Like many of Chris Knox's video making efforts, this was shot on location in his Grey Lynn backyard. Knox and fellow Tall Dwarf Alec Bathgate feature in flickering TV screen images, alongside scenes of ordinary domestic life. The strange comedy and tragedy face masks were carved by Knox's partner Barbara Ward from mouldy grapefruit: Knox claimed the video cost $15 to make. 'The Slide' featured on Tall Dwarfs' seventh EP Dogma (1987).

'Touchdown' was drawn from the second (and final) Stereo Bus album Brand New (1999). The stylishly minimalist video, directed by Alex Sutherland and Michael Lonsdale, appears to be a continuous shot, circling around band members and objects in a white studio set. Biffed chairs and bottles, and singer David Yetton, get up close to the lens while guitarist Jason Fa'afoi (who was co-hosting What Now? at the time) also makes multiple appearances. The slow pan matches the tempo of the band’s textured guitar pop; the promo won Best Music Video at the 2001 NZ Music Awards.

This evocative music video scored a double-header: it was voted best video at both the NZ Music Awards, and the NZ Film and Television Awards. Emma Paki won gongs for singing and songwriting. Director Josh Frizzell mixes images of Paki singing on the streets with often sombre portraits of locals in their element, from children to gang members. Widely regarded as Paki's magnum opus, System Virtue became one of the most played local music videos of 1994. Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman produced the song; a much lusher version later appeared on 1996 album Oxygen of Love. 

Sitting in the Rain is a New Zealand pop landmark. One of the earliest music promo clips, filmed for television in 1967 by the NZBC, it is a cover version by a local band that became better known than the original (by UK blues stalwart John Mayall). The Underdogs were a powerful electric blues combo, but with 'Sitting in the Rain' they knew that less is more; the film clip, used to fill TV scheduling gaps, is similarly unfussy. Like a surly, underground Monkees, the anarchic Underdogs don't hide the fact that the performance is mimed.

"I'm a fraud / I'm a sham..." The debut single from this influential Kiwi band introduced New Zealand television audiences to Toy Love's recipe of pop riffs and punk sneer. Although the group only existed for 18 months, they charted three times and made a lasting impression on the live scene on both sides of the Tasman. The single 'Squeeze' (backed by B-side 'Rebel') was recorded after a one-off deal with WEA. Vocalist Chris Knox is front and centre, crackling with malevolent energy in a video that mixes kids' toys with some gross out performance art.

The career of TV infomercial queen Suzanne Paul took an unlikely turn in 1994 when she reinvented herself as a dance music diva (although the steps in question seem to be more inspired by line dancing). Paul told Metro magazine she did it to demonstrate she was more than "the intense over the top woman who sold things on television". Audio samples of her TV sales pitches — "1000s of luminous spheres" — blend in surprisingly well with Pitch Black member Paddy Free’s music (Boh Runga contributes vocals). The video was shot at the Staircase Nightclub on K Road.

‘Cruel’ was former Fast Crew member Dane Rumble’s third solo single (and Top 20 hit). It was recognised at the 2010 APRA Silver Scrolls as the year’s most played local song on NZ radio and television. The sound of this lively piece of synth pop belies the lyric’s bitter break-up recriminations, which in this video director Ivan Slavov translates into an intergalactic tale of heartbreak featuring a lovelorn android. Inspired by Rumble’s long standing fascination with NASA’s Hubble telescope images, it won Best Solo Video at the 2010 Juice TV Awards. 

A tongue in cheek paean to the joys of middle age, this jaunty, amiable rocker was an unlikely hit in the more electro-pop oriented early 80s. Written by Dave Luther, from folk pop group Hogsnort Rupert, it was the 12th biggest selling single in NZ in 1983. The all-singing, all-dancing music video, like so many of the era, was an Avalon studios television production. Less typically, by the standards of the day, it practically amounts to a major production with multiple sets and a cast of dozens while the band hams it up for all they are worth.

This Neil Finn number finally turned Split Enz into chart-toppers in Australasia, and gave them an entree to the vital North American market. It was graced with Noel Crombie's most ambitious video to date and became an MTV favourite. Curtains on the outside? Just one of the many innovative design elements in a clip, which explored Neil's inner torment as he withered under the scrutiny of giant eyes, an Orwellian flat screen television, and his creative paranoia at being shunned by the rest of the band — unable to infiltrate the clique. Heavy stuff!

The opening track from the second Jean-Paul Sartre Experience album indicates a significant change in tone for the band — more layered and expansive, and less angular than some of their earlier recordings. The video was directed and edited by John Chrisstoffels, who shot the stained glass windows and tile mosaics in Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral. JPSE vocalist and bass player Dave Yetton created the pulsing and spiraling video feedback effects. The band appears only fleetingly — in individual close-ups, filmed off a television screen by Chrisstoffels.