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The Firm | |
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| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Novelty |
| Years active | 1982–1987 |
| Labels | Bark |
| Past members |
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The Firm was a British music act, formed by guitarist, session musician and music producer John O'Connor, which had hits in the 1980s with novelty songs.
John O'Connor, primarily an acoustic guitarist, ran his own recording studio (Bark Studios in Walthamstow, London) specialising in songwriters' demos, for some ten years. [1] In the early 1980s, he decided to concentrate more on playing and writing music, working as a session musician with artists in a variety of genres, from Maddy Prior and Isla St Clair to the more commercial pop of Bucks Fizz.
In 1982, he and fellow guitarist Grahame Lister wrote a novelty song, "Arthur Daley 'E's Alright", [2] based on the Arthur Daley character from the British TV series Minder , and including many catchphrases from the show. Unable to find an artist willing to release the song, O'Connor and Lister did it themselves, under the name of 'The Firm'. It spent seven weeks in the UK top 40, peaking at No. 14, [3] and was performed on the TV chart show Top of the Pops on 29 July 1982 featuring former Rubettes guitarist Tony Thorpe on lead vocals. [4]
The song also peaked at number 78 in Australia. [5]
In 1983, with the future of the Grand National horse race in doubt, The Firm released the song "Long Live the National" as a single in support of the campaign to keep the race alive. The single did not chart. The following year they released "Superheroes" written by Lister.
In 1987, the group recorded another novelty song, this time based on catchphrases from the Star Trek TV series set to a catchy, childlike tune with an increasingly frantic arrangement. It was rejected by all the record labels which O'Connor approached with it. Believing it to be worth releasing, O'Connor pressed an initial 500 copies on his own label, Bark Music. [6] The record, "Star Trekkin' ", spent two weeks at number one in the UK and a total of nine weeks in the UK top 40, [7] and reached No. 3 in Australia, [5] with comparable success in Japan and Europe and worldwide sales of over a million copies. [1]
Though it received substantial airplay on various radio stations throughout the US, the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. (One of the song's phrases, "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it", became so popular that it has often been misattributed to the TV series, but actually originated with "Star Trekkin'".)
On the back of their success with "Star Trekkin'", The Firm released an album, Serious Fun, in 1987, through K-Tel in the UK and Dino Music in Australia. [8] [9] As well as "Star Trekkin'", it included previous singles "Arthur Daley ('E's All Right)", "Superheroes" and "Cash in Hand", plus eight new tracks. In the US, "Star Trekkin'" was released on the Dr. Demento albums Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty CD of All Time in 1988, Dr. Demento: 20th Anniversary Collection in 1991, and Dr. Demento: Hits from Outer Space in 2006.
A firm is a commercial partnership of two or more people.
Barret Eugene Hansen, known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present. Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at the Pasadena, California, station KPPC-FM. After he once played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it; this event inspired his stage name. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network from 1978 to 1992. Broadcast syndication of the show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continues to be produced weekly in an online version.
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"Star Trekkin'" is a song by British novelty band The Firm. It parodies the original Star Trek TV series and prominently features comical voice caricatures of the Trek characters, provided by members of the band, a studio technician, and the wife of one of the songwriters. One of the song's phrases, "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it", actually originated with "Star Trekkin'" but has been subsequently misattributed to the TV series.
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a Christmas novelty song written by John Rox (1902–1957) and performed by 10-year-old Gayla Peevey in 1953. The song peaked at number 24 on Billboard magazine's pop chart in December 1953.
"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour " is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it entered the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 1959 and peaked at number three. It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.
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