The online South African Rock Encyclopedia covers the history of South African rock music from the 1950s up to the early 2000s. All this information is made freely available to the public.
Alphabetical List | 1939-1975 | 1976-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2002
A list of some of Brian Currin's favourite classic South African pop and rock songs, with a few additions from SA Rock Digest subscribers.
Sittin' (Take Me Home) - Toxic Shame (Buckley/ du Toit) [5.28]
Jon Buckley: guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards/ Deon du Toit: vocals, guitars, bass
This song needs to be played in front of 50 000 bic-waving fans - its that kind of song. This 5 and a half minute track builds slowly into an epic stadium crowd pleaser. The chorus of "I'm tired and take me home" would make an ideal show closer. This is a song that I could quite easily imagine Bon Jovi, the Scorpions or Aerosmith singing... The original 6-minute demo version was recorded in April 1999. Universal Music signed Toxic Shame in early 2000 and they re-recorded 'Sittin' (Take Me Home)'. The album 'Full Circle' was released in December 2000.
Crazy Over You (5FM version) - Zen Arcade (Cleland/Donaldson/McKenzie/Mathie) [4.28]
Andrew Cleland: drums/ Alistair Mathie: bass/ James Donaldson: guitar/ Ian McKenzie: vocals, guitar/ Lizzie Rennie: viola/ Jacqueline Finlay: cello
Soaring, soulful and touchingly vulnerable vocals on their addictively melodic first single, which stood tall among the many other worthy contributions on the 'Showcase 3: Unearthed' new SA Class of '01 rock mixture CD.
Stephen Segerman, August 2001
'Crazy Over You' was re-recorded and released on Zen Arcade's debut album 'Snowflake' in August 2001.
Set Of Wheels (Karoo Anthem) - Karen Zoid (Zoid) [2.51]
Karen Zoid: vocals, guitar/ Jono Hall: drums/ Don Reinecke: guitars/ Woody Swart: bass
The remarkably mature and consistently unboring album 'Poles Apart' opens in stirring rock style with the rough, dramatic guitar chords of 'Set of Wheels (Karoo Anthem)', which drove off with the SA Rock Digest 'Song Of The Year' for 2001. Our new favourite South African road song warns us that we're off on a Zoidian journey through contemporary SA.
Stephen Segerman, December 2001
Gasoline - Seether (Seether)
Shaun Morgan (neé Welgemoed): vocals, guitar/ Dale Stewart: bass, vocals/ Nick Oshiro: drums
Saron Gas became Seether and 'Gasoline' stormed to the top of the SA Rock Digest charts.
Searing grunge guitars clash head on with Cobain-inspired vocals, spouting disturbed lyrics that bubble up in a pool of boiling anger.
Stephen Segerman, December 2002 on SAfm
If your favourite South African song isn't listed here, our apologies. Unfortunately we are no longer able to dedicate the time and energy to updating this website as we would like, so it will need to remain as a time capsule for the foreseeable future.