"We`re absolutely obsessed with being the best songwriters in the world - within our own field"
Chinn & Chapman
- interviewed in 1974 by Nigel Thomas
According to the researchers who work out the BBC Top Fifty, the three highest placed records in any one week account for a total of 22.9% of all the sales of 45s. That's a lot of money, enough to nurture the ambition to scale the dizzy heights of the charts in many a breast.
as they got Suzi in place no3 with "Devil Gate Drive", Sweet went no2 with "Teenage Rampage" and Mud placed no1 with "Tiger Feet" in febuary 1974 in eksaktly same week, only The Beatles had done it better than Chinn & Chapman.
Nowadays there's a small group of people who seem to have been handed a season ticket for that Golden Three enclosure. The Sweet. Slade, Suzi Quatro. Gary Glitter, Mud and even the unutterable Alvin Stardust sail gently into the money-spinning places with little competition except from among themselves and from the occasional freakish refugee from the musical deserts of Opportunity Knocks and the Eurovision Song Contest. For all their differences, what they have in common is a style which is aimed directly at the target. flighted with professional care and thrown with glittering accuracy. The people who make and buy albums look with unconcealed scorn on the efforts of these bands, a scorn which is often tinged with jealousy as 'serious' musicians see the 'nouveau rockers grow richer' worthy colleagues grow poorer. Of course there is no comparison between the success of' these chantbound popsters and that attained by the supergroups. Bands like Led Zeppelin, ELP, Deep Purple. Pink Floyd and The Who stand head and shoulders above the Sweet. in earning power as well as musically.
However it would be silly to ignore the skill required to dominate the Radio playlists. Whereas there may be only two country-rock albums released in any one week to compete against each other. there are literally hordes of singles uncaged every day. and they're all intended to smash their way to the top of the Fifty and thereby earn their begetters money. fame and a higher asking price for the next round of the Pap-race.
Even ignoring those tracks which are taken off albums and slapped onto the smaller disc in the hope of a bit of broadcasting publicity for the LP, there are still sackfuls which have been made with the single intention of hitting the top, spots. Some people are much much better at it than the others and their skill is to be respected and admired. It is very rare indeed. But is it Art?.
The two people who do it best in Britain are called Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and they never appear on Top Of The Pops. are rarely seen in sequined trousers and glitter make-up and never sing their own material. Yet only one of their efforts has failed to make the grade. They're songwriters whose speciality is the hit single, presented with the razzamatazz and showmanship which ensures that they get the first hearing. After that the production tricks and their heavy derived hooks will grasp the attention and work a way into your brain.
Smartly dressed. with neatly coiffed hair, they look like a couple of whizz-kid businessmen who're 'likely to strip your assets. all the while smiling charmingly. They even sound like it sometimes. complaining about the insupportable burden of taxes from the sanctuary of a smart Mayfair flat. "We're virtually employed by the Government. We're the only civil servants who write songs. They're killing incentive. We're thinking of moving."
But the mood doesn't last long. they're soon back with their three abiding interests, their present success. plans for extending it into the future, and the unreasonable attitudes of the critics who accuse them of turning out mechanical music with about as much individuality as a fish-finger. They're very defensive about the worth of their songs.
Alternating between mentioning admirers like Tim Rice and Mott The Hoople. defending their craft and tacitly admitting the criticisms. "We write singles - but they're very much harder to sell than an album. Singles you've gotto sell in three-and-a-half minutes and you've got to sell it quick and you've got to sell it good. "Although most of ours are four minutes now."
"We're absolutely obsessed with being the best songwriters in the world. within our field. Our songsare improving - we're having No 1. hits with what the business will call better class songs". In a normal. healthy society. success would be respected.''
We're back to respect. a long standing problem for many successful people at the commercial end of the market. It's certainly been so for Sweet who are making a heavily publicised bid for the approval of critics and severing their links with Chinn and Chapman. though not to the extent that they are risking anyone else's compositions on their singles. However, with Mud still charting up commercial victory. and Suzi Quatro looking a good fancy as a bigger star than either Sweet or Mud, the Chinn and Chapman partnership. in the best traditions of the American songwriting partnerships. looks set fair to continue under it`sown steam.
They've given up the management of the Sweet. saying that it was because they couldn't do it as well as it should be done. for people who have only been in business for two or three years. they're very keen on professionalism, however management does figure in their plans.
"Our Empire will manage people in the end. We have every intention of building the biggest pop empire the world has ever seen. It's an industry that can really destroy people's lives. One of the main reasons we want to build an empire is that we see too many people doing it wrong. It's not a puppet operation. We are honest as it happens.
The duo intend to have a record label of their own before the end of the year. to which they will be signing bands who write their own material. The basis of all this activity. though. is their own songwriting. They always write specifically for a group. and they reckon to have settled down with a performer's character by the second hit.
When they write they begin by thinking of a title. then they write a song around it. It will confirm many people's suspicions to find that their early songs were written on a four string guitar. although this has now given way to a smart Les Paul. In the end the question remains.
Is this deliberate commercialism degrading the standard of music?
Are the teenyboppers idols merely a con trick pulled off by some slick and talented operators who are prostituting their skills? Or is it true that Chinn and Chapman are writing classic rock and roll songs in the way that those other commercial - singles merchants Chuck Berry (who wrote his own) and Elvis Presley (who had them written for himby much the same sort of people as the Chinnichaps) did before them. Will future generations revive "Little Willie''. which has sold four million copies. or "Blockbuster". as they now revive the early rockers. Will tomorrow's kids rip-off the Chinnichap style and ideas as they have borrowed from their predecessors. A big hype or the authentic spirit of rock and roll? Only time will tell.
"The thing about hype is a little bit of an old-fashioned expression. The biggest hype ever was the Beatles. the only difference is that they could live up to it."
Mike Chapman
Born: Apr 15, 1947 in Queensland, Australia
In collaboration with partner Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman was among the most successful songwriters of the 1970s, later enjoying considerable fame as a producer. Born in Queensland, Australia on April 15, 1947, he was in the group Tangerine Peel when he first teamed with Chinn; under the supervision of RAK Records chief Mickie Most, the duo quickly composed a series of smashes for acts including Sweet ("Ballroom Blitz"), Suzi Quatro ("Stumblin' In"), New World ("Living Next Door to Alice"), and Mud ("Tiger Feet"), in all scoring over 40 U.K. hits during the 1970s. With Sweet's Destination Boulevard, Chapman and Chinn also turned to production, helming Quatro that same year. As a solo producer, Chapman enjoyed his first hit with Nick Gilder's 1978 LP City Nights, which generated the smash "Hot Child in the City"; however, his real breakthrough was Blondie's classic Parallel Lines, which launched the blockbuster "Heart of Glass," a chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic. He reunited with Blondie in 1979 for Eat to the Beat, and also teamed with Pat Benatar for her debut In the Heat of the Night, scoring a major hit with "Heartbreaker"; still, neither was as successful as his work on the Knack's Get the Knack -- one of the best-selling debuts in pop history, it yielded the perennial "My Sharona." Chapman and Chinn formed their own label, Dreamland, in 1979; the company folded within two years, but the duo continued writing smash hits like Exile's "Kiss You All Over" and Toni Basil's "Mickey." Chapman's pace slowed considerably in the years to follow, however, with his most notable projects including albums from Debbie Harry, the Divinyls and Lita Ford. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Nicky Chinn was one half of the most commercially productive songwriting team of Britain's glitter-rock era, partnering with Mike Chapman to pen a series of incessantly catchy, intentionally disposable hit singles. Born May 16, 1945, in London, Chinn was working with cars in 1970 when he first tried his hand at songwriting in tandem with Mike D'Abo, landing a bit of material on the soundtrack of There's a Girl in My Soup. That same year he met Chapman, a member of the group Tangerine Peel and a waiter at the restaurant Chinn frequented. The two found that they had similar aspirations, and decided to team up. They caught on with producer Mickie Most's RAK label in the fall, and were assigned to work with a new group called the Sweet. Chinn and Chapman penned two quick hits for the band in 1971, "Funny Funny" and "Co Co," which established their knack for big melodies and silly lyrics. New World also scored a hit with their "Tom Tom Turnaround," and the partnership was on its way. Over the next few years, Chinn and Chapman enjoyed their greatest success with primary vehicle Sweet, with a string of hits -- "Little Willy," "Wig-Wam Bam," the U.K. number one "Blockbuster," "Hell Raiser," the oft-covered "Ballroom Blitz," "Teenage Rampage" -- that got progressively crunchier and harder-rocking, at the request of the band. Having perfected their brand of bubblegum glam rock, and with Sweet wanting more control over their own music, Chinn and Chapman branched out into work with other acts, moving into production as well as writing. They wrote a series of U.K. smashes for Suzi Quatro over 1973-1974, including "Can the Can," "48 Crash," "Devil Gate Drive," and "The Wild One." "A Touch Too Much" went Top Ten for the Arrows in 1974, but Mud became the duo's main concern for 1974-1975, with another string of successes that included "Dyna-Mite," the number one "Tiger Feet," "The Cat Crept In," "Rocket," "Lonely This Christmas" (another number one), and "The Secrets That You Keep." Their next vehicle was Smokey (sometimes Smokie), which scored with "If You Think You Know How to Love Me," "Don't Play Your Rock and Roll to Me," "Living Next Door to Alice," "It's Your Life," and "Oh Carol" over 1975-1978. Despite Chinn and Chapman's massive success in the U.K., they remained virtual unknowns in the American marketplace, save for a few Sweet tunes. They finally topped the U.S. charts in 1978 with Exile's "Kiss You All Over." Chinn stayed with Chapman for a bit longer to work with Racey, which managed a couple of hits over 1978-1979 in "Some Girls" and "Lay Your Love on Me." However, the emergence of punk was making their brand of glitter rock obsolete in the U.K., and Chapman was forging a successful solo production career, highlighted early on by his work with Blondie, the Knack, and Pat Benatar, among others. The two started their own label, Dreamland, in 1979, but the timing was off, and it folded in 1981. The duo's last hurrah was Toni Basil's 1982 American chart-topper "Mickey," a slightly rewritten version of a Racey tune originally called "Kitty." While Chapman continued on in the music business, Chinn retreated from view in the absence of his longtime partner. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
Chinn originally was trained as a motor mechanic and only took to music when he was in his mid-twenties circa 1970. His talent for writing disposable pop songs proved, however, so obvious that within a month or two of his first efforts as a songwriter, Chinn co-wrote with Mike D'Abo some songs for the movieThere's A Girl In My Soup.
It was at this point that Chinn joined the Australian-born Chapman, who was a waiter at a restaurant Chinn frequented. In contrast to Chinn, Chapman was already a professional musician with the band Tangerine Peel, and the two quickly joined up with Mickie Most's RAK record label and began writing songs for a new glam rock band, The Sweet. Whilst they did not write all the songs, their catchy and intentionally disposable compositions accounted for all the singles the band released in their early years.
Chinn's and Chapman's songwriting style was so successful with British, European and Australian audiences that The Sweet had an uninterrupted string of smash hits in the next few years. These included "Little Willy," "Wig-Wam Bam,", "Hell Raiser", "Teenage Rampage", the number one "Blockbuster," and "Ballroom Blitz". The Sweet were so popular in Britain that "Ballroom Blitz" entered the charts at number two - a most unusual feat in those days.
Because The Sweet wanted to move towards a harder, stripped-down style, they turned to writing their own songs, but Chinn and Chapman achieved equal success in Europe and Australia with the seemingly wild Suzi Quatro, for whom they wrote four smash hits in "Can The Can", "48 Crash", "Daytona Demon" and "Devil Gate Drive". Chinn and Chapman also produced Quatro's first three hit albums, Suzi Quatro (Can The Can in Australia), Quatro and Your Mama Won't Like Me. Whilst they continued writing singles for Quatro for the rest of the decade, she became less successful outside Australia and Chinn and Chapman (now known as "Chinnichap" in the press) found their next big success with Mud, who had smash hits with four of their compositions in 1974 and 1975, including number ones in "Tiger Feet" and "Lonely This Christmas". Smokie became Chinn and Chapman's next target, and they had five hit singles between 1975 and 1978.
For all their success in Europe and Australia, it was not until 1978 that the two scored a major hit in the US, when Exile's "Kiss You All Over" reached number one on the Billboard charts and Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman (Smokie's lead singer) reached number four with the ballad "Stumblin' In".
However, the seemingly invincible pair were shattered back at home by the arrival of punk rock that made their catchy glam-pop style sound dated extremely quickly, with the result that fewer and fewer performers took an interest in working for them. To add to this, Chapman turned to solo production with Blondie's hugely successful Parallel Lines album that year, and this meant the two had less time to write songs.
Despite an international #1 with "Mickey" (Toni Basil) in 1982, Chinn and Chapman gradually separated during the early 1980s, and Chinn himself did not continue in the music business. In all, however, Chinn's twelve-year stint in the music business had made him co-writer of over forty UK Top 40 hits.
Hit-Singles
Unter anderem wurden folgende Hits (nicht nur) in den britischen Charts von Nicky Chinn und Mike Chapman produziert oder geschrieben und produziert:
1971:
New World: Tom Tom Turnaround
The Sweet: Funny Funny, Co-Co, Alexander Graham Bell
1972:
The Sweet: Poppa Joe, Little Willy, Wig-Wam Bam
1973:
Mud: Crazy, Hypnosis, Dyna-Mite
Suzi Quatro: Can The Can, 48 Crash, Daytona Demon
The Sweet: Blockbuster, Hell Raiser, Ballroom Blitz
1974:
The Arrows: Touch too Much
Mud: Tiger Feet, The Cat Crept In, Rocket, Lonely This Christmas
Suzi Quatro: Devil Gate Drive, Too Big, The Wild One
The Sweet: Teenage Rampage, The Six Teens
1975:
Mud: The Secrets That You Keep, Moonshine Sally
Suzi Quatro: Your Mama Won’t Like Me
Smokie: If You Think You Know How to Love Me, Don’t Play Your Rock ‘N Roll To Me
1976:
Smokie: Something‘s Been Making Me Blue, I‘ll Meet You At Midnight, Living Next Door To Alice
1977:
Suzi Quatro: Tear Me Apart
Smokie: Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone, It‘s Your Life, Needles and Pins
1978:
Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman: If You Can’t Give Me Love, Stumblin’ In
Racey: Lay Your Love On Me
Smokie: For A Few Dollars More, Oh Carol
1979:
Suzi Quatro: She’s In Love With You
Racey: Some Girls
Biography of Mike Chapman
by Jason Ankeny
In collaboration with partner Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman was among the most successful songwriters of the 1970s, later enjoying considerable fame as a producer. Born in Queensland, Australia on April 15, 1947, he was in the group Tangerine Peel when he first teamed with Chinn; under the supervision of RAK Records chief Mickie Most, the duo quickly composed a series of smashes for acts including Sweet ("Ballroom Blitz"), Suzi Quatro ("Stumblin' In"), New World ("Living Next Door to Alice"), and Mud ("Tiger Feet"), in all scoring over 40 U.K. hits during the 1970s. With Sweet'sDestination Boulevard, Chapman and Chinn also turned to production, helming Quatro that same year. As a solo producer, Chapman enjoyed his first hit with Nick Gilder's 1978 LP City Nights, which generated the smash "Hot Child in the City"; however, his real breakthrough was Blondie's classic Parallel Lines, which launched the blockbuster "Heart of Glass," a chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic. He reunited with Blondie in 1979 for Eat to the Beat, and also teamed with Pat Benatar for her debut In the Heat of the Night, scoring a major hit with "Heartbreaker"; still, neither was as successful as his work on the Knack'sGet the Knack — one of the best-selling debuts in pop history, it yielded the perennial "My Sharona." Chapman and Chinn formed their own label, Dreamland, in 1979; the company folded within two years, but the duo continued writing smash hits like Exile's "Kiss You All Over" and Toni Basil's "Mickey." Chapman's pace slowed considerably in the years to follow, however, with his most notable projects including albums from Debbie Harry, the Divinyls and Lita Ford.
Biography of Nicky Chinn
by Steve Huey
Nicky Chinn was one half of the most commercially productive songwriting team of Britain's glitter-rock era, partnering with Mike Chapman to pen a series of incessantly catchy, intentionally disposable hit singles. Born May 16, 1945, in London, Chinn was working with cars in 1970 when he first tried his hand at songwriting in tandem with Mike D'Abo, landing a bit of material on the soundtrack of There's a Girl in My Soup. That same year he met Chapman, a member of the group Tangerine Peel and a waiter at the restaurant Chinn frequented. The two found that they had similar aspirations, and decided to team up. They caught on with producer Mickie Most's RAK label in the fall, and were assigned to work with a new group called the Sweet. Chinn and Chapman penned two quick hits for the band in 1971, "Funny Funny" and "Co Co," which established their knack for big melodies and silly lyrics. New World also scored a hit with their "Tom Tom Turnaround," and the partnership was on its way.Over the next few years, Chinn and Chapman enjoyed their greatest success with primary vehicle Sweet, with a string of hits — "Little Willy," "Wig-Wam Bam," the U.K. number one "Blockbuster," "Hell Raiser," the oft-covered "Ballroom Blitz," "Teenage Rampage" — that got progressively crunchier and harder-rocking, at the request of the band. Having perfected their brand of bubblegum glam rock, and with Sweet wanting more control over their own music, Chinn and Chapman branched out into work with other acts, moving into production as well as writing. They wrote a series of U.K. smashes for Suzi Quatro over 1973-1974, including "Can the Can," "48 Crash," "Devil Gate Drive," and "The Wild One." "A Touch Too Much" went Top Ten for the Arrows in 1974, but Mud became the duo's main concern for 1974-1975, with another string of successes that included "Dyna-Mite," the number one "Tiger Feet," "The Cat Crept In," "Rocket," "Lonely This Christmas" (another number one), and "The Secrets That You Keep." Their next vehicle was Smokey (sometimes Smokie), which scored with "If You Think You Know How to Love Me," "Don't Play Your Rock and Roll to Me," "Living Next Door to Alice," "It's Your Life," and "Oh Carol" over 1975-1978.Despite Chinn and Chapman's massive success in the U.K., they remained virtual unknowns in the American marketplace, save for a few Sweet tunes. They finally topped the U.S. charts in 1978 with Exile's "Kiss You All Over." Chinn stayed with Chapman for a bit longer to work with Racey, which managed a couple of hits over 1978-1979 in "Some Girls" and "Lay Your Love on Me." However, the emergence of punk was making their brand of glitter rock obsolete in the U.K., and Chapman was forging a successful solo production career, highlighted early on by his work with Blondie, the Knack, and Pat Benatar, among others. The two started their own label, Dreamland, in 1979, but the timing was off, and it folded in 1981. The duo's last hurrah was Toni Basil's 1982 American chart-topper "Mickey," a slightly rewritten version of a Racey tune originally called "Kitty." While Chapman continued on in the music business, Chinn retreated from view in the absence of his longtime partner.
