"Neanderthal Man" | ||||
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Single by Hotlegs | ||||
from the album Thinks: School Stinks | ||||
B-side | "You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think of It" | |||
Released | 19 June 1970 | |||
Recorded | 1970 | |||
Studio | Strawberry Studios, Stockport, Cheshire, England | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:19 | |||
Label | Fontana (UK) · Capitol (US) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, Eric Stewart | |||
Producer(s) | Hotlegs | |||
Hotlegs singles chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() German cover of "Neanderthal Man" | ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
![]() Italian cover of "Neanderthal Man" |
"Neanderthal Man" is a song by Hotlegs,an English pop band that was later relaunched as 10cc. The song,initially created only as a studio exercise to test drum sounds on new recording equipment,sold over two million copies and reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 22 in the US. It reached No. 1 in Italy and Germany and was also a Top 20 hit in Australia,Canada,France,Ireland and Japan. [2]
The song was the first to be recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport,England,on new four-track Ampex equipment purchased by studio owners Eric Stewart,Graham Gouldman and Peter Tattersall. It featured a simple repeated chorus and a heavy drum rhythm that Gouldman's manager,Harvey Lisberg,has claimed became influential in pop music. He said:"I think a lot of people were very influenced by 'Neanderthal Man',which was something new in drum sounds,using four drums on a four-track machine. When Gary Glitter came along with his records,I thought I could hear the same sort of sound deep down in there. I think there were a lot of other people who copied the sound,maybe unintentionally." [2]
Stewart recalled that when the recording equipment had been set up,Kevin Godley set up his drum kit,Lol Creme got out his guitar and Stewart sat down at the control desk. "It was the first time we'd had a real control desk with a four-track machine and we were excited to try it all out," he said. "The whole thing was just an experiment because Kevin wanted to lay all sorts of different drum beats down that he hadn't recorded before,and there was this crazy sort of nursery rhyme that had just got into our heads."
"As we laid down the drum tracks,Lol was singing in the studio with Kevin keeping time – and after we'd laid four drum tracks down Lol's voice came through at a very high level,sounding like something none of us had ever heard before on a record. It really sounded very strange,so we carried on working on the number,adding little bits of piano to it." [2]
By good fortune,Dick Leahy of Philips Records (the record company that had released all the singles by Stewart's former band The Mindbenders on its Fontana label) was in the Manchester area on business and visited the studio. When he asked Stewart what they had been working on,Stewart played the "Neanderthal Man" tape they had just completed. Stewart said Leahy immediately claimed,"It's fabulous! It's a hit record!" and offered a £500 advance. The advance was particularly timely for Stewart,who was considering selling his house and moving to something smaller to provide him with more funding for the studio.
He said the first task was to create a name for the band:"We had no name for the group,of course. But we had a girl at the studio…Kathy Gill,I think her name was,who had very,very nice legs and she used to wear these incredible hot pants. Green,leather hot pants. So we called the group Hotlegs." [3]
Stewart said Philips were not entirely content with the song,however:"The next thing that happened after we'd done the deal was that we got a phone call from them. 'We like the record,' they said,'but we can't hear the words!' We had about three phone calls about that,and each time I explained that they weren't supposed to hear the words. Eventually they agreed to release it just as we wanted it."
He said there was one further hitch before the song was released:a loud metallic burst towards the end of the song blew a £1200 cutter head as the track was being mastered in the Phonogram cutting suite. He explained:"We had a sound on that track that was something that had never been recorded before. We'd made the sound by taking a large 6 ft by 4 ft sheet of steel into the studio. It was actually a sheet we were going to fireproof one of the doors with – and then at the right moment we had hit it with a hammer. The hammer blow gave it such a shock frequency-wise that the equipment just couldn't take it. At the time this was an embarrassment to all of us,but that faded into insignificance when we found ourselves with such a massive hit on our hands." [2]
The song reached No. 2 in the UK on 15 August 1970 and remained there for two weeks,kept off the top spot by Elvis Presley's "The Wonder of You". [4] The song also became a hit across Europe and reached Top 20 in Canada and Top 30 in US and number 24 in Australia. [5]
"Neanderthal Man" was the only hit by Hotlegs. An album, Thinks:School Stinks and a follow-up single,"Lady Sadie",differed markedly from the sound of "Neanderthal Man" and drummer Kevin Godley later admitted the band failed to properly capitalise on their hit with interviews or other promotional work. [2]
"Neanderthal Man" was featured in a number of 10cc compilation albums,including 1997 The Very Best of 10cc ,2006 Greatest Hits ... And More ,2017 Before,During,After - The Story of 10cc.
"Neanderthal Man" was sampled in the song "Son of Man" by GG/06,a collaboration between Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman. [6]
Chart (1970) | Peak position |
---|---|
Ö3 Austria Top 40 [7] | 7 |
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [8] | 10 |
Canada ( RPM ) Top Singles [9] | 13 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [10] | 23 |
South Africa (Springbok) [11] | 2 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [12] | 3 |
UK Singles (OCC) [13] | 2 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [14] | 22 |
West Germany (Official German Charts) [15] | 4 |
10cc are a British rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians —Graham Gouldman,Eric Stewart,Kevin Godley and Lol Creme —who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured two songwriting teams. Many regard Stewart and Gouldman as the predominant pop songwriters,and Godley and Creme as the more experimental half of 10cc. Some have described Godley and Creme’s songwriting as featuring art and cinematically inspired writing.
Godley &Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979,they directed their first music video for their single "An Englishman in New York". After this,they became involved in the production of videos for artists such as Ultravox,the Police,Yes,Duran Duran,Frankie Goes to Hollywood,Huey Lewis and the News and Wang Chung,as well as directing the groundbreaking video for their 1985 single "Cry". The duo split at the end of the 1980s. Both have since been involved in music videos,TV commercials,and sporadic music projects.
Eric Michael Stewart is an English singer-songwriter,multi-instrumentalist and record producer,best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968,and likewise of 10cc from 1972 to 1995. Stewart co-owned Strawberry Studios in Stockport,England,from 1968 to the early 1980s,where he recorded albums with 10cc and artists including Neil Sedaka and Paul McCartney. Stewart collaborated with McCartney extensively in the 1980s,playing on or co-writing songs for McCartney's solo albums Tug of War (1982),Pipes of Peace (1983),Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984),and Press to Play (1986). Since 1980,Stewart has released four solo studio albums.
Laurence Neil "Lol" Creme is a British musician and music video director,best known for his work in 10cc. He was later one half of the duo Godley &Creme,with 10cc drummer Kevin Godley. Creme has collaborated with Trevor Horn's Band. He sings and plays guitar,bass and keyboards.
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English singer,musician and songwriter,best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc,Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned many hits for major rock and pop groups,including the Yardbirds,the Hollies,Herman's Hermits and Ohio Express.
Hotlegs was a short-lived English band best known for their hit single "Neanderthal Man" in 1970. The band consisted of Eric Stewart,Kevin Godley,Lol Creme and –briefly –Graham Gouldman. In 1972,the band re-branded themselves as 10cc.
10cc is the debut album by the British rock band 10cc,first released in 1973. It was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport,which was part-owned by guitarist and engineer Eric Stewart,and released on Jonathan King's UK Records label. The album reached number 36 in the UK Albums Chart.
"I'm Not in Love" is a song by British group 10cc,written by band members Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. It is known for its innovative and distinctive backing track,composed mostly of the band's multitracked vocals. Released in the UK in May 1975 as the second single from the band's third album,The Original Soundtrack,it became the second of the group's three number-one singles in the UK between 1973 and 1978,topping the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. "I'm Not in Love" became the band's breakthrough hit outside the United Kingdom,topping the charts in Canada and Ireland as well as peaking within the top 10 of the charts in several other countries,including Australia,West Germany,New Zealand,Norway and the United States.
Strawberry Studios was a recording studio in Stockport,historically in Cheshire,now within Greater Manchester,England. Founded in 1968,it operated until the early 1990s. Strawberry Studios became one of the finest professional recording studios in the United Kingdom outside London used by a range of artists including 10cc,Joy Division,Neil Sedaka,Barclay James Harvest,The Smiths,The Stone Roses,The Moody Blues,Paul McCartney,Wax and Cliff Richard.
Deceptive Bends is the fifth studio album by rock band 10cc,released in 1977. It was the first album released by the band after the departure of founding members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme and produced the hit single "The Things We Do for Love".
...Meanwhile is the tenth studio album by the British rock band 10cc,released in 1992. It was the band's first in nine years and marked the brief comeback of the original 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
The History Mix Volume 1 is the sixth studio album by English duo Godley &Creme,released in June 1985 by Polydor Records. The album was a remix of songs spanning the career of Godley &Creme and their earlier bands,10cc,Doctor Father and Hotlegs.
Thinks:School Stinks is the only studio album by English pop band Hotlegs. The album,featuring the band's hit single "Neanderthal Man",was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport near Manchester and engineered by the studio's co-owners,Eric Stewart and Peter Tattersall.
Strawberry Bubblegum:A Collection of Pre-10CC Strawberry Studio Recordings 1969–1972 is a compilation of songs recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport,England,by the four musicians –Graham Gouldman,Eric Stewart,Kevin Godley and Lol Creme –who in 1972 would form the British pop band 10cc,along with occasional guest vocalists.
You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think of It is a compilation album by British pop group Hotlegs.
Greatest Hits ... And More is a 2006 compilation and video albums of songs by English pop group 10cc as well as pre-10cc and post-10cc work by its founding members,Graham Gouldman,Eric Stewart and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme,performing as Godley &Creme.
Solitaire is a 1972 album by American singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka.
"I'm Mandy Fly Me" is a single by 10cc released in 1976. It was taken from the How Dare You! album,and reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart.
"The Dean and I" is a song by the art rock/pop band 10cc,from their 1973 eponymous debut album,written by Lol Creme and Kevin Godley. The song was released as the fourth single from the album in August 1973 and peaked at #10 on the UK Singles Chart. The single reached the top of the Irish Singles Chart on 20 September 1973.
Harvey Brian Lisberg is an English talent manager and impresario,best known for discovering Herman's Hermits in 1963. In 1965,he signed songwriter Graham Gouldman,a founder member of 10cc,who Lisberg also managed,along with Godley &Creme,Tony Christie,Barclay James Harvest,Gordon Giltrap,Sad Café,Wax and others.
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