20 September 1996
OMC have the pleasure of being our first number one act from Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand. Alas, as I face a re-listen to ‘How Bizarre’ after all these years, I fear the pleasure will be all theirs. I remember this track being extremely naff and cheesy, with its mariachi guitar and trumpet, plus its whimsical lyrics about getting petrol and seeing a poster for a circus.
The thing is, I really want to like ‘How Bizarre’ more. The Kiwi accents are refreshing, the sense of breezy fun is palpable, and the first verse about getting pulled over by the police adds a welcome ominous undercurrent. It’s just the overpowering naffness: even in 1996 “ooh baby / you’re making me crazy” was antiquated lyric-writing, and the final line about “wanna know the rest? Hey, buy the rights!” is so, so corny, not helped by the music dropping out just to showcase this apparent zinger. Also, the second verse of OMC’s mondo bizarro is that they see a poster for a circus. I suppose it could all be a story of driving and circus-poster-seeing while under the influence of something or other, but that’s a lot of supposition on my part. Then there’s an actual circus and the elephants have run away. Wanna know the rest? Whatever. I’m with the elephants.
