"Looking Good Diving" is a 1987 song performed by Morgan-McVey, who were vocalists Jamie Morgan and

Cameron McVey Cameron Andrew McVey (born 11 August 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with the acts Massive Attack, Portishead (band), Portishead, All Saints (group), All Saints, Sugababes, and his wife Neneh Cherry. H ...

. It was their only single. The track was released through

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the la ...

in 1987, and was produced by

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s throug ...

(SAW) and mixed by Phil Harding. The track's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch", featured

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

on vocals, and was a tribute to the 'buffalo stance', a type of pose. According to Morgan, SAW closely followed the structure of the band's initial demo of the track, notably keeping the distinctive Phil Ramacon keyboard hook. He denies that the song is about

cunnilingus Cunnilingus is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a vulva by using the tongue and lips. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the vulva, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused or achievi ...

, instead insisting it is about looking good while striving to impress a love interest. "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch" was re-recorded by Cherry in 1988 and released as her debut solo single, "

Buffalo Stance "Buffalo Stance" is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry, released in November 1988 by Circa and Virgin Records as the first single from the singer's debut album, ''Raw Like Sushi'' (1989). The song was co-written by Cherry and produ ...

". "Buffalo Stance" peaked at No. 3 on the UK chart, and achieved similar success around the world.

Background

Band members Morgan and McVey had a background in

fashion photography Fashion photography is a genre of photography that portrays clothing and other fashion items. This sometimes includes haute couture garments. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking pictures of a dressed model in a photographic ...

, video direction and modelling. Morgan had been influential as part of Buffalo, a styling team whose streetwise look was prominent in British style magazines of the time. The act was originally conceived as a

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

-style male vocal duo who would harmonise over

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

beats, but early demos failed to deliver on the concept. Facing creative inertia, their record company convinced them to work with then-rising pop producers SAW, a proposition that left them with mixed feelings.

Critical reception

Wayne Hussey of ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' panned the song he described as "just horrible pop music – pointless", and stated that in his point of view McVey should change his name and stop to record songs.

Legacy

Morgan says "Looking Good Diving" left McVey "embarrassed", and the band disintegrated as McVey favoured working with his future wife, Cherry. After the duo split, Morgan would go on to release a cover of " Walk on the Wild Side", which peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990, whilst McVey would go on to produce for electronic acts

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

and Portishead and pop acts like All Saints and

Sugababes The Sugababes are an English girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by Ron Tom, the manager of All Saints, ...

Music video

The music video for "Looking Good Diving" features the duo with Neneh Cherry on guitar and

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

on the keyboard. Morgan says both he and McVey were left deeply embarrassed by the video, but he feels it has now become iconic as a "so naff and so 80s video" that is now seen as "so bad it's good". However, in the immediate aftermath of the single release, McVey became so consumed by his embarrassment, he abandoned the act to work with future wife Cherry.

Track listing

#"Looking Good Diving" (Morgan, McVey,

) #"Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch" featuring Neneh Cherry (Morgan, McVey,

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

) (remixed by

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang ...

)Morgan* / McVey* – Looking Good Diving
, discogs.com. Retrieved 2 February 2012.

Covers

The song was covered by

Nick Kamen Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was a British singer, songwriter and model of mixed Burmese, Irish, Dutch and French descent. He was best known for the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised My ...

for his 1990 album '' Move Until We Fly''.

References

1987 songs 1987 debut singles Nick Kamen songs Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Pete Waterman Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Cameron McVey Sony Music singles {{1980s-single-stub