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It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Don’t Feel Fine


Yesterday we watched New Zealand’s “Blam Blam Blam” perform, “There is No Depression in New Zealand,” a song from the early ’80s that satirized the attitude, projected by the Prime Minister, that everything in New Zealand was going along just fine. The song became a theme for the McGillicuddies, a faux political party that reminded everyone that “fine” is a state of mind. An example of the McGillicuddies’ political positions: “The diversion of all of NZ aluminium production away from building US military aircraft and missiles to build giant space-mirrors to melt the polar icecaps and destroy all of the foolish greed-worshipping cities of man in one stroke, thereby returning man to the sea, which he should never have left in the first place .”

In tthis video we watch the McGillicuddies try to invade Wellington in 1986, Alf’s army starts the video and the McGillicuddies come on at 2:22. The actual fake battle begins at 4:16.

Blam Blam Blam

This is our last week of musical adventures in the Oceania and the Pacific Islands, so let’s take the chance to tell at least one musical story we missed. The rock band Blam Blam Blam was one of early ’80s New Zealand’s most popular and controversial acts. Their hit, “There is No Depression in New Zealand,” atirized the attitude of polarizing prime minister Rob Muldoon who many believed was glossing over the needs of the population. In the early ’90s the song experienced a substantial revival when a “joke” political party, The McGillicuddy Serious Party, ran adopted it as their national anthem. Blam Blam Blam disbanded in 1984, though they reunited for some concerts in 2003. The McGillicuddy Serious Party disbanded in 1999, though they re-emerge every so often to do battle. More about the McGillicuddy Serious Party tomorrow.