WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.760 I was looking at a chart breakdown from 1995 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:05.860 yesterday, just getting my head in the game for 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:08.640 this deep dive, and the energy jumping off the 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.619 page is just, it's chaotic. Oh, it was a totally 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:13.960 frantic time. The turnover in the charts was 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.780 incredibly high, trends were shifting week to 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:19.519 week, and the line between underground, cool, 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.679 and pop was getting violently blurred. Violently 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.899 blurred is right. And sitting right in the center 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:29.039 of that chaos is the group we are unpacking today. 00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:31.089 We're talking about the British group, Clock. 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:33.090 Right. Now, if you were listening to the radio 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:35.990 or, you know, going to clubs in the UK or Europe 00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:38.369 in the mid -90s, you couldn't avoid them. They 00:00:38.369 --> 00:00:40.490 were everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Glow 00:00:40.490 --> 00:00:42.369 sticks, high -tempo beats, the whole nine yards. 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:44.929 Yeah. But looking at the sources we've pulled 00:00:44.929 --> 00:00:46.369 together for you today, so we're going through 00:00:46.369 --> 00:00:48.429 their Wikipedia history, the official discography, 00:00:48.630 --> 00:00:52.229 and a ton of old chart data. It turns out Clock 00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:54.250 wasn't really a band in the traditional sense. 00:00:54.289 --> 00:00:57.960 No, not at all. It was more like a machine. Our 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.539 mission today is to unpack that machine. We're 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:02.759 going to look at the mechanics of 90s dance music, 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.500 the bizarre split between producers and performers, 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.239 and one of the most surprising career pivots 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:10.890 in music history. Machine is actually the perfect 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.310 word for it because clock is one of the best 00:01:13.310 --> 00:01:15.430 case studies we have for the Eurodance formula. 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:18.329 Right. This wasn't four friends meeting in a 00:01:18.329 --> 00:01:21.109 garage to write songs about their feelings. This 00:01:21.109 --> 00:01:24.129 was a studio project specifically designed to 00:01:24.129 --> 00:01:26.590 bridge the gap between the hardcore rave scene 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:31.010 and like Saturday morning kids TV shows. Which 00:01:31.010 --> 00:01:32.870 sounds like a recipe for disaster, honestly. 00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:35.549 Yeah. Trying to please the ravers and the pop 00:01:35.549 --> 00:01:37.890 kids at the same time. Usually you just end up 00:01:37.890 --> 00:01:39.609 pleasing neither. Well, that's where the tension 00:01:39.609 --> 00:01:42.030 lies in this whole story. And to understand how 00:01:42.030 --> 00:01:43.890 they managed it, we really have to look at the 00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:45.890 architecture of the group. Let's start with their 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:49.310 origin. So Clock formed in Manchester, England, 00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:53.030 and they were active basically from 1993 to 1999. 00:01:53.129 --> 00:01:56.090 A very specific, very intense window of time. 00:01:56.689 --> 00:01:59.150 Extremely. And we talk about the visuals because 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:01.250 that's what people remember, right? If I pull 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:04.230 up a video of Clock right now, I see a very specific 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:08.560 dynamic. I see a rapper. And a female vocalist. 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:10.580 Exactly. You're seeing Marcus Thomas, who went 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:14.259 by the name ODC MC, and Lorna Saunders, who performed 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:17.219 as Tinka. Tinka, right. Yeah, they were the face 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:19.099 of Clock. They were the ones on the single covers, 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:21.340 doing the dance routines on top of the pops, 00:02:21.460 --> 00:02:23.300 giving the interviews. You're using the term 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:26.020 face quite deliberately there. I am. Because 00:02:26.020 --> 00:02:29.639 in 90s dance music, the face and the brain were 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.439 rarely the same people. Marcus and Lorna were 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:35.419 fantastic performers, obviously integral to the 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:37.590 brand, but they weren't. the ones staying up 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:39.949 until four in the morning programming drum machines. 00:02:40.310 --> 00:02:43.550 The true architects, the real band, were two 00:02:43.550 --> 00:02:47.050 producers, Stu Allen and Pete Pritchard. It's 00:02:47.050 --> 00:02:49.270 that classic Milli Vanilli anxiety that kind 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.590 of hung over the whole 90s, isn't it? The idea 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:53.830 that what you see isn't what you hear. It is, 00:02:53.889 --> 00:02:55.909 but with Clock, it wasn't a scandal. It was just 00:02:55.909 --> 00:02:58.030 industry standard. It was accepted that the producer 00:02:58.030 --> 00:03:00.310 was the artist and the front man was essentially 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:02.979 a cast member. Like a theater production. Exactly 00:03:02.979 --> 00:03:05.259 like that. Stu Allen and Pete Pritchard were 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.860 the directors and scriptwriters, and Marcus and 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:10.479 Lorna were the actors delivering the lines. But 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.860 even the actors' part gets a bit murky when you 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:15.219 really dig into the sources. Yeah. I was reading 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:17.300 through the liner notes of their discography, 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.419 and there's a track called Keep the Fires Burning. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.960 Oh, this is a great example. Right. Because if 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.419 I'm watching the video for that song, I'm seeing 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:28.300 Lorna. So naturally, you assume you're hearing 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:30.590 Lorna. Which is a totally logical assumption, 00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:33.810 but an incorrect one. On that specific track, 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:36.030 the vocals were actually provided by Georgia 00:03:36.030 --> 00:03:38.810 Lewis. Georgia Lewis. So we have a producer making 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:41.330 the beat, a session singer recording the vocal, 00:03:41.490 --> 00:03:44.150 and then a performer lip syncing in the video. 00:03:44.310 --> 00:03:46.289 It's like a Russian nesting doll of identities. 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.379 It creates a fascinating disconnect for the fans. 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.780 The audience is bonding with an image. They project 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:56.539 their fandom onto Lorna and Marcus. But the sonic 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:58.939 DNA of the track comes from a completely different 00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:00.919 set of people. It really makes you wonder who 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:02.939 you're actually a fan of. The person dancing 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:05.479 or the person pushing the buttons? Speaking of 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:07.139 pushing buttons, we should probably get into 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.199 the sound itself. Because before they were the 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.939 polished pop act covering Axl F, they were coming 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:16.500 from a much grittier place. Yeah. Manchester 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:19.500 in the early 90s wasn't exactly known for bubblegum 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:22.480 pop. Absolutely not. Manchester was the epicenter 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.379 of a very specific, hard -edged dance scene. 00:04:25.579 --> 00:04:28.420 And Stu Allen, one of those producers, was a 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:30.879 legend in that world. Right. He had serious roots. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.139 He did. He wasn't a pop guy originally. He was 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:36.560 a hip -hop DJ and a hardcore rave pioneer. And 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.680 if you listen to the early clock tracks, the 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.319 stuff driven by the club scene, you really hear 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.500 that lineage. How so? Like, what should you be 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:45.620 listening for? Well, compare it to the... Italian 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:48.279 Euro dance of the time, acts like capella. The 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:50.899 Italian sound was very polished, very sequencer 00:04:50.899 --> 00:04:53.160 heavy. It had that clean galloping best line. 00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:55.139 The classic do -do -do -do -do sound. Exactly. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:58.100 Klopp took that structure but injected it with 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:01.060 the UK rave virus. They used breakbeats. Instead 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:03.279 of just a steady thump -thump -thump kick drum, 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:06.240 they layered in these choppy syncopated drum 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.740 loops. Which gives it that rougher texture. It 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:11.420 felt urgent. It felt like it belonged in a dark, 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:15.339 sweaty warehouse, not a bright discotheque. So 00:05:15.339 --> 00:05:16.920 they have this credibility. They have the underground 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.459 cool factor. But then they start charting. And 00:05:20.459 --> 00:05:21.759 this is where we get to the part of the story 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:23.800 from our sources that I find just, I find it 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.459 so fascinating. It's the Visa secret. The Visa 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:29.899 alias. This blew my mind. So the producers are 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:32.500 seeing Clock get famous, getting played on daytime 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:35.420 radio. But they're terrified of losing their 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:38.360 street cred with the hardcore rave crowd. So 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.300 they invent a secret identity. It was a survival 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:44.060 mechanism. In the 90s, the tribalism in music 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:46.819 was intense. If you were pop, you were the enemy 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:48.720 of the underground. You couldn't be both. Right, 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:51.480 you get bottled off the stage. Exactly. So Stu 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.740 and Pete devised a workaround. They would release 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.680 the mainstream, radio -friendly version of a 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:59.500 track under the name Clock. Okay. Then they would 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:01.800 take the stems of that exact same track, speed 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:04.540 it up, pitch up the vocals to that chipmunk frequency, 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.459 distort the kick drums, and release it as a white 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:10.230 label record under the name Visa. But did it 00:06:10.230 --> 00:06:12.050 actually work? Or was it one of those things 00:06:12.050 --> 00:06:14.009 where everyone in the scene kind of knew and 00:06:14.009 --> 00:06:15.769 was just winking at each other? Oh, it worked 00:06:15.769 --> 00:06:18.730 surprisingly well. The Visa tracks became massive 00:06:18.730 --> 00:06:22.810 anthems in the darker, harder clubs. Wow. There 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:25.509 were plenty of kids sweating it out to Visa on 00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:27.629 a Friday night who would have turned their nose 00:06:27.629 --> 00:06:31.009 up at clock on Saturday morning, never realizing 00:06:31.009 --> 00:06:33.490 they were listening to the exact same producers. 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:37.329 and often the exact same melodies. That is incredibly 00:06:37.329 --> 00:06:39.269 cynical, though, isn't it? Selling the exact 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:42.870 same product to two warring factions. I wouldn't 00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:45.370 call it cynical. I'd call it pragmatic. They 00:06:45.370 --> 00:06:47.509 understood that the packaging, the tempo, the 00:06:47.509 --> 00:06:50.069 drum sounds, the name on the record mattered 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:52.490 more to that specific audience than the melody 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:55.110 itself. It allowed them to have church success 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:57.709 without completely abandoning their roots. I 00:06:57.709 --> 00:06:59.490 guess you can pay the bills with clock and feed 00:06:59.490 --> 00:07:02.589 your soul with visa. But eventually, the bills 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:05.560 take priority. As time went on, the pop side 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:07.360 of the equation definitely started to take over. 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:10.399 The breakbeats faded out and we entered the era 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:12.720 of the covers. The covers. This is really the 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:14.939 defining legacy of clock for the general public. 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:18.240 It feels like around 1995, they just collectively 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:21.379 decided. Why write new songs when there are perfectly 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:23.860 good old songs we can just speed up? Well, looking 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:25.720 at the chart data we pulled, it's really hard 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.480 to argue with their logic. 1995 was their golden 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:30.660 year. They transitioned from a credible dance 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:34.379 act to a bona fide chart juggernaut. Let's break 00:07:34.379 --> 00:07:36.540 down the discography from that year because it 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:40.060 is wild. Starting with Axl F, which is just a 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:42.959 bold choice. Taking the instrumental synth theme 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.339 song from Beverly Hills Cop and trying to make 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:47.879 people dance to it. It is bold. But think about 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:50.439 the melody. That synth line is a massive earworm. 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:52.879 Everyone knows it. But the original is mid -tempo. 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:55.279 Right. Clock took that recognizability and applied 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.180 the Eurodance template. Crank the tempo to 140 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:00.819 BPM, put a massive kick drum underneath it, and 00:08:00.819 --> 00:08:03.300 suddenly you have a track that triggers a dopamine 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:06.019 hit of nostalgia and the physical urge to move. 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.439 And it worked. Axl F, released as a double A 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:11.680 -side with Keep Pushin', reached number seven 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.259 in the UK. A huge hit. And then they just kept 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:17.060 doubling down. Woof! There it is. That was their 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:19.720 biggest hit of all, peaking at number four. And 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:21.939 notice the pattern there. They didn't pick an 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:24.439 obscure track to cover. They picked a song by 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:26.579 Tag Team that had already been a massive hit 00:08:26.579 --> 00:08:29.060 in the U .S. They were taking proven commodities 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:31.639 and Euro -izing them. I have to ask, is that 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.720 just lazy? Just via -roxing other people's homework? 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.419 You could view it as lazy, sure. But from a pure 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:39.700 production standpoint, it's actually quite difficult 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:42.159 to do well. Really? Yeah. There were hundreds 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.820 of cheap dance covers released in the 90s that 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:46.399 went absolutely nowhere because they sounded 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.919 cheap. Clocks' productions were punchy, they 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.039 were loud, and mixed perfectly for radio. They 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.659 managed to make woof sound like it belonged on 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:57.840 the same playlist as Oasis. That takes real skill. 00:08:57.980 --> 00:08:59.840 They certainly committed to the strategy. That 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.889 same year... Everybody hit number six. They had 00:09:02.889 --> 00:09:06.029 albums charting, too. The album It's Time hit 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:09.509 number 27 in 95, and About Time, too, hit number 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:12.149 56 in 97. They were relentlessly productive. 00:09:12.529 --> 00:09:15.230 And the covers just kept coming. Later on, they 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:17.669 had, oh, what, A Night Reaching over 13 in 96, 00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:21.429 and You Sexy Thing hit number 11 in 97. Over 00:09:21.429 --> 00:09:23.090 the course of the 90s, they managed a string 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:26.450 of top 40 hits with nine different covers. Nine. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.840 It's a staggering amount. They proved that familiarity 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.480 plus a high BPM was an absolute winning formula, 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.080 but it also points to the limitation of the project. 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:38.980 Also, when you rely on other people's songs that 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:41.679 heavily, you start building your own identity. 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:44.159 You become a delivery system for melodies rather 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.399 than an artist with a distinct message. Which 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:48.789 usually signals that the end is near. You can 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:51.269 only run that high tempo engine for so long before 00:09:51.269 --> 00:09:54.690 it overheats. Exactly. And the intense pace we 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:56.570 talked about at the beginning, it wasn't just 00:09:56.570 --> 00:09:58.610 the tempo of the music. It was the lifestyle, 00:09:58.730 --> 00:10:01.710 the burnout inherent in the industry. We see 00:10:01.710 --> 00:10:04.330 this so often in these deep dives into 90s bands. 00:10:04.730 --> 00:10:07.610 The lineup changes started happening. In 1998, 00:10:07.870 --> 00:10:09.970 Marcus Thomas left to join a band called Sant. 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:12.720 And when you lose the face of the group. the 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.059 illusion really starts to crumble. They did try 00:10:15.059 --> 00:10:17.220 to replace him. They brought in a rapper named 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:20.320 Chagon Peters, but the magic was fading. And 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.399 by 1999, the group completely disbanded. The 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:25.700 official reasons cited were a mix of personal 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:28.200 reasons and just an inability to continue at 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.240 that same intense pace. The shelf life of high 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.899 -energy dance groups is notoriously short. Plus, 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:37.000 the Eurodance bubble was bursting, trance was 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.820 coming in, UK Garage was bubbling up. The sound 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:42.309 of clock was just becoming a relic. Yeah. Their 00:10:42.309 --> 00:10:45.549 time was up, pun completely intended. So 1999 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.710 hits, the party's over. Usually this is the part 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:50.370 of the show where we find out they spent the 00:10:50.370 --> 00:10:53.269 next 20 years touring student unions singing 00:10:53.269 --> 00:10:56.590 Axl F. Which many of their peers did. But Lorna 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:58.629 Saunders -Tinka, she did something else entirely. 00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:01.210 This is the where are they now reveal that I 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:03.730 still can't quite wrap my head around. It's one 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:05.929 thing to leave the music industry, but it's another 00:11:05.929 --> 00:11:08.769 to jump into perhaps the most... Opposite profession 00:11:08.769 --> 00:11:11.690 imaginable. It really is. So let's set the scene 00:11:11.690 --> 00:11:15.190 based on the articles we found. It's 2004. Lorna 00:11:15.190 --> 00:11:17.570 appears on the TV show Nevermind the Buzzcocks 00:11:17.570 --> 00:11:19.850 in their celebrity identity parade lineup. Where 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:21.490 they had to guess which one was the pop star 00:11:21.490 --> 00:11:24.309 from 10 years ago. Right. And on that show, it's 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:26.049 announced she's working as a legal secretary. 00:11:26.429 --> 00:11:29.570 Which is a sensible, steady job after the chaos 00:11:29.570 --> 00:11:32.559 of the 90s. But she didn't stop there. By 2015, 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:35.200 it was revealed that she had become a fully qualified 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.919 lawyer working for a firm called Jackamans. A 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:41.220 practicing lawyer. Dealing with serious legal 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:45.220 matters. Married, two children, completely removed 00:11:45.220 --> 00:11:47.500 from the pop spotlight, from top of the pops 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:50.580 to a law firm. It's an unusual but incredibly 00:11:50.580 --> 00:11:53.080 impressive trajectory. You know, initially I 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.379 thought that was such a bizarre pivot. But the 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:56.879 more you think about it, you mentioned earlier 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:58.779 that being in clock was like being an actor. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.799 You learn a script, you perform, you present 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.279 this confident face to the public. Yes. Being 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.480 a lawyer is also a performance. Yeah. You have 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.000 to be prepared. You have to be persuasive. That's 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.419 a brilliant connection. In the 90s, she had the 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:12.879 discipline to maintain that high energy persona 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.940 night after night. She took that exact same grit 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:18.519 and applied it to law. It's the ultimate post 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:21.730 -pop survival story. But we can't close the book 00:12:21.730 --> 00:12:23.710 on clock without talking about the other side 00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:26.289 of that partnership. The brain behind the face. 00:12:26.450 --> 00:12:29.450 Yes, Stu Allen. The sources end on a very somber 00:12:29.450 --> 00:12:32.429 note regarding him. He passed away in September 00:12:32.429 --> 00:12:36.600 2022. He was only 60 years old. It was gastrointestinal 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:39.240 cancer. There's just no age at all. It's not. 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:41.340 And we really have to take a moment to acknowledge 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:43.679 his role. Clock might have been his big commercial 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.580 pop success, but Stu Allen was the architect 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:49.500 behind the sound that defined a massive era of 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:52.259 Manchester music. He was a true pioneer for that 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:55.120 scene. He really was. His legacy isn't just the 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.679 pop covers. It's in the break beats and the hardcore 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.320 rave culture he helped build. It brings us right 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:02.879 back to the duality of the group. You have Lorna, 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:05.659 the visible star who completely reinvented herself. 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:08.799 And you have Stu, the invisible architect who 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:11.220 stayed true to the music his whole life. It raises 00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:13.000 a really interesting final thought for you to 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.480 chew on. When we look back at the 90s, we remember 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:18.200 the faces in the music videos. We remember Marcus 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:21.500 and Lorna. But the true creators, people like 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:24.679 Stu Allen and Pete Pritchard, remain in the background. 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.320 It really begs the question. In the context of 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.120 electronic dance music, who actually is the band? 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:33.940 Is it the image that sells the record or is it 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:36.419 the sound coming out of the speakers? That is 00:13:36.419 --> 00:13:39.000 exactly the kind of question that makes digging 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.820 into these old charts so rewarding because nothing 00:13:42.820 --> 00:13:45.100 is ever as simple as it looks on the surface. 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.139 Never. So, listener, here is your homework. Go 00:13:49.139 --> 00:13:51.789 look up the track, the rhythm. But try to find 00:13:51.789 --> 00:13:54.629 the Visa remix. Put on your headphones and see 00:13:54.629 --> 00:13:57.549 if you can hear that exact moment where the hardcore 00:13:57.549 --> 00:14:00.529 rave beat fights against the commercial pop melody. 00:14:00.669 --> 00:14:03.049 You'll hear the whole history of 90s dance music 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:06.029 in that one track. You really will. Thanks for 00:14:06.029 --> 00:14:07.669 taking this trip back to the dance floor with 00:14:07.669 --> 00:14:09.370 us. We'll catch you on the next deep dive.