I admitted this onMark’s blog the other day, so I figure I might as well come clean and admit it right here on my blog too.
I love 80s and 90s mass produced music by Stock Aiken & Waterman. Dare I say, my love for this “hit factory” music was a driving force in my becoming a club DJ in the late 1980s.
There I’ve said it.
If you’re not familiar with producers Stock, Aiken and Waterman, here’s some titles that may revive some memories (or nightmares) for you:
Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever”
Donna Summer, “This Time I Know Its For Real”
Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me ‘Round”
Boy Krazy, “That’s What Love Can Do”
Bananarama, “I Heard A Rumor”, “Venus” and just about everything else they ever released
and the dance diva herself, Kylie Minogue, “The Locomotion” and “I Should Be So Lucky”.
Through the wonders of YouTube, I’ve found some beefcake and musical nuggets from the late 80s and early 90s to share. Enjoy.
Jason Donovan, “Too Many Broken Hearts”
Kylie Minogue, “I Should Be So Lucky”
Sonia, “You’ll Never Stop Me From Lovin’ You
Now where are my cassette singles?
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While I was surfing around on YouTube, I came across another bunch of 80s gems by Alisha:
Alisha performed at one of the radio station concerts we hosted in the late 1990s. As program director, I asked the music director if he could get a hold of “Alisha’s people” as our retro act for the show. I about pooped my pants when he got her to sign on! As I recall she was very nice when we met her and put on a great show.
Well, being a Brit and an 80s teenager, I was basically raised on S.A.W. stuff. Absolutely wonderful pop music; almost perfrct pop. I am not sure if these nuggets got over to the states, but you may wish to look for (and *really* cringe over):
– the reyolds girls: I’d rather Jack (than Fleetwood Mac)
– banarama: Love in the first degree
– anything by Kylie. Literally anything.
I am now going to go and look for my old CDs so that I can import them into iTunes…
I too am a huge fan of PWL and Stock, Aiken & Waterman. I discovered them in the early 80’s and loved their sound. I think the first artist I remember is Princess. I bought the cassette at Caldors Dept Store here in Connecticut. I just about wore it out. Then came Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue, Hazell Dean, Donna Summer and so on. Their music was not that easy to get here in the US. Most of their stuff was imports and I had to go to the city to get them. Over the years I have acquired a pretty good collection of their stuff. From hard to find artists like Kokko and Lou to everything by Kylie, Rick, Jason Donovan, Sabrina, Mandy and even Divine. I’m still scour the web looking for some hard to find Gems I haven’t been able to find on CD. It’s an ongoing obsession. So I just wanted to say there is no shame in being a fan of the Hit Factory. I know they had a number of hits here in the US but it’s a shame they were not as big here as they were in the rest of the world.