(Musicians, producers, writers, 1984–91) Mike Stock, Pete Waterman and Matt Aitken joined forces in 1984 to manufacture pop gold. Waterman had already produced hits for Nik Kershaw and Tracey Ullman. The team’s first chart-topper was Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. They then updated classic girl-group pop with Bananarama, Mel and Kim (including the 1987 No. 1 ‘Respectable’), Pepsi and Shirlie, and Sinitta. 1987 also saw the ...
The term ‘manufactured pop’ is, in many ways, a red herring. Despite the changes in our perception of pop talent brought about by The Beatles, much mainstream pop has been based on the ‘Tin Pan Alley’ tradition, in which teams of producers, composers and music-business moguls find young, attractive performers (mainly singers) to front potential hits. The term ‘manufactured pop’ does not appear until the 1980s because of pop consumers’ increasing ...
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An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.