The Firm (Star Trekkin')

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the hip hop supergroup, see Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album.
For the British rock group, see The Firm (band).
The Firm
Origin London, UK
Genre(s) Novelty songs
Years active 1982–1987
Label(s) Bark
Former members
John O'Connor, Grahame Lister

The Firm is a British music act, formed by guitarist, session musician and music producer John O'Connor, which had hits in the 1980s with novelty songs.

Contents

[edit] Arthur Daley E's Alright

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 around 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 did it himself, under the name of The Firm. It spent seven weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No.14,[3] and was performed on TV chart show Top of the Pops on 29 July 1982.[4]

[edit] Star Trekkin'

In 1987 O'Connor and Lister co-wrote another novelty song, this time based around catchphrases from the Star Trek TV series set to a catchy, childlike tune with an increasingly frantic arrangement. It was rejected by all the labels he approached with it. Believing it to be worth releasing, O'Connor pressed an initial 500 copies on his own label, Bark Music.[5] The record - Star Trekkin' - spent two weeks at number one in the UK and a total of nine weeks in the UK Top 40,[3] reached No.3 in Australia, with comparable success in Japan and Europe and worldwide sales of over a million copies.[1]

It 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.

[edit] Afterwards

O'Connor moved to California, where he went on to record several New Age music albums on the Higher Octave label as part of the band Eko,[1] and won the BMI TV Music award (1998)[6] for his work as composer on the King of the Hill cartoon series. Star Trekkin' is still played on shows like Dr. Demento and regularly resurfaces on compilation albums to this day.[7] Lister now coaches Tennis in Billericay, England at the Billericay Lawn Tennis Club

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Tingen, Paul (Dec 1998). John O'Connor From 'Star Treking' To King Of The Hill. Sound On Sound. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  2. ^ Firm, The - Arthur Daley 'E's Alright. Discogs. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  3. ^ a b Arthur Daley (E's Alright). Chart Stats. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  4. ^ The Minder songs. The unofficial fans of Minder website. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  5. ^ Firm, The - Star Trekkin'. Discogs. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  6. ^ BMI Film/TV Awards: 1998. Broadcast Music, Inc. (1998-01-01). Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  7. ^ Dr. Demento Discography. DMDB. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
Languages