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The Hit Factory: The Stock, Aitken and Waterman Story Hardcover – 30 Sep 2004

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Mike Stock (Author)
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Mike Stock (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
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£179.65 £35.37

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd (30 Sept. 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1843307294
  • ISBN-13: 978-1843307297
  • Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 553,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

About the Author

Mike Stock is still a record producer, having founded Better The Devil (BTD) Records and launching the pop project the Fast Food Rockers. He lives in London and Sussex.

Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 starsFascinating but badly edited.
By T. J. Stickland on 25 May 2011
Format: Hardcover
Towards the end of the book Mike thanks two people for taking what he had written and organising it. I wish that they had done a better job. The book is packed with interesting information, but it needs ordering properly. Topics veer all over the place in a disjointed manner.

Not to worry. The book is still fascinating and draws the reader in because there's the climb up to the peak and then the decline. Several restarts are described and they were sucessful in their own way.

In the end Mike Stock does come across as a bit too bitter and sure that the way he thinks of pop music is the only right way. I could sympathise with the rants against the music business, but some of it just sounds too bitter. The music scene changed; dance music came and changed a lot of things. Not everyone wants a 3 minute pop song from a hit factory.

Overall, even though I don't like a lot of the SAW songs I still appreciate what they did. The work rate was astounding and I have a soft spot for a good pop record. I've been listening to loads on Youtube and some of the Sonia songs are masterpieces. At the time I thought that Sonia was really naff. I don't care about that any more.

If you're interested in how SAW operated and how their main song writer thought then this book will not disappoint you.
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5.0 out of 5 starsYou have to grab the tune and drive it.
By Peter Wade VINE VOICE on 20 Sept. 2009
Format: Hardcover
Mike Stock came from humble beginnings and created a career for himself by playing in pubs and clubs. He learnt a few lessons on the way up such as play what the public want such as the Birdie song not just to please yourself.

If you learn anything from this book that is it. How many people decry popular success and say that they only admire more worthy work such as rock.

" We were there to entertain. It was another important lesson: if you want to play your own stuff, fine ,do it in your bedroom- don't charge people money just to indulge yourself."

He decided that song writing was his forte and joined up with Pete Waterman and he liked his salesmanship.
"Pete's job was to keep supplying us with work and putting us in touch with artists "

He expanded on the theme of what people think is acceptable. These groups would have hits that were totally manufactured by SAW and then they would listen to their "mates down the pub" they would say I want to do something heavier not this pop stuff. None of their so called mates was ever successful. They just had ordinary jobs but they had opinions about music.

He recorded with some of the best such as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney and he said that Donna Summer was the best singer he worked with.

You have to grab the tune and drive it.

It was a good insight in to the pop music industry but I would have suspected a lot of it.

He gives his top ten rules for survival in the great game of pop.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsA wonky attempt to set the record straight.
By Eric Generic on 21 Aug. 2015
Format: Hardcover
There is a great story to tell about the rise, rise and sharp decline of the Stock Aitken Waterman hit-making machine. Unfortunately, despite the best intentions of one-third of that trio - chief songwriter Mike Stock - "The Hit Factory" is not that book.

Perhaps it's fitting that this conversational, unfocused series of thoughts - littered with hackneyed phrases and often glib generalisations - should come from a man who has made a living from penning a series of engaging, tuneful but clichéd and ultimately transient pop records. The blame for this is only revealed at the very end in the acknowledgements, with Stock thanking a Chris Welch for transcribing his "ramblings" into a coherent, structured tale. Much of the first half of "The Hit Factory" reads like an uninvolved breeze through post-War pop culture in all its most unoriginal guises. Cliché after cliché falls off the page, with very little genuine insight or perspective for the reader to get to grips with.

Frequently, as I was reading the early chapters, I would imagine the wrath of English teachers from my youth, were they to be presented with Stock/Welch's cheery but sweepingly vague prose (eg. "we were living the dream, scoring hits for fun and enjoying our new-found fame") - visions of red ink in the margins, irascibly demanding to know more details. Whether such a lack of depth is due to legal requirements, or simply an absence of interest in vividly-recalled minutae, it's hard to tell. "The Hit Factory" is often a frustratingly one-dimensional affair, with several opinions and experiences blandly repeated more than once, which is a fault of the transcriber/editor as much as Stock himself.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsKing of Hits
By Gulliver Hatchett on 17 Feb. 2005
Format: Hardcover
Mike Stock is the guy who wrote the hits and should be given the credit he deserves,this book is frank,and I believe an honest account of the SAW days and,if you've read Pete Waterman's autobiography this is an essential read,as it highlights the internal wranglings of the three guys from another perspective,from the perspective of the multi-talented guy who wrote all the hits,it's a great book and Mike Stock is the REAL hitmaker.He alludes to current programmes like Pop Idol so it's a very current book and anyone wishing to perform or aspire to write a hit record should buy a copy,a fascinating insight into the pop industry and sometimes a rather disturbing one.
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