I thought I
was dreaming...

I recently asked a friend, who's around my age, if he'd ever heard "Pink Frost," and he said no. Then I asked if he'd ever heard anything by the Chills. No again. I was shocked. Back in the 1980s, the Chills were one of the key bands among the college radio/fanzine set. Though they never had the same sort of breakthrough, they inspired as much affection as Robyn Hitchcock or IRS-era REM.

So, I asked if he'd ever heard fellow New Zealanders the Verlaines or the Bats. No and no. (I was working at Cellophane Square the day Kurt Cobain and his retinue came in and purchased the latter's acclaimed Law of Things.) I could've asked about the Clean or the Tall Dwarfs, but I didn't see the point. For whatever reason, he wasn't listening to the noise from NZ at the height of its glory. I also could've asked if he'd ever heard Split Enz/Crowded House, and I'm certain he'd have said yes, but then they made more of a splash on commercial radio and MTV.

The experience served as a reminder that you sometimes have to re-align yourself with your friends and associates to ensure that you're speaking the same language. It's easy to assume your peers grew up with similar stuff, and it can come as a surprise to discover that they didn't. If they did, you can take advantage of a form of critical shorthand. You go to a show, turn to your companion, and say, "Gee, these guys sound a lot like the Verlaines," and they know exactly what you mean (even if they don't agree). Same goes for records, movies, books, etc. When you take the expected commonalities away, you have to work a lot harder to describe things and to make connections between them.



The cool part about a lack of shared experiences is that you get
the opportunity to introduce your friends to things they might really enjoy. The not-so-cool part is that I'm at an age where I
like to reminisce from time to time. Increasingly, I'm finding
that I don't have a lot of friends with which to do that. At least
not when it comes to some of my favorite artists from the 1980s.

Which brings me back to the Chills and the video for "Pink Frost." Unlike the Shins, it may not change your life, but they came first (dammit!), and if you'd like to learn more about the pleasures of New Zealand pop, I can't think of a better place to start.


The Chills - Pink Frost (1984)



Endnote: Chills and Verlaines images from the AMG, video from YouTube. For more from the Chills, I'd recommend the singles collection Kaleidoscope World (1986). As for their Dunedin neighbors in the Verlaines, I'd recommend Bird Dog (1987). Unfortunately, both releases appear to be out of print.