Babylon Zoo were an English rock band formed in 1992 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. Their song " Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late 1995. Released as the band's debut single on 21 January 1996, it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. "Spaceman" led to the band being perceived as a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

, when subsequent releases charted less successfully.

History

Frontman Jas Mann had formerly been in indie music band The Sandkings. In 1993, a three-track demo earned him a contract from Phonogram Records for his next project, Babylon Zoo, but ended up being signed to Warner's WEA record label, where the band recorded the album '' The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes''. However, around this time Clive Black, managing director of Warner, was poached by rival record company EMI and so took Babylon Zoo over to EMI. The band's first single was " Spaceman", which had been recorded and pressed by Warner as a CD single, before being scrapped when Black left the company. However, a promo version was played on a Manchester radio station. An advertising-agency creative heard it and decided it would be perfect for a Levi's jeans TV advert they were developing. Levi's used part of "Spaceman" for their UK TV ad and the hook of the song became popular. Even though the rest of the song turned into a slower grunge-glam style, it still became the fastest-selling debut single in British history. The single sold 383,000 copies in the first week of release, spending 5 weeks at number 1. Critic

Steven Wells Steven Wells (10 May 1960 – 24 June 2009) was a British journalist, author, comedian and punk poet born in Swindon, Wiltshire. He was best known for ranting poetry and his provocative, unapologetic music journalism. In June 2006, he wrote in ...

wrote the "Spaceman" single (resembling the Levi's advert version for only "about ten seconds") angered many consumers. He reported Mann drew further ire through self-aggrandising interviews, and noted his ridicule in the media, including by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' and in a 1997 episode of comedy TV series ''

Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' (stylised as brassEYE) is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by ...

''. Tim Moore wrote "only failure and embarrassment" followed for Babylon Zoo. An album entitled '' The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes'' was produced at Mann's New Atlantis Productions music and video centre. It peaked at number 6 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

on 17 February, but quickly dropped out of the Top 40, lasting only a further two weeks on the chart. Subsequent singles charted progressively lower, failing to match the success of "Spaceman". The band's reputation was further damaged by a series of scathing live reviews. In 1999, a follow-up album was released, '' King Kong Groover''. The album received negative reviews and sold fewer than 10,000 units, failing to chart in the UK. The first single from the album was " All The Money's Gone", released in the UK and Europe and peaking at number 46 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single, a cover of Mott the Hoople's " Honaloochie Boogie", was only released as a promotional single in France. The group disbanded shortly after and Mann moved to India where he spent time working for an aid agency. In 2005, Jas Mann announced he would be issuing a new Babylon Zoo album, called ''Cold Clockwork Doll'', but no official release date was ever announced and no further updates followed.

Musical style and influences

Many journalists felt Babylon Zoo was influenced by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's musical style. As such, the band can be seen as a 1990s alternative rock band with glam and electronic influences.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* * {{Authority control English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musicians from Wolverhampton Musical groups from West Midlands (county) 1992 establishments in England EMI Records artists Phonogram Inc. artists Warner Records artists