
	UFO

		Photograph by Mark Flowers ©

U.F.O. was formed as Hocus Pocus in 1969 in North London, England by Phil Mogg, Pete Way, Mick Bolton and Andy Parker. They struck a record deal with Beacon Records in the early 1970s and had considerable success in Japan and Germany where their then style of pedestrian boogie and excruciating “space Rock” gave them a cult following. Their cover of Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody” was a huge hit in the Far East in 1972, but British audiences were indifferent to their unremarkable first two albums, UFO 1 and UFO 2 – Flying, both released in 1971. A live album UFO: Live (Live in Japan) was released in 1972.

Bolton left in 1971 and was succeeded by several guitarists until Bernie Marsden who had replaced Larry Wallis from The Pink Faeries, left to join Wild Turkey and then was replaced by Michael Schenker from The Scorpions. With Schenker’s arrival the song writing improved considerably and they joined the Chrysalis label changing their style dramatically to encompass hard rock. The first album released with Schenker, Phenomenon in 1974 contained the classic songs, “Doctor, Doctor” and “Rock Bottom.” Their next album “Force It” in 1975 achieved moderate top 75 success in the USA, where Schenker’s fingering of his “Flying V” style guitar was much talked about.

For their next album No Heavy Petting Danny Peyronel from The Heavy Metal Kids was added on keyboards, although he was subsequently replaced for their 1976 album Lights Out by Paul Raymond from Savoy Brown who also played guitar. This album brought about a commercial breakthrough for the group in the USA, reaching no.23 and contained the blistering “Too Hot to Handle” and a reverential cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or.”

Building on their now formidable hard rock song-writing reputation, their next album Obsession in 1978 reached no.26 in the UK and contained the classic anthem “Only You Can Rock Me.”

UFO also set new standards for rock n’ roll depravity, with Mogg and Way particularly notorious in their abuse of narcotics and alcohol and hotel destruction. Schenker disappeared after a concert in June 1977 and was rumoured to be dead or kidnapped, but returned six months later claiming that he wanted to leave UFO but did not know how to say so in English.

Their next album was a live album Strangers in the Night and reached no.8 in the UK in 1978 and afterwards Schenker finally did leave, returning to The Scorpions. He was replaced by Paul Chapman for the George Martin produced1980 album No Place to Run , which reached no.11 in the UK.

The line up was becoming quite unstable by this time and Chapman left to join The Michael Schenker Group and was replaced by Neil Carter from Wild Horses. The next album in 1981, the highly impressive The Wild, The Willing and The Innocent reached no.19 in the UK. The album Mechanix reached no.8 in the UK the following year but the departure of Pete Way (who formed Fastway, then briefly joined Ozzy Osbourne before later forming Waysted), dealt a death blow to the group who by this time were being upstaged by Iron Maiden who ironically cited UFO as a major influence.

Billy Sheehan from Talis replaced Way and the band recorded the underrated Making Contact. The line-up for this album also contained former punk Paul Gray from The Damned and Eddie And The Hot Rods. However with their waning commercial viability, the album peaked at no.32 in the UK in 1983.

The group was disbanded following their tour that year when Mogg suffered a nervous breakdown on stage. UFO was reformed by a comparatively cleaned up Mogg in 1984 and has since undergone several line-ups, splits and reformations since.

Discography

UFO (1971)

UFO 2 - Flying (1971)

UFO: Live (live in Japan) (1972)

Phenomenon (1974)

Force It (1975)

No Heavy Petting (1976)

Lights Out (1977)

Obsession (1978)

Strangers in the Night (live, 1978)

No Place to Run (1980)

Mechanix (1982)

Making Contact (1983)

Misdemeanor (1985)

Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1988)

High Stakes and Dangerous Men (1992)

Lights Out in Tokyo Live (live, 1993)

Walk On Water (1995)

Covenant (2000)

Sharks (2002)

The Best Of UFO (CEMA Special Markets 2003)

Then & Now (2003)

You are Here (2004)

Flying: The Early Years 1970 - 1973 (2004)