CCS

About

If you grew up in Britain watching Top of the Pops, you know CCS even if you've never heard the name. Their take on Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" charted in 1970 and then became the show's theme for most of the decade. Strictly speaking the TOTP version was recorded separately by the show's own orchestra, but John Cameron conducted it and a lot of the CCS regulars played on it. The name stood for Collective Consciousness Society. It was put together in 1970 by Cameron and producer Mickie Most as a studio outfit, fronted by blues guitarist Alexis Korner and stacked with session players, some of them also in Blue Mink. They scored hits with Donovan's "Walking" and "Tap Turns on the Water", made three albums, and covered everything from "Boom Boom" to "Satisfaction". Their single "Brother" later fronted a BBC Radio 1 chart show, and they even cut the first jingles for Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. They split in 1973, and Korner moved on to Snape.