Rock music in New Zealand, also known as Kiwi rock music and New Zealand rock music, rose to prominence first in 1955 with Johnny Cooper's cover version of Bill Haley's hit song "Rock Around the Clock". This was followed by Johnny Devlin, sometimes nicknamed New Zealand's Elvis Presley, and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The 1960s saw Max Merritt and the Meteors and Ray Columbus & the Invaders achieve success. In the 1970s and early 1980s the innovative Split Enz had success internationally as well as nationally, with member Neil Finn later continuing with Crowded House. Other influential bands in the 1970s were Th' Dudes, Dragon and Hello Sailor. The early 1980s saw the development of the indie rock "Dunedin sound", typified by Dunedin bands such as The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills, recorded by the Flying Nun record label of Christchurch. New Zealand's foremost hard rock band Shihad started their long career in 1988. 1950s Rock music began in New Zealand in 1955 when Wellington-based country singer Johnny Cooper (popularly known as the "Maori cowboy") recorded a cover version of American Bill Haley’s hit song "Rock Around the Clock" for HMV, the first rock and roll record recorded outside the United States. In 1956, Cooper wrote and recorded an original song called "Pie Cart Rock and Roll". The song referred to a pie cart that he visited while managing talent shows in Whanganui. The song is believed to be New Zealand's first indigenous rock and roll recording, although "Resuscitation rock", written by Wellington teenager Sandy Tansley in March 1957, may have been released a few weeks earlier than Cooper's song. Singer Johnny Devlin was touted as New Zealand's Elvis Presley and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" remains one of New Zealand's biggest-selling singles, having sold 100,000 copies in 1959–60. In 1959, Mabel Howard, Minister of Social Welfare, went to see Johnny Devlin perform at the Christchurch Town Hall, declaring at half-time, "There’s nothing much wrong with rock and roll". New Zealand's studios lagged behind their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere and 1950s recording stars The Tumbleweeds recorded six of their hit albums in the living room of one of their band members. 1960s New Zealand radio's conservative programming approach was increasingly challenged by young people in the 1960s. Radio Hauraki initially began life as a pirate radio station, broadcasting in international waters 50 miles (80 kilometres)