Thursday music corner: Straitjacket Fits were a Dunedin indie group on the Flying Nun label who released three studio albums between 1988 and 1993, before splitting up in 1994. The second and third albums, Melt (1990) and Blow (1993) both reached the New Zealand album chart top 20. The band were inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Down In Splendour appeared on Straitjacket Fits' second album in 1990, and was written by bandmember Andrew Brough. Released as Melt's second single, it failed to chart in New Zealand. But since its release it has gained greatly in stature, and now regularly features in polls of the greatest New Zealand songs.
Brough left the band before its third and final album. He later formed the band Bike, and died in Dunedin aged 56 in February 2020. Following the Fits' break-up lead singer Shayne Carter formed the group Dimmer, which had four successful album releases in the 2000s.
Straitjacket Fits - Down In Splendour (1990)