Steve Rodway (born in Cambridgeshire), [1] also known under the alias Motiv 8 or Motiv8, is a British electronic dance music producer, songwriter, remixer and sound engineer.
While known for many remixes, including those produced for Erasure, Spice Girls, The Doobie Brothers, Robert Palmer, Saint Etienne, Pulp, Dubstar and Pet Shop Boys, as well as his own singles such as "Rockin' for Myself", "Break The Chain" and "Searching For The Golden Eye", his highest-profile work was composing and producing the song "Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit" for Gina G. The song was the United Kingdom's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and a subsequent UK number 1 and international hit. [2]
Rodway started his musical career as a vocalist and drummer before settling as a keyboardist for Billy Ocean. An early release, "Mission", was licensed by Go! Beat Records. Rodway then started independent record label 'Nuff Respect Records, in preparation for distributing another single, "Rockin' for Myself". While the success of these early singles was limited to club play, Rodway's subsequent contract with Warner Bros. Records and a re-release of "Rockin' for Myself" took the single to #18 (week of 7 May 1994) [3] on the UK Singles Chart.
Afterwards, Rodway began his remixing career, with an early remix of "Listen to the Music" by The Doobie Brothers (peaking at #37 UK, only a week after "Rockin' for Myself" peaked) [4] opening up further opportunities.
Rodway's distinctive style of crossover remixes soon became in demand and his talents came to the attention of Jarvis Cocker of the group Pulp. Cocker and bassist Steve Mackey personally met with Rodway requesting a complete overhaul of "Common People" in the Motiv8 style; the resulting classic remix went on to replace the original version on BBC Radio 1's playlist. Following the success of "Common People", Rodway remixed "Disco 2000".
More involved was a 1995 production for Saint Etienne called "He's on the Phone", created by Rodway through a considerable rework of the song "Accident" from the Saint Etienne and Étienne Daho collaboration EP Reserection and used as the new single included on the Too Young to Die singles compilation. Time stretching and pitch shifting of a vocal sample from the song were used to create a new melody on the final product.
In 1997, Rodway took on remixing "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, the best known song he had worked on to date. For this remix he insisted on using multitracks from the original version rather than a recent re-recorded version.
Motiv 8 was also responsible for additional production work on the single mix of "A Red Letter Day" by Pet Shop Boys (see below).
In 1995, Rodway was asked to remix "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. At this stage little was known about the group other than they were a future priority for their record company Virgin Records. Because the original down tempo of "Wannabe" was too slow for club play, Rodway re-recorded the girls' vocals and produced a new faster version of the track aimed specifically at club and radio play. When "Wannabe" was eventually released in 1996 as the Spice Girls' debut single, it became a huge hit on club and radio play around the world helping to establish the girls' own brand of Girl Power.
One of Rodway's other objectives was to work with new recording artists. In December 1995, he was introduced to Australian singer Gina G, who had come across Rodway through an early demo called "Just a Little Bit" produced by Simon Tauber. The demo was eventually developed into the song "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit". Rodway produced a brand new version which went on to be selected as the United Kingdom's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.
In conjunction with the May contest, "Ooh Aah..." was released as a single in March 1996, hitting #1 in the UK in May and receiving BPI Platinum certification; [5] #12 on the Billboard Hot 100; and selling 2 million copies worldwide. It was performed six times on Top of the Pops from March to May, and yet again on the year-end episode. [6] "Ooh Aah's" stateside success brought Rodway both a Grammy nomination and an ASCAP award.
Rodway provided additional production on Pet Shop Boys' 1997 hit "A Red Letter Day". The duo became admirers of the Motiv8 sound and Neil Tennant visited Rodway at work in his studio during the remix. Ironically after it was finished and delivered, Tennant insisted a synth line which Rodway had come up with on the Motiv8 version, should be used on the Pet Shop Boys' own main mix. After trying unsuccessfully to recreate Rodway's riff it eventually had to be sampled from the Motiv8 mix. Thus it appears on both the Pet Shop Boys' main version as well as the Motiv8 remix
In 2000 Rodway began to experiment with changes to the Motiv8 sound. Although the vocals were still kept and the song preserved, he began using combinations of clean synth lines layered with deliberately distorted acoustic instruments to produce a more forceful rhythm. Parallel compression was then applied. The synthesizer riffs in "On A Night Like This" are good examples of his technique. This version together with the Motiv8 remix of Billie Piper's "Something Deep Inside" are regarded as clear departures from the previous Motiv8 style. Due to the popularity of the remix, a video of "On a Night Like This" was also dubbed from an edited version of the Motiv8 Nocturnal Vocal Mix.
Motiv 8 remixes have a reputation for being focused on songwriting and composition, generally keeping the full vocal track — an approach that Rodway attributes to coming from a background of songwriting, as opposed to DJing. Often all the backing tracks are discarded in favor of an entirely new set built from the vocals alone; one exception was "Addicted to Love", in which maintaining the "essence" of the song was a concern due to the iconic nature of the song. Musical characteristics of Motiv 8 remixes include arpeggios playing during verses, and loops overlaid on programmed drum samples.
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certification | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [7] | AUS [8] | US | ||||
"Don't Stop Trying" (as Rodway) | 1982 | — | — | 83 | Horizontal Hold | |
"Don't Knock It 'Til You Try It" (as Rodway) | 1983 | — | — | — | ||
"Keep On Walking" | 1985 | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
"Mission" | 1992 | — | — | — | ||
"Rockin' for Myself" (featuring Angie Brown) | 1993 | 18 | 9 | — | ||
"Break the Chain" | 1995 | 31 | 43 | — | ||
"Searching for the Golden Eye" (featuring Kym Mazelle) | 40 | — | — | |||
"Riding on the Wings" (featuring Jocelyn Brown) | 2005 | 44 | — | — |
Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of The Guinness Book of Records. They are known for commercially successful pop songs with 'highbrow' influences from classical music, opera, film, fashion and literature.
Bilingual is the sixth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released in the United Kingdom on 2 September 1996 by Parlophone and in the United States on 10 September 1996 by Atlantic Records. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, lower than their previous five studio albums which had all reached the top three. It yielded five successful singles, with three of them—"Before", "Se a vida é " and "A Red Letter Day"—reaching the UK top 10; the fourth one, the English/Spanish-language composition "Single-Bilingual", peaked within the top 20.
PopArt: The Hits is a greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 24 November 2003 by Parlophone. The album consists of Pet Shop Boys' top 20 UK singles along with two new tracks, "Miracles" and "Flamboyant", which were also released as singles.
Stuart David Price is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer. His acts include his own band Zoot Woman, Les Rythmes Digitales, Paper Faces, Man with Guitar, Thin White Duke, and the parodic French moniker Jacques Lu Cont.
"Hallo Spaceboy" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 20th studio album, Outside (1995). It originated as an instrumental by Reeves Gabrels called "Moondust", which Bowie and Brian Eno stripped down and used to form the final track. An industrial rock and electronica number influenced by the Pixies and Nine Inch Nails, the song contains a hypnotic sound, with synthesisers, loops and distorted guitar lines. Lyrically influenced by Brion Gysin, the song contains images of apocalypse and continues the androgynous conundrums of former Bowie songs such as "Rebel Rebel".
"Minimal" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their ninth studio album, Fundamental (2006). It was released on 24 July 2006 as the album's second single, reaching at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and becoming the duo's 37th top-20 entry in the United Kingdom. The B-side "In Private" is a new version of a song originally written for Dusty Springfield, this time recorded as a duet between Neil Tennant and Elton John.
"Paninaro" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, originally a B-side to the 1986 single "Suburbia". In 1995, a re-recording titled "Paninaro '95" was released to a wider market, to promote the duo's B-side compilation album Alternative, though only the original version was included on the compilation.
Disco 4 is the fourth remix album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 8 October 2007 by Parlophone on CD and vinyl. It was not made available as a digital download, due to licensing difficulties for each track.
"Integral" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their ninth studio album, Fundamental (2006). A remixed version of the song was released on 8 October 2007 as a download-only single to promote the duo's fourth remix album, Disco 4 (2007). The single peaked at number 197 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" is a song recorded by Australian singer and songwriter Gina G, with music composed by Steve Rodway and lyrics written by Simon Tauber. It was her debut solo single, and it was released on 25 March 1996 by Eternal and Warner Bros. as the first single from her debut album, Fresh! (1997). It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, held in Oslo, where it finished in eighth place. The single topped the UK Singles Chart in May 1996, peaked at No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998. "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" is also the fourth-highest charting Eurovision entry in the US, behind "Nel blu dipinto du blu (Volare)" (1958), "Waterloo" (1974) and "Eres tú" (1974); it remained the last Eurovision entry to chart in the US until "Arcade", the 2019 winning entry in 2021.
"A Red Letter Day" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 17 March 1997 as the fourth single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). The single peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, making it another top 10 single for the group. However, it then fell straight out of the UK top 40 the following week. At the time, this was a record as the biggest such fall to ever occur in UK chart history, but it was then beaten the following year by Embrace with their single "My Weakness Is None of Your Business".
"Listen to the Music" is a song by American rock band the Doobie Brothers, released on their second album, Toulouse Street (1972). The song was written by Tom Johnston and was the band’s first major hit. In 1994, it received a remix by Steve Rodway a.k.a. Motiv8 in 1994, which eventually peaked at No. 37 in the UK.
"Love Etc." is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their tenth studio album, Yes (2009). It was released on 16 March 2009 as the album's lead single. The single was also made available on the US and Canadian iTunes Stores on 24 March 2009, making it the duo's first single to be released in the US, albeit as a digital download, since "Break 4 Love" in 2001.
"Hug My Soul" is a song by British band Saint Etienne. It was the third single from their third album, Tiger Bay (1994), and was released in September 1994 by Heavenly Records. It was written by vocalist Sarah Cracknell along with songwriting partners Guy Batson and Johnny Male.
"Designing Heaven" is a song by the British new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in 1996 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Bigger Than America. It was written by band members Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and was produced by Marsh and Ware under their production company British Electric Foundation. The song peaked at number 128 in the UK Singles Chart. It was the band's first release of new material since 1988.
"London" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 14 October 2002 as the third and final single from their eighth studio album, Release (2002). It was released exclusively in Germany and Europe and as a promotional-only release in the United Kingdom.
New Hits 96 is a compilation album released in 1996. As a part of the Hits compilation series, it contains UK hit singles from the winter and early spring months of 1996. The album reached number 1 on the UK compilations chart and stayed there for nine weeks.
"Rockin' for Myself" is a song by British electronic dance music record producer Motiv8, aka Steve Rodway. Based around a vocal loop originally performed by Anne-Marie Smith on Italian dance act 49ers' 1992 single, "Move Your Feet", it was released in late 1993 and features vocals by British singer Angie Brown. This version reached number 67 on the UK Singles Chart. In the spring of 1994, it was re-mixed and re-released, peaking at number 18 in the UK. But on the UK Dance Singles Chart, it was even more successful, peaking at number-one. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it reached number 63. Outside Europe, it was successful in Australia, peaking at number nine. A music video was produced to promote the single, featuring a model and dancer lip-syncing the song on a red sofa, wearing yellow sweater and beret.
"Stars" is a song by English indie dance trio Dubstar, released in 1995 by EMI and Polydor as the debut single from their first album, Disgraceful (1995). The song received critical acclaim, peaking at number 40 in the UK. But after being re-released in 1996, it was far more successful, reaching number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and number 18 in Scotland, as well as number 69 on the Eurochart Hot 100. Outside Europe, the song was a hit in Israel, peaking at number-one for three weeks. It received a great deal of play time in clubs and many remixes were also created. There were produced three different music videos to promote the single. Italian metal band Lacuna Coil covered it on their 2000 EP Halflife.