Gogmagog were a British

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and heavy metal

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

based in

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formed in the 1980s, assembled in 1985 by the record producer

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

. The band's lineup featured former

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

vocalist

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and drummer

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, former Gillan and future Iron Maiden guitarist

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, former

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guitarist

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, and former

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bassist Neil Murray. Together for only a short time, Gogmagog originally released a three song E.P. on the small independent Food For Thought label in 1985 entitled ''I Will Be There''. Two of the songs recorded were written by producer King ("Living in a Fucking Time Warp" and "It's Illegal, It's Immoral, It's Unhealthy, But It's Fun"), with the title track being composed by longtime

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collaborator

Russ Ballard Russell Glyn Ballard (born 31 October 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Originally coming to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the band Argent, Ballard became a songwriter and producer by the late 1970s. His co ...

, and originally released on his 1981 solo album ''Into the Fire''. Ballard wrote several huge hit songs including

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's Since You've Been Gone and

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's Winning. The band members did not write any original material. Originally, King attempted to put together a supergroup revolving around Whitesnake vocalist

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, bassist

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only member ...

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, and veteran drummer

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

, all of whom were keen on the project. Cozy Powell said he thought the Ballard song was "the best he's ever written". Entwistle was very excited - the concept was originally his idea - but this early line-up "wasn't working out" according to Di'Anno. Being little more than a contrivance concocted by producer Jonathan King, the band quickly fell apart once he lost interest. Vocalist Di'Anno was completely dismissive of both the group and producer, referring to the failed project as "...nothing. That was some fucking idiot who got us doing that shit." But drummer Clive Burr said "the others may not admit it but this is some of the best stuff any of us has done". He predicted it would sell more than Iron Maiden ever did. It didn't. But it has become a cult classic for rock fans and the tracks are being released in the winter of 2022 as a 13 minute medley and an example of OWO - Old Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The two King-penned songs appeared in the soundtrack to the 2011 film ''Me Me Me'', also written by King. On some websites, the original members of the band are listed as appearing in the cast; however, the band Falling Red were recruited to perform as Gogmagog in the film.

Personnel

Former members

– lead vocals *

– guitars *

– guitars * Neil Murray – bass *

– drums, percussion

Discography

;''I Will Be There'' EP (1985) #"I Will Be There" – 4:35 (

) #"Living in a Fucking Time Warp" – 3:14 (

) #"It's Illegal, It's Immoral, It's Unhealthy, but It's Fun" – 3:30 (King)

References

{{Whitesnake English hard rock musical groups Iron Maiden (band) Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 Musical groups from London British supergroups Rock music supergroups 1985 establishments in England