10cc are an English band formed in Stockport in 1972. It initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured two songwriting teams. Stewart and Gouldman were predominantly pop songwriters, who created most of the band’s accessible songs. By contrast, Godley and Creme were the predominantly experimental half of 10cc, featuring art and cinematically-inspired writing.
Their initial offering ‘Waterfall’ was rejected by Apple, undeterred, the group decided to plug another song which had been written as a possible B-side to “Waterfall”, a Godley/Creme composition titled “Donna”. The song was a Frank Zappa-influenced 1950s doo wop parody, a sharp mix of commercial pop and irony with a chorus sung in falsetto. Stewart said: “We knew it had something. We only knew of one person who was mad enough to release it, and that was Jonathan KIng.” Stewart called King, a flamboyant entrepreneur, producer and recording artist, who drove to Strawberry, listened to the track and “fell about laughing”, declaring: “It’s fabulous, it’s a hit. “Donna”, released as the first 10cc single, was chosen by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Tony Blackburn as his Record of the Week, helping to launch it into the Top 30. The song peaked at No. 2 in the UK in October 1972.
Although their second single, a similarly 1950s-influenced song called “Johnny Don’t Do It”, was not a major chart success, “Rubber Bullets”, a catchy satirical take on the “Jailhouse Rock” concept, became a hit internationally and gave 10cc their first British No.1 single in June 1973. They consolidated their success a few months later with “The Dean and I”, which peaked at No.10 in September.
They released two singles, “Headline Hustler” (in the US) and the self-mocking “The Worst Band in the World” (in the UK) and launched a UK tour on 26 August 1973, joined by second drummer Paul Burgess, before returning to Strawberry Studios in November to record the remainder of their second LP, Sheet Music (1974), which included “The Worst Band in the World” along with other hits “The Wall Street Shuffle” (No.10, 1974) and “Silly Love” (No.24, 1974). Sheet Music became the band’s breakthrough album, remaining on the UK charts for six months and paving the way for a US tour in February 1974.
Their next album ‘The Original Soundtrack’ was released in 1975. It was both a critical and commercial success and featured distinctive cover art created by the Hipgnosis team and drawn by musician and artist Humphrey Ocean. It is also notable for its opening track, Godley & Creme’s “Une Nuit A Paris (One Night in Paris)”, an eight-minute, multi-part “mini-operetta” that is thought to have been an influence on “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
Although it bore an unlikely title (picked up from a radio talk show), “Life is a Minestrone” (1975) was another UK Top 10 placing, peaking at No.7. Their biggest success came with the dreamy “I’m Not in Love”, which gave the band their second UK No. 1 in June 1975. The song provided them with their first US chart success when the song reached No. 2. A collaborative effort built around a title by Stewart, “I’m Not in Love” is notable for its innovative production, especially its richly overdubbed choral backing. Godley stated: If I was to pick one track from everything we’ve done, “I’m Not in Love” would be my favourite. It’s got something that none of our other tracks have at all. It’s not clever in a conscious way but it says it all so simply in, what, six minutes.
10cc’s fourth LP, How Dare You! (1976), featuring another Hipgnosis cover, furnished two more UK Top Ten hits—the witty “Art’s for Art’s Sake” (No.5 in January 1976) and “I’m Mandy Fly Me” (No.6, April 1976). But by this time the once close personal and working relationships between the four members had begun to fray, and it was the last album with the original line-up.
After the departure of Godley and Creme, Stewart and Gouldman opted to continue as 10cc, working with drummer Paul Burgess who had up to that point been their tour backup drummer. Their first album as a three piece band was Deceptive Bends (1977). The album, recorded at the newly completed Strawberry South Studio in Dorking, Surrey, reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 31 in the US and also yielded three hit singles, “The Things We Do For Love” (UK No. 6, US No. 5), “Good Morning Judge” (UK No. 5, US No. 69). Stewart later said he and Gouldman felt vindicated by its success: “I was out to prove also that we could write a hit album without Kevin and Lol … we did!”
In 1977, 10cc embarked on an international tour with guitarist Rick Fenn, keyboardist Tony O’Malley and an additional drummer Stuart Tosh and recorded a live album, “Live and Let Live” (1977), which mixed the hits with material from the previous three LPs. Fenn, Tosh, Burgess and keyboardist Duncan Mackay, who replaced Tony O’Malley after the tour, were now full members of the band and performed on 1978’s Bloody Tourists, which provided the band with their international No. 1 single, the reggae-styled “Dreadlock Holiday”, also their third UK No. 1. Both Bloody Tourists and “Dreadlock Holiday” performed very successful around the world, but would mark the end of their success.
