10cc founding members Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley have released their first new song in 20 years, “Don’t Want to Go To Heaven.”
The track arrived on Thursday, February 13th, just a day ahead of a special Valentines Day re-release of 10cc’s classic “I’m Not In Love,” which turns 50 this year. As part of the celebrations, the duo also came together for a live studio performance on BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room, where they played both “Don’t Want To Go To Heaven” and “I’m Not In Love.” They last worked together on the 1995 album Mirror Mirror—in 2023, Gouldman went on a 16-date tour of the UK.
“I’m Not In Love” reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US upon its release, and has since earned wide acclaim. “We were about to scrap it and wipe the tape but, as I walked around the studio, I heard the secretary singing it and the window-cleaner whistling it,” former 10cc member Eric Stewart told The Guardian in a 2018 interview. “I knew we had a tune: we just hadn’t captured it properly.”
10cc formed in Manchester in 1972, with the original lineup of Gouldman, Godley, Eric Stewart, and Lol Creme. Each of the artists in the English band had played with other groups prior, and all were singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, an impressive irregularity for the time. They’d go on to release a series of well-received albums throughout the 1970s including 10cc, Sheet Music and The Original Soundtrack, all bolstered by the notorious songwriting partnership between Godley and Creme.
The last 10cc record featuring all four original group members was 1992’s Meanwhile—Gouldman and Creme both technically departed the group after their 1976 album How Dare You.
Buy the Valentine’s Day 7-inch version of 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love” now.
