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10cc
royllsroyce
Posts: 1,163 Forum Member
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Just discovered this band, My favorite track so far is Rubber Bullet. catchy pop / rock at its best, the One Direction of the 70's / 80's.
Anyone heard of them?
Anyone heard of them?
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Bit of an insult? Personally I would say a bloody huge insult! I cut this particular line from Wikpedia. Care to guess who it is about?
"Every member was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer".
You haven't discovered 'I'm not in love' yet?
And absolutely nothing like 1D!
How can you describe one of the best bands of the 70s and 80s as the 1D of their time???
Just take a read of their biography and see how many other bands came out of 10cc. Many talented musicians
strange though, i liked hotlegs - 'neaderthal man' (pre 10cc group)
and graham gouldman composed some of the 1960's greatest ever pop songs...
The myth is that it's equal to the amount of seman produced by a male. Though the actual story is that Jonathon King who ran the bands' first label (UK) named the band. He apparantly had a dream one night that he saw that name on a billboard as in "playing tonight...."
Anyway, fabulous band, their first four (original lin-up) albums are masterpieces of quirky, well written and produced pop/rock. Their witty and cartoonish lyrics were like little cinematic pieces. They had that Lennon/McCartney like way of writing where Godley & Creme would provide the avante garde arty side and Gouldman and Stewart the more structured melodic side...a perfect combination.
For a starting point OP, I'd suggest their 2nd album 'Sheet Music'. A perfect album
Something similar is allegedly also the origin of the band name of sixties legends the Lovin' Spoonful.
If you haven't already, please listen to the amazing album track (from the afore-mentioned Sheet Music) Somewhere in Hollywood. stunning (and the superb, angelic lead vocal is sung by Kevin Godley, the big, hairy drummer
10cc were certainly not the 1D of the 70s. You want the Bay City Rollers for that.
I bought that album, but I absolutely loathed the later Dreadlock Holiday, thinking it was crass and patronising. Then punk arrived and they became the enemy.
I have to disagree that 10cc tried to be 'clever'. 'Rubber Bullets', 'The Dean And I' and 'Art For Art's Sake' are sophisticated, intelligent pop that pushed the boundaries of what a single should be as much as the Beatles or the Beach Boys did. Although overexposed, 'I'm Not In Love' is hugely influential - not least on Trevor Horn, who publicly cited it as the record he wanted to replicate in his own productions.
10cc didn't become the enemy because of punk - the group became its own enemy, with four strong egos. When Creme and Godley left, many of the more interesting aspects of their music seemed to fade away, and the group lost their character. I would agree that 'Dreadlock Holiday' was a low point - it may have reached number one, but it was like a bad novelty record and marked an abrupt end to their chart fortunes in the UK. Chances of things improving faded when acrimony broke out between Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman and, despite promises of reunions, it's never quite happened.
OP, I'm glad you've discovered their music - but, as everyone has been quick to point out, they are so far away from One Direction it's not true!
If you want the 70s equivalent of 1D, try the Bay City Rollers, as previously suggested, or the Osmonds.
Please don't compare them to 1D or any other boy band of any era
It's a bit like saying that Dusty Springfield was the Cheryl Cole of the sixties.
I love 10CC, but I think they tend to be overlooked and mostly thought of as a singles band because they never really had that one classic album to lift them into The Canon... that said, the OP should try any of the many Greatest Hits albums and go from there.
"From 1965, while working by day in a men's outfitters shop and playing by night with his semi-professional band, he wrote a string of million-selling hit songs: as well as "For Your Love" he penned "Heart Full of Soul" and "Evil Hearted You" for The Yardbirds, "Bus Stop" and "Look Through Any Window" for The Hollies, "No Milk Today" and "Listen People" for Herman's Hermits, "Pamela, Pamela" for Wayne Fontana, "Behind the Door" for The St. Louis Union and Cher, "Tallyman" for Jeff Beck and "Going Home", which was a 1967 Australian hit for Normie Rowe."
i like most of those, esp the yardbirds tracks.
Along with Queen, they are one of my all-time favourite bands...as well as both being supremely talented. 1D, my @rse.
They were before my time too (I'm 35) but I love em. 'Flying Junk' and 'Blackmail' are storming album tracks, top known singles are 'Im Not In Love' and 'Im Mandy Fly Me'.
Check out Godley and Creme too, OP.