Thursday, January 29, 2004

Truth Of The Music Industry: Meet Max Martin

Posted by AmishThrasher at 11:24 pm
Ever wondered why pop songs all sound the same? Probably because they were all written by the same guy... Meet Max Martin.

The millennial heir to Sweden's tradition of frothy, incessantly catchy pop, Max Martin wasn't an international star like ABBA, Roxette, or Ace of Base. But as a songwriter and producer, Martin spearheaded the late-‘90s teen pop revival by crafting a ubiquitous string of worldwide hits for Britney Spears, N Sync, and the Backstreet Boys, among many others. Martin was born Martin Sandberg on February 26, 1971, and grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm; as a teenager, he sang in several bands before forming a glam-style metal band called It's Alive with his friends. Performing under the name Martin White, he subsequently dropped out of high school to pursue music, a decision that paid off when It's Alive landed a record deal with producer Denniz Pop's Cheiron label. They recorded an album and toured Europe in the early ‘90s, but the real importance of the deal turned out to be that Martin began to indulge his secret love of pop music by collaborating on songs with Pop, who became his mentor.

In 1992, Martin was hired as a house writer/producer at Cheiron, and spent a couple of years learning the ropes; meanwhile, Denniz Pop found international success producing Ace of Base's blockbuster The Sign. Pop also renamed his protégé Max Martin, which he thought sounded “poppier" than Martin White. Their first production collaboration was the Rednex track "Wish You Were Here" in 1995, and they both worked on Ace of Base's second album The Bridge shortly thereafter, as well as with artists like 3T, Army of Lovers, and Leila K. Their big break came when Jive contacted the Cheiron team about working with a new act, the Backstreet Boys. Skeptical about the chart chances of a boy band, Martin and Pop nevertheless masterminded the group's debut album; it initially flopped in the U.S., but caught on all across Europe. In 1997, the Backstreet Boys were relaunched in their home country, this time with considerable success; Martin was involved in writing and producing the American hits "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" (his first big hit in the U.S.), "As Long as You Love Me," and "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)." Also in 1997, Martin co-wrote and co-produced Robyn's international dance hit "Show Me Love."

In 1998, Pop and Martin worked on the debut albums by boy bands 5ive and *NSync, including the latter's hit "I Want You Back." Unfortunately, later that summer, Pop died of cancer. leaving the Cheiron studio in temporary disarray. Martin eventually took over musical leadership and found a new primary partner in writer/producer Rami, who joined him for Britney Spears' debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The title cut became Martin's first American chart-topper, and he also worked on one of the follow-up hits, "(You Drive Me) Crazy." In fact, 1999 was a banner year for Martin; he also worked with Celine Dion ("That's the Way It Is") and Bryan Adams, and helmed the Backstreet Boys' follow-up album Millennium, which was the year's best-selling album worldwide and produced hits in the Martin tunes "I Want It That Way" and "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely," among others. With his tunes dominating the airwaves, Martin took honors as ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year in 1999, an achievement he repeated in 2000 thanks to his work on Britney Spears' Oops...I Did It Again album, the Backstreet Boys' Black and Blue, and his co-write of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life." At the end of 2000, Martin closed down the Cheiron studio and its supplementary songwriting teams, and opened up a new facility -- still in Stockholm -- in tandem with Rami; their first major project was Spears' third album, 2001's Britney. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide


Original from over here