Episode Ep 710 December 18, 2024 49 min 45s

‘Mystique is dead’: what Gary Kemp learnt in 40 years of making and selling records

From Word In Your Ear Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

Gary Kemp has been posting reels of his recent visits to old haunts in Soho where he and his early bands used to rehearse, this in the run-up to releasing a third solo album, ‘This Destination’, in January. We talk to him here about how records were made and promoted in the ‘80s and how radically that’s changed today. Which includes …

… “all media is now about getting and keeping people’s attention”.

… the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio.

… Bowie, Bolan, Queen and Elton John at Trident Studios.

… how bands copy the groove of a track.

… technology and the curse of too much choice.

… why TikTok’s changed the way songs are written.

… how the first Spandau Ballet album was made.

… the phone call from Richard Hawley that kick-started a song.

… the craft of 10cc and Steely Dan and why it doesn’t work on 2024 radio.

… the male attitude to bands who are largely followed by women.

… cunning ways to infiltrate the NME in the early ‘80s.

… plus Robert Elms in jodhpurs and “fly dentists” in the Saucerful Of Secrets audience.