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‘I’m Not in Love’: Everything you always wanted to know about 10cc, but were afraid to ask

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10cc’s pedigree was perfect. A pop star lead singer of The Mindbenders, Eric Stewart who had reached global success with “A Groovy Kind of Love.” A songwriter, Graham Gouldman whose back catalog included sublime pop hits for Herman’s Hermits “No Milk Today,” and The Hollies’ “Bus Stop” and “Look Through Any Window.” And two anarchic art students Kevin Godley and Lol Creme who had earned their spurs in a variety of bands before teaming up with Stewart to form Hotlegs.

Hotlegs was the first intimation of the sheer bloody genius that was to become 10cc. There had been earlier collaborations—when Gouldman’s band The Whirlwinds recorded Creme’s song “Baby Not Like You” in 1964 or when Godley joined Gouldman in the Mockingbirds—but Hotlegs was the first conscious bringing together of their disparate talents into powerful focus. Their debut single and only UK Top Ten hit was “Neanderthal Man”—an earworm that burrowed deep in the membrane after just one playing. The song was the fortuitous result of trying out recording equipment at Strawberry Studios—the studio set up by Stewart and Gouldman in Stockport, England—when Godley wanted to lay “different drum beats down that he hadn’t recorded before.”

As we laid down the drum tracks, Lol was singing in the studio with Kevin keeping time – and after we’d laid four drum tracks down Lol’s voice came through at a very high level, sounding like something none of us had ever heard before on a record. It really sounded very strange, so we carried on working on the number, adding little bits of piano to it.

Once recorded, the trio played the song to Dick Leahy of Philips Records who was visiting the studio for potential business. Leahy declared “Neanderthal Man” a “smash” and offered to release it. The song reached number two and hit number one across Europe. An album followed (Thinks: School Stinks) but though highly influential Hotlegs never made the breakthru the trio’s talents desired—that was to come after Gouldman joined in the recording sessions.

This as yet unnamed band played their latest recording “Little Donna” to another visitor—this time pop impresario Jonathan King, who declared “Little Donna” to be a certifiable “smash.” It was the kind of enthusiastic response Godley/Creme/Stewart/Gouldman needed—but they still had no idea what to call their themselves. Then King said he had dreamt last night about standing in front of music venue the Hammersmith Odeon where hoardings announced “10cc The Best Band in the World.” It seemed a perfect fit. The name stuck, a record deal struck and 10cc were born. (An alternate version of where the name came from, disputed by both King and Godley, but confirmed by Creme and Gouldman, is that the band name er… cums from the volume of semen that would be more than the average amount normally ejaculated by most men. Potent!)

Of all the bands that appeared during the 1970s, 10cc was the one that directly followed on and progressed music from where The Beatles left off. 10cc eponymous debut album is their Rubber Soul, while Sheet Music was Revolver, The Original Soundtrack their Sgt. Pepper with How Dare You being their Abbey Road. Not that these albums were copies—they were far, far too good to be that, rather they were innovative progressions that came to shape and influence other bands—from Sparks Queen, XTC, Pulp—and to point towards the future of pop music.

Continues after the jump…

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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12.09.2015
09:32 am
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A teargas of a time: Sublime pop from 10cc ‘In Concert’ 1974
05.05.2015
09:20 am
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Hands up if you like 10cc.
 
In 1974, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley of 10cc invented a nifty little musical device that should have revolutionized the guitar world. The Gizmotron® was an attachable device that had the ability to create “authentic sounds of such stringed instruments as violins, violas and cellos,” and maintain “infinite sustain.” It was a remarkable invention by any standards and should have achieved what it said on the can and made much moolah for its inventors. Sadly, it hasn’t yet. However, it was (unfortunately) part of the reason why 10cc split-up in 1976.

As Godley and Creme spent more and more time recording with the Gizmotron® working on the triple album Consequences, which they hoped would promote the device, they had less time to dedicate to 10cc. Their fellow bandmates, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart wanted to carry on recording and touring, that’s what they loved, but Godley and Creme didn’t. So they quit to finish Consequences, while Gouldman and Stewart carried on with 10cc. In that reliable trope hindsight, this decision was a mistake—as Godley and Gouldman have since (separately) said the band were successful enough to have been able to take a year off and allow the maverick inventors time to concentrate on their product. That they didn’t was a sad day for quality pop—though this is not to take away from Stewart and Gouldman, who continued to make music to high order as 10cc—but was a bit like, say, The Beatles without a Lennon or a McCartney.
 
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10cc—the way they were.
 
Indeed, 10cc followed on from where The Beatles’ Abbey Road left off, via a twist of Frank Zappa and a flavoring of the Beach Boys. Godley and Creme gave the band its irresistible art rock, while Gouldman and Stewart supplied songs of sublime pop. Their pedigree was strong: Stewart had been in Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, and Gouldman had written a jukebox of chart hits for The Hollies (“Bus Stop,” “Look Through Any Window”), The Yardbirds (“For Your Love”) and one of the most perfect pop songs ever written—Herman Hermits’ “No Milk Today.” Godley and Creme first met in the late 1950s and were in a variety bands including The Mockingbirds with Gouldman. Together the quartet complimented each other beautifully. Their first incarnation as a group was Hotlegs—releasing the single “Neanderthal Man,” and the album Thinks: School Stinks—before they evolved into 10cc.

Their advantage was that they had four singers, four songwriters and four highly competent producers. As a group they created four distinct classic albums—10cc, Sheet Music, The Original Soundtrack and How Dare You!—that offered a level of quality songs, songwriting and production that had not been heard since The Beatles. Not only were they superb on vinyl, they were equally impressive live, managing to deliver complex songs with considerable aplomb.
 
More on 10cc plus their classic ‘In Concert’ from 1974, after the jump…

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.05.2015
09:20 am
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