Key Songs In The Life Of… Glyn Aikins

newsofmax1 week ago

3 5 minutes read

MBW's Key Songs In The Life Of… is a series in which we ask influential figures in the music industry about the songs that have – to date – defined their journeys and existences. This time we meet Glyn Aikins, Co-Chair of RCA UK. The key song sequence in The Life Of… is supported by Sony music publisher.

At this year's BRITs, while Raye dominated the night and the headlines, RCA also had quite the evening.

The label received an Alternative/Rock award for Bring Me The Horizon, while SZA was named an International Artist.

Glyn Aikins, who became Co-President of the brand with Stacey Tang just over a year ago and is also co-founder of Sony JV Since ’93, reflects: “It was a good feeling. And the after party was amazing. We have sushi and a garage in the UK – what more could you ask for?”

Aikins joined RCA in 2018. Previously, he was Director of A&R at Virgin Records, first making his name at Relentless.

During his run, he signed and worked with artists including Artful Dodger, So Solid Crew (more on them later), Roll Deep, Lethal Bizzle, Naughty Boy and Emeli Sandé.

Not surprising, like most victim of guests at MBW Main song column, Aikins found narrowing his choices down to five difficult. Or, as he sadly puts it: “If there's a task that's really hard to do…”

Ultimately, he left it to his obsession, catching up on the tracks he kept playing over and over again, returning to over and over again – and which he was happy to talk to us about again. …

1. Little Ax, Bob Marley and the Wailers, (1973)

Growing up in a West African family, social gatherings back then were always house parties. No one ever went to bars or clubs, we all just went to each other's houses to party – and my dad fancied himself a DJ. He certainly had a large record collection, which of course, we children were not allowed to touch – which made it even more attractive and desirable.

My dad loved Bob Marley, and one of the records I remember him playing a lot was Hatchet. We heard it all the time, listening upstairs while these parties were going on. I was about seven years old at that time.

When I discovered what it was about, I liked it even more, because it was an in-depth look at the major record labels and major producers running Jamaican music at the time, the people like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid and Prince Buster. But Bob and the Wailers wanted to do it independently and even though they were just a hatchet they could cut them down – which is ironic now that I'm aiming for a major record label [laughs].

2. Nobody, Rufus and Chaka Khan (1983)

Some time later, when I was about 10 years old, I began to explore hip-hop and hip-hop culture. It's not just about music. At that age I only liked things like breakdancing, and there were also hip-hop series that I loved, like Wild Style, Beat Street And after that Interrupted' (released as Breakdancing in the UK).

There are two moments in the movie that I love. One is when Turbo goes out to the store to clean and starts dancing along Tour de France by Kraftwerk. And the other one, which I absolutely love, is when all three of them dance to the music. Nobody else by Rufus and Chaka Khan. I played that song to death – and still do.

What's interesting is that this year she's celebrating 50 years in business and she's hosting the Meltdown Festival as part of that. So I'll be there, front and center.

I also think, and obviously I wasn't doing this consciously at the time, but that's where I developed my love of voices, especially really great female voices. Of course, I didn't know I would be doing what I'm doing now, but it definitely planted something.

3. The Smooth Operator, Sade (1984)

An uncle of mine who lived with us for a while and then moved to Chicago used to send us records and I remember him sending them to us. Smooth operationr; We played that game over and over again.

It was a tune I was obsessed with – and at the same time I was mesmerized by her voice. It's funny, she's signed to RCA and she has a long relationship with Sony, but this has nothing to do with that; this is about listening to that record and that album [Diamond Life] when I was very young and just fell in love with it. There was nothing else like it at the time.

The funny thing is that later, when I worked at Media Village promoting the club, we did some work with her. Rock Love album. I remember she performed at The Subterania as part of that show and we just stood there in awe.

4. Relentless Rebellion, The Common Enemy (1988)

This continued into my teens. My cousin, God rest his soul, was MC Skibadee, and we all grew up together. There was a time when he went to boarding school and I remember he came back one summer with this record, It takes a nation of millions to hold us back by Public Enemy and said, 'You have to hear this.' My mind was blown – especially by Non-stop rebellion.

I already love rap music, I often ask my mother to buy it for me. Street sounds collection. But with this record, the way it was produced and the message in the music, it made me love and appreciate hip-hop even more.

5. 21 Seconds, The Crew Was Solid (2001)

Now I'm moving forward a long way, towards the record that I think has had the deepest impact on my career and is probably the proudest moment of my professional life. .

These are the early days of A&R, at Relentless Records. I remember it was actually my brother who told me about So Solid Crew when they had an underground song called dilemma. But it's basically a very long bass line, no vocals. I remember saying, 'I don't know what I can do with this.' But he said, 'Seriously, you need to pay attention'.

I started listening to them on [pirate radio station] Excited and I hear another song, Oh No (That's the Word)and I thought yeah, I can do something about that.

So I went to Battersea to meet Megaman and he laid out the vision for the team. I have never heard anyone speak with such clarity and ambition.

“I think that moment shaped the idea of what was possible in British rap.”

He has unwavering faith in what they can do. He thinks everything is possible, even things that have never been done before. He was
Sure. I guess they also have the view that we can break the rules – or we can certainly challenge the accepted wisdom.

So I signed them, we released them Oh No (That's the Word), but we ended up accidentally including too many remixes on the CD single, making it ineligible to chart. It was a real mistake, but it also caused a stir about these guys going against the authorities, breaking the rules, etc.

For the next record, they said they wanted all of them on it. I said, 'As long as you can do it in three and a half minutes'. That's my polite way of saying, 'Er, no'.

But they calculated and came up with it 21 Seconds, and that shows me. To this day I think it was a genius idea and a genius record.

It went straight to number 1 and I think that moment established the idea of what was possible for British rap. It's very inspiring
of people.