene in the 1980s; they were described in an article of the time as "

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

meets

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a no ...

". However, several things set them apart from their contemporaries. They were the first band to have a self-funded

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

hit the top 5 in New Zealand, released on Wellington independent label Bunk Records owned and run by Michael Alexander. They also managed themselves and toured extensively following chart success with two further singles – "Liverpool to America" (an opportune song about

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

) and "K.G.B." – and, later, an album, '' Sudden Exposure''. They were considered to be an accomplished live act. The band toured New Zealand before leaving for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1980, where they played with other acts of the period such as

Divinyls Divinyls () were an Australian rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1980. The band primarily consisted of vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett garnered widespread attention for performing on stage in a school unifo ...

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, Swanee and Moving Pictures. The Knobz dispersed at the end of 1981, with some of the members moving on to other projects; most notably,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Bob Reid went on to play for the powerhouse

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

band

The Sharks The Sharks were a rhythm and blues band from Albany N.Y. from early 80's to mid 90's and opened for numerous recording artists such as Tower of Power, Stevie Ray Vaughan. History The band members started by playing cover versions of songs by ne ...

. The Knobz later reformed with

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

Kevin Fogarty for one more trip around New Zealand and to promote the album '' Roads to Rome''. The new album had been written by former band members, but these were replaced with drummer

Tim Powles Timothy Guy Gerard Powles (born 21 December 1959) is a New Zealand music producer and artist. Also known as "timEbandit" Powles, his main instrument and first love was the drums and percussion in general, though over time he's become a dab han ...

and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Warwick Keay, both formerly of Flight X-7.Carey Peterson from Auckland walk and The Visitors also joined the band as vocalist to tour with the band in 1982. In their heyday, The Knobz can be said to have epitomised the early 80s period when punk still held a slender audience and

New Romantic The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...

music was starting to make an impact.

Discography

Singles

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knobz New Zealand pop music groups Musical groups established in 1979