Rocked the Nation 2: 100 NZ Pop Culture Stories

WWF superstars, Luke and Butch aka The Bushwackers stomped their way to No. 97, Dai Henwood’s Dad made and guest appearance to talk about NZ’s first ever TV sitcom 'Gliding On',which came in at No. 90. It might have been a British born show but Play School was a Kiwi kid staple and made it onto the list at No.86, unfortunately this moment came with a shocking blow for most, when Shavaughn Ruakere revealed that she had inadvertently played a part in blowing up Little Ted whilst performing a skit on What Now. The Tui Billboards came in at No. 84 and we all thought they we going to be No.1 “Yeah Right”, and how could we forget the Ingham Twins?! These lovely ladies shot to stardom when they stowed away on a Malaysian container ship, jumped overboard and swam to shore through shark-infested Australian waters! They took out the No.86 spot and rumour has it someone’s even making a movie about them.

'Boobs On Bikes' rode in with much fanfare to take out the 81st spot; Georgina Beyer came in at number 78 for being the world’s first transgender in Parliament, and To top that off, she’s also not a bad ballroom dancer! NZ’s favourite desert ‘The Pavlova’ came in at number 74 - It’s on our list now Aussies, there’s no taking it from us! With almost 5 million copies sold worldwide ‘Hairy Maclary’ from Donaldson's Dairy came in at number 72; In 1979 it was illegal to use your car, but people did it anyway – the crazy scheme of ‘Carless Days’ came in at number 71 – And little old Martin Henderson AKA Stuart Neilson came in at number 70, proving to us all that a kiss with Britney Spears really does have benefits.

Ben Lummis, Rosita Vai and Matthew Saunoa sung their way into the 63rd spot with ‘New Zealand Idol’, we ate our way though so many Georgie Pies that ‘Fast Food’ come in at number 61. ‘Anne Geddes’ won herself a spot at number 59 by stuffing babies into adorable costumes and then putting their pictures on a bunch of calendars. Like a modern day Orson Welles, ‘Lonely Girl15’ fooled the world with her vblogs putting her in at number 57. Where would we be without ‘Suzanne Paul’?! Probably a whole lot less tanned…she painted our country with her luminous spheres and managed to take out the 54th spot. The 80s were great! Everyone was rich, we all drove Ferraris and had huge shoulder pads…. well they did in the TV series ‘Gloss’, which came in at number 47.

This week we watched as the world stood still waiting to feel the effects of ‘Y2K’, much to everyone’s dismay, nothing happened, but all the hoopla still earned the moment the 42nd spot. Keisha Castle-Hughes rode her way into our hearts on the back of a Right Whale and landed ‘Whale Rider’ the 34th spot. ‘Buck Shelford’ paid the ultimate sacrifice and lost a testicle to come in at number 35. Maori culture got another well deserved mention, but this time for the ‘Moko’ and its use by big corporations, including the likes of Playstation and Ford. He might not have his own primetime show anymore, but Paul Holmes is still an undisputed broadcasting legend, making him number 26 on our list.

ast time: Rocked The Nation 2, Lucy Lawless proved to us all that there really is a time and a place for a leather thong and backflipped Xena to number 22 on our list. Anna Paquin came in at number 20 for her Oscar winning success in the Jane Campion film The Piano. Love them or hate them, the oversize novelty fruit, fish and animals that turn our small towns into a tourist attraction are here to stay and managed to score the 19th spot on our countdown. Telethon was a television event that got us all into the sprit of giving, so we gave it something back and phoned it in at number 15. Trade Me met its reserve and came in at number 13. Sheep jokes, shreck the sheep, sheep skin rugs, there’s no denying it, kiwis really LOVE sheep. Making them number 11 on our countdown.

In an epic race to the finish we finally revealed New Zealand’s number one pop culture story - The Haka! The All Blacks have performed The Haka before their game’s for over 100 years, School Kapa Haka groups throughout NZ stomp out perfectly choreographed performances of it every day. The Haka’s made it on to the big screen in the films Whale Rider and Once Where Warriors. It’s even made it into the Guinness Book Of Records! The Haka is without a doubt kiwi through and through and this is why it’s our number one pop culture story!