The team[edit]

In January 1984, Mike Stock and Matt Aitken called Pete Waterman asking for a meeting. Stock and Aitken turned up with a song they had written and produced called "The Upstroke", a hi-NRG female version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax". Waterman was impressed and offered to form a partnership with Stock and Aitken. "The Upstroke", performed by female duo Agents Aren't Aeroplanes, was the very first Stock Aitken Waterman record. It was not a chart hit, but it was a club hit and was championed by Radio 1's John Peel.^[8] Their initial style was in creating hi-NRG dance music with "You Think You're a Man" by Divine (UK No. 16 in July 1984) and "Whatever I Do" by Hazell Dean (UK No. 4 in July 1984). This period saw a rapid refining of the core production team and their roles, with a fourth collaborator, Pete Ware, who was co-credited on the team's earliest records, leaving after Stock and Aitken objected to him taking a side gig touring with Dean.^[9]


The production trio achieved their first UK No. 1 single in March 1985 with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive.^[10] Although a massive commercial success, the record set the scene for SAW's often fractious creative relationship with those bands and artists who demanded creative involvement in their records. Engineer Phil Harding, who mixed the track, said tensions were running so high between the band members and producers Stock and Aitken during mixing, that it almost escalated to violence.^[11] Stock has disputed the seriousness of studio tensions, alleging that singer Pete Burns, Harding and Waterman have all "exaggerated" what happened in their recounting of events.^[9] Despite the enormous success of the single, Waterman has stated in interviews that the trio were still in dire financial straits at the time.


This chart success and the trio's sound attracted the attention of girl group Bananarama. Group member Siobhan Fahey wanted to record a cover version of Shocking Blue's hit song "Venus".^[12] The result was a pop/hi-NRG reworking which became a worldwide chart hit, reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 6 September 1986, and reaching the top 10 in the UK and many other countries. Bananarama went on to make Stock, Aitken and Waterman their main producers, and would collaborate with them on some of their biggest hits, including "Love in the First Degree", "I Can't Help It", and "I Heard a Rumour". The act were one of only a few who were given co-writing credits with the producers, with Stock describing the creative relationship as challenging; explaining he was obliged to collaborate with them due to a deal with their management.^[13] "It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you," he said. "With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them."^[13]