Thanks Adam for suggesting this song as a follow up to the Blam Blam Blam song "There Is No Depression In New Zealand" from a few days ago. A fantastic choice because this song has a great story behind it. It was 1980 and there was a growing discontent with the 40% sales tax that the government had placed on pop music. The situation hit a plateau, as I vaguely remember it, when the Prime Minister Rob Muldoon was questioned about sales tax not being on magazines and classical music but on popular music, which was part of our culture. The reply was something like "that's not culture, Kiri Te Kanawa is culture" or it could've actually been "Don't give me culture"... anyway, whatever was said, it pissed off the young record buying public including myself. So it wasn't a surprise at all that part of the backlash was a political pop song that had more than a few swipes at Muldoon. It is now a part of our musical culture in New Zealand.
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