‘Grace Jones was in a state’: legendary producer Trevor Horn relives his mega-hits



‘It was silly not to licence Frankie Goes to Hollywood play connected Relax’ … Horn astatine domestic, wrong the residence formerly owned by mode of Bob Hoskins. Photograph: Paul Stuart/Camera Press‘It was silly nary longer to licence Frankie Goes to Hollywood play connected Relax’ … Horn astatine domestic, wrong the residence antecedently owned by utilizing Bob Hoskins. Photograph: Paul Stuart/Camera Press

From Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Grace Jones, ABC and Tatu, helium gave popular immoderate of its finest, maximum ahead-looking moments. He besides sang for prog rockers Yes. The trailblazing button-twirler remembers his pleasant – and worst – choices

Wbird I inquire if I tin usage the bath successful Trevor Horn’s residence, helium suggests maine the mode determination himself. “Bob Hoskins’ antique thunderbox,” helium smiles arsenic helium opens the door. “He utilized to instrumentality a spot determination and work his scripts, reputedly.”

There’s different doorway consequent to it, which leads close down to Horn’s studio. A location formerly owned with the assistance of a Hollywood large name, monolithic capable to accommodate a immense signaling studio: it’s the location of a idiosyncratic who’s achieved thoroughly for himself, which of course, Horn has. His presently published autobiography, Adventures successful Modern Recording, info a stellar vocation arsenic a study producer, afloat of wildly breathtaking tales which typically impact Horn barricaded successful a studio, smoking a monolithic quantity of marijuana portion handling the dizzying array of method problems that travel from pushing the contiguous time signaling gadgetry to its limit, past sooner oregon aboriginal rising with a hugely palmy single. ABC’s The Look of Love. Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax. Grace Jones’s Slave to the Rhythm. Tatu’s All the Things She Said.

By becoming a subordinate of Yes, I went from the frying cookware into the hearth

In fact, Horn’s telephone is truthful synonymous with large illustration fulfillment, it’s casual to miss what a antithetic way helium took to repute. He commenced his assemblage wrong the aboriginal 70s arsenic a bassist with the Ray McVay orchestra, exceptional referred to arsenic the location set connected TV’s Come Dancing. “It became the first-class-paid gig around,” helium shrugs, earlier than correcting himself: “Well, the bully paid crap gig round. We performed thing that was successful, truthful it was a terrific grounding successful what makes an awesome popular file.”

He hung retired wrong the backing set of his then-girlfriend Tina Charles earlier than yet hitting monolithic with the Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star successful 1979. The quantity of clip helium and chap Buggle Geoff Downes spent making it turned into the archetypal illustration of Horn’s celebrated perfectionism wrong the studio, which yet led him to walk a said £70,000 – a 4th of a cardinal quid successful today’s currency – making Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax. He says helium was uncomfortable being a frontman. “I loved it connected the begin, but being connected a TV show, miming whilst a fewer guy’s sat implicit determination ingesting a sandwich and it’s Tuesday greeting – that began to enactment connected a spot thin. But I imply, I went from the frying cookware into the fireplace by means of going into Yes.”

Ah sure: Yes. Like Tubeway Army’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric, Video Killed the Radio Star became a unmarried that regarded to are expecting the mode the pursuing decennary changed into going to cookware out, but Horn accompanied it via doing the slightest Nineteen Eighties facet imaginable and joining the waning prog stone titans arsenic vocalist. It changed into inevitable Horn would hold – Yes had been his favored set and notation of them nowadays causes his eyes to mild up and him to commencement making a opus the riff successful their 1971 opus Starship Trooper (“I similar it, man!”) – but the full acquisition seems similar hell: Yes fanatics were nonplussed astir seeing the frontman of a popular set taking the determination of vocalist Jon Anderson (he person go utilized to cries of “fuck disconnected Trevor!”), helium blew his dependable retired from making a opus excessively large and suffered the indity of his microphone basal and his tambourine falling to portions successful the beforehand of 20,000 humans. At the halt of the excursion, Yes sacked him. “Well, it turned into amusive astatine the begin, nevertheless it got harder and harder,” helium concedes. Then the ardent Yes instrumentality reappears. “But due to the fact that I was a portion susceptible, the set person been gambling retired of their skins. There’s much than 1 enactment tracks from that exertion and what moves maine aft I perceive is however existent the set person been. They truly knew a mode to bash it.”

In truth, helium cherished Yes a lot, helium returned to supply their 1983 medium 90125. Determined to get them a hit, helium alighted connected a opus known arsenic Owner of a Lonely Heart. The set refused to cooperate, deeming it “too poppy”, forcing Horn to instrumentality determined measures. “I virtually got down connected my knees and began pulling astatine [bassist] Chris Squire’s trousers, pleading with them.” Owner of a Lonely Heart went connected to go Yes’s astir effectual No 1 successful America.

‘It turned into amusive connected the start’ … Yes successful 1980, with Horn connected vocals. Photograph: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

By then, Horn changed into surely 1 of the largest record producers successful the world, contempt the information that his people to that place go mean arsenic properly. After Yes fired him arsenic their singer, helium elected to paintings with Dollar, an implausibly drippy center-of-the-road popular duo who mightiness besides were 1 of the fewer artists considered adjacent little hep successful 1981 than his erstwhile employers. They had, successful Horn’s memorable phrase, “some happening of the cruise present astir them”. Anyone other would perchance person tally a mile, nevertheless Horn noticed a conceptual possibility. “I cherished The Man Machine by Kraftwerk, this thought of a set that person been wholly techno. And I thought: wouldn’t oregon not it's singular to premix that with [perennially unfashionable British MOR crooner] Vince Hill?”

Horn acceptable songs that performed connected the duo’s preceding romanticist engagement to visionary physics production. Listen to 1982’s Videotheque, with its booming drums, high-drama synths and sampled voices, and besides you perceive the sonic aboriginal of 80s popular being mapped out. Understandably, his reimagining of the irredeemably naff Dollar were fixed Horn observed: archetypal by means of ABC, whose Horn-produced debut medium The Lexicon of Love turned into surely 1 of 1982’s largest-promoting albums, past via erstwhile Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. His 1983 medium Duck Rock contained Buffalo Gals, the archetypal British hip-hop unmarried, which mightiness person been little mythical had Horn not talked McLaren retired of his archetypal thought “to bash a rapping and scratching opus based connected the movie ET”.

Rhythm … connected signifier with Grace Jones astatine Wembley successful 2004. Photograph: Brian Rasic/Getty Images

Horn says the chaotic, groundbreaking tone of Duck Rock fed into establishing his idiosyncratic papers label, ZTT, a byword for a affirmative benignant of 80s extra, from the florid sleevenotes penned done euphony writer Paul Morley, to the sheer scope of remixes Horn cranked retired of each azygous the statement launched (reputedly a batch to his chagrin “due to the information each 1 became similar making the grounds each erstwhile more”). For a portion it worked similar a dream. Horn’s precise ain avant garde enactment the Art of Noise made statistic truthful futuristic that erstwhile his aged heroes Kraftwerk heard them, they were dismayed, realising that idiosyncratic other became present connected the slicing part. Meanwhile, Frankie Goes to Hollywood became the largest and maximum debatable set successful Britain.

In Adventures successful Modern Recording, Horn is cautious to recognition people the second band’s philharmonic talents. None of its participants barroom vocalist Holly Johnson accomplished connected their debut single, Relax, which turned into fundamentally created successful the workplace by means of Horn and his team – a information which you get the sensation arsenic a substitute haunts Horn nowadays. “I whitethorn privation to person fto them play connected Relax,” helium nods. “It became anserine present not to due to the fact that it created a mystery, and the papers perpetually emotion that. Look astatine what occurred to unspeakable Milli Vanilli. But they person been desirable, the bass player’s riffs for Welcome to the Pleasuredome and Two Tribes were super, he’s a talented guy. The drummer had a facet too.” He pauses. “I don’t presume aft I started Relax I had immoderate wide conception of what I was going to bash with it. I was simply going to look successful which it went. It didn’t person a chorus, it became surely lone a verse and a run-out.”

Radio stars … with Geoff Downes successful the Buggles. Photograph: Fin Costello/Redferns

Horn appears to person cherished each infinitesimal of ZTT: employing percussionists to interruption crockery, a valid helium sampled connected Propaganda’s Dr Mabuse; inveigling Grace Jones to sing connected Slave to the Rhythm, careless of the world that “she changed into successful a authorities … she’d recovered retired her fellow turned into cheating connected her and acceptable fireplace to each his garments”. But possibly unavoidably, it didn’t remaining. Artists departed owed to arguments implicit cash; Frankie Goes to Hollywood fell retired with each different, an acquisition Horn says became “like watching a automobile coincidence”. Horn’s idiosyncratic vocation persisted apace – he’s agelong gone straight to merchantability millions much facts and paintings with everyone from Rod Stewart to Belle and Sebastian – but helium ored the madness of ZTT. “I did. I turned into benignant of unhappy astir it. If anybody makes a prime to caput and beryllium huffy and experimental, I accidental it’s thing you signifier of extremity up being owed to the information you’re prepared to instrumentality a mates of possibilities with things. So you may’t determination returned to it, without a doubt.”

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He says helium wonders if epoch has made making statistic excessively creaseless successful 2022. Things that utilized to instrumentality him days tin present beryllium achieved “in aggregate rodent clicks”, but “there’s a signifier of zen origin astir having to walk a full batch of clip connected immoderate thing, having to bash it precise cautiously, measurement by step”. He seems aghast astatine the modern spate of courtroom cases implicit plagiarism. “You connection that men who constitute rankings for movies ne'er writer each other, and that’s owed to the information they each beryllium fixed that that is going to beryllium a spot similar that, a spot similar this.”

Still, helium brightens, there’s masses of superb opus being made successful 2022: he’s partial to Mark Ronson’s productions, amongst others. And arsenic he’s showing maine to the door, I inquire what he’s moving connected wrong the workplace downstairs. Oh, helium says, it’s a cowl mentation of Kendrick Lamar’s Swimming Pools (Drank). Tori Amos is singing it. It’s pugnacious to ideate what that could dependable like, nevertheless the conception itself sounds peculiar, which makes it precise Trevor Horn.

Adventures successful Modern Recording: From ABC to ZTT with the assistance of Trevor Horn is published with the assistance of Nine Eight.