Among the most inventive and influential bands in the history of popular music, 10cc arise one of the very few acts to have achieved commercial, critical and creative success in equal measure.
Testament to 10cc’s ongoing appeal, the band can count a generation straddling array of fellow artists, from Axl Rose to Sophie Ellis Bextor and Chrissie Hynde to The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie among their millions of fans.
I’m Not In Love, written by Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, features prominently in the soundtrack to the 2014 blockbuster film Guardians of the Galaxy, which spawned a No 1 album. Meanwhile, a key element of the soundtrack to 2010’s The Social Network, about the creation of Facebook, is Dreadlock Holiday, which also became the Sky Sports cricket theme in Australia.
10cc has sold more than 30 million albums around the world and the band’s longevity is testament to their timeless songs, as is their continuing to traverse the globe and play countries as disparate as Iceland and South Africa, Latvia and Japan, as well as...
Among the most inventive and influential bands in the history of popular music, 10cc arise one of the very few acts to have achieved commercial, critical and creative success in equal measure.
Testament to 10cc’s ongoing appeal, the band can count a generation straddling array of fellow artists, from Axl Rose to Sophie Ellis Bextor and Chrissie Hynde to The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie among their millions of fans.
I’m Not In Love, written by Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, features prominently in the soundtrack to the 2014 blockbuster film Guardians of the Galaxy, which spawned a No 1 album. Meanwhile, a key element of the soundtrack to 2010’s The Social Network, about the creation of Facebook, is Dreadlock Holiday, which also became the Sky Sports cricket theme in Australia.
10cc has sold more than 30 million albums around the world and the band’s longevity is testament to their timeless songs, as is their continuing to traverse the globe and play countries as disparate as Iceland and South Africa, Latvia and Japan, as well as across Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and the US.
Founder member Gouldman attributes 10cc’s lasting appeal to the quality and individuality of the band’s songs. “They don’t seem to date; they are original, we never followed any trend we simple wrote for our own pleasure. The fact that the songs are being played as often on the radio today as they ever were shows how true that is,” he says.
10cc ruled the pop world at a time – the 1970s – when the charts were dominated by some of the most creative and colourful artists in pop history.
Unlike David Bowie, Queen, Elton John or Rod Stewart – all of whom they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with for a decade – 10cc’s energies were not centered on image or celebrity-status, but on creating highly sophisticated rock masterworks with mainstream appeal.
Early influences on the band included The Beatles and the Beach Boys, but their palate proved wide. Says Gouldman, “For me it was people like Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Jimmy Webb, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. Eric [Stewart] was more rock ’n’ roll, the blues and R&B; while Kevin [Godley] and Lol [Creme] were into more artistic and avant-garde acts including Jacques Brel. It’s what happened when we put all those things together that made 10cc.”
