Mike Stock says he had no idea Kylie Minogue would become a global star when she first turned up at the studio expecting a song.
One third of the legendary songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), Mike was tasked with penning a hit for a 19-year-old Kylie, who was starring in Australian soap opera Neighbours at the time.
He explained how confused he was when she arrived unannounced and he had to ask Pete Waterman for the lowdown on who she was.
In an interview with The i newspaper, he recalled: “I said, ‘Pete, there’s a girl here called Kylie, and she’s expecting me to work with her but with I’m working on Bananarama.’”
He said: “I was told she was a beautiful girl, lovely dancer, actress, just won a Logie Award in Australia. So I thought, ‘What does she want with us?’ Then I said, ‘Maybe she hasn’t got time for love. Maybe that’s what she’s missing.’”
He initially didn’t see her star quality – until she jumped on the microphone.
Mike said: “She used to turn up at the studio crocheting, so you didn’t get a sense of a major star. She was very, very grounded. She would go on the mic, and all of a sudden there was a different person there.”
He set to work and came up with 1987’s I Should Be So Lucky in around 30 minutes with Matt Aitken, Kylie’s first No.1 hit.
Mike also reflected on the huge run of hits they went on to create for Kylie.
He described how SAW shaped her early career with four albums and 18 hits, including Better the Devil You Know, Step Back in Time and her duet with Jason Donovan, Especially For You.
However, Mike admits he initially didn’t want to write that duet for Kylie and her Neighbours co-star Jason.
He explained his reluctance at pairing two soap stars: “Me and Matt felt it was too much – not another soap star and two of them together.”
But he changed his mind the moment he heard how many copies would sell before release.
He recalled the moment he realised the demand: “I said, ‘Well I’d better write one then.’”
Mike also looked back at the scale of SAW’s chart dominance.
He reflected on their extraordinary run of hits, saying: “To be honest, I don’t know how we did all that. Now, looking back, it’s just bizarre.”
Mike acknowledged that not every artist relationship was smooth.
He recalled the tension with Bananarama, saying: “They weren’t easy. As far as they were concerned, we were Johnny Come Lately. It wasn’t a two-way thing.”
Mike then turned his attention to the modern music industry, which he believes is shaped by streaming rather than songwriting.
He criticised how today’s stars would have fared in the past, saying: “Put Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter back in the 1980s and they couldn’t have got arrested.”
Mike also accused major labels of controlling success through streaming platforms.
He argued the system is rigged, saying: “They don’t rely on record sales any more. They can control the apparent success of an artist.”
Mike didn’t hold back when giving his personal view of today’s biggest names.
He shared his blunt opinion of Taylor Swift, saying: “I don’t particularly like her as an artist. I don’t think she’s got a great voice or anything. I just see a very pale artist.”
The interview comes as Kylie is promoting her Netflix docuseries Kylie, out Wednesday (20.05.26), in which she talks about not wanting to be defined as an artist.
From her early days on Neighbours to her countless reinventions across pop, dance and disco, Kylie has built a career on fluidity, curiosity and refusing to stay in one lane.
Kylie has long rejected the idea of being pinned down or told what she can’t do.
She told Variety: “I’ve tried to figure it out these last few days. And it kind of ties into not wanting to be defined, that we’re all works in progress, we’re all in motion.”