UFO (TV series)
Following poor ratings for "Joe 90" (1968–69) and the cancellation of children's espionage television series "The Secret Service" (1969) after only one series, Lew Grade approached Gerry Anderson to look into creating his first live-action TV series. Anderson worked with his wife, Sylvia, and producer Reg Hill to create a sci-fi adventure series based around UFOs. Anderson said the core idea for the series was that UFO sightings were a common issue during the late 1960s and that idea of aliens harvesting human organs came from the work of Christian Barnard and his pioneering transplant operations. The creative team initially envisioned an organisation called UFoeDO (Unidentified Foe Defence Organisation), which was to become the secret SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation).
UFO (band)
Lead singer Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way, and drummer Andy Parker formed the band in 1968. Originally taking the name Hocus Pocus, the group changed their name in October 1969 to UFO in honour of the London club where they were spotted by Noel Moore, who signed them to Beacon Records label, which was headed by Antiguan-born Milton Samuel. Their eponymously titled first album debuted in 1970 and was a typical example of early hard rock including a heavy version of the Eddie Cochran classic "C'mon Everybody". Both "UFO 1" and its follow-up "", were successful in Japan (especially the single "C'mon Everybody" which became a huge hit there) and Germany (the song "Boogie For George," also from the first album, reached No. 30 in German singles charts as well as "Prince Kajuku" from "Flying", which reached No. 26), but generated poor interest in Britain and America. Part of UFO's early work was strongly influenced by space rock (their second album, including a 26-minute title track and a 19-minute-long opus "Star Storm", was subtitled "One Hour Space Rock") that was modestly popular at the time, but the band soon realised the style was somewhat limited. In January 1972, Mick Bolton left the group, and UFO set out to find a guitarist who could provide the band with a more standard rock sound.