OMD TRIVIA
Here some interesting tid bits about Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark that I have collected from various sources over the years. If you have any other good trivia information that I do not have posted here, by all means E-Mail me and I will post them here and give you credit for your submission. If you have any questions about the band or would like more information, take a look at the other pages on this web site. There is a ton of information here on OMD and you might find what you are looking for. If not, drop me some mail and I'll do my best to answer your questions!
Many thanks to the folks at Telegraph (TM) magazine for their contributions to this page and to this web site in general!
Did you know that Andy's real first name is George!! His parents changed his first name to Andrew (his middle name) after the nurse at the hospital was horrified that anyone would name a baby George. the nurse actually refused to call him George, so Andy's parents re-thought the name. Don't believe it? Check the credits on Dazzleships and you will see his first initial is G!!
Did you know that the song If you Leave was written, recorded and demoed in 3 days!! It is true, the band was approached by John Hughes to write a song for the movie Pretty In Pink. After going to Paramount Studios and meeting the cast, they agreed and went to work shortly thereafter on the new song. The song they wrote originally for the movie was Goddess Of Love, but the story line of the film was changed at the last minute and the song no longer fit the story. Given the change in plans the band had only 3 days to come up with a new song, which they were assured they could do by John Hughes and Molly Ringwald. They spent the next 3 days and nights writing If You Leave which as you all know was quite a hit!
Did you know that OMD's first number 1 smash hit in South Africa was in
the summer of 1986 - If You Leave went straight to number 1 and stayed their for almost 7 weeks.
The OMD song to remain longest in the charts in South Africa was Forever Live & Die followed by Dream of Me.
The second number 1 OMD smash hit in South Africa arrived in 1991 Sailing the Seven Seas.
Did you know that the Best of OMD CD became the fourth biggest selling album in South Africa during 1988?
OMD was one of the first bands of the 1980's to tour South Africa after the lifting of sanctions. So far only AHA, Roxette, Imagination, Duran
Duran and Wet Wet Wet have toured South Africa (They all being bands of the 80's). Naturally the OMD concert was the most successful!
Sugar Tax was OMD's largest selling album in South Africa apart from The Best of OMD.
Birthdays of the band:
Andy-----June 24, 1959
Paul-----February 27, 1960
Malcolm----- July 28, 1960
Martin-----January 10, 1958
Ever wonder about the success of some of the earlier albums. In the UK the following albums received these accolades:
Junk Culture-----Silver Record
Dazzle Ships-----Silver Record
OMD-----Gold Record
Architecture and Morality-----Platinum Record
The largest audience OMD has ever performed in front of was at the San Juan festival in Spain which was a free concert (year unknown, sorry!) The estimated size of the crowd was roughly 250,000 people!
If you ever wanted to send Paul humphreys an anniversary gift it should arrive on September 24th. This year (1996) will be his 15 year wedding anniversary, congrats Mr. Humphreys!
Ever wonder where the name The Messerschmidt Twins came from? It is a nickname Andy and Paul had for themselves when they first teamed up!
Middle names of the band members:
Andy-----(see above!)
Paul-----David
Martin-----Hansley
Malcolm-----Doesn't have one!
Anyone have a copy of the single She's Leaving with Romance of the Telescope on the B-side? If so, hold on to it, it was only released in Holland and nowhere else making it quite a collectors item!
Speaking of records, there were only about 10-15,000 pressings of the double package of La Femme Accident which also featured a live version of Locomotion. The number of pressings qualifies this as a very limited edition!
Ever want to know what the "Black rose" and "Universal Wheel" were about in the song Stay? Well, the "Universal Wheel" is the world the "Black Rose" symbolizes the end of love.
The female voice singing the backing tracks on the song Dead Girls is singing in French in case you were wondering!
Did you know the first ever OMD gig was on Octoer 18th 1978 at Eric's in Liverpool. The club is now closed, but it was accross the road from the famous Cavern, where the Beattles got their start!.
To this day, the top 3 selling OMD albums are 1.The Best of OMD 2.Sugar Tax 3.Architecturew and Morality
Since you now know the largest crowd OMD has ever played to, what about the smallest you ask?? It was to 32 people in Newcastle, NSW in Australia. The venue's capacity was over 1400!
Did you know the original sleeve for Liberator was rejected by the record company for being to risque!! (I have seen it and believe me it was!!-Pat)
OMD have never had a number 1 record in Britain, neither singles nor album charts!! Their highest position was number 3 in 1981 with Souvenir and again, ten years later, with Sailing on the Seven Seas!
Ever wonder what Andy's all-time favorite OMD song is?? It is Romance of the Telescope from the Dazzleships album!
The single Electricity was released 4 times. Once by Factory and 3 more times by DinDisc. Although regarded as thier first hit singel, and a classic amongst fans, it only reached number 92 in the charts!
In 1984 at the Manchester Apollo, officials metered OMD playing at 7 decibels louder than Iron Maiden who had played there the previous night!
OMD have had 16 top 50 hits in Britain- more than the Osmonds, Def Leppard or the Undertones!
Everyone know Enola Gay was about the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, but did you know the code name for the bomb was "Little Boy"!
This one puzzled me for a while! In the Messages video, you will notice that the keyboard player does not look like Martin Cooper, probably because it is not him. The man playing keyboards in the video is David Hughes, who was a member of OMD briefly and who is also good friends with Martin and has worked with him on some film projects.
Ever wondered how your favorite OMD singles faired in the charts? Here is a list of some and their top position in the UK music charts:
Red Frame, White Light----- #67
Messages----- #13
Enola Gay----- #8
Souvenir----- #3
Joan of Arc----- #5
Maid of Orleans----- #4
Genetic Engineering----- #20
Telegraph----- #42
Locomotion----- #5
Talking loud and Clear----- #11
Tesla Girls----- #21
Never Turn Away----- #70
So In Love----- #27
Secret----- #34
La Femme Accident----- #42
If You Leave-----#48
Forever Live and Die----- #11
We Love You----- #54
Shame----- #52
Ever wonder what those strange are noises at the beginning of "Goddess of Love" and "Crush", they are Japanese TV ads that Andy recorded with his Walkman from the television set when they toured Japan in the mid 80's.
Did you know Malcolm Holmes never lent his vocals to any OMD song. Martin Cooper however, sang on "Women III"
The first song Paul Humphries ever sang vocals on was..., you guessed it "Promise" from Organisation
For those of you who have seen "Crush-The Movie" the scene at the end where you see the band goofing around and taking their clothes off was actually filmed by the band themselves. The real film crew had gone for the day and they decided to make their own movie which was heavily edited by the film crew I am told.
Did you know that the song "Pretending to See the Future" is about being in a band and signing a record deal.
On that same subject, the incomprehensible words at the end of "Pretending to See the Future" are saying: "See you the same place, same time, next year round/with the same kind of product and a similar sound."
Do you know what country OMD has had 4 number ones in? If you guessed Spain, give yourself a gold star! Do you know what songs? Try "Enola Gay", "Souvenir", "Locomotion" and "Maid of Orleans".