Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman are the most successful production team ever in the history of UK music.  From the mid 80's to the early 90's, they dominated the UK music scene creating records for countless artists.  They would take an artist or an unknown singer, write all the music for them, play all the instruments and produce all the songs.  The singer would then come in, record the vocals, and the song would be completed.  If all the SAW hit singles were released under one name, that group would have been more successful than The Beatles and bigger than any other musical act in the entire history of the UK.

    It is unlikely anyone in an industrialized country under the age of 35 has not heard at least one Stock Aitken Waterman record.  Most of the popular Bananarama tracks were Stock Aitken Waterman (i.e. "Venus").  Rick Astley was another SAW creation (who hasn't heard "Never gonna give you up"?).  Or how about their earlier work with Dead or Alive "You spin me round (like a record)"  These are just three of the countless artists SAW have worked with.

    Each member of the team had specific strengths.  Both Mike Stock and Matt Aitken were talented musicians and able to play the piano and guitar (respectively).  Pete Waterman was an ideas man, businessman and the final stage of quality control.  Even though he was not a musician, he had a very clear view of what it took for a record to be commercial.  He was also not afraid to speak his mind and tell Stock & Aitken to scrap an idea and start again.  Not being a musician, Pete was often not given equal credit for the success of SAW.  However, it has become obvious with the recent music of Stock & Aitken that Pete Waterman was an essential ingredient to the SAW magic formula.  It was Pete Waterman's separation from the music creation process and his constant guidance that allowed the best to come from Stock and Aitken.

    Stock Aitken Waterman came under much attack from the music industry and press because of their brazen attitudes towards making records that were obviously designed to be commercial.  Much of this criticism seemed to stem from jealousy of their constant success.  Music journalists still insist that great songs can only come from hours of blood sweat and tears by the artist.  When what actually happens is that for 3 months nothing will get done until 2 days before the deadline.  Then the band will panic because no songs have been written, so they get down to composing their album.  Contrary to the common romantic notion, songwriting doesn't take very long - unless you have no talent.

    SAW were always clearly focused on whose money they were chasing.  They knew there are only two market groups that consistently buy large volumes of music: teenage girls and the gay community.  Initially, they targeted the gay market with acts like Divine and Dead or Alive.  Stock Aitken Waterman defined the gay dance music "sound" in the mid 80's.  Countless others tried to emulate the distinctive feel of their electronic high energy dance tracks.

    As time went on, SAW focused more on marketing towards teenage girls.  Mel & Kim, Bananarama, Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were just a few of the successful acts that hit the mark with this audience.  Producing large numbers of songs in a very short period of time was a hallmark of the SAW philosophy.  A typical rate would be 7 songs in 2 days, earning the PWL (Pete Waterman Limited) studios the title "The Hit Factory".  It was music created on a production line, with SAW working together in one studio, while the previous track was being mixed in another.

    Although now no longer making music together (except for the odd Stock/Aitken release like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Nikki French), the impact these three men had on the industry can still be felt today.  Although some have tried, there hasn't been anyone quite like them since, and the reason is as simple as it is obvious: talent.
 

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