10cc was influenced by Zappa and The Beatles!
Hailing from Stockport, 10cc is an English band that achieved its greatest commercial success during the ’70s but is still active five decades later.
With influences such as the late Beatles and Frank Zappa, 10cc was not your average middle-of-the-road band. Similarly to Supertramp, 10cc was prog/rock/pop with long instrumental sections and lots of different styles mixed.
As with all bands and artists, their secret to success was strong tunes, let’s take a peek at their back catalogue to see how the band’s success was built.
In 1973, 10cc released their debut album, one tune, in particular, brought the band recognition, Rubber Bullets, scoring them their first U.K. #1, albeit only for a week.
Two other singles from the debut got into the top 10, Donna and The Dean and I.
Their second album, Sheet Music, didn’t do as well. Their third, The Original Soundtrack however did. Here we find 10cc’s most successful tune, I’m Not In Love. This ballad was famously recorded by layering voices for hours on end in the studio.
I’m Not In Love was almost scrapped as initially it was conceived as a bossa-nova, which the band members didn’t like.
After people around the band kept reminding them about the tune, they decided to give it another go and recorded the now legendary vocal ah’s that form the foundation of the backing track.
Not just big in the U.K. I’m Not In Love was a hit in many other countries, allowing 10cc to tour the world in bigger venues.
The next two albums were, first the Greatest Hits in 1976, and next their fourth studio album, How Dare You hit the shelves, without any big tunes it didn’t do as well as their previous releases.
1977 and 10cc are back with another album, now with a hit on it again. The album was Deceptive Bends and the tune The Things We Do For Love reached the top 10 in five countries.
After a live album released the same year, 1978 saw my favourite tune from 10cc, Dreadlock Holiday see the light of day on the album Bloody Tourists.
Dreadlock Holiday went to #1 or #2 in six countries and would be their last big tune.
Over five years the band had laid the foundations for the rest of their career and even though no more hit singles appeared, they’ve been able to continue to tour the world since.
10cc Tunes | Related Pages
Dreadlock Holiday
You can learn how to play Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| Gm (Dm) | Cm (Dm) | Gm (Dm) | Cm (Dm) |
I was walking down the street, concentrating on truckin’ right…
10cc on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about 10cc tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
