From the age of 9, John Otway had one ambition in life: to be a pop star. There was only one thing standing in his way: a complete lack of talent. What he did have by the bucketload was enormous – and clearly misplaced – self-belief, as well as a drive to succeed bordering on the psychotic (the National Institute of Health defines psychotic as “a collection of symptoms that affect the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality”).
Otway has never let reality get in the way of fulfilling his dream of becoming a pop star. At 73, he believes he is still a pop star and, as pop stars always tour Japan, Otway will be making his Japanese debut on April 5 in Tokyo as part of a world tour that will also reach Australia and Canada.
So, what can the Japanese audience expect? “I’ve never been able to put what I do into words and no one else seems to be any better at it either,” Otway told Japan Today. “I do seem to have an ability to combine ‘music’ and comedy in a way that what I do doesn’t fall predominantly into either category but seems to embrace them both.”
Otway is unsure how his brand of music and comedy will translate for a Japanese audience. “I’m definitely looking forward to finding out,” he says. “But really, I’ve no idea at all. I did a couple of very long tours with (ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist) Wilko Johnson, who became very popular in Japan, and I remember discussing playing there with him and he was quite encouraging and thought I’d be OK.”
As punk was evolving in the United Kingdom, Otway was teamed up with “Wild” Willy Barrett, another English eccentric from the market town of Aylesbury. Unlike Otway, Barrett was a brilliant musician and played a raucous guitar that served to distract listeners from Otway’s own inability to play his guitar or sing. Otway is one of those characters in the music business – think Ian Dury or Alex Harvey – who don’t really sing; they vocalize.
What Otway did do was write songs. These tended to veer from romanticism – he would write songs specifically for ex-girlfriends – to hippy punk anthems, such as “Beware of the Flowers (’Cause I’m Sure They’re Going to Get You Yeah).” One of these anthems, “Cor Baby, That’s Really Free,” caught the imagination of the music business and fans and earned Otway and Barrett a spot on the prestigious late-night music show “The Old Grey Whistle Test” on the BBC.
John Otway’s performances are always very physical, literally throwing himself around the stage.
It must be pointed out that Otway’s performances were always very physical, literally throwing himself around the stage, ripping his shirt off and head-butting his microphone. And he’s very excitable, so when he had the chance to show off his talents to 5 1/2 million BBC viewers, he wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity, so that “Cor Baby, That’s Really Free” would become a hit. Lots of rock stars jump on their amps for effect and Otway thought this would impress his TV audience and possibly a girl or two. So, he jumped up on Barrett’s amp and speaker setup, which immediately collapsed underneath him, and he landed on a very sensitive part of his body. But he didn’t miss a beat, carried on singing and a legend was born. Suddenly, he was actually a pop star.
People in the music business were thoroughly entertained. Polydor records were so entertained, they handed Otway a recording contract worth an astonishing £250,000. Otway was happy. To celebrate, he bought his first car, a beautiful, classic Bentley. Of course, he didn’t have a driving license, so he couldn’t drive it. And he didn’t have any more hits, so eventually he had to sell it.
“If I could have followed it up with something more riveting maybe I wouldn’t have had to wait 25 years for another hit,” Otway says. “Putting out a romantic ballad to impress a girl as the follow-up to a punk rock hit probably didn’t help either.” It was, he says, one of the stupidest things he has ever done.
His relationship with Barrett has been fractious. The duo have split up and got back together at least 20 times and in the early days, they were very popular live, especially with the college crowd. Eventually, Otway managed to get a band together and they’ve now been playing for 33 years. But world fame has eluded them, although Otway did plan a world tour 20 years ago, eyeing gigs at the Budokan, Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House and renting a plane before realizing that it would cost too much money. He was also disappointed not to make it big in America. “I know that to become a really big superstar, cracking the States was a must,” he says. “I discovered the States were not ready for an act like mine and I don’t think they are quite yet either.”
But Otway doesn’t give up easily. He was able to fill the Royal Albert Hall in London, publish two autobiographies (bizarrely written in the third person) and a release a documentary movie. The books and movie were sold under the banner, “Rock ’n’ Roll’s Greatest Failure.”
As for the Albert Hall, that required a bit of work. Otway, of course, usually played to crowds of hundreds. The Albert Hall has 4,000 seats and is London’s most prestigious music venue. So Otway booked it first and then tried to figure out a way of filling it, wondering if he actually had 4,000 fans. The gig coincided with the release of his first album in 10 years (the aptly titled “Premature Adulation”) and his fans turned up for a memorable gig to celebrate.
Otway’s long-awaited second hit required a bit more work. In 2002, Otway decided to let the fans decide which song should be his next hit via a live poll monitored by the Electoral Reform Society. The fans chose “Bunsen Burner,” a song he wrote to help his daughter with her chemistry homework. The song sampled music from the song “Disco Inferno” by the Trammps and Otway cleverly release three different versions to maximize sales. One of these included a riotous version of “House of the Rising Sun,” recorded at Abbey Road and featuring 900 of his fans on backing vocals, all of whom were credited on the sleeve. He used a similar trick to boost his movie, somehow putting the names of everyone who showed up for the premiere in the credits at the end of the premiere.
John can’t sing and is still stuck with just six chords on the guitar he learned 50 years ago.
When asked what he’s looking forward to in Japan, Otway said, “Just doing a gig in Tokyo. I think all successful rock stars need to tick that box.” He’ll be accompanied by his band and his daughter, who studied Japanese in Japan. “She’s coming over to see how I get on with a Japanese audience,” he says. Clearly, she will be his minder in Japan. Otway is planning to write another book about his world tour.
“It turns out I was very good at being Rock ’n’ Roll’s Greatest Failure,” Otway says of his autobiographies and documentary movie, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and was voted the second-best movie of 2013 by readers of the Guardian newspaper. “The self-effacing humor worked well enough to turn my career around.”
Otway played his 5,000th gig three years ago and has even received an honorary doctorate in music from Oxford Brookes University. He still can’t sing, is still stuck with just six chords on the guitar he learned 50 years ago and still believes he is a pop star.
He’s touring Japan, so he must be.
John Otway Japan Tour:
April 5, Koenji High, Tokyo, 18:00
© Japan Today
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