Wayne Mason's classic 1970 number one hit Nature was voted the best local song and artists as diverse as Split Enz, Ruru Karaitiana, Bic Runga, Fur Patrol, Hello Sailor and Blerta were rated in the top 30 songlist .

Ironically many of the songs voted into the top were initially rejected by New Zealand radio for airplay. Dave Dobbyn’s Slice of Heaven ( 1986) for example only made it to the playlist when the album Footrot Flats achieved so many sales it could no longer be ignored. The result was a number one hit.

That same year Crowded House released Neil Finn’s Don’t Dream It’s Over which was snubbed by local radio. When a supergroup including Paul Young and Midge Ure announced they would perform a special song at Wembley Stadium for the Nelson Mandela concert the audience erupted when it was discovered it was Don’t Dream It’s Over. It went to number 2 position in the US before New Zealand radio even touched it.

Also ignored by local radio was Shona Laing’s Glad I’m Not A Kennedy (1987) which was rejected in New Zealand until it had shot to number one on the Australian charts ( North Meets South – Popular Music in Aotearoa 1994).

These three songs all feature in APRA’s top 30 songs of the last 75 years. Meanwhile commercial radio broadcasters are currently negotiating with Broadcasting Minister Marion Hobbs over plans to introduce music quotas.

Ms Hobbs wants all radio stations to gradually move up to a 25 per cent New Zealand content quota voluntarily Currently the national average is just over 10 per cent with broadcasters protesting that 25 per cent is too high. Attempts to bring in a radio quota in 1985 and 1990 were also opposed by broadcasters and eventually failed.

Meanwhile APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) members and invited guests. who were invited to select their top 10 favourites in no particular order have spoken. Nature, a hit for Mason's band Fourmyula, was and covered The Muttonbirds two years ago was rated number one. Mason has just re-recorded a version for his newly released solo album Same Boy.

"New Zealand is a very physical, very natural sort of country. It does sound very 60s with its lyrics, but when I wrote it, it was a very serious attempt at writing about how I feel, creating this big picture which I tried to describe," says Mason.
   
The list was announced at Apra's annual Silver Scroll award for songwriting. The worldwide Crowded House hit Don't Dream It's Over was the second most popular song. The writer of that song, Neil Finn, didn't miss out on a prize however, receiving the Silver Scroll, one of New Zealand music's most highly regarded awards, for his song Turn And Run.
  
"These songs have secured a very real place in the cultural tradition of New Zealand. The event was a massive celebration of New Zealand music from our past and of our present," said Mike Chunn director of New Zealand operations for APRA.
   
However the awards weren’t without their critics, with claims Maori and Polynesian acts weren’t sufficiently represented. So where was Poi E the hit from Dalvanius and The Patea Maori Club or How Bizarre from OMC, Herbs, John Rowles or Sir Howard Morrison or Prince Tui Teka? Most of those with negative comments to make however admitted they hadn’t voted for various reasons. Well you can’t please everyone,

Meanwhile Neil Finn, for so many years not eligible for the APRA Silver Scroll Award as he was not resident in New Zealand, has proved his song writing skills are "still the powerful, emotionally charged force they have always been," says Mike Chunn. Turn And Run was a clear choice for the Apra Silver Scroll judges. "It's near perfect marriage of lyrics and melody into a work."
   
The other five finalists for the Silver Scroll were:
American Wife (Geoff Maddock, Kirsten Morelle, Joel Wilton, Ben King, Andrew Clark, Golden Horse), 
King Kong (Buzz Moller, Voom),
Screems From Da Old Plantation (Bill Urale, Kas Futialo, King Kapisi),

Fade Away (Che Ness, Che Fu)