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Mickie Most was born Michael Peter Hayes in 1938 and died in 2003. He was a successful English record producer, who had a string of Number One singles on his own RAK Records.
RAK Records was set up in 1968 by Most and Peter Grant. But with Grant's involvement with The Yardbirds, and soon with Led Zeppelin, this meant that Most had full control by late 1969.
The record label came into its own during the glam rock era, and was home to a growing roster of artists such as Suzi Quatro, Mud, The Arrows, Hot Chocolate and Smokie. By hiring the song writing production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, RAK scored several British #1 singles with Suzi Quatro, Mud and Smokie
From the beginning he knew what market he wanted to corner. He said:
"I decided that, as all of the major companies were now leaning towards dumping singles and signing artists with the album concept in mind, I would take care of the singles market myself."
RAK developed a reputation for producing bubblegum pop, mostly written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. But it was Mickie Most himself that produced the band that had the largest commercial success for RAK: Hot Chocolate. Their singles including "Emma" in 1974 and "You Sexy Thing" in 1975 became international hits.
RAK records went on to have a constant stream of hits throughout the 70’s and into the early 80’s. In 1973 for example fourteen out of 18 of RAK releases were top 30 hits or better.
RAK Publishing is based inside the legendary RAK Recording Studios in St Johns Wood, London which was created in 1976 by Mickie Most. He sympathetically converted an imposing Victorian schoolhouse and church hall into a state-of-the-art recording studio complex.
"In the whole of pop, he's the only man I can think of who has unnatural powers, who really knows what will hit and what won't. He rarely misses."Nik Cohn – Rock from the Beginning
The two people who had the most glam hits in the 70's were two men who never even appeared on Top of the Pops.
Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn (commonly known as Chinnichap) are the songwriters responsible for the hits of the Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Mud and Smokie to name just a few. From 1973 until 1978 they had an unbroken run of hit singles. In 1973 and 74 alone they had 19 hits in the top 40 of the UK singles chart, including 5 number ones.
Both men were already in the music industry when they first met. Chinn was a part time songwriter and Chapman a musician with the band Tangerine Peel.
The two of them joined up with Mickie Most's RAK label and began writing songs for the Sweet.
With the help of the two men, Sweet had an uninterrupted string of hits over the next few years, and Chinnichap went on to enjoy equal success with Mud and Suzi Quatro, including number one's with Tiger Feet, and Lonely This Christmas for Mud and Can the Can and Devil Gate Drive for Suzi Quatro.
Smokie were the next group to benefit from the Chinnichap magic having five hit singles between 1975 and 78.
Though often accused of churning out 'mechanical' music, no one can deny the popularity of their compositions. A lack of respect at the time, and since has led to accusations of 'deliberate commercialism, degrading the standard of music' Which is a bit rich when you consider the present day music industry.
In an interview with Nigel Thomas in 1974 Mike Chapman said:"We write singles, but they're very much harder to sell than an album. Singles you've got to sell in three and a half minutes and you've got to sell it quick, and you've got to sell it good"
The duo were famous for beginning their songs with the title and then writing the song around that, for example 'Wig Wam Bam'. The songs were written rapidly, often overnight and recorded with equal speed. Later songs written for Smokie became more thoughtful and emotional, but still as catchy and tuneful.
It was only with the advent of punk rock that their star began to wane as fewer performers wanted to work with them. They continued to write hit songs well after the glam rock period had ended, such as Mickey a number one for Toni Basil and Kiss You All Over by Exile, but despite this Chinnichap eventually separated during the early 80's. Chapman turned to production with his greatest success being Blondie's Parallel Lines in 1978, while Chinn eventually left the music business all together. The only comparable songwriting partnership since with as great a success rate was the Stock, Aitken and Waterman team in the late 80's.
Tom Tom Turnaround is a song written by Chinnichap and performed here by the Sweet, but was originally a hit for Australian pop group New World in 1971.
"The bottom line is this. writing songs might be easy to do, but it's incredibly hard to do well"Mike Chapman, Guardian interview 2000.
Tony Visconti has emerged as one of the most influential producers of the glam rock era through work with David Bowie and T Rex.
Visconti had relocated to London in 1968 and almost immediately began producing tracks by T Rex, followed soon after by Bowie’s Space Oddity album. Although working with other artists during this period, Bowie and T Rex remain the two acts that Visconti is best remembered for.
It was Visconti who played bass and toured with ‘The Hype’ along with Bowie, guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge. The band was short lived but this line up went on to record ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ album. Visconti also produced ‘Diamond Dogs’, and ‘Young Americans’ for Bowie, while for T Rex he produced the classic ‘Electric Warrior’ and ‘The Slider'.
Visconti continued to work with Bowie as the decade progressed, collaborating on ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’ With production duties in 1980 on ‘Scary Monsters and Super Creeps'. Visconti renewed his association with Bowie, producing the albums ‘Heathen’ in 2002 and ‘Reality’ in 2003.
In more recent times he has produced albums for Morrissey, who had previously been produced by Mick Ronson on the ‘Your Arsenal’ album.
Metal Guru is a number one single from ‘the Slider’ album released in 1972. This version is a mash up of an earlier version from the Electric Warrior sessions, and the final version, after Visconti had added his magic.
Talking of Marc Bolan he said;“He knew he was going to be big, and he had everything to back it up; talent, imagination and great songs. His melodies were absolutely superb”
The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud is also a mash up. The first half is from a BBC live session, with the normal version of the song coming in at the end.
“My greatest pride was my orchestral arrangement for "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud". This was originally a throwaway B-side for "Space Oddity", but I heard orchestral parts in my head from the beginning. It took 5 whole days to write. I set up the studio of 50 musicians with David sitting right in the middle playing his acoustic 12-string. I was standing in front of him conducting the orchestra. At the mixing stage of this album, John Cambridge, the drummer, introduced us to his guitar player friend from Hull -- Mick Ronson. Mick came to the mix of "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud", and was persuaded to play a little guitar line in the middle part and joined in the handclaps on the same section. That is actually the first appearance of Mick Ronson on a David Bowie album”.Tonyvisconti.com
Mickie Most was born Michael Peter Hayes in 1938 and died in 2003. He was a successful English record producer, who had a string of Number One singles on his own RAK Records.
RAK developed a reputation for producing bubblegum pop, mostly written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. But it was Mickie Most himself that produced the band that had the largest commercial success for RAK: Hot Chocolate. Their singles including "Emma" in 1974 and "You Sexy Thing" in 1975 became international hits.
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