"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" was released in an attempt to reach number one on the Christmas 1999 UK Singles Chart.[2][3] Cauty had previously had a novelty number one in collaboration with Bill Drummond - Doctorin' the Tardis - and the duo had written a book - The Manual - on how to top the charts.[3][4] In the month prior to the release of "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You", Cauty told NME that the song "[is] awful. Hear it once and that’s it, it’s all over. There is nothing vaguely hip, it’s just pure now, throwaway novelty pop."[3]
The music video featured Cauty and Pratt dressed as mobile phones,[3] along with appearances by John Thomsonofthe Fast Show, Stephen Marcus, and Rowland Rivron.[2][3]
Costumes from the video were later used in an advertising campaign in which online film clips purportedly showed pranksters stealing the cellphones of unsuspecting passersby.[5]
Reviewing the single in the NME, Johnny Cigarettes wrote that the record by "‘the world’s first novelty supergroup’... looks set to be another first – a novelty record that is so unspeakably annoying that NO FUCKER IN THE COUNTRY BUYS IT".[6] The single subsequently spent one week in the UK Top 75, peaking at number 62.[7]
^ abcdefI Wanna 1-2-1 With You (Media notes). Solid Gold Chartbusters. Virgin. 1999. VSCDT 1765.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
