Old music: 10cc – I'm Not in Love

 

10cc's blend of musical invention and lyrical lament brought pop perfection to the mid-70s charts

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Few bands survive for long with four equally strong songwriters, so it was inevitable 10cc would implode one day. But in the mid-1970s they brought musical invention and lyrical lament to the British pop charts, appealing as much to John Peel's earnest student listeners as to Top of the Pops teenyboppers.

Graham Gouldman had already written hits including For Your Love and Heart Full of Soul for the Yardbirds, Bus Stop for the Hollies and No Milk Today for Herman's Hermits. His fellow Mancunians Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, joined by Eric Stewart who had played with Gouldman in the Mindbenders, had an international hit with Neanderthal Man under the name Hotlegs, before Gouldman joined and they were signed to Jonathan King's label UK Records and rechristened 10cc. The foursome soon divided into two main writing partnerships that brought commercial success (Gouldman and Stewart) and artistic kudos (Godley and Creme).

The 50s doo-wop parody Donna was the first hit, featuring Creme's falsetto. An attempt to repeat the formula with Johnny Don't Do It was too obvious, but then came the hook-laden No 1 Rubber Bullets. Driven by Gouldman's Rickenbacker bass, it retold Jailhouse Rock with a cast of comic characters.

The masterwork, though, did not arrive until 1975's third album, The Original Soundtrack. I'm Not in Love, written by Stewart and Gouldman, turns the protestation on its head so simply and effectively you wonder why no one had written it before. But even if they had, I doubt they would have come up with the backing, a 256-voice choir built from recordings of the band singing single notes in unison.

On tour, they needed backing tapes to capture the dreamy magic, but no one minded. And even the mirrorball lighting when I saw them at the De Montfort hall in Leicester seemed somehow right.

There was another album before the original lineup split. How Dare You spawned two hits – Art for Art's Sake and I'm Mandy, Fly Me – but Godley and Creme wanted to move on. Gouldman and Stewart carried on until 1983 and there were more hits, but the magic years were those of the first three albums. The fractured relationships meant attempts at reunions in 1991 (with all four original members) and 1995 (with Gouldman and Stewart) were not successful.

Which seems a flat end to the story. Except that the music lives on. I'm Not in Love has become one of the most covered serious pop songs of all time, and no doubt the original soundtrack to many a love story.