Formation Hamish and David Kilgour started to write and play music together in Dunedin in 1978, influenced by 1960s pop rock and
garage records,
punk rock, and
psychedelic music. giving the nascent label its first hit. Following the release of "Tally Ho!
", The Clean recorded their debut 12"
EP Boodle Boodle Boodle in September 1981, engineered by Chris Knox and Doug Hood in an old Auckland hall. The EP was released on Flying Nun in October, debuting at number five on the New Zealand music chart and staying in the top 20 for almost six months. The continued success of the EP gave Flying Nun more financial security, and allowed the label to grow further. In May 1982, the band recorded and released the
Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-so Sounds So-so, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten EP, produced again by Knox and Hood. The release reached number four on the music charts and received positive praise. They supported The Fall on their 1982 tour of New Zealand, before releasing the "Getting Older" 7" single in October 1982.
Hiatus Following "Getting Older" and for most of the 1980s, The Clean were effectively disbanded. Flying Nun released
Odditties in July 1983, a cassette of 21 previously unreleased songs, many from the band's own home recordings made on a Revox B77 tape recorder. In 2003, the two-disc compilation
Anthology, released on
Merge Records, awakened new interest in the band in the US, building on an international reputation that had been enhanced by endorsements from prominent 1990s indie groups such as
Pavement and
Yo La Tengo. Doug Hood died from cancer in September 2024. ==Discography==