{"id":28810,"date":"2025-01-28T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T10:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28810"},"modified":"2026-04-01T07:40:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:40:50","slug":"five-must-hear-songs-from-split-enz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/five-must-hear-songs-from-split-enz\/","title":{"rendered":"Five must-hear songs from Split Enz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Led by Neil Finn, Crowded House was one of the most popular groups in the world through the 1990s and beyond. With hits like \u201cDon\u2019t Dream it\u2019s Over,\u201d the group earned a legion of dedicated fans. Crowded House continues to this day, still led by Finn and now with a lineup that includes producer Mitch Froom and several members of Finn\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>But Crowded House didn\u2019t spring from nowhere: two of its founding members \u2013 Neil Finn and original drummer Paul Hester \u2013 had been in a previous group, Split Enz. That group, co-founded by Neil\u2019s older brother Tim, was based in New Zealand and Australia since their start in 1972. Split Enz\u2019s arty approach bridged the style of acts like Roxy Music with the new wave to come. The group moved in a more mainstream direction when Neil joined in 1977. Split Enz\u2019s subsequent sound provided a foundation for the work Neil Finn would create with Crowded House. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spilt Enz\u2019s aptly-named final studio album <em>See Ya \u2018Round<\/em>, here\u2019s a look at five essential tracks from New Zealand&#8217;s musical heroes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI See Red\u201d from <em>Frenzy<\/em> (1979)<\/strong><br \/>\nGuitarist and singer Neil Finn was all of 19 years old when he joined brother Tim\u2019s band. His entrance coincided with the band\u2019s shift away from the angular and somewhat bizarre lyrical and music approach and toward a more streamlined, pop-oriented style. The first single recorded after Neil\u2019s joining was \u201cI See Red,\u201d written by Tim Finn; it reached #15 in Australia and #43 in New Zealand. A hyperactive, almost punk song, it hinted at the new direction. Neil played lead guitar and provided backing vocals; he\u2019d soon take a larger role in the band.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TFIrKWg89r4?si=PdybAT7FIePIChyA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI Got You\u201d from <em>True Colours<\/em> (1980)<\/strong><br \/>\nSplit Enz\u2019s worldwide breakthrough came with their sixth studio release, <em>True Colours<\/em>. Neil Finn would write three songs for the album; the remainder of the album featured six Tim Finn songs and a pair of instrumentals. But it would be Neil\u2019s alternately moody and impassioned \u201cI Got You\u201d that helped pull the album to the #1 spot on the Australian charts, and to #40 on the <em>Billboard<\/em> album chart in the U.S. As a single, \u201cI Got You\u201d nearly cracked the U.S. Top 40.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wiqBlKnb91A?si=T6Q1EWb416CgZmV-\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHistory Never Repeats\u201d from <em>Waiata<\/em> (1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nReleased as <em>Waiata<\/em> in the U.S. (and everywhere else as <em>Corroboree<\/em>), Split Enz\u2019s seventh studio LP was a moderate commercial success. Two songs from the album would be promoted with music videos; both \u201cHistory Never Repeats\u201d and \u201cOne Step Ahead\u201d \u2013 both written by Neil Finn \u2013 were featured on the brand-new MTV, helping expose the group to a new audience. Released as a single, \u201cHistory Never Repeats\u201d made it into the U.S. Mainstream Rock Top 40 (#33). The song\u2019s title would later be used for a Split Enz greatest-hits collection.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xXrWTFvnqKI?si=Akpm7vUuEubB-j-W\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMessage to My Girl\u201d from <em>Conflicting Emotions<\/em> (1983)<\/strong><br \/>\nA sign of Neil Finn\u2019s growing maturity as a songwriter, the evocative balladry of \u201cMessage to My Girl\u201d is peak late-period Split Enz, and hints at the style of Finn\u2019s later work leading Crowded House. While he wasn\u2019t a member of the group when they recorded the song, drummer Paul Hester appeared behind the drum kit for the music video for \u201cMessage to My Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O6YD4rjVIO8?si=gIOLsSh4KPjnBgcd\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI Walk Away\u201d from <em>See Ya \u2018Round<\/em> (1984)<\/strong><br \/>\nTim Finn left Split Enz in early 1984 to focus on a solo career, and Neil Finn briefly kept the group going as de facto leader. The band\u2019s final studio album, <em>See Ya \u2018Round<\/em> wasn\u2019t released in the U.S., reportedly because <em>Conflicting Emotions<\/em> hadn&#8217;t sold well in the States. Half of the album\u2019s songs are Neil Finn originals, including \u201cI Walk Away,\u201d a tune that he\u2019d remake in a substantially different style \u2013 and with altered lyrics \u2013 when he launched Crowded House a few years later. A hit single in Australia and New Zealand, Split Enz\u2019s original version of \u201cI Walk Away\u201d has charms all its own.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t2SZYbzRajU?si=wAtmLc8CVjAgLaST\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Led by Neil Finn, Crowded House was one of the most popular groups in the world through the 1990s and beyond. With hits like \u201cDon\u2019t Dream it\u2019s Over,\u201d the group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2017],"class_list":["post-28810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-split-enz","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28810"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31254,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28810\/revisions\/31254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}