"I'm gonna build a room that echoes, around and around and around with its own sound." Peking Man's career peaked in 1985 with 'Room That Echoes', a number one hit that saw the band dominate the 1986 music awards. Directed by John Day, the surrealistic video features animated computer graphics of the afore-mentioned room, slowly building wall by wall and tracking against a background of stars. Margaret Urlich is the only band member present, appearing as a lone silhouetted figure dancing across a checkerboard floor.

As band member Haddon Smith points out, "you get the feeling Richard Bell knows what he's doing". And having produced renowned music videos for the likes of Depeche Mode, U2 and Nirvana, you have to agree with him. Bell's captivating concept, astute editing and spectacular set unite to deliver a thing of pure delight.   "We designed our own rooms. Mine is essentially my room in Auckland recreated in a small cube in an old warehouse somewhere in Christchurch!" Haddon Smith - April 09

Neil Finn has described the lyric to this song as "on the one hand, feeling kind of lost and, on the other hand, sort of urging myself on". The wistful single was Crowded House's breakthrough, hitting number two in the US (and the top spot in Aotearoa, after local radio earlier showed little interest). Australian director Alex Proyas (The Crow) based his video on locations from the band members' childhoods. As Finn walks from room to room, the video also neatly reinforces the band's name. 'Don't Dream It’s Over' remains one of the biggest international hits penned by a Kiwi.

Musical shapeshifter SJD (short for Sean James Donnelly) released second album Lost Soul Music in 2001, early in a career that has seen him blending synthesisers, backwards voices, and a love of melody — all while working to ensure that each new album heads somewhere different from the last. His vocal on single 'A Boy' shows echoes of Beck, an artist some have cited as an influence. Co-directed by his brother Kieran and Dominic Taylor, the music video mixes lively, childlike animation with shimmering images of an unusual room and the boy inside...whose head is often a blur.

The darkly arresting imagery of this Fanatics video — featuring leather clad models marching in robotic unison — was almost not to be, according to director Mark Albiston. "The band said 'do what you want — but no models'. I said 'what if we put them in jars'? They said...'mmmm... ok'." This swift negotiation lead to an industrial setting (the generator room under Wellington Hospital), with an army of models being baptised, energised and commercialised. The song was later used as the opening theme for New Zealand's Next Top Model.

Set in the board rooms, and on the streets and trolley buses of the capital, Nektar Films' polished clip stars Ladi6 (Karoline Tamati). It portrays the quest for "success" in a hostile corporate world, contrasted with life on the street, and seems to ask - is it all worth it?  Look out for actor Julian Arahanga and Loop Recordings head honcho Mikee Tucker at the board table.

When photographer John Lake offered to collaborate with Wellington band MarineVille, the song he chose was ‘Time’: a meditation on the relentless ways that time plays out in our lives taken from their third album Fowl Swoop. The resulting video, shot around the suburb of Newtown over three hours, stars drummer Greg Cairns desperately attempting to flee the inevitable march of time — only to get his comeuppance from the grim reaper, a room full of people he offended along the way (“Vitutaa” is Finnish for “We are annoyed”) and a catering pack of cream.

Lydia Cole's understated yet heartfelt breakup song is accompanied by an equally understated music video. Cole performs in a darkened room which is home to a number of mirrors...plus a man and a woman (possibly the woman who got the guy?). 'Dream' was one of five finalists for the 2016 APRA Silver Scroll songwriting award, after making it through from an original list of 20. The song was released ahead of Cole's second album The Lay of the Land; after she launched a crowd-funding campaign in September 2015 to help fund it, her target was met in only five days.

Publicly screened only a handful of times, AFFCO hasn't met with universal approval. Yet for many, this Stuart Page bombshell is the pièce de résistance of NZ music video art.   "It's been written that it was 'animal rights' inspired, which is incorrect. The song was written purely about some guys who 'pack meat' and the video was made in that light. I guess we got carried away wrapping David d'Ath in glad wrap, baby oil and food colouring in an upstairs room at my Freeman's Bay flat."  Stuart Page     CAUTION: This video contains images which may offend some viewers.  

Deep Obsession flared brightly but briefly in the late 90s, releasing a string of Eurodance songs. They are the one and only act to manage three consecutive number ones on the Kiwi music charts. ‘One and Only’ was the third, released after group founder Chris Banks had left the group. That left singers Zara Clark and Vanessa Kelly to get viewers primed for the dance floor. Impeccable music video logic sees the singers clinging to watery fluorescent-lit walls and overseeing a room of fishbowls. An alternative video for the song featured scenes in a desert and underwater.