Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hot track: Spaceman
Year: 1996
Chart Position: 1
Babylon Zoo raised expectations to astronomical heights when their first record, Spaceman, debuted at number one in England in 1996.
It became the fastest-selling single in UK history, moving 250,000 copies in one week.
However, it was a short-lived romance. Babylon Zoo was the brainchild of Jas Mann (vocals, producer). Born in Dudley, West Midlands, England, on April 24, 1971, Mann was a science fiction fan, and his original group, the Sandkings, was named after a sci-fi short story by George R R Martin. The Sandkings opened for the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses in the early 90s, but Mann left the band because of creative differences. In 1993, a three-track demo from Mann’s next project Babylon Zoo earned him a contract from Phonogram Records. Two years later, Levi’s used Spaceman for a TV ad after hearing the tune on a Manchester, England, radio station. However, the huge success of Spaceman turned Babylon Zoo into of the biggest one-hit wonders. When Babylon Zoo released an album, 1996’s The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes, there was disappointingly mild interest.
Given the failure of their subsequent singles, they became considered a one-hit wonder.
In 2005, it was announced that a new Babylon Zoo album, Cold Clockwork Doll, would be released sometime in the near future.
In 2006 Spaceman featured on trailers for Ant and Dec’s film Alien Autopsy, and the BBC’s children’s channel, CBeebies, for the animated pre-school series Lunar Jim.
