The Exponents

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The Exponents are a New Zealand rock group. They formed in 1981 as the Dance Exponents, after vocalist Jordan Luck and guitarist Brian Jones disbanded their first group, Basement, and relocated from the South Canterbury town of Timaru to Christchurch. The other founding members were David (Chalkie) Gent (bass), Steve (Fingers) Cowan (guitar) and Michael (Harry) Harralambi (drums). A residency at Christchurch's Aranui Tavern quickly earned them a strong reputation, and they were signed by Mushroom Records in 1982.

Cowan subsequently died as a result of a pre-existing medical condition. Some time later, Chris Sheehan joined the band on guitar. After releasing two albums in New Zealand, the band moved to Britain in 1987, where they were a popular draw for expatriate New Zealanders (and sometimes Australians and South Africans) and attracted A&R interest, but did not gain a record contract. They eventually returned to New Zealand and in dropped the "Dance" from their name in 1991, registering a shift in their style of music.

The group has always been based around the writing (and on stage antics) of mainstay Jordan Luck. Along with the above, members have included Bryan Bell, Mark Bell, Martin Morris and David Barraclough.

Their major hits, including "Why Does Love Do This To Me", "Who Loves Who The Most", "Victoria", "I'll Say Goodbye (Even Tho' I'm Blue)" and "Whatever Happened To Tracy" have been taken up by successive generations of younger New Zealanders some, with social commentators going so far as to say that an Exponents concert forms a rite of passage for New Zealand youth.

The band continued to tour New Zealand occasionally until 2006, often playing provincial towns as well as main centres, but Luck now tours with his own band, Luck, playing Exponents songs and new compositions. They reportedly once decided to tour every New Zealand town with a KFC, not due to their love of chicken, but because they trusted KFC's market research and reasoned these towns must contain enough youth to fill up their gigs.

The Exponents have opened for acts such as The Rolling Stones, KISS and David Bowie on their respective New Zealand tours.

[edit] APRA awards

In 2001, to celebrate 75 years of its existence, APRA invited its members and an academy to vote on what they believe are to be New Zealand's top songs of all time. The Exponents had several songs appearing in the top 100:

• #8 - "Victoria"
• #47 - "Why Does Love Do This To Me"
• #89 - "I'll Say Goodbye"

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles