My Music, My Passion, My PWL

I was first introduced to the music that truly belongs in my heart when I was 16 years old. At this time all I did was hang around my brother Anuar who was my source of music information. He was an equivalent of my Smash Hits Magazines that I bought secretly every month. I had to hide my stash of imported British magazines because my pocket money was supposed to be used to buy study supply materials and books and food at the school canteen. Instead I found a better way to use for the money I collected from my dad every morning on school days that better suited my indulgence….all in the name of music.

PWL is the name of the record company based in London and it stands for Pete Waterman Limited. They were comprised of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman as the main song writers and producers. Thus they often called themselves as Stock Aitken Waterman.

These three geniuses were the people behind many successful singers and have made famous so many unknown singers with such infectious new breed of song genre which I call PWL. Their songs have its own special trademark and only people who used to listening to them would be able to indentify between Stock Aitken Waterman songs and the faux sound alike.

The first time I listened to Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley on a radio late 1987, I instantly hypnotized by the music. Soon after that I realized that it was not the singer that I am loyal to, but to the song writers that produced it. The songs they produced completely changed the way I looked at the music industry. I realized that British Music suited better to my taste than American Music.

Later the same year, Kylie Minogue released a fast fun single called I should Be So Lucky. It was an instant hit in my own music world. I just couldn’t get enough of Stock Aitken Waterman and kept looking for more. Then I bought my first cassette of Rick Astley title Whenever You Need Somebody. Followed by Kylie Minogue of I should Be So Lucky, Jason Donovan of Ten Good Reasons and Big Fun’s only album with Stock Aitken Waterman title Pocketful Of Promises.

At this time, the British Chart Attack was shown every week on the TV. I got another source of information of who were the new Stock Aitken Waterman’s artists. I never missed a single show every week because I needed to see their videos and what were their positioned in the chart. I have became somewhat obsessed with their music. This was the only thing that made me looking forward to every week. I was so happy!

Amazingly, most of the songs that were produced by the trio reached to the top ten and hit the top spot. By this time, I have gathered a bunch of artists that bear PWL label as Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue; and they were Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, Sinitta, Big Fun, Donna Summer, Lonnie Gordon, Brother Beyond, Dead or Alive, Hazell Dean, Mel & Kim, Pat & Mick, Sybil, Mandy Smith and many more.

And now after more than 20 years that I have been listening to all their songs, I still find myself enjoying PWL’s creations and not a day that I would forget to not listening to them. Stock Aitken Waterman’s song has became part of my own culture. My life evolved around their music and I would find songs that can suit every emotion that I feel. Nowadays I devoted myself to collecting their unreleased tracks, rare remixes and songs that I never get to own from the internet or from the second hand Music Stores.

Apart from my families, my pets and my 5 best friends; PWL music is the only other things that have been sticking with me through all these years. You would not know me completely if you don’t know about my passion for my PWL music.