The departure of Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone dominates this 1989 interview with the pioneering punk rockers, represented here by guitarist Johnny Ramone and new member CJ (Ramone). Johnny talks with contained amazement about Dee Dee leaving the band, and flirting with rap. He also mentions playing on Stephen King film Pet Sematary, and fails to recall the movie that features a “great” performance by The Swingers (Australia's Starstruck). Alongside offering staunch support from behind his sunglasses, CJ describes the joy of joining the Ramones, having been a big fan. 

This edition of Prime TV’s history of New Zealand television looks at 50 years of entertainment. The smorgasbord of music, comedy and variety shows ranges from 60s pop stars to Popstars, from the anarchy of Blerta to the anarchy of Telethon, from Radio with Pictures to Dancing with the Stars. Music television moves from C’mon and country, to punk and hip hop videos. Comedy follows the formative Fred Dagg and Billy T, through to Eating Media Lunch and 7 Days. A roll call of New Zealand entertainers muse on seeing Kiwis laugh, sing and shimmy on the small screen.

In 2003 a trio of Otago University students hosted a private outdoor music gig at Waiohika Estate, just outside Gisborne. Today the Rhythm and Vines festival is a hot ticket internationally, a three day event full of tents, beers and cheers. 20/20 goes behind the scenes in the dying days of 2010, as Rhythm and Vines attracts a record-breaking crowd of 25,000 people. Festival founders Hamish Pinkham, Andrew Witters and Tom Gibson have to solve last minute hiccups to pull off the party. Shihad front man Jon Toogood describes it as "the Big Day Out in a forest".

Pirate radio hit Kiwi airwaves on 4 December 1966 when Radio Hauraki broadcast from the Colville Channel aboard the vessel Tiri. Made by Sally Aitken, this film reunited the original pirates for the first time in 30 years to recall their battle to bring rock’n’roll to the youth of NZ. Featuring rare archive footage, the tale of radio rebels, conservative stooges, stoners, ship-wrecks and lost-at-sea DJs was originally made as a student film. It was bought by TVNZ and screened in primetime to praise: “Top of the dial, top of the class” (Greg Dixon, NZ Herald).

“The big ALL FUN show for the whole family to enjoy!” said the ads for this musical comedy, which was one of only two Kiwi features made in the 1960s. Moving from Sydney to a Rotorua music festival, it follows the romance between a lively drummer (Gary Wallace) and Judy (Carmen Duncan), and the hurdles they face to stay true. That's only an excuse for a melange of madcap musical fun. Made by John O’Shea for Pacific Films, the movie featured performers Howard Morrison (who sings in this excerpt), Lew Pryme and Kiri Te Kanawa, plus distinctive graphics by artist Pat Hanly.

Lew Pryme's life was a wild ride that took in everything from rock and roll to rugby before it was cut short by AIDS in 1990 (he was 51). This moving documentary interviews an ailing Pryme reflecting on his journey and (still secret) sexuality; it follows him from Waitara to becoming one of the most popular hip-swinging music stars of the 60s. He went on to manage singers Mark Williams, Rob Guest and Tina Cross; and in the early 80s he became the first executive director of Auckland Rugby Union, introducing cheerleaders and 'pizazz' to Eden Park.

Christchurch-born artist Len Lye (1901 - 1980) was an internationally renowned modernist filmmaker and kinetic sculptor. Recognised as a front-running innovator in setting music to film, e.g. Swinging the Lambeth Walk (1939) and Free Radicals (1958), he travelled extensively in the South Pacific in the 1920s, then moved to London. There Lye began making films for the GPO Film Unit, including A Colour Box (1935), one of the earliest direct films. In 1950 he became a US ctizen. His clips were posthumously programmed on MTV Europe; a retrospective of Lye's work screened at Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2000.  

Fresh from stints on vocals with Pop Mechanix and The Swingers, Andrew McLennan (aka Andrew Snoid) formed Coconut Rough with Blam Blam Blam guitarist Mark Bell in 1983. The band quickly found top five chart success with ‘Sierra Leone’ —  its infectious melody and keyboards made it a classic piece of synth pop: “Sierra Leone, it’s cold in the desert tonight". But the song's overwhelming popularity became an albatross around the band's neck. In 1986 McLennan rejoined Pop Mechanix, before spending a long period outside of music.  Bell went on to play for Big Sideways, and write for NZ Musician.

The Lambeth Walk was a popular 'swing jazz' dance in London in 1939. It included a hand gesture with the Yiddish "Oi!". New Zealand-born filmmaker Len Lye edited together different versions of the music (including Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stephane Grapelli on violin), and combined them with a variety of abstract images painted and scratched directly onto film, without using a camera. The colourful, dynamic animation was made with public money — for the Ministry of Information in the United Kingdom — scandalising some government bureaucrats.