Stock Aitken Waterman

In the mid- to late '80s and early '90s, the London-based team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman was to European dance-pop what L.A. & Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were to urban contemporary: a slick, well-oiled producing/songwriting team that had a reputation for cranking out one major after another. Back then, many urban contemporary artists reasoned that the quickest and easiest way to score a big hit was to work with L.A. & Babyface or Jam & Lewis; and in England, dance-pop artists were every bit as anxious to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Many British rock critics hated Stock, Aitken & Waterman with a passion; they detested the threesome's ultra-slick, glossy approach, which was heavily influenced by the Euro-disco and Euro-pop of the late '70s; Stock, Aitken & Waterman's roots were folks like <a href="spotify:artist:0LcJLqbBmaGUft1e9Mm8HV">ABBA</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Donna Summer</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6jU2Tt13MmXYk0ZBv1KmfO">Giorgio Moroder</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5SE2sfwTpxL2vXRdG6H5PM">Cerrone</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0dCKce6tJJdHvlWnDMwzPW">the Village People</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5QHvbEwccF3WANUD5lEIuA">Silver Convention</a>.

Stock, Aitken & Waterman were about as commercial as it gets -- at times, they were downright bubblegum -- and that fact wasn't lost on the British rock critics who bashed them unmercifully. When Stock, Aitken & Waterman produced an album, they could usually count on receiving their share of scathing reviews from the British press; and plenty of American critics weren't terribly supportive, either. But what critics like and what the public buys are often two entirely different things, and Stock, Aitken & Waterman helped British stars like <a href="spotify:artist:5WWSL6rElJeUk3Uc1S2RyD">Dead or Alive</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3sc7iUG1Wwpwx7bHeZolgx">Bananarama</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4k7b3DWqBnYpobDWbNWLdM">Mel & Kim</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0gxyHStUsqpMadRV0Di1Qt">Rick Astley</a> sell a lot of records in the '80s.

The producer/songwriters first joined forces in 1984, and it wasn't long before they were working with Liverpool group <a href="spotify:artist:5WWSL6rElJeUk3Uc1S2RyD">Dead or Alive</a>, whose biggest hits favored an exuberant blend of Hi-NRG (which was essentially late-'70s Euro-disco with a more high-tech production style) and pop/rock. Produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1985, <a href="spotify:artist:5WWSL6rElJeUk3Uc1S2RyD">Dead or Alive</a>'s Youthquake was the album that really put the group over the top commercially. The infectious single "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" became a smash hit in both the U.K. and North America, and Youthquake's next single, "Lover Come Back to Me," was also huge. In 1986, the trio produced another album for <a href="spotify:artist:5WWSL6rElJeUk3Uc1S2RyD">Dead or Alive</a>, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, which contained the hits "Something in My House," "I'll Save You All My Kisses," and "Brand New Lover." While <a href="spotify:artist:5WWSL6rElJeUk3Uc1S2RyD">Dead or Alive</a>'s members did their own writing, Stock, Aitken & Waterman served as both producers and songwriters for other artists.

In 1987, the trio produced and wrote most of singer <a href="spotify:artist:0gxyHStUsqpMadRV0Di1Qt">Rick Astley</a>'s debut album, Whenever You Need Someday, including the hit title song and the smash "Never Gonna Give You Up" (which became a number one hit in England and the United States). In the late '80s, Stock, Aitken & Waterman also produced and wrote <a href="spotify:artist:0ym94xKp2PIOJtTZKpxbAa">Samantha Fox</a>'s single "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now"; that was in addition to working with British female groups <a href="spotify:artist:4k7b3DWqBnYpobDWbNWLdM">Mel & Kim</a> (not to be confused with '70s soulsters <a href="spotify:artist:2ubLClBEuddw29m7QRx4IL">Mel & Tim</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:3sc7iUG1Wwpwx7bHeZolgx">Bananarama</a>. It was in 1986 that Stock, Aitken & Waterman produced <a href="spotify:artist:3sc7iUG1Wwpwx7bHeZolgx">Bananarama</a>'s smash Hi-NRG remake of <a href="spotify:artist:5WimOFbBnCU5wI6t5PPpEk">Shocking Blue</a>'s "Venus." Other major '80s hits that the team produced for <a href="spotify:artist:3sc7iUG1Wwpwx7bHeZolgx">Bananarama</a> included "Love in the First Degree" and "I Heard a Rumor."

But not every artist that Stock, Aitken & Waterman worked with was British. Theirs was the team that American star <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Donna Summer</a> turned to when, in 1989, she wanted to return to a Euro-disco/Euro-dance approach. That year, the Londoners did most of the producing, writing, and arranging on <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Summer</a>'s Another Place & Time, which contained the hit "This Time I Know It's for Real." And in the late '80s and early '90s, the team worked with Australian superstar <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Kylie Minogue</a> extensively (producing major hits like "I Should Be So Lucky," "Better the Devil You Know," "Shocked," and "What Do I Have to Do?"). With <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Minogue</a>, Stock, Aitken & Waterman wanted a very hands-on approach; in addition to doing the producing and writing, they wanted to control the image that <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Minogue</a> projected in her videos. But as time passed, <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Minogue</a> wanted more and more creative input; she wanted to help with the songwriting, and when it came to videos, she and Stock, Aitken & Waterman were not seeing eye to eye. While the trio wanted to depict <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Minogue</a> as the wholesome, fresh-faced girl next door -- sort of a dance-pop version of Meg Ryan -- the Melbourne, Australia, native wanted to project a sexier, more <a href="spotify:artist:6tbjWDEIzxoDsBA1FuhfPW">Madonna</a>-ish image, so by 1994, <a href="spotify:artist:4RVnAU35WRWra6OZ3CbbMA">Minogue</a> had parted company with the London-based hitmakers.

Other artists who Stock, Aitken & Waterman worked with in the early '90s included <a href="spotify:artist:34ugek7kTxRhRSsT1d9Yer">Lonnie Gordon</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1EbIfIjVcauDatNO4vagL1">Sybil</a>, but by the latter part of the decade, the team's popularity had decreased. However, their songs were still being covered here and there. In the late '90s, Swedish female dance-pop/Hi-NRG duo Jemma & Elise recorded remakes of two of their big hits of the '80s, "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Love in the First Degree." ~ Alex Henderson