Here in the UK, while Hi-Energy really began it's life in the gay clubs (primarily via ex-Northern Soul DJ Ian Levine who became the DJ at Heaven, London's biggest gay disco), it really didn't take long before it started to dominate the pop charts through the productions of Stock Aitken Waterman. Patrick Cowley might have 'invented' Hi-Energy (thouugh records like I Feel Love and Turn the Beat Around significantly predate him), nobody did more to popularize the form than Stock Aitken Waterman.

Music people tend to loathe their records -- personally, I think they were the Phil Spector's/Berry Gordy's of the 1980's, dominating the global dance charts with well crafted dance music.

 

@hani king
Possibly you can't read between the lines? I am as chill as i can possibly be honestly. I 've no beef with you mate and what i wrote poses no personal attack but rather an observation in aesthetics.
It's one thing having a knack for the cheesiest pop and most kitsch trash tracks ever made because maybe you grew up with these. I will excuse you and anyone for that. I mean i get a kick out of watching Steven Seagal's "C" movies (B movies are too good), it's almost the same thing, with the only difference i'm aware he's a terrible actor.
But bro, i was born in 1966. As a kid i started taking music lessons and gathering records in 1974-75 as my father (93 now) was an amateur musician, keen record collector and fan of modern music, so i caught the "musical virus" early on in my life.
There is nothing you can say to me about the 80s way of life that will make me change what i said, as i 've "been there done that", as a musician and enthusiast at first and from a professional point of view since 1983, when i got my first paid gig.
Fyi, in no record written or unwritten, Sabrina and Sam Fox ever signified or ignited any movement so you can write i am criticizing negatively the way of life of the 80s. They were just lucky bimbos who landed a hit single by possibly blowing someone important, nothing more nothing less. Unless of course you mean a bunch of 14 yos mastrubating to Sabrina's and Sam Fox's tits is a way of life, then i stand corrected lol.
Also, having one bowl and putting everyone who had a sole hit in it, that is under the same umbrella as their one hit being the only criteria, is just plainly wrong and a fine example of half knowledge, which actually is worse than no knowledge at all. Some one hit wonders were accomplished musicians or created classic tracks that stood the test of time. This isn't the case with "Boys boys boys" though, as it's only good as an imaginary comic relief part in the soundtrack to "You can't mess with the Zohan" or a Borat dancing scene. After all, Sabrina couldn't sing, couldn't dance and had an English hit when she couldn't speak English either! She was just a pretty Mediterranean bimbo.
Btw i find it excruciating you have me here proving what's so obvious that pokes the eye lol. LOL.
So i will just say, nostalgia is fine but if you can't possibly recognize who's talented and who's not and what was decidedly passé even by the time it was released, then i 'm sorry but i got no cure for bad taste...
Cheers

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021

Well they certainly are no Phil Spector, as they 've never made anything of significant artistic value. Unless you think of the Beatles and the Ramones as equally important in music as Kylie Minogue and Bananarama hehehe. Or perhaps Rick Astley (whom otherwise i dig np).
I can't argue they were hit making machines in the nth degree, having more than 100 hit singles speaks for itself really.
But since we 're on the 80's thread and before i hit you with a 10 page post overdose (yep, i'm preparing), lemme just post my favorite SAW tracks. One is their very first hit and a track that went on to become quite iconic achieving legendary status, sadly SAW -imho- never sounded so fresh again:

The other one is a track from 1987 that is quite different from their bulk of work, as it is so funky, mostly sounding as a homage single to James Brown hehe, a track that i could spin anytime then and now, afaik released only as a single under their own names, here's Stock, Aitken and Waterman's "Roadblock":

 

@The Pirate & @taskforce

Didn't know all the background on that track outside that Sommerville started in Bronski Beat -> the Communards and latter went semi-underground in the gay disco anthem scene.

Thanks for the 411.

-------------------------------------

Back on topic

Now for the suburbia meat market songs. I am assuming, I wasn't old enough to get into bars at the time but I can imagine some unwanted hiptrusting by men with Magnum PI mustaches wearing Ray Bans and women with headbands and an entire can of Aqua-Net in their hair turning into a crashworth safety device.

and of course the Genius of Rick James through Eddie Murphy - FUC* YOUR COUCH EDDIE MURPHY-

 

True, Stock Aitken Waterman can't be overlooked, however, they owe their success to the likes of Cowley (who had already passed away when SAW burst into the scene), Moroder, Gino Socio and Bill Motley (noboody has mentioned them), Pete Bellotte, Denis LaPage, and even Ian Levine. Indeed, where would SAW be without Levine's "So Many Men so Little Time" and "High Energy." If you were to ask me, those were the 2 songs that put Hi NRG music on the map. SAW, with their talent, were able to capitalize on Ian's success. Indeed, throughout their career they have been criticized for "adopting" (for use of a better term) other artists' creations as their own. Nothing against SAW, to the contrary. I loved their productions, and promoted each one of their records during the 80s. Since I mentioned Gino Socio and Bill Motley, here are a couple of their tracks: (eargasm)

Gino Socio

Bill Motley

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021

On point, read what I wrote above.


Edit: @taskforce and @BuntyMcCunty Here is a link to an article based on a paper I was trying to find earlier. It provides insightful info as to how a production team approaches project. SAW are not alone in their approach. I have been part of a production team for 38 years, and this article describes how things are done once a production team has succeeded in creating their "signature sound." All of the Miami Sound freestyle records by Luis Martinez were created this way. All the freestyle records from Fever Records' Andy Panda and Cutting Records' Aldo Marin were done similarly, as well as those Hi NRG out of San Francisco's Megaton Records. It is a sure way of capitalizing on a successful sound. The formula.

https://joebennett.net/2015/02/27/saw-kylie-lucky/

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021

Yeah, interesting and informative article. It actually describes in good detail what i -succesfully for my soul/unsuccesfully for my pocket- avoided for the most part of my life, repetition of formula. Almost everything SAW did, sounds identical with the difference being the vocalist(s). Whether it's Kylie, Mel & Kim, Donna Summer or Debbie Harry it's the same fkn song over and over lol. I dunno how they managed to pull this off so many times tbh. Like a cassette with the infinite loop trick, so formulaic yet so successful... I always thought of them as mad geniuses with a never ending desire for more money. Debbie Harry's "In love with love" 12" remix was almost a cover version of "You spin me round". Crazy enough but also quite expectable, that was Debbie Harry's only No.1 in the Billboard Dance Chart as a solo artist.
Laters mates

 

Isnt that a german word ? Just wondering .

 

In mid-80s we decided to open a dance-club in New Jersey. The based customers were locally known as "the mountain people." This crowd was not very different from "hillbillies." Indeed, they were hillbillies so you can imagine their reaction the first time I summed up the courage to play New Order's "Blue Monday." A patron walked up to the DJ club and asked me what I thought I was doing playing that "NYC gay shit." He pointed to a group of people standing around the dance floor and told me they wanted some Bruce Springsteen. It took me several months to break them in, to "educate them." In a 6 months span they went from wanting Springsteen to dancing to the likes of Erasure and Hazel Dean.

 

Utterly correct, Mr. Space Pilot, Sir. Modern Talking is an absolute no-go. Blue System on the other hand is, err, even worse. Listen yourself

 

For some reason this little weirdo always makes me smile

And I can't believe it, we're on page #7 now and so far only one song from Mr. Timing himself

 

Don't be surprised. It is the same for every production team that has its own signature sound. Artists hire us to produce a song with "that sound." Labels want us to give them "that sound." When we hire our own singers, we use "that sound." The "formula" does not change. Why change it if it is working! We ride the wave as long as it lasts. Sometimes it lasts 6 months, some other times a year, if you get lucky it will last several years but we know it wont last forever. Don't blame us. Blame the consumers who buy records made with "the same fucking song over and over."

This is an example of how it is done. We have Expose and Sequal. Same producer, and same singers he had used in the first Expose (X-pose). Same formula. "The Miami Sound"

Expose

Sequal

Then he goes and does the same thing over again with Olga

The formula worked for him. Who can blame him? For years, he was the hottest Freestyle producer in the world. https://www.discogs.com/artist/489486-Lewis-A-Martineé?page=1

Note: At one point, he was a contributing member of this forum.

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021

Because the heavy contributors in this thread know more about 80s dance music than what top 40 radio used to play, and mainstream people listened and danced to.

 

that in pink i'm like..
then .. aha remind me of this track bros..

1985 #10 Hot 100.. meet Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine too yall #justsharing

personally i like its groove its like
fergilicious def-
fergilicious def-

 

This needs no introduction..... unless you haven't heard it before.

 

Yes it's German alright. We call these "loanwords" in English.

@Midge F
Marvellous post. And since you left it hanging there, i 'll do the honours of filling in the blanks as this is one of my fav "bands".
One of the most brilliant recording acts of the late 70s and all through out the 80s. Although tagged as "new wave", the Australian act named Flash and the Pan, the brainchild of Harry Vanda and George Young (RIP), was perhaps the first true crossover band which defied genres altogether. Vanda and Young were not teens when Flash and the Pan was formed. They had enjoyed huge success as members of the rock band Easybeats in the 60s. For those who don't know who the Easybeats were, they were named by many as the Australian Beatles and had world wide success and left many memorable songs. But Flash and the Pan were a totally different outfit. They did new wave (Down Among the Dead Men/Hey St.Peter), they did psychedelic synth ballads (Walking in the rain - which became world wide hit in Grace Jones's cover later, California - which could easily be tagged as proto- trip hop), they did rock and they did melodic synth pop as the previous post, and they did superb club dance tracks like Midnight Man and Ayla later on. All with one of the most distinctive vocal performances/production ever, the unmistakable spoken word (but also sung sometimes too) of George Young, always sounding like a telephone or broken radio etc. They were the first (if you know better feel free to correct me) to impose this as a certain vocal style even from the 70s. And boy was this imitated. If you think ok they sound like cool 60s guys who went mental and created anything they wanted but mostly remained underground, think again.
They also penned John Paul Young's unforgettable hit "Love is in the air", JPY himself confessed "i would be nowhere without Young and Vanda".
Other artists who have covered Young and Vanda songs, include some of the who is who of modern music like Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Suzie Quatro, INXS and many others.
Fun factor: Although they made enough video clips, they never ever toured and to my knowledge this is another first, an active recording act for at least two decades with more than one albums and hit singles that never went on concert. They remained a studio act indefinitely.
Major fun factor: If you didn't know already, you could never guess when you listen to the bulk of their music, they were the producers of 7 (!) AC/DC albums, as George Young was actually the eldest brother of Angus and Malcolm Young (RIP), guitarists and writing forces of the famous rock band.
Feel free to crank it up.

 

Last edited: Mar 6, 2021

@Midge F and @taskforce Thanks for posting and thanks for facts respectively. This one I never heard of before, @taskforce saved me the time I would have spent researching it. That is the reason why I ask to post some facts along with song posted. Again, thanks to both of you.

 

Enough of that wannabe disco shit along with the shit posted by @No Avenger who has shown that he can't dance... just like every other wannabe engineer.

Any DOR club play these songs. They were easily mixed with one another.

 

Any DJ or wannabe DJ out there, try mixing "Just be Good to Me" with this