I Wanna 1-2-1 With You

"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You"
Single by Solid Gold Chartbusters
Released1999[1]
GenreNovelty[2]
LabelVirgin[1][2]
Songwriter(s)

"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" is a mobile telephone-themed novelty-pop song by "Solid Gold Chartbusters", written by musicians Guy Pratt and Jimmy Cauty, and comedy writer[2] Lloyd Stanton.[1] The lead singer was Denise Palmer;[1][3] the sleeve also credits Tessa Niles for vocals and Debbie Chazen as the voice of a switchboard operator.[1] Due to the involvement of Cauty (KLF) and Pratt (Pink Floyd), Virgin Records touted Solid Gold Chartbusters as "The World's First Novelty Supergroup".[2]

"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" was released in an attempt to reach number one on the Christmas 1999 UK Singles Chart.[2][3] Cauty had previously had a novelty number one in collaboration with Bill Drummond - Doctorin' the Tardis - and the duo had written a book - The Manual - on how to top the charts.[3][4] In the month prior to the release of "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You", Cauty told NME that the song "[is] awful. Hear it once and that’s it, it’s all over. There is nothing vaguely hip, it’s just pure now, throwaway novelty pop."[3]

The music video featured Cauty and Pratt dressed as mobile phones,[3] along with appearances by John Thomson of the Fast Show, Stephen Marcus, and Rowland Rivron.[2][3] Costumes from the video were later used in an advertising campaign in which online film clips purportedly showed pranksters stealing the cellphones of unsuspecting passersby.[5]

Reviewing the single in the NME, Johnny Cigarettes wrote that the record by "‘the world’s first novelty supergroup’... looks set to be another first – a novelty record that is so unspeakably annoying that NO FUCKER IN THE COUNTRY BUYS IT".[6] The single subsequently spent one week in the UK Top 75, peaking at number 62.[7]

Track listings

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f I Wanna 1-2-1 With You (Media notes). Solid Gold Chartbusters. Virgin. 1999. VSCDT 1765.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The World's First Novelty Supergroup present: 'I Wanna 1-2-1 With You'" (Press release). Virgin Records. 1999.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "IT'S CRAPMASSSSSSS!!!!". NME. 10 November 1999. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  4. ^ Sharkey, Alix (21 May 1994). "Trash Art & Kreation". The Guardian Weekend. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.Wikipedia:WikiProject The KLF/LibraryOfMu/384
  5. ^ "The Cellphone Murders". 10 Zen Monkeys. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  6. ^ Cigarettes, Johnny (12 September 2005). "Solid Gold Chartbusters : I Wanna 1 2 1 with You". NME (Review). Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Solid Gold Chartbusters". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 March 2020.