Album · Shona Laing
South by Shona Laing
South is an album by Shona Laing, released in 1987. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 12 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Soviet Snow”, on 7 lists with a best position of #25.
South, New Zealand singer Shona Laing's 1987 album, is the biggest record of her career, and it came out twice: worldwide in 1987, then in the US in 1988 with four tracks from her 1985 album Genre in the running order. It's sleek, synth-lit art-pop with a conscience, Laing's cool, gliding voice riding chilly keyboards and drum-machine pulse.
"(Glad I'm) Not a Kennedy" was the smash, a No. 2 hit at home and No. 9 across the Tasman in Australia, and US alternative stations like WLIR played it all the way to No. 14 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Soviet Snow", inspired by the Chernobyl disaster, is the eeriest thing here and climbed to No. 32 among US dance club songs, with "Drive Baby Drive" also charting. In 2020 it won the IMNZ Classic Record Award at the Taite Music Prize.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from South on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Snow | 7 | #25 | – | 1988–1991 | |
| 2 | Glad I'm Not a Kennedy | 5 | #35 | – | 1987–1988 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.