Power Station: Encyclopedia II - Power Station - Origin

Power Station - Origin

The group began as something of a whim -- it was a one-time gathering of friends to provide backing to model and would-be singer Bebe Buell who wanted to record a cover of the T. Rex song "Bang A Gong (Get It On)". Both Taylors were eager to branch out from the synthesizer-heavy pop of Duran Duran and play some Led Zeppelin-flavored rock'n'roll; the participation of their idols from Chic lent the project a horn-inflected funk that meshed surprisingly well with the crunching guitars and booming drums.

Soon the project evolved into the idea of a revolving supergroup; a tentative name for the band was Big Brother. The original plan for the one-album project was for the three musicians (Taylor, Taylor and Thompson) to provide musical continuity to an album full of material, with a different singer performing on each track. Those who were approached included Mick Jagger, Billy Idol, Mars Williams and Richard Butler (of The Psychedelic Furs), and Mick Ronson.

The group then invited eclectic soul singer Robert Palmer to record vocals for the track "Communication". When he heard that they had recorded demos for "Bang A Gong", he asked to try out vocals on that one as well, and by the end of the day, the group knew that they had found that elusive chemistry which distinguishes successful bands. Before long, they had decided to record the entire album with Palmer.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origin", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki