At its peak, 10cc was seemingly untouchable. But all good things must often come to an end and eventually, the ’70s hitmakers would have their own version of that moment in a very uncomfortable way.
As bassist and vocalist Graham Gouldman recalls, it was sobering when a record exec played music from another band on the label’s roster. “It was so great and our record was so bad,” he tells UCR.
Still, they’d had an enviable run, landing five straight Top 10 albums in the U.K. between 1974 and 1978. Some 12 Top 40 hits helped to power 10cc’s success in that period. Three of them went to No. 1, including the emotionally sublime “I’m Not in Love.”
“The last album that was successful for 10cc was Bloody Tourists in 1978,” Gouldman admits. “After that, things went downhill.”
Despite how it all might have wrapped up, the band’s legacy has continued to gather steam across the decades. Gouldman has remained busy with 10cc, his own solo work and additional fun excursions including a stint in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
He recently released I Have Notes, his sixth solo album. 10cc is also in the midst of their first U.S. tour in more than three decades. They’ll follow the current run with additional dates overseas this fall. During a recent conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw, Gouldman shared stories both past and present – including the moment when he knew 10cc was in trouble.
It’s been so long since the band toured America. What do you think it was that caused the long gap?
It’s a good question. I think although we had a couple of very big hits in America, we never gained any traction with any albums, really. We toured quite a few times back in the ’70s and it became impractical or too expensive to tour and we had other places to go to.
If we go all of the way back to the original four members, what’s the moment where you knew there was something special there?
We’d recorded a song called “Waterfall,” which [co-founding multi-instrumentalist and vocalist] Eric Stewart and I’d written. Apple Records, the Beatles‘ label, had shown some interest in it. Eric and I had written the A-side, so [we thought], we should ask [fellow co-founders] Kevin [Godley] and Lol [Creme] to write the B-side, which turned out to be “Donna.” As we were recording it, we thought, “We’ve got something special here. It’s different and it’s strange, but there’s something really good here.” We contacted Jonathan King, who ran a label called UK Records [distributed by Decca]. He said he loved it and wanted to sign us and that was it. Really, it was at that point [when we] recorded “Donna,” that I knew something special was going on.
Listen to 10cc’s ‘Donna’
The band began as a studio group. How long did it take to find your sea legs on the touring side?
I think we did it pretty quickly. Of course, we hadn’t [initially] toured as a band. We were born in the studio, really, but we all had some experience of being in bands anyway. Eric Stewart in particular, being in Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and then the Mindbenders. So we took to it really easy, actually, I think, looking back. [Laughs] We waited a while until we made the decision to actually go on the road. But everything was going so well with the records, we thought, “Blimey, we should do this,” and we loved it.
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For you, who were some of the memorable bands that 10cc toured with early on?
Well, in America, we toured with Slade, which was a bit of a strange combination.
That does seem like it would be strange!
It was a very odd choice of acts to put together, I have to say. I mean, we got on with them fine.
They seem like they would have been fun.
Yeah, they were fun in a kind of interesting way [laughs], but not what I would call compatible. But maybe that was the thing, you know, the fact that they were very different. Maybe it was the promoter’s idea that they were going to get two different sorts of audiences [attending the shows]
You’d been to America before touring there with 10cc. What sticks with you about the touring experience here?
On the negative side, it was a lot of traveling between gigs. It was really a real slog, I remember. But other than that, when you’re doing a gig or getting ready for a gig, it’s pretty much the same wherever you’re playing. The audiences were really good. I think we had our fanbase, there’s no doubt about it. I’m not sure how big it was, but we had some really serious fans. They really, really loved us, I guess. [Laughs] But the mechanics of actually getting ready and playing and everything else was pretty much the same as anywhere else. I think for us, though, it was great to be in America – because American music is such a big part of what influenced us. And for me, it still does to this day and it always will. People like Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, that’s in my DNA and the DNA of all of my contemporaries. Every writer or anybody I work with, once we start talking about influences, it’s always pretty much the same.
Watch 10cc’s ‘I’m Not in Love’ Video
How did your new album start coming together?
I recorded a track called “Floating in Heaven,” which I wrote about the James Webb Space Telescope. I played it to Andrew at my record company and he said, “You should get Brian May to play on it because he’s a great guitarist, obviously, but he’s also an astronomer and an astrophysicist, so it kind of fits.” We made that record and I loved what he did. I think I love the record as well. It started there and then I just began on the track of starting to write. Really, I shouldn’t have done it, in a way, because I put out an album just as the pandemic started called Modesty Forbids. Normally, I would leave five or six years between doing an album but it just so happened that I was enjoying writing songs and recording them – so why not?
It doesn’t really make any difference. You know, it’s not like I’m Taylor Swift or anything – you might have noticed. [Laughs] I just thought, it’s not like, “Oh, we’ve had so many albums. We’ve got them all now. Don’t give us another one yet.” It’s not a big deal for me to put another album out. I know where I am in the hierarchy of people buying billions of records – or downloading them. For me, the pleasure is the writing and recording. I call it my expensive hobby, making records. I just love doing it. What’s not to like?
Watch Graham Gouldman’s ‘Floating in Heaven’ Video With Brian May
I love the name of the new album, I Have Notes. With 10cc or otherwise, how often did you get notes?
There’s a series called The Boys, about the superheroes. The main character in that, Homelander, that’s where I heard it a lot. He used to say it a lot, “I have notes.” It struck me for the obvious reasons – but particularly with 10cc, nobody told us what to do or had notes for us. I don’t think they’d dare. It was like, what are you going to tell us that we don’t know? I know that sounds really arrogant but we didn’t have the record company guys coming in and going, “Yeah, that sounds great, but could we perhaps have more kick?” No one was going to do that. But actually, there was one moment, that I have just remembered. It was not a good thing, actually.
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We did an album and I can’t remember which album it was but it was after our “heyday,” if you like. The last album that was successful for 10cc was called Bloody Tourists in 1978. After that, things went downhill. I won’t go into details, but I remember we did an album and we took it to the record company. When you play something for somebody – it’s like a song or anything or if you’ve written a piece – and you read it to your friend or partner, as you’re reading it, anything that’s not good is suddenly dreadful. It amplifies all of the bad things. I was listening to it with the head of Phonogram, Brian Shepherd. He was listening to it and I’m thinking, “This is shit. It’s shit.” When we finished playing it, he never said, “I have notes,” but he said, “I want to play you something.” It was Dire Straits and a track called “Private Investigations.” It was so great and our record was so bad.
Some people might not be aware of some of the big songs you wrote early on, like “For Your Love,” which ended up being recorded by the Yardbirds. I love that it was presented to you, the idea that perhaps the song could be offered to the Beatles and you said, “I think they’re probably doing okay in the songwriting department.”
Oh, yeah. I mean, it was a ridiculous idea, really. Although as you know, every cloud has a silver lining. What happened was that the Yardbirds were supporting the Beatles in a Christmas show. I think that gave the idea to our publisher, “Well, the Beatles aren’t going to do it, but as it happens, the Yardbirds are looking for songs.” Whether that’s connected or not, I don’t know, but it seems like quite a coincidence that my manager at the time would suggest trying to place a song with the Beatles. That would have changed the course of history, wouldn’t it?
Yeah, for history and perhaps for your bank account, as well …
Maybe it wouldn’t have been a hit for the Beatles and then we’re all fucked! [Laughs]
Listen to the Yardbirds’ ‘For Your Love’
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Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening, except as noted below.
