Man on The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown - by Roger Shepherd — The Gordons

The Gordons showed us that it was possible to do something completely different in 1980 by cutting out the cliched rock conventions, cranking up bold and modern musical ideas, and effectively using repetition and volume. They blew everyone and everything away. No one knew that loud was a thing before The Gordons.

The name says it all. Ballon D’essai or a “balloon trial”, which is a fancy French way of saying “floating an idea”. This is exactly what happened back in 1980 in Christchurch with a young band. Ballon D’essai were a beginner band of arty schoolboys taking up the music thing to see how it would fly and to where.