It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time again to pack my bags for yet another imaginary desert island trip. Of course, before I leave I must make an important decision about which song I should take along from a band or artist I haven’t covered on the blog or only mentioned once or twice.
I’m up to the letter “H” for this little fun exercise. Looking at my song library, picks could have included Hall & Oates, Jimi Hendrix, Herman’s Hermits, The Hooters and Huey Lewis and the News. Based on the above selection criterion, I decided to go with The Hollies and Bus Stop, a song I loved from the very first time I heard it many moons ago!
The Hollies were formed in December 1962 in Manchester, England. Their original line-up included Allan Clarke (vocals), Vic Steele (lead guitar), Graham Nash (rhythm guitar, vocals), Eric Haydock (bass) and Don Rathbone (drums). Over their now 60-year career, the group has seen numerous line-up changes, with Clarke remaining as the only original member. Wikipedia notes that together with The Rolling Stones, they are one of the few UK groups from the early ’60s, who never disbanded.
Bus Stop, written by then-future 10cc co-founder Graham Gouldman, is one of the best-known tunes by The Hollies. I also believe it’s their first song I heard on the radio while growing up in Germany. The band’s distinctive three-part harmony singing grabbed me right away. You just don’t hear such great vocals anymore these days.
While at the time it was released as a single in June 1966 The Hollies already had scored a few hits, especially in the UK, Bus Stop became their first top 10 single in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100, climbing to no. 5. Elsewhere, the title track of the band’s fourth studio album from October 1966 topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand, and reached no. 2 in the UK, no. 3 in Norway, no. 4 in The Netherlands and no. 9 in Germany.
Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:
This song is about a couple who meet one rainy day at a bus stop. Love blooms when they share an umbrella.
In a Manchester newspaper, Graham Gouldman said he wrote it whilst riding on the No. 95 bus, which ran from East Didsbury – the route went through Manchester city centre, to Sedgeley Park, Cheetham Hill, Prestwich, and on to Whitefield near Bury. Gouldman was living with his family on this route in Broughton Park Salford at the time.
Graham Gouldman’s father was a talented and creative writer who often helped his son with song ideas. Graham had the idea for bus stop setting, and his dad came up with the first line: “Bus stop, wet day, she’s there, I say, ‘please share my umbrella.'” From that starting point, he was able to finish the song.
In a Songfacts interview with Gouldman, he explained: “He gave me those words and I immediately, as I was reading them, heard the melody in my head, and it just kind of wrote itself. And then the middle part of the song I wrote – I got the melody and the words all in one chunk.”
The timeline in this song is a little askew. We know that love bloomed over the summer, but then we get the line, “Came the sun, the ice was melting.” This harkens spring, so apparently time has passed. In Gouldman’s Songfacts interview, he clarified: “Winter is over, the snow is passed because the sun has melted it, so there’s no need to shelter anymore under the umbrella. You could say the snow is underfoot so you don’t need an umbrella anyway, but it’s poetic license: it could have been snowing so the umbrella can protect you from the snow as well as the rain.”
Graham Nash of The Hollies [who later became part of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – CMM] recalls learning about this song when their manager, Michael Cohen, told them about “this little Jewish kid who lives down the street,” which was Graham Gouldman. When Gouldman played it for them, they knew they had a winner. Nash says they recorded it in just an hour and 15 minutes.
Celebrating female artists in blues, country, jazz, rock & roll, soul and pop
The idea behind this two-part post was inspired by fellow blogger Lisa, aka msjadeli, a talented poet who also likes great music. Throughout this month, she’s doing “Women Music March,” a series I’ve been enjoying. If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to check it out. While female artists aren’t a novelty in my blog, the closest I previously came to celebrate their music in a dedicated fashion were two posts on ladies singing the blues. You can find them here and here. Female talent certainly isn’t limited to the blues. This two-part post includes ten of the many female music artists I admire.
It’s also good timing to recognize female music artists in a dedicated way. March happens to be Women’s History Month, a celebration of contributions women have made and are making to society. Obviously, music is an important part of this, and some of the artists I feature were true trailblazers. Initially, I had planned to include all of my 10 selections in one post but quickly realized it made more sense to break things up. Here’s the first of two installments.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe who started playing the guitar as a four-year-old and began her recording career at age 23 in 1938 was a prominent gospel singer and an early pioneer of rock & roll. Playing the electric guitar, she was one of the first popular recording artists to use distortion. Her technique had a major influence on British guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards. She also influenced many artists in the U.S., including Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, to name a few. After Elvis had seen her being backed by vocal quartet The Jordanaires, he decided to work with them as well. Tharpe has been called “the original soul sister” and “the godmother of rock & roll.” Unfortunately, her health declined prematurely and she passed away from a stroke in 1973 at the untimely age of 58. In May 2018, Tharpe was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence. Here’s Strange Things Happening Everyday, a traditional African American spiritual that became a hit for Tharpe in 1945. This recording is historic, as it’s considered to be one of the very first rock & roll songs. Tharpe’s remarkable guitar-playing, including her solos, distorted sound and bending of strings, is more pronounced on later tunes, but you can already hear some it here. This lady was a true early rock star and trailblazer!
Nina Simone
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tyron, N.C. in February 1933, Nina Simone was the sixth of eight children growing up in a poor family. She began playing the piano at the age of three or four. After finishing high school, she wanted to become a professional pianist, so she applied to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. When they rejected her, she decided to take private lessons. In order to pay for them she started performing at a night club in Atlantic City, N.J. The club owner insisted that she also sing, which ended up launching her career as a jazz vocalist. In February 1959, Simone’s debut album Little Blue Girl appeared. It was the start of an active recording career that lasted for more than 30 years until 1993. Afterwards she lived in Southern France and died there in April 2003 at the age of 70. Here’s Ain’t Got No, I Got Life, a medley of the songs Ain’t Got No and I Got Life from the musical Hair, with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and music by Galt MacDermot. It appeared on Simone’s 1968 album ‘Nuff Said and became one of her biggest hits in Europe.
Aretha Franklin
“Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, who was born in Memphis, Tenn. in March 1942, began singing as a child at a Baptist church in Detroit, Mich. where her father C.L. Franklin was a minister. The Reverend began managing his daughter when she was 12 years old. He also helped her obtain her first recording deal with J.V.B Records in 1956, which resulted in two gospel singles. After Franklin had turned 18, she told her father she wanted to pursue a secular music career and moved to New York. In 1960, she signed with Columbia Records, which in February 1961 released her debut studio album Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. Thirty-seven additional studio recordings followed until October 2014. In 2017, she came out of semi-retirement for a planned short tour. I had a ticket to see her in Newark on March 25, 2018, her 76th birthday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. A few months prior to the gig, it was announced Franklin’s doctor had put her on bed rest and that all remaining shows of the tour were canceled. In August 2018, Aretha Franklin died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. Here’s (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone, a great soul tune co-written by Franklin and Ted White, her first husband and manager from 1961 until 1968. It was included on her 12th studio album Lady Soul released in January 1968.
Carole King
More frequent visitors of the blog know how much I admire Carole King. With the recent 50th anniversary of Tapestry, I’ve written extensively about her. Before releasing one of the greatest albums in pop history in 1971 at age 29, for more than 10 years, King wrote an impressive array of hits for many other artists, together with her lyricist and husband Gerry Goffin: Will You Still Love Me (The Shirelles), Take Good Care of My Baby (Bobby Vee), The Loco-Motion (Little Eva), One Fine Day (The Chiffons), I’m Into Somethin’ Good (Herman’s Hermits), Don’t Bring Me Down (The Animals), Pleasant Valley Sunday (The Monkees) – the list of Goffin-King hits goes on and on. This songwriting duo helped shape ’60s music history. They were rightfully inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1987. King is also currently nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. While given her general modesty I imagine she doesn’t even care much about it, it’s just mind-boggling to me why this extraordinary artist wasn’t inducted decades ago! If you share my sentiments and like to do something about it, you can go to rockhall.com and participate in the fan vote. You can do so every day between now and April 30. King is currently trailing in sixth place. Only the first five will be included in the fan vote tally, so she definitely could need some support! To celebrate another true trailblazer in music, let’s get the ground shaking with I Feel the Earth Move from Tapestry!
Tina Turner
What can I say about Tina Turner? Where do I even begin? The Queen of Rock & Roll wasn’t only one of the most compelling live performers, as I had the privilege to witness myself on two occasions. She’s also one of the ultimate survivors. Her initial role as front woman of Ike & Tina Turner brought her great popularity but came at a terrible price. Physically and emotionally abusing your woman wasn’t cool, Ike, and will forever tarnish you. And look what happened after Tina walked out on you on July 1, 1976 with 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her pocket. She launched a successful solo career, while you struggled. At the time Tina was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as part of Ike & Tina Turner, you were in prison – ’nuff said! BTW, Turner is also among the 2021 nominees – this time as a solo artist. Currently in second place in the fan vote, she would certainly deserve a second induction. Here’s The Bitch Is Back from Turner’s first solo album Rough, released in September 1978 after her divorce from pathetic wife beater Ike Turner. It almost sounds like she was giving him the middle finger! Co-written by Bernie Taupin (lyrics) and Elton John (music), the tune first appeared on John’s eighth studio album Caribou from June 1974.
On February 10, 2021, Carole King’sTapestry is turning 50. Not only is it one of the most iconic pop albums ever recorded, but Tapestry holds a special place in my heart. Over the next 10 days, I intend to celebrate this timeless gem largely one song at a time. Since Tapestry has 12 tracks, I guess I should have started this series two days earlier to truly make it one track each day. Well, obviously I didn’t, so I need to cheat a little to fit the series within 10 days. I’m going to kick it off and finish up with two songs and highlight one tune on each day two to day nine.
Tapestry is one of the very first music vinyl records I ever heard when I was a seven or eight year-old growing up in Germany. Even though I didn’t understand a word of English at the time, Carole’s music spoke to me right away. And, believe it or not, pretty soon, I found myself singing along, mimicking the English language. I memorized much of the lyrics that way, and later on when I started taking English lessons in fifth grade, I actually began to understand word by word what I had phonetically mimicked years before.
Tapestry inner sleeve
Tapestry was Carole King’s sophomore solo album. It came out nine months after her debut Writer. While Carole was only 29 years old when Tapestry was released, she already had had an impressive 13-year music career under her belt. Most of that time she had spent writing songs together with lyricist Gerry Goffin. Carole met Gerry while they were students in Queens College and married him at age 17 after she had become pregnant with her first daughter Louise.
Goffin-King became one of the most prolific and most successful songwriting partnerships of the ’60s. Some of the hits they wrote include Will You Love Me Tomorrow (The Shirelles), Chains (The Cookies, The Beatles), The Loco-Motion (Little Eva), Take Good Care of My Baby (Bobby Vee), Up on the Roof (The Drifters), I’m into Something Good (Earl-Jean, Herman’s Hermits), One Fine Day (The Chiffons), Pleasant Valley Sunday (The Monkees) and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin). They even dabbled somewhat in psychedelic rock with Don’t Bring Me Down, which The Animals recorded and released in 1966.
Back to Tapestry. Unless noted otherwise all music and lyrics were written by Carole. Here’s the opener I Feel the Earth Move, a piano-driven rocker with a bluesy touch, fueled by Carole’s honky tonk style piano and guitarist Danny Kootch’s great fill-ins. What a terrific way to kick off the album! I Feel the Earth Move also became the A-side of Tapestry’s lead single, backed by It’s Too Late. Billboard lists I Feel the Earth Move as a no. 1 tune on the Hot 100, though according to Songfacts, there is some debate over this. Apparently, after a few weeks of frequent airplay of I Feel the Earth Move, DJs discovered the B-side and ended up playing it more. Billboard subsequently designated the single a double-A. As the result, the tunes were no longer tracked separately and are now both considered to be no. 1 songs.
After an energetic opener, Carole decided to slow things down with the ballad So Far Away. So far away/Doesn’t anybody stay in one place any more?/It would be so fine to see your face at my door/It doesn’t help to know you’re just time away/Long ago I reached for you and there you stood/Holding you again could only do me good/Oh how I wish I could but you’re so far away…Such beautifully written lyrics.
According to Songfacts, Tapestry producer Lou Adler said, “So Far Away’ is my favorite song on Tapestry. I use the phrase a lot, ‘Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?’ It’s the road, it’s the people traveling. It just seems to me an anthem of that particular time and so well written and one of the earlier songs she wrote for this album.”
Long before Carole King launched her solo career in 1970, she was part of one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in pop music history with lyricist Gerry Goffin. The two met in New York’s Queens College in 1959 where Carole Klein (her birth name) had begun writing songs as Carole King. They started collaborating soon thereafter, with Carole composing music and Gerry writing lyrics.
The songwriting partnership quickly led to romance, pregnancy and marriage in August 1959. King was 17 years old while Goffin was 20. That same year, she composed Oh Neil for her high school friend Neil Sedaka who recorded the tune as a single. He co-wrote the lyrics with Howard Greenfield and Goffin. The B-side A Very Special Boy was a Goffin-King composition.
Don Kirshner, Carole King and Gerry Goffin
The single flopped. But it resulted in professional contracts for King and Goffin with Aldon Music, a Manhattan-based music publishing company founded by Don Kirshner and a significant force in what became known as the Brill Building sound.
Goffin-King’s breakthrough occurred in 1960 with Will You Love Me Tomorrow, which was recorded by The Shirelles and came out in November that year. The tune climbed all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first no. 1 in the U.S. by an African American all-girl group. King would later record a version of the song for her iconic Tapestry album.
The next big Goffin-King hit is another ’60s classic: Take Good Care of My Baby, recorded by Bobby Vee and released in July 1961. It became the second no. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the young songwriting couple.
Another great ’60s tune written by Goffin-King is The Loco-Motion, which was first recorded with Little Eva (born Eva Narcissus Boyd) and came out in June 1962. Boyd was Goffin’s and King’s babysitter. Originally, the song had been written for R&B singer Dee Dee Sharp who turned it down. The tune has been covered by many other artists, including Grand Funk Railroad (1974), who like Little Eva took it to no. 1, as well as King herself on her 1980 album Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King.
And the hits kept coming for Goffin-King. In May 1963, it was One Fine Day by the The Chiffons. The tune peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. And it’s yet another song King recorded herself many years later, in 1980, giving her a no. 12 on the U.S. mainstream chart.
I’m Into Somethin’ Good is another of my favorite ’60s pop tunes. The best known version is by Herman’s Hermits, who released the song as their debut single I’m Into Something Good in August 1964. It topped the UK Singles Chart and reached no. 13 in the U.S. The tune was first recorded earlier that year by Earl-Jean. Her original climbed to no. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100, not too shabby either.
Let’s do three more Goffin-King compositions. First up: Don’t Bring Me Down released by The Animals in May 1966. While it gave the British band a hit in the UK and the U.S. where it reached no. 6 and no. 16, respectively, they preferred a more straightforward R&B sound and as such were lukewarm about it.
No Goffin-King post would be complete without Pleasant Valley Sunday, which became an international hit for The Monkees in 1967, reaching no. 1, no. 2, no. 3 and no. 10 in Canada, New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia, respectively.
The last tune I’d like to highlight is (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Aretha Franklin first recorded and released this gem in September 1967. The song was inspired by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler who received a co-credit. It’s yet another tune King also recorded herself for the Tapestry album.
King went on to launch a successful solo career and released her debut album Writer in May 1970, followed by the career-defining Tapestry in February 1971. Goffin began working with other composers and also had a solo album in 1973, though it did not become successful. In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll of Fame in 1990. Goffin passed away in June 2014 in Los Angeles at the age of 75.
Moderator, journalist and author is a distinguished rock and pop expert who has influenced my music journey
This post was inspired by fellow blogger msjadeli who writes the Tao Talk blog. Msjadeli is a true music lover who frequently likes to discuss the subject. She also writes about it. Just yesterday, she published this post about “the Friday Song”, played on 97 WLAV FM, a Grand Rapids, Mich. radio station that became part of her music journey. This led to a discussion about radio DJs and how they can impact us. It reminded me of my radio days while growing up back in Germany in the ’70s and ’80s and one host, a pop and rock connoisseur who introduced me to lots of music from the ’50s and ’60s: Frank Laufenberg.
Frank Laufenberg was born on January 2, 1945 in the East German small town of Lebus. He grew up in Cologne where he started his professional career at record label EMI Electrola, working in A&R from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, while accompanying an artist to an interview at SWF3, he met Walther Krause, who created and oversaw a then-new radio show called Pop-Shop and offered Laufenberg a trial period as moderator. It would turn out to be a career-changing encounter.
The artist (I don’t remember who it was) did the interview,” recalls Laufenberg in this short online background section on the website of Internet radio station PopStop, one of his current professional homes. “Afterwards, I went to the boss of Pop-Shop, to Walther Krause, to politely thank him, and he asked me how I thought the interview went. ‘If I had recorded it with the artist, it would have been better for him, for me and the listeners’, I replied. And Krause went: ‘If you feel you could do better than the current moderator, why don’t you give a try for a week?’ Evidently, Laufenberg didn’t lack confidence!
Frank Laufenberg’s Rock and Pop Almanach
A week turned into many years, and Laufenberg became a key moderator at SWF3, a popular mainstream radio station on regional TV and radio network Südwestfunk. In addition to Pop-Shop, one of the other shows Laufenberg moderated at SWF3 was Oldies on Sunday nights. To the best of my recollection, the program aired from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. That’s the show through which Laufenberg introduced me to a lot of ’50s and ’60s music, really helping me establish a deeper appreciation for music from these decades. I’ll get back to that later.
In the ’80s, Laufenberg also moderated various television shows for regional networks Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and Südwestfunk. On the latter, this included an excellent live music program called Ohne Filter (literal translation: without filter). In September 1990, Laufenberg started moderating programs on privately owned channel Sat1. Idiotically, this led SWF3 to terminate him with the stupid explanation Laufenberg could not work for public broadcast while also moderating programs for a private channel. Subsequently, he worked at various other private and public channels.
Some of my old music cassettes with music taped from SWF3 Oldies show
In 2013, Laufenberg founded the above mentioned internet radio station PopStop, where he is a moderator to this day. Since April 2018, he also hosts two shows on SR 3 Saarlandwelle, a radio channel on regional broadcast network Saarländischer Rundfunk. In addition to having worked as a radio and TV moderator, Laufenberg has published various music-related books, perhaps most notably Frank Laufenbergs Rock- und Pop Lexikon, which also has been published in English as Rock und Pop Diary.
Now it’s time for some music. Let’s start with the above noted SWF3 Oldies show. Obviously, I don’t have YouTube clips from actual program episodes. But, as you can see in the above photo, I still have music cassettes with songs I taped from the program. So I guess the closest I can offer is YouTube clips of some of the songs that are on these tapes. Unfortunately, when I started taping music on MCs, I didn’t note dates. This tells me these MCs must be from the late ’70s/early ’80s. Here’s a tune from the earliest SWF3 Oldies MC I could find: I’m Into Something Good, co-written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and popularized by Herman’s Hermits in 1964 – a tune I’ve always dug.
I’m fairly certain the first time I heard Chuck Berry’sMemphis, Tennessee was on Laufenberg’s SWF3 Oldies. The classic was released as a single in 1959.
Here’s another track that has become one of my all-time favorite ’60s tune with a killer guitar riff: Oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison, the rocker with an opera voice. Co-written by him and Bill Dees, the song first appeared as a single in 1964. It was also included on the compilation album Orbisongs (clever title!) from November 1965.
Here’s one more tune I taped from the show: The Rolling Stones’ version of Under the Boardwalk. The song was co-written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and first recorded by The Drifters in 1964. The Stones included their rendition, the first version of the song I heard, on their sophomore studio album 12 X 5, which appeared in October 1964.
The last clip I’d like to feature is from the above noted Ohne Filter TV show Laufenberg moderated: Excellent English guitarist Chris Rea and his tune Josephine, which received lots of radio play on (radio station) SWF3 when it came out. The song is from Rea’s seventh studio album Shamrock Diaries, which was released in December 1984. The footage is from a 1986 episode of Ohne Filter Extra I watched at the time.
The last word shall belong to Frank Laufenberg. Here’s a translation of what he says on the PopStopwebsite about the internet radio station: ‘PopStop – das Musikradio’Â wants to bring back variety to radio, variety that’s not only missing to me. We can’t reinvent radio – but we can bring back the good aspects it had. Content that predated the days of “Radio GaGa.” As Queen correctly warned in 1984: ‘Radio – don’t become some background noise’. That’s what it unfortunately has become. But Queen also sing: ‘Radio what’s new? Radio, someone still loves you’. ‘PopStop’ will appeal to exactly these lovers of radio and those who are interested in music. We’re always happy about new listeners and would appreciate if you could recommend us.
The other day, Apple Music served up the eponymous debut album from 10cc as a suggestion, based on my listening habits. It’s actually a bit strange since I don’t recall having listened to similar music recently, as it’s generally not part of my core wheelhouse, at least nowadays. However, the British art pop rockers were on my radar screen for sometime during my teenage years in Germany when you couldn’t listen to the radio there without encountering I’m Not In Love and Dreadlock Holiday.
So I decided to listen to the above album and kind of liked it, even though I’d call tracks like Donna and Rubber Bullets “goof rock.” But they are brilliantly executed and undoubtedly catchy. I think Apple Music’s description perfectly captures this: “Above all else, 10cc valued fun. This band loved motion and color and humor. Even within the complexity of its arrangements and the elasticity of its vocals, the group radiates a giddiness rarely seen in rock music, especially during the cement-footed ’70s.”
After listening to 10cc’s debut album, I started sampling some of their other studio records, as well as a live album/DVD titled Clever Clogs. While doing this, I rediscovered a good number of their tunes and, voila, this triggered the idea to put together a playlist. But first some background on the band, which came into being in Stockport, England in 1972, when four musicians who had written and recorded songs together for a few years started to perform under that name: Graham Gouldman (bass, vocals guitar), Eric Stewart (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Kevin Godley (drums, vocals) and Lol Creme (guitar, keyboards, vocals).
Left to Right: Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman, Lol Creme and Eric Stewart
By the time they became 10cc, the four artists had experienced some initial success. Gouldman had established himself as a hit songwriter with tunes like For Your Love, Bus Stop and No Milk Today he had penned for The Yardbirds, The Hollies and Herman’s Hermits, respectively. Godly and Creme had recorded some songs together and secured a contract with Marmalade Records. Stewart had scored two hits as a member of Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders (later known simply as The Mindbenders) with The Game Of Love and A Groovy Kind Of Love.
In July 1968, Stewart became a partner in a recording studio in Stockport, which in October that year was moved to a bigger space and renamed Strawberry Studios. Gouldman, Godley and Creme also wound up at the studio, and by 1969, the four founding members of 10cc were working there together frequently. They wrote, performed (as session musicians) and produced a serious of singles, which were released under different names through a production partnership Gouldman had established with American bubblegum pop writers and producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions.
After the production partnership had ended, Gouldman worked as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions in New York, while Stewart, Godley and Creme continued outside production work at Strawberry Studios. Following Gouldman’s return to Stockport, they co-produced and played on the Neil Sedaka studio album Solitaire. The record’s success prompted the four musicians to start recording their own material as a band. An initial tune, Waterfall, was rejected by Apple Records, the label that had been founded by The Beatles in 1968. Success came with Donna, which the band presented to producer Jonathan King, who signed them to his label UK Records in July 1972. It was also King who came up with the name 10cc.
Donna was released in September 1972 and climbed all the way to no. 2 on the UK Official Singles Chart. While the follow-up single Johnny Don’t Do It indeed didn’t do it, that is match the success of Donna, the band’s third single Rubber Bullets became their first no. 1 hit in the U.K. and also performed well internationally. 10cc’s eponymous debut album appeared in July 1973. The band has since released 10 additional studio albums, three live records and multiple compilations. Starting with Godley’s and Creme’s departure in 1976, 10cc has had different line-ups and was disbanded from 1983 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. In 1999, Gouldman revived the band with a new line-up that he continues to lead to the present day. It doesn’t include any of the other three co-founding members. Time to get to the playlist!
I’d like to kick things off with the above mentioned Rubber Bullets from 10cc’s eponymous debut album. Co-written by Godley, Creme and Gouldman, the tune is a satirical take of a prison riot one could picture in an old movie. The music is reminiscent of The Beach Boys. Songfacts quotes an excerpt from an interview Godley gave to Uncut: “We were big movie buffs in those days, me and Lol, so it was one of those kind of films… you know, with a prison riot, and there’s always a padre there, and a tough cop with a megaphone. It was caricaturing those movies.” The song created some controversy at the time, since the British Army was using rubber bullets to quell riots in Northern Ireland. As a result, some radio stations refused to play it.
The Wall Street Shuffle, one of the best known 10cc songs, appeared on the band’s sophomore album Sheet Music, which was released in May 1974. Featuring one of the most catchy rock guitar riffs of the ’70s, the tune was co-written by Stewart and Gouldman and became the best-performing of the album’s three singles. The lyrics were inspired by the hefty fall of the British pound against other currencies at the time.
In May 1975, 10cc released I’m Not In Love, the second single from their third studio album The Original Soundtrack, which had come out in March that year. Co-written by Stewart and Gouldman, the ballad became the band’s second no. 1 single in the U.K. and their breakthrough hit worldwide. Among others, it also topped the charts in Canada and Ireland and peaked at no. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. One of the song’s distinct features are the lush backing harmonies, which according to Songfacts encompass some 256 dubs of the band’s vocals. Largely fueled by the tune, the album was a major commercial success for 10cc.
Arts For Arts Sake was the lead single from 10cc’s fourth studio record How Dare You!, released in November 1975, two months prior to the album – the last featuring the band’s original line-up. The song was written by Stewart and Gouldman. According to Songfacts, the title referred to the values of the music business and was inspired by Gouldman’s father who used to say, “Boys, art for art’s sake. Money for God’s sake, okay!”
Following the release of How Dare You!, Godley and Creme left 10cc to form the duo Godley & Creme. Stewart and Gouldman decided to keep the band going and brought in Paul Burgess (drums, percussion). They recorded 10cc’s fifth studio album Deceptive Bends and released The Things We Do For Love as its lead single in December 1976. Co-written by Stewart and Gouldman, the catchy tune became another hit, reaching no. 1 in Canada, No. 2 in Ireland, No. 5 in the U.S. and no. 6 in the U.K.
By the time of their sixth studio album Bloody Tourists from September 1978, 10cc had become a six-piece band. The new members included Rick Fenn (guitar, backing vocals, saxophone, keyboards), Stuart Tosh (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Duncan Mackay (keyboards, violin, percussion, backing vocals). The album’s lead single was Dreadlock Holiday, another Stewart-Gouldman co-write that appeared in July that year. It became the band’s last major hit, topping the charts in the U.K. and several other countries and pushing the album to no. 3 on the U.K. albums chart. According to Songfacts, the lyrics are inspired by actual events that happened to Stewart and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues during a vacation in Barbados.
One-Two-Five is from 10cc’s seventh studio album Look Hear?, released in March 1980, and became the record’s lead single. It was co-written by Stewart and Gouldman. The album was significantly less successful than its predecessors, reaching no. 35 in the U.K. and no. 180 in the U.S.
In November 1981, 10cc released their eighth studio album Ten Out Of 10 in the U.K. The U.S. version, which only shared four tracks with the U.K. edition and included six different songs, appeared in 1982. The album didn’t chart in any of the countries. Here’s Don’t Ask, which was penned by Gouldman and the opener of both versions.
…Meanwhile from May 1992 was the band’s 10th studio album and the first following its recess that had started in 1983. It brought together the four co-founding members one last time. It also featured many guest musicians, who among others included David Paich and Jeff Porcaro of Toto, Dr. John and Paul McCartney. Here is Don’t Break The Promises, a Stewart-Gouldman-McCartney co-write. Stewart had a previous working relationship with McCartney and had appeared on the ex-Beatle’s solo albums Tug Of War (1982), Pipes Of Peace (1983) and Press To Play (1986), as well as the soundtrack Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984).
The last song I’d like to call out is from 10cc’s most recent studio album to date, Mirror Mirror, which appeared in June 1995 and was their first not to be released on a major label. Like predecessor …Meanwhile, it failed to chart and led to Stewart’s departure from 10cc and their second disbanding. Here’s Yvonne’s The One, another co-write by Stewart and McCartney, which appeared on the record’s European version. There are also U.S. and Japanese editions.
In 1999, Gouldman put together the current line-up of 10cc, which in addition to him features Fenn (guitar, vocals), Burgess (drums), Mike Stevens (keyboards, vocals) and Iain Hornal (guitar, vocals). As recently as this April, 10cc was touring. Currently, Gouldman is taking a break from the band. Last December, he announced he had accepted an invitation by Ringo Starr to join his All Starr Band for a summer 2018 European tour. Ringo and his All Star Band including Gouldman will also perform 20 dates in the U.S. in September.
Sources: Wikipedia, Apple Music, Songfacts, Graham Gouldman website, Ringo Starr website, YouTube
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