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.
 

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.

In 1974, 10cc appeared on the BBC’s series In Concert, where they performed hits such as the opener “Silly Love,” “Wall Street Shuffle,” and “Rubber Bullets” but also “Baron Samedi” and “Oh Effendi.”

10cc (with Gouldman) are currently touring, while a Gizmotron® 2.0 will be released this year.