Kevin Godley and Lol Creme were half of the art-rock band 10cc for much of the 1970s, but left to pursue an invention called the gizmotron, a device that attached to the bridge of an electric guitar and gave its strings indefinite sustain. It never really caught on, and the duo returned to making music by the end of the decade. They had some hits in the UK, but their only American chart entry was 1985’s “Cry,” which became famous for its face-morphing video, done without the computer assistance used in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” six years later.
The duo never scored another hit, but were much in demand as video directors, eventually helming more than 50 videos for other artists, including The Police, Peter Gabriel and George Harrison.
In 1997 the Canadian soul/pop band The Philosopher Kings covered “Cry” using more traditional rock instrumentation, demonstrating that the song holds up just fine on its own without the visuals.
