I was going to reply with a tongue-in-cheek A Flock Of Seagulls video, but decided against it.
I studied music and radio production with a small Irish company called Sound Track Services who back then provided Ireland's professional recording studio needs with both Ampex tape for analog multi-track recordings as well as designing and setting up massive custom-built mixing desks and outboards into their designated space with best quality international standard results. Their business model was excellent: they operated as a national endorser for Ampex but also for a number of mixing desk designers working with the (then) all-new SSL (Solid State Logic) digital recall functions which allowed engineers to build mixes channel by channel without losing any information down to the nano-second and to peak performance.
My studio/engineering tutor was a guy called Tony Faulkner, and the radio guy is Denis Murray:
He was a household DJ name in his day, but once he crossed into the studio recording end of things he was lost, hadn't a clue what was going on and in one case I was asked to take over lecturing and demonstrating modern programming methods from his fumbling about with drum machines and sequencers while he was clearly way out of his depth. A rude, gruff, ignorant son of a bitch, I gave him hell and he ultimately tore up my thesis submission at the end of the six months which I sent back to his boss who in turn made him change my grade and mark it down as a part-pupil part-tutor thesis from an experienced engineer, already working in the music business with maximum grades. He was pissed. Though he was even more pissed at the end of term party when I walked in the door with my then living partner and Ireland's top fashion model. His jaw hit the floor, as did everyone else's but in his case I smiled and winked and let him know what he was missing and with whom he was messing with.
I learned a lot from Tony: he was passionate about music and he was a great tutor. His previous work record was working as engineer on couple of albums by Nik Kershaw, and his tall tales of working with the little guy were awesome. Kershaw was extremely persnickety about his guitar tone. So much so that on some songs, he removed some strings from his guitar but still held down the chords (as though they were there) in one take, then removing the remaining strings and adding the ones previously removed to do exactly the same thing in time/sync with the previous take. It was a fucking awesome. Two takes of the same guitar: first with four strings, then another with just two strings. All of his tracks were recorded to click tracks so his drummers had to be tight, on point, and snappy.
Lots of pop songs are built around a few simple chords and by a rather obvious pop arrangement device we all recognize:
Intro
Verse I
Bridge I
Chorus I
Verse II
Bridge II
Chorus II
Middle 8th (usually with a key change)
Chorus
Verse III
Chorus (repeat)
Fade
The last two blocks (Chorus Repeat and/or Fade) are interchangeable and can be used both ways depending on how many mixes/versions are required (radio mix, usually three minutes max) or a club mix (usually a longer version with verses that have no singing and/or long solo breaks on) and then other more specific dance format versions (house/techno/drum&bass/etc) and finally a version with everything in but NO main vocals at all. This one is for television appearances where the vocal is live but the band are miming (see Old Grey Whistle Test/Top Of The Pops/Live At Three/etc).
Tony Faulkner had magic ears, much like Kershaw himself, so between the two of them they could take a three chord block-built song apart and transpose it into something that required an orchestrated arrangement featuring multiple musicians doing multiple takes. Then comes the mixing and mastering stage and that too requires a degree of magic from all of the players as well as engineers/producers.
I wasn't a huge fan of 1980s pop, bands like A Flock Of Seagulls, Howard Jones, The Safety Dance guys and so on weren't on my radar, but I did learn a lot about 80s music and production and it's stood the test of time. Here's one of Tony and Nik's better known tracks which did very well for him at the time:
There are dozens of ways of writing and crafting a song.
There are infinite ways to arrange it.
There are multiple ways to record it.
There are post-recording/final-stage things one can do with compression/ EQ/Mastering/etc.
Artwork and presentation also matters: image is half the content in the music business.
But it starts with a great song, and while there's no one-size-fits-all method, we all know a hit when we hear one. Lennon and McCartney worked well together, if the one wrote a verse/chorus structure, then the other would write a key change/middle eight that the first author didn't consider. Some write alone, think Leonard Cohen and/or John Denver. Some write as groups: think U2 and/or INXS. It's not a case of the songwriter coming in with a finished song ready for tape. It's down to the whole band jamming out the ideas and stretching their limits to maximum perfection.
You can add an orchestra, a street marching band, a funky horn section, a gospel choir, or anything else you might like, but without a song?
Forget it (think Sigue-Sigue Sputnik/Frankie Goes To Hollywood/Bow-Wow-Wow, etc) - you're already history: you missed the bus, Pal.
One hit wonders.
Like Oasis - it's the same formula over and over again, and anyone who knows anything about music can spot it a mile off.
It's not even parody - it's simple theft.
Time doesn't favour crap, not even from Mancunian boneheads.
