Episode 26 - Youth

Songwriting For Songwriters

Episode 26 - Youth

Born Martin Glover, Youth is a multi award winning, legendary music producer, fine artist, songwriter, remixer and bass player of the seminal post-punk band Killing Joke. With a staggering 20 million records sold worldwide, Youth’s career spans over three decades and shows no sign of slowing down.

The music he makes has inspired not only the legendary artists he works with, but the next generation of acts who have grown up hearing Youth’s

production. He has worked with a diverse range of artists including Sir Paul McCartney (The Fireman), Pink Floyd, Culture Club, The Verve, Embrace, Crowded House, Zoe, P.M. Dawn, The Orb, U2, Bananarama, INXS, Transglobal Underground, James, Wet Wet Wet, The Shamen, Texas and even Tom Jones.

Youth began producing in the early days of Killing Joke and left the band in 1982 to pursue solo projects, the first of which was the band Brilliant, which included contributions from Jimmy Cauty, later of The KLF. He then produced the successful dance act Blue Pearl, before producing and co-writing The Orb’s first two albums. In 1991, he formed

Butterfly and Dragonfly Records, groundbreaking labels pioneering Goa Trance, Psy Trance and Chillout recordings. In 1994, Youth resumed work with Killing Joke, appearing on the albums ‘Pandemonium’ and ‘Democracy’.

One of Youth’s most significant productions has been on The Verve’s

hugely successful ‘Urban Hymns’, which topped the UK album charts for several weeks and included ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ and ‘Bitter Sweet

Symphony’. The album won the 1998 BRIT Award for Best Album, while Youth won the BRIT for Producer Of The Year.

In February 2016, Youth was awarded the PPL Outstanding Contribution to

Music Award by the Music Producers Guild.