Daily Inspiration Quote by Pete Waterman

There is a particular kind of bravado in admitting you were "very cheap" and treating it as a work ethic rather than a character flaw. Coming from Pete Waterman, the hit-factory producer behind the Stock Aitken Waterman assembly line, the line doubles as a mission statement: pop as logistics, not mystique. "Cheap" here isn’t only about money. It’s about time, studio hours, musicians, risk. It’s the refusal to romanticize the process, a thumb in the eye of rock-era notions that authenticity requires suffering and endless tinkering.

The subtext is class-coded and proudly unglamorous. Waterman came up in a Britain where resourcefulness was a survival skill, and his brand of pop - brisk, hook-forward, built to ship - reflects that. He’s also reclaiming a word that critics wielded against him. "Cheap" was the insult aimed at glossy synths, programmed drums, and songs designed to climb charts. Waterman flips it: cheapness becomes efficiency, discipline, even democratic access. If you can make something that feels expensive without spending, you’ve outsmarted the system.

The intent, then, is partly defensive and partly instructive: don’t confuse budget with value. It also slyly reveals the moral economy of 80s commercial music, where credibility often went to those who could afford indulgence. Waterman’s provocation is that craft can be industrial, and joy can be manufactured without apology.