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Godley & Creme

 
Artist: Godley & Creme
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Similar Artists:

Robert Wyatt, The Police, It Bites

Performed Songs By:

Kevin Godley, Lol Creme

Formal Connection With:

Mockingbirds, 10cc, Hotlegs
See Godley & Creme Lyrics
  • Formed: 1976, Manchester, England
  • Disbanded: 1988
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "The History Mix, Vol. 1," "L/Freeze Frame," "Images"
  • Representative Songs: "Cry" "Save a Mountain for Me"

Biography

British vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Kevin Godley and Lol Crème have one of the most eclectic resumés in rock & roll. Godley and Crème were session musicians when they joined 10cc in 1970. Originally called Hotlegs, 10cc were an art pop group that frequently appeared on the U.K. charts in the early '70s, eventually hitting number two in the U.S. with "I'm Not in Love." The two departed from 10cc a year later so they could experiment with the Gizmo, a gadget that enabled the guitar to create sounds with symphonic textures. The device, which they had invented, became the inspiration for Godley & Crème's 1977 debut triple-LP Consequences. A concept album about mankind battling a vengeful Mother Nature, Consequences was ripped to shreds and ridiculed by critics for its pretentiousness and excessive length. The bad press and poor sales generated by Consequences nearly destroyed the duo's career. However, in 1981, Godley & Crème landed on the British Top Ten with "Under My Thumb." But Godley & Crème achieved the most commercial success and critical acclaim in the '80s as video pioneers. The pair directed MTV clips for the Police, Duran Duran, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood that stretched the boundaries of music video and proved that the form was capable of producing art. In 1985, Godley & Crème had their only American smash with "Cry." Not surprisingly, it had an eye-popping video with groundbreaking special effects that showed people's faces morphing into one another. Godley & Crème were unable to climb the heights of "Cry" again and released Goodbye Blue Sky in 1988 before leaving music behind for video production. Crème joined the Art of Noise in the late '90s. ~ Michael Sutton, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Godley & Creme
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Godley & Creme
Origin Stockport, England
Genres Pop, Rock
Years active 1977–1988
Associated acts 10cc
Hotlegs
Doctor Father
The Magic Lanterns

Godley & Creme was an English pop music duo comprising Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc. In 1979 they directed their first Music Video for themselves "An Englishman in New York". After this, they became involved in directing videos for such artists as Ultravox, The Police, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood as well as directing the ground-breaking promo for their own "Cry" in 1985. The duo split at the end of the 1980's and have both been involved in Music Videos, TV Commercials and sporadic music projects since.

Contents

Musical career

Kevin Godley and Lol Creme met in the late 1950s and for a brief time were in a band together. Through the 1960s they played in different bands, with Godley briefly in The Mockingbirds with future 10cc cohort Graham Gouldman.

The pair began their music career together proper in 1969, performing bubblegum music in Strawberry Studios at Stockport near Manchester with Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. Their first chart success was as members of the short-lived Hotlegs, which evolved into 10cc in 1972. 10cc enjoyed strong chart success, most notably with their 1975 single "I'm Not in Love", a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

After the recording of 10cc's fourth LP, How Dare You!, Godley and Creme left the band to work on a project they called "The Gizmo", a device which created a wide variety of sonic textures when attached to the bridge of a guitar. "The Gizmo" was featured heavily on their poorly received concept album Consequences, released in 1977. The album was savaged by critics, but has since accrued a cult following; it features a guest vocal by Sarah Vaughan and an extended comedy performance by Peter Cook.

In a 1997 interview,[1] Godley expressed regret that he and Creme had left 10cc, saying:

“ We'd reached a certain crossroads with 10cc and already spent three weeks on the genesis of what turned out to be Consequences ... The stuff that we were coming up with didn't have any home, we couldn't import it into 10cc. And we were kind of constrained by 10cc live ... We felt like creative people who should give ourselves the opportunity to be as creative as possible and leaving seemed to be the right thing to do at that moment.

Unfortunately, the band wasn't democratic or smart enough at that time to allow us the freedom to go ahead and do this project and we were placed in the unfortunate position of having to leave to do it. Looking back, it was a very northern work ethic being applied to the group, all for one and one for all. If we'd been a little more free in our thinking with regard to our work practices, the band as a corporate and creative entity could have realised that it could have been useful rather than detrimental for two members to spend some time developing and then bring whatever they'd learned back to the corporate party. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

 ”

The duo gradually regained critical favour with a trio of innovative albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s – L, Freeze Frame and Ismism (released as Snack Attack in the United States). Freeze Frame included several songs that gained airplay on alternative radio in many countries, notably "I Pity Inanimate Objects" and "An Englishman in New York" (not to be confused with the Sting song of similar name), which was accompanied by an innovative music video. The single "Snack Attack" was also a minor hit. They made the UK Top Ten with the singles "Under Your Thumb" (No. 3) and "Wedding Bells" (No. 7) in 1981, both from Ismism. Their 1970s single "The Boys in Blue" was played at most Manchester City football club matches in the 1990s and is still occasionally played there in the 21st century.

In 1983, they released Birds of Prey which took their music in a more electronic direction, using electronic drum machines for the entire album.

Their 1984 single "Golden Boy" was included on 1985's The History Mix Volume 1 album which celebrated 25 years of recording together. The album, co-produced by J. J. Jeczalik of Art of Noise, remixed samples of their previous recordings to a disco beat. This album also contained the single "Cry" which, helped in part by the video, became their biggest U.S. hit, reaching No. 16. The song reached No. 19 in Britain. A video cassette was also released with visual imagery to complement the music.

Godley & Creme released their final album, Goodbye Blue Sky, in 1988. This album abandoned electronic instruments and used harmonicas, organs, and guitars to tell the story of the earth on the brink of nuclear war.

The pair ended their working relationship soon after the release of Goodbye Blue Sky. In a 1997 interview,[1] Creme explained:

“ In '89, certainly in '88, maybe before, Kevin changed, I think his priorities in life changed. He'd had enough, he'd simply had enough of me and the way we worked, the things we did, the priorities we had. And the fact that we were a priority, for example. Our working relationship dominated our lives, you know. It was time for a shift in all that and he was obviously right. ”

Video direction career

Godley and Creme achieved their greatest success as the innovative directors of more than fifty music videos in the early 1980s. They created memorable videos for The Police ("Every Breath You Take", "Synchronicity II", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"), Duran Duran ("Girls on Film", "A View to a Kill"), Herbie Hancock ("Rockit"), Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Two Tribes", "The Power of Love"), Sting ("If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"), among many others, up to Godley's video for the 1996 single from The Beatles, "Real Love", featured in the Beatles Anthology.

Of their "Wrapped Around Your Finger" video, which featured The Police performing amid hundreds of burning candles, film maker Daniel Pearl recalled: "Directors Godley and Creme communicated from their homes in London that we would require 1000 candles for the shoot. Trying to stay on top of things and get information for the art department, producer Fiona Fitzherbert requested a diagram of what they wanted. Several days passed without any fax. She finally insisted she be given some advance information, and received a drawing of a candle.

"... A big part of the mission was to make "Wrapped" for as little as possible... As we neared the end of our 12 hour day, the producers declared us wrapped. Sting protested, saying that he felt we were doing something very innovative, and that he would pay personally for us to continue shooting. The producers, mindful of the stigma of the price of "Every Breath" refused to allow him to throw more money at it, and in the end it was agreed that we would do one more take and then wrap.

"Godley and Creme took Sting off for a brief chat, which I was purposely excluded from, while I was instructed to build the camera hand held. The stage was cleared of everyone except Sting, myself, and my focus puller. Their parting words to me were to follow Sting where ever he went on the stage, and to keep rolling no matter what happened. About halfway through the track Sting started knocking the candles over and molten wax was flying everywhere. I definitely was shocked as I started to get hit, but fortunately we weren't burned too badly, and we did capture some amazing footage."[2]

The pair's innovation extended to their videos for their own songs, notably "Wide Boy" and "Cry". "Cry"'s groundbreaking and very popular 1985 video featured faces blended into each other using analog cross-fading, anticipating the digital effect of morphing, later used in a very similar way in Michael Jackson's 1991 video, "Black or White". The "Cry" video was memorable enough that in 1993, it was shown in an episode of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head.

Today

Creme joined the avant-garde synthpop group Art of Noise in 1998. Kevin Godley continued to direct music videos. In 2006, he once again teamed up with Graham Gouldman as they released four new tracks under the name GG06.[3]

"Cry" appears on an in-game radio station in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, released on 29 April, 2008.

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions
U.K [4] U.S
1977 Consequences
  • Release Date: 1977
  • Label: Mercury/Phonogram
 52 –
1978 L
  • Release Date: 1978
  • Label: Mercury/Polydor
 47 –
1979 Freeze Frame
  • Release Date: 1979
  • Label: Polydor
 – –
1981 Ismism
  • Release Date: October 1981
  • Label: Polydor/Mirage
  • Notes: Titled Snack Attack in US.
 29 –
1983 Birds of Prey
  • Release Date: 1983
  • Label: Polydor
 – –
1985 The History Mix Volume 1
  • Release Date: 1985
  • Label: Polydor
 – 37
1988 Goodbye Blue Sky
  • Release Date: 1988
  • Label: Polydor
 – –

Singles

Year Title Album Chart Positions
U.K [5] DEU [6] IRL [7] U.S. NL [8]
1977 "5 O'Clock in the Morning" Consequences – – – – –
1978 "Sandwiches of You" L – – – – –
1979 "An Englishman in New York" Freeze Frame – 25 – – 7
1980 "Submarine" — – – – – –
"Wide Boy" – – – – –
1981 "Under Your Thumb" Ismism 3 – 7 – 13
"Wedding Bells" 7 – 13 – 44
1982 "Snack Attack" – – – – –
1983 "Save A Mountain For Me" Birds of Prey – – – – –
"Samson" – – – – –
1984 "Golden Boy (Extended)" The History Mix Volume 1 – – – – –
1985 "Cry" 19 8 27 16 13
1986 "Cry (Remix)" 66 – – – –
1988 "A Little Piece of Heaven" Goodbye Blue Sky – 26 – – 17
"10,000 Angels" – – – – –

Music videos

A list of the Video clips directed by Godley and Creme

1979

  • Godley & Creme - "An Englishman in New York"

1980

  • Godley & Creme - "Wide Boy"

1981

1982

  • Asia - "Heat of The Moment" / "Only Time Will Tell'
  • Godley & Creme - "Wedding Bells"
  • Graham Parker - "Temporary Beauty"
  • Joan Armatrading - "The Weakness in Me" / "When I Get it Right"
  • Toyah - "Thunder in The Mountains"

1983

1984

1985

  • Artists Against Apartheid - "Sun City" (with Jonathan Demme and Hart Perry)
  • Duran Duran - "A View To A Kill"
  • Eric Clapton - "Forever Man"
  • Go West - "We Close Our eyes"
  • Godley & Creme - "Cry" / "History Mix 1"
  • Graham Parker - "Wake Up Next To You"
  • Howard Jones - "Life in One Day"
  • Inxs - "This Time" (with Peter Sinclair)
  • Sting - "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"
  • Thompson Twins - "Don't Mess With Dr Dream"

1986

1987

1988

  • Godley & Creme - "10,000 Angels"
  • And Why Not - "Restless days"

References

  1. ^ a b Lol Creme interview, Uncut, December 14, 1997
  2. ^ Daniel Pearl comment at Cinematography.net website
  3. ^ GG06
  4. ^ "Chart Stats - Godley And Creme". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=3500. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  5. ^ "Chart Stats - Godley And Creme". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=3500. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  6. ^ "Charts Surfer - UK, German and French charts". charts-surfer.de. http://www.charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  7. ^ "The Irish Charts". IRMA. http://www.irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  8. ^ "The Dutch Charts". http://www.dutchcharts.nl. 

External links

v • d • e
10cc
Graham Gouldman · Eric Stewart · Kevin Godley · Lol Creme · Paul Burgess · Rick Fenn · Stuart Tosh · Duncan Mackay · Tony O'Malley
Studio albums
Live albums
Live And Let Live The Best of 10cc Live King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Alive
Compilations
Box Sets
Singles
Related articles
Discography · Doctor Father · Godley & Creme · Hotlegs · Wax

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Godley & Creme".  Read more

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