Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Your first encounter with John ?

My first actual encounter with John was in Sheffield, in 2003 before one of his supporting gigs with the Human League.

I was having a pre-gig drink with a friend, in a bar and I turned around and nearly dropped my pint! I hadn't seen a recent picture of John, but I could tell it was him - and indeed it was. He was (as he always is) very charming and easy to talk to. I seem to recall we spent a long time talking about his album cover images and how he had used stills from old film in the Crash & Burn booklet.

I've met him twice since then, both post-gig. But that first meeting was very cool because there was nobody else around

Systems Of Romance. The album that changed everything.

You've summed it up nicely Maryann it was Systems Of Romance album that changed the direction of my life.

Even if I hadn't heard SOR I'm sure I would of fell in love with Underpass at the time because it was so different to anything else musically at the beginning of the 80's but I'll never know.

Peter

In late '77 or early '78 a Chicago FM radio station aired a recording of Ultravox in concert (don't know where it was recorded). I had no idea who they were but I immediately got sucked in by "Rockwrok" and kept listening even though it was way past my bedtime. I was into Roxy Music and punk, so this band was a tremendous discovery for me, only I couldn't find any of their records anywhere near my hometown (about 2 hours east of Chicago). I tried ordering through the mail (yes, kids, this was before the Internet!) but none of the "record search" services knew who the band were and I couldn't find any information about them. We didn't have access to any good music press, just Rolling Stone magazine at the local library. When "Systems of Romance" came out, RS actually ran a half-page article about Ultravox. I stuck that article inside my high school locker and later taped it on my college dorm room walls until it finally disintegrated.

My best friend and I traveled by train to the big city with the specific intention of hitting every record store until she got her hands on a Sparks LP she wanted and I finally got copies of all three Ultravox LPs. It took several trips and all of my babysitting money before I was successful (imports were very costly). Not much later I heard on the radio that John Foxx had left the band and was recording a solo album. Once I got my hands on it, "Metamatic" ruled my life. I liked "The Garden" tremendously, but by the time "The Golden Section" came out, I was into noise and feedback and jackhammers and found its Beatles-y psychedelia kind of boring. I lost total interest in JF's output when "In Mysterious Ways" came out -- I still find it almost entirely unlistenable, and I'm a pretty forgiving person!

I still loved the first three Ultravox albums (always disliked the Midge-era recordings, though) and the first two solo JF albums, so I did repurchase them when they came out on CD. When I was starting to load them onto my iPod a few years ago I wondered if maybe JF had produced anything worthwhile since "IMW." I stumbled across "Shifting City" in a used record store and then went on the Internet to find out what else I'd missed. I was surprised that JF had released so much material since "SC" because I can't recall seeing reviews in any of the major US or UK music magazines.

Incidentally, if anyone has a copy of that Rolling Stone magazine article in their archives, I would love to see it again!

Underpass in 1980. My local disco (as it was known in those days) played it quite a few times. The funny thing was, the clientele at the disco was split down the middle; those interested in 'disco' music, and those interested in 'new wave'. At the time I was mostly into the former, but Underpass was my fav track from the other camp. That was it until 2005 and Modern Art. I have to thank John for getting me back into gigs. Metamatic was my first one for 23 years

Same here, but living in a few Canadian towns and cities that weren't Toronto or Montreal, I couldn't find any Ultravox or Foxx stuff until well after I read the Numan interviews (and a review of Metamatic in a UK music paper). Thanks to the Canadian label releasing a compilation instead of Metamatic, it was somewhere around 1990 before I finally actually got that album.

The Internet has made it a lot easier to stay informed about what John Foxx is up to. Being an adult with a credit card also helps.

And take it from me, Steve, being an adult without a credit card these days is a nightmare! However, being an adult with a girlfriend who has a credit card...

Ô¿Ô

Mmm ... my first encounter. It was at a time I was discovering the world. Musically I was into Roxy, Bowie, Eno, Reed and Pop.
Bought Vienna for my mother (!). Didn't know there was another Ultravox(!) waiting there to be discovered. My first serious girlfriend had all three albums. My fav tracks were My Sex, Rockwrock, The Man Who Dies Everyday ande the whole atmosphere of Systems Of Romance.
Bought Metamatic when it came out.

First encounter, roughly in 1980, when I heard his lovely songs. Been a fan ever since. A true original then, a true original now. Over the moon when he reappeared in the mid-90s with Shifting City, though I do not have that one. Living abroad then and didn't want to pay the outrageous price for a single cd -- before the internet was fashionable.

Actually almost bumped into John one day in Soho back in the early 90s. Turned the corner, and there he was. I was high on too many coffees and nervously said, "Always loved your music." He just smiled, twisted his papers under his arm, and said, "Thanks." I then smiled and made my way. I was just a young one...

Blue P

Nice story, Blue P.

My first encounter was "Three Into One", 1989. It took a few plays to get into. I came the UreVox route, starting off in 1988 from various memories of chart action and Saturday Superstore. Then it was "No-One Driving/Glimmer", taking a chance at a record fair in an Ultravox section. Never looked back. Or at least kept one eye looking forward.