Ep 39: Success to S.S. Paparazzi

A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman

Violence! Legal disputes! Assassination plots! Before Sigue Sigue Sputnik came to work with Stock Aitken Waterman, they’d already created a storm of controversy and a tabloid frenzy. Bassist Tony James tells us about the initial headline-grabbing antics of the synthrock band — from falling foul of Stanley Kubrick due to uncleared samples on “Love Missile F1-11” to their reported multimillion signing by EMI. We also hear about Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s chaotic months-long sessions with SAW for the single “Success”. If that wasn’t enough drama for one episode, we also look at Rick Astley’s final record with the production trio, “Take Me To You Heart”, and hear about the fire that destroyed initial recordings for the Hold Me In Your Arms album (from Karen Hewitt and Mike Duffy) and the singer’s decision to part ways with PWL (from David Howells). For the first time so far in the podcast, Matt Aitken joins us to talk about working with Rick in 1988 and this episode’s third single, “S.S. Paparazzi” — Stock Aitken Waterman’s excursion into acid house.

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