Set in London, this music video offers a Bonnie and Clyde-style tale, inspired by lyrics which contrast life for rich and poor, and speak of “churning butter into diamonds”. After opening with the discovery of a body in a wedding dress, the clip offers up a prelude to the death. The video contrasts the pair’s apparent romantic entanglement with their escalating crime spree, from petty theft to armed robbery. The widescreen clip was directed by London-based Kiwis Claire Littler and Ralph Matthews.

The Chills visited England in 1986. This video mixes a moody rehearsal room performance with reminders of London, including Big Ben, the underground and apartment buildings (British sci fi comic 2000AD can also be spied). Vocalist Martin Phillipps wears the leather jacket of the song’s title. The jacket was bequeathed to him by Chills bandmate Martyn Bull, who died of leukaemia at the age of only 22. Paired with single 'The Great Escape', the song reached number four on the New Zealand charts, early in 1987.

This infectious song about the heartache of love took Jordan Luck roughly five minutes to write in an east London squat. It was the band's first release after a brief name change to Amplifier, then a shortening to The Exponents. Despite its unlikely origins and subject matter, the song has become an enduring Kiiwi sports stadium sing-along — rivalling Dave Dobbyn's 'Loyal' for unofficial national anthem status. The song's simplicity is matched by director Kerry Brown's video, which allows the band to do what they do best, in scenic spots including Waiotapu hot springs.

Since 1997 mysterious duo Fatcat & Fishface have produced a self-proclaimed ‘outlaw’ oeuvre of music for kids (and adults), that delights in not always looking at the bright side of life — as well as championing New Zealand birds, shipwrecks and rambunctious kids. In 2007 they commissioned Stephen and Ruth Templer to animate this unruly Socratic shanty from the Pretty Ugly album. The resulting film, with skull and crossbones aplenty, screened at the 2007 NZ Film Festival and in Korea, Melbourne and London. The Templers later animated F&F songs Nightclub and Hair.

A heartwarming tribute to the spirit of togetherness, this Dave Dobbyn classic celebrates Aotearoa's many colours. Forklift drivers, shop owners, children and (then) asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui lend weight to the welcome, as does the declaration at the end: "We come from everywhere. Speak peace and welcome home." Taken from 2005 album Available Light, Dobbyn's song became an unofficial anthem to many expats. Dobbyn went on to sing it at the 2006 launch of a NZ memorial in London, at concerts after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks — and in te reo version 'Nau Mai Rā'.

For this Garageland video, British director Gina Birch filmed the band multiple times, before dissecting the footage and reconstructing it in segments. By splitting the screen equally into 12 squares, Birch creates some unusual distortions of time and space, including one head becoming two, and mirrors being used to dazzle the camera. The video was shot in London. Birch was a founding member of British post-punk band The Raincoats; she has gone on to direct videos for New Order, The Pogues, and The Libertines.

On ‘Lady Lywa’, Nathan Haines swaps his trademark saxophone for a flute, serving up a slice of sleekly sophisticated cool. The video captures a live performance at London’s Lovebuzz Studios, with a sharply suited Haines leading a five piece ensemble of seasoned players — including his long term collaborator, keyboardist/producer Mike Patto. The track was penned by Haines, and features on his 2013 long-player Vermillion Skies, which debuted on the local top five on release, and won him his third Best Jazz Album Tui at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards.

Don McGlashan has never been scared to use Kiwi place names in his songs, including on this classic debut single by The Mutton Birds. Inspired by a man glimpsed from the bus one day — a resident of the fabled “halfway house, halfway down Dominion Road” — McGlashan spins a tale of redemption on one of Auckland’s busiest arterial routes. The colour footage (showing glimpses of forgotten shops, and a less multicultural streetscape than today) is by cinematographer Leon Narbey. An alternative video for the song was shot inside an old armoury building in London. 

In the best traditions of the Beatles, U2 and Head Like a Hole, Die! Die! Die! takes to a rooftop in New York for this video made by London-based director and editor Rohan Thomas. They sing of an urban nightmare of burning roads and bridges, places to avoid and not being able to return home – but the song's title takes full responsibility. The clip was the result of a guerilla shoot with a generator in 2009 that had them moved on from a series of prospective locations until they happened on an unguarded rooftop – to the surprise of nearby office workers.

With 'Turn from the Rain', The Veils added their name to the prestigious list of bands who have recorded at London's famed Abbey Road Studios — a list which includes The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. According to frontman Finn Andrews “The room there is so musty and still … you want any sound you make to be worth disturbing the grand silence for.” The idea of making a video at Abbey Road arrived at 2am in a Hackney flat; the performances were shot on 16mm film, an appropriately retro touch considering the venue. The recordings were later released on The Abbey Road EP.