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Batttttty screeches in the ear of
JOHN OTWAY
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'What
is John Otway doing on a website devoted to UFO?' you may ask.
Well, to be honest, I don't know either - but he's a nice bloke,
and I think he's heard of UFO, probably even played a few gigs
the-night-before or the-night-after UFO - no idea.
But the reason I have invited him into my evil lair, is cos he
is a shining example of how, if you go about things the right
way, you can have a hit record 25 years after your first (last)
hit record - and thus become a 2-Hit Wonder, or as he prefers
to call it... a Twit Wonder.
I decided that I would help this fella climb even higher up the
Rocknroll career ladder, so in my capacity as Supreme Power and
Ruler of the Internet, I've decided I aint gonna rest until he's
had another three hit records. Yes.... I'm gonna make him a 5hit
Wonder. |
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So....
John - nice to meet you at last after all these years. UFO - remember
that band? They're about your age, and Pete Way (the bassplayer)
is your Rocknroll Soulmate. In fact he even thought about adding
an 'Ot' to his surname, just so he could be more like you.
What I like about you is that you are a survivor, a bit like our
UFO boys- I like the way you make your own luck and don't sit
around waitin for it to just drop out of a tree and land in your
lap. This is why you have been chosen, from a long short-list
of rockstars, to be our Interviewee Of The Month. Good, innit!
OK, sit back and relax while I strap you in and rig you up to
this lie-detector machine, and away we go!
First off, tell us a bit about yourself. Things like.... who the
hell you are - and why. OK, well, there
is a short bio HERE
but basically all you need to know is that I had a hit single
back in 1977 with the song 'Cor Baby That¹s Really Free',
and then plunged into the bowels of obscurity till I came out
with all guns blazing last year with my 2nd HIT - Bunsen Burner.
OK, there was loads in between, but it's the two hits that are
the book-ends to my errrr... career. |
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OK... This Bunsen Burner stuff - how did that come about? Some
of our SITN readers managed to comprehend the strategy behind
the Twit Wonder Campaign - we have one fella who has an IQ of
176, gawblimey - but as for the rest of them...... well, you knowwwww.....
For the readers who don't know what the campaign involved, it
was... in a nutshell, geared towards getting everyone who knows
you to buy at least three copies of it, at specified outlets,
at specified times on specified dates. A masterplan!
A great idea, perfectly legal, and proof that the British public,
when working as a team, have the mettle-and-the-muscle to outwit
Saddam any day of the week! |
The
project was the brain-child of Maurice Bacon who used to manage
me and was my publisher. He came up with the suggestion that I
could have a Hit if I tied it in with my Birthday and did a show
at the London Palladium for the night the charts came out to celebrate.
The
fact that the fans picked the Hit and a thousand of them were
backing vocalists on the b-side meant we could build the campaign
over an eighteen month period.
Read HERE
to see how it was done! Amazing stuff!
Tell us about your recent appearances on the tellybox. And while
you're about it, have a go at plugging your tour,
and also your Bit Of A Do at the Sedburgh Old People's Home or
whatever it's called. I was asked a lot
about how high I wanted the single to get - however, my real goal
was to get back on Top Of The Pops 25 years after the last time
I was on the show. So TOTP was the climax of the whole hit thing
for me. I had been in the 'Who Were They Now' line-up a couple
of years ago on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Getting on to the panel
as a trendy Next Big Thing I felt was an indication of how much
the thing had worked.
We had quite a healthy debate here in SITN when you were
riding high in the hit parade, as to whether you could follow
up your success with another hit wreckord. I stuck my neck out
and said I was sure you would be a 5HIT WONDER one day, but they
all reckoned it would only happen if you slept with Pete Waterman.
What's your take on this? It was a long
campaign to get the Hit and get everyone behind it in the way
they did. That sort of support I tend to think one is very lucky
to get even once a lifetime. I didn't feel I would be able to
go back and repeat it straight away. I also got the feeling a
lot of people were Otway'd out by the time we got the result.
Any plans to conquer the American market? Or Japan? Or Holland?
I don't intend to do it the hard way by
touring - I'll just sit and wait for Otway The Movie or something
similar to make me into an international micro-star. |
Talking
of which...Our SITN Executive Committee are currently in negotiations
with Saint Android Lard Wobble, who is planning a West-End musical
based on the UFO story. It's gonna be called 'Spandexterity!'
and Madonna has been approached to play Me. Cheeky bitch wanted
too much money though, so we may have to get Lily Savage instead.
Anyway, have you ever considered a musical based on your own life?
Who would you like to play the part of Otway? Would it be suitable
for family audiences? Would you insist on a percentage from the
ice-cream sales in the interval? Will we live to see 'Bunsen Burner
- The Movie'? A
Musical has been suggested, and I once wrote a reasonably successful
play - so it is worth thinking about - Neil Morrisey has been
suggested to play me - I quite like that idea. Hmmm
yeh, maybe he could be made up to look old enough.....
Hey, is it true that you signed a sponsorship
deal with a firm of tennis clothing manufacturers, just to get
supple, nubile, young wimmin to stand up in the audience at your
live shows, with their rackets poised, and lob you their frilly
drawers. If not, why not? It seems an obvious but effective way
of ensuring a plentiful supply of underwear, as well as a good
marketing ploy. We've
got sponsorship deals on Microphones - but tennis clothes was
something that I hadn't thought of yet - I have had frilly drawers
thrown at me whilst singing Delilah, but that was probably because
I kept suggesting the idea to enough people. |
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| You
recently passed the 50 milestone - thanks for the invite to your
party by the way, and I'm sorry I couldn't make it, but I had
a better offer. It's ages and ages till I'm 50, of course, but
many of our SITN members are fast approaching that scary moment
- so can you give us any hints as to what we should watch out
for, such as bits dropping off, caving in, shrivelling up etc.
Although I must admit, you looked quite decent on the telly recently.
Doing
a sell out show and becoming a Top Ten artiste, did in a small
way compensate for becoming 50. Most people only have old age
to celebrate - so the event was more of a milestone than a millstone
for me. For your members who are aproaching that age I would suggest
to them that a big hit record does take the edge off the horridness
a bit. Funny you should say that.... we
actually do have something
of the kind going on, and we are thinking of using your tried
and trusted methods to help tilt the table and nudge it into the
Top Ten - not that it wouldn't get there on its own merit of course....
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Read
extracts from Otway's autobiography
HERE
and see why I love this fella
and why he deserves to be a 5Hit Wonder
www.johnotway.com
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