1990: "Heavenly Pop Hit", The Chills

Anchored by Flying Nun, one of the premier post-punk record labels of the 80s, the New Zealand indie pop scene flourished in the cities of Christchurch and Dunedin from the label's founding in 1981 up through the present. Nearly every NZ band of note recorded for Flying Nun at one point or another - their only real competition at the time being Propeller Records - and, though most of these bands would remain largely unknown to US audiences during that first decade, in hindsight the region was cultivating some of the most innovative, artistically successful neo-pop of the age (a loose international corollary would be Scotland's Postcard Records, another indie label whose bands mined a cohesive yet individualistic aesthetic).

The Chills were not the first group to record for Flying Nun - relatively speaking they were somewhat of a late arrival on the scene - but by 1990 they'd built up a large enough audience to jump ship to a major label for their third album, Submarine Bells (strictly speaking, it's their second actual album, Kaleidoscope Bells being a roundup of early singles). Fortunately the Chills suffered very little of the usual hurdles and misunderstandings that often befall major label signings, crafting what many consider to be the greatest effort of their career. "Heavenly Pop Hit", in particular, is one of their most beloved tunes for good reason.