It had taken 25 years, but a quarter of
a century after his first Hit, Cor Baby That´s Really Free, John
Otway was in the Top Ten last year with Bunsen Burner.
Over the years Otway´s fans had
clubbed together to buy him a birthday present. When asked what he
would like for his special 50th present, John decided that what he
would like, most of all, was another Hit. He was very keen to loose
his One Hit Wonder label and was aware that his fans were just as
tired of the hitless years as he was.
John had not been very good at
picking successful singles, so it was decided that the fans
themselves should pick his present and choose the song they felt had
the most potential to soar to the higher reaches of the UK charts.
An 11 track CD was produced, and, to ensure that Otway could not
cheat and pick his favorite, the Electoral Reform Society conducted
a ballot to decide which one was to be the Hit.
The track they chose was Bunsen
Burner, it was inspired by John´s daughter´s science homework and
produced by Barry Upton. Barry, who had written and produced 5678
for Steps, had e-mailed Otway "just knocked Kylie Minogue off
the number one album spot, want a hand with the Hit!".
The b-side of the single was recorded
at Abbey Road. The studio that was famous for the fab four was
booked to capture the 1,000 piece choir of Otway fans who are
credited, along with the other musicians, as backing singers on the
CD.
So confident were John and his
following that he would cease to be a micro-star by the time he
reached 50, that they booked the London Palladium for the night the
chart was announced, to celebrate their success, even before they
knew what the hit song was going to be. Five days after this sell
out show Otway had achieved his goal and was back on Top Of The
Pops.
John first became notorious back in
1977, after an appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test with his
former partner Wild Willy Barrett. He had leapt astride Wild Willy´s
amplifier and lost his footing. One leg slipped on one side of the
sturdy wooden piece of musical equipment and the other leg down the
other. The whole weight of Otway´s body crashed down on the most
delicate parts of his body.
This sort of behavior went down
exceedingly well with the punk audiences of the time, and Otway was
rewarded with his first hit, a recording contract worth a million in
today´s money and a sizable live audience.
Following a remarkable spending spree
and a run of consecutive flops Otway wrote his autobiography Cor
Baby That´s Really Me (Rock And Roll´s Greatest Failure) a self
effacing humorous book on how certain artists have the uncanny
ability to turn any promising situation to their disadvantage.
He was very, very good at being a
failure and slowly, as he promoted himself in this role, he started
to become a success. The audience for his live show steadily grew
and by 1998 he was able to boast that ticket touts were doing a
roaring trade for his show at the Royal Albert Hall.
Following this, as a run up to the
Millennium, the BBC ran a poll to find the nation´s favourite song
lyric over the past 2000 years. Otway was as shocked as many others
to discover that Beware Of The Flowers Cause I´m Sure They´re
Going To Get You Yeh, the B Side to his first hit was voted No 7. It
came above artists like Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and even Bob
Dylan.
Unlike his cult following, the nation
was further taken by surprise by John´s birthday present last year
and the story was covered by all the major national TV news and
press. Otway has recently appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, the
only person in the history of the program to rise from the ranks of
the "who are they now" line up, to the guest panelist.
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