Welcome 😃
I can answer the first question for now. I was about 7 years old when Don’t Dream It’s Over was first a radio hit in the US. My family was driving to visit my grandparents, me and my sister were in the back seat, and the song was on the radio. It’s my earliest memory of really, really liking a popular song. I recall watching the rural Wisconsin landscape speed by and just really enjoying the song. I surely wasn’t thinking deeply about the lyrics at that age, but the melody and arrangement, Neil Finn’s voice all captivated me.