| I Wanna 1-2-1 With You | |
| Cover: | I Wanna 1-2-1 with you.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Solid Gold Chartbusters |
| Released: | 1999[1] |
| Genre: | Novelty |
| Label: | Virgin |
"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 Lloyd Stanton.[1] The lead singer was Denise Palmer;[1] 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".
"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] 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.[4]
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".[5] The single subsequently spent one week in the UK Top 75, peaking at number 62.[6]
