January 1984, London: three men from different corners of the British pop industry open PWL (Pete Waterman Limited) studios at 4-7 Borough High Street. Pete Waterman (born 1947, Coventry) - former DJ, 37. Mike Stock (born 1951, Birmingham) - keyboard player and arranger, 33. Matt Aitken (born 1956, Coventry) - guitarist and producer, 28. Their goal: to make pop hits on an assembly line. Over six years (1984-1990) PWL studios would turn out 100+ UK top-40 singles, 44 UK #1s, 120 million records sold. It's the most commercially successful British producer trio in postwar history, and methodologically the most systematic. They were called the Hit Factory - and that wasn't an exaggeration.
Who SAW were before 1984
Pete Waterman started as a DJ in Coventry in 1966. In the 1970s he became an A&R at Magnet Records, where he signed Mud and Alvin Stardust. Waterman didn't play any instrument - his role was business coordinator and “ear” for potential hits.
Mike Stock played in the group Nightwork (1975-1983) as keyboardist and arranger. By 1983 he had experience producing sessions but no major hit in his catalogue.
Matt Aitken played guitar in Pinkerton's Assorted Colours (1965-1968) and later Agents Aren't Aeroplanes. Also no major hits. In 1983 he was working as an engineer assistant at EMI Abbey Road.
Waterman brought Stock and Aitken together in early 1984. The idea: pair Waterman's commercial nose with Stock and Aitken's technical craft, and make hits systematically. They rented a space on Borough High Street (south London), installed a 24-channel Soundcraft console, and went to work.
First breakthrough: Hazell Dean “Whatever I Do” (1984)
The first SAW single was Hazell Dean's “Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)”, released in June 1984. A hi-NRG ballad inspired by the Bobby Orlando (New York hi-NRG producer) template. The single peaked at #4 UK Singles Chart. Total sales 650,000 copies.
Five months later, second success: Divine's “You Think You're a Man” - #16 UK. Then third: Princess's “Say I'm Your Number One” (1985) - #7 UK. By 1985 SAW were working with a dozen artists simultaneously.
The SAW method
Work at PWL ran like a conveyor:
- Stock and Aitken wrote melody and chords in 2-4 hours. The fastest part of the process
- Stock did the arrangement on Fairlight CMI Series III and Synclavier II. All SAW tracks were built on samples and sequencers
- Aitken did the mix. That took 8-12 hours per track, with hundreds of passes on each channel
- Waterman listened to the final mix. If good - release. If not - redo
- The vocalist - hired via agency. Often inexperienced, which kept the voice distinctive
A SAW single budget in 1986-1988 was £25,000-40,000 (mid-tier production). Each track was recorded in 1-2 days, mixed in another. PWL released on average one new single per week from 1986 through 1990.
“We didn't write masterpieces. We wrote hits. A masterpiece is one song in a lifetime. A hit is a song you can write Monday, record Tuesday, and release Thursday. That's what we did for six years”, - Mike Stock in his memoir The Hit Factory (2004).
Dead or Alive's “You Spin Me Round” - 1985
In August 1984 Dead or Alive from Liverpool came to PWL with an almost finished song “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”. Pete Burns, the vocalist, had written the melody. SAW did the arrangement: LinnDrum LM-2, Fairlight stabs, classic hi-NRG bass at 132 BPM.
Released November 1984. 17 weeks (!) to reach #1 UK - one of the slowest climbs in UK chart history. Peak: #1 UK for four weeks (March 1985). US: #11 Billboard. Total sales: 6 million copies. It was SAW's first UK #1, and from that point they were Britain's dominant production machine. Detailed “You Spin Me Round” breakdown is a separate piece.
Bananarama - 1986
In June 1986 SAW reworked a cover of “Venus” (original Shocking Blue, 1969) with Bananarama. Result: #1 Billboard Hot 100 (September 1986), #8 UK. The first and only #1 for Bananarama in the US.
Bananarama became regular SAW clients: in 1986-1988 SAW produced 11 of their singles, of which 8 hit the UK top 40. “I Heard a Rumour” (1987), “Love in the First Degree” (1987), “I Want You Back” (1988) - all SAW.
Rick Astley - “Never Gonna Give You Up” 1987
In 1985 the 19-year-old Rick Astley from Lancashire was playing drums in a local band called FBI. Waterman heard him at rehearsal and offered a contract as vocalist, not drummer. Astley signed in February 1985.
For two years SAW “groomed” Astley - he sang backing vocals on various tracks and took vocal coaching. His first solo single, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, came out on 27 July 1987. By August - #1 UK for five consecutive weeks. By March 1988 - #1 Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The single sold 15 million copies worldwide. By 2024 Spotify streams - 1.6 billion.
Astley's second single “Whenever You Need Somebody” (1987) - #3 UK. Third, “Together Forever” (1988) - #2 UK, #1 Billboard. In 18 months SAW had turned Astley into a global star.
Kylie Minogue - 1988
In March 1988 the 19-year-old Kylie Minogue came to SAW - an Australian actress from the soap Neighbours. She had no singing experience. SAW invited her to the studio for a try-out - Kylie stood in the corridor for 30 minutes (Waterman had forgotten the appointment). When someone noticed her, Stock asked: “We have a song for you. 30 minutes to track it, OK?”
Result - “I Should Be So Lucky”, recorded in 40 minutes. Release: 29 January 1988. #1 UK, 5 weeks. Sales: 4 million copies. Tracking one day in the studio, mix another half day. Possibly the fastest-recorded UK #1 in history.
Minogue became SAW's main export: in 1988-1990 - 7 top-5 UK singles, 2 #1 albums. Jason Donovan (her Neighbours co-star) became the second client: “Too Many Broken Hearts” (1989) - #1 UK.
Peak 1988
August 1988 was effectively SAW's peak. The UK Singles Chart simultaneously held 15 tracks produced by SAW, including:
- #1: Kylie Minogue - “The Locomotion”
- #3: Rick Astley - “Take Me to Your Heart”
- #7: Bananarama - “I Want You Back”
- #15: Hazell Dean - “Whose Side Are You On?”
- #22: Sonia - “You'll Never Stop Me from Loving You”
That's the record for one producer trio in postwar UK chart history. No other producer (including Trevor Horn, George Martin) ever had that concentration.
The 1991 split
By 1990 tensions inside SAW were building. Stock and Aitken wanted to experiment - more R&B, less hi-NRG. Waterman stuck with the commercial formula. In January 1991 Stock and Aitken announced the split with Waterman. They sued over royalty allocation.
The case ran three years. In 1994 the parties settled: Stock and Aitken received £3.5 million in compensation. PWL Records kept going under Waterman (with new producers), but never reached its old scale. Stock and Aitken continued separately - both producing in the 90s, but without the defining commercial run.
Legacy
SAW in numbers:
- 44 UK #1 singles (1984-1991)
- 100+ UK top-40 singles
- 120 million records sold worldwide
- £200 million PWL label cumulative revenue 1984-1991
- Ivor Novello Awards 1988: Songwriters of the Year
SAW never received a Grammy - their production was considered too “commercial”, not “artistic” enough for the American awards. In 2015 Stock, Aitken and Waterman officially reunited for one project - Kylie Minogue's album Step Back in Time. The track “In Your Eyes” was their last joint work.
Related: “You Spin Me Round” Dead or Alive, Trevor Horn and ZTT, Nile Rodgers and Chic. SAW is a 60s-Motown analogue for late-80s pop: one systematic method, one style, dozens of names on the surface. In 2023 the BBC documentary Hit Factory: The Stock Aitken Waterman Story drew 4 million views in its first week. Interest in their method hasn't faded: current producers (Max Martin, Dr. Luke) openly cite SAW as the model of conveyor-production pop.