DUCKROCKERS, TVNZ 2, Wednesday, November 2, 8.30pm; TVNZ+
In Paul Gorman’s voluminous biography of the late Malcolm McLaren, the pop trickster’s 1983 visit to New Zealand is covered in a single paragraph. Phonogram, the record company that released McLaren’s Duck Rock album here, had a hit with it – but had no clue as to who was actually buying it.
“We found the answer at a local TV station,” it quotes McLaren explaining 25 years later. “Outside in the car park, a group of Māoris arrived and rolled out corrugated cardboard to demonstrate that they could breakdance.”
In that sense, , which is, exercises a duty not only to its source material – early in the original film, thirtysomethings Albert, Michael, Sefa and Stanley are established as having once been the teenage bopping crew the Duckrockers – but to cultural history. Breakdancing was the first hip-hop culture in New Zealand, long before anyone made a record, and it was mostly done by brown kids.
