OMC (band)
| OMC | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Otara Millionaires Club |
| Origin | Otara, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Genres |
Pop rap acoustic rock Latin music |
| Years active | 1993–2010 |
| Labels | Huh! Records PolyGram Mercury Records |
| Past members | Alan Jansson Pauly Fuemana |
OMC, or Otara Millionaires Club, was a New Zealand music group. They were best known for their 1996 hit "How Bizarre", named one of the greatest New Zealand songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association. The full name of the band is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Otara's status as one of the poorest suburbs of Auckland.
The Otara Millionaires Club was originally formed in 1993 by Phil Fuemana, who was previously in the bands Houseparty and Fuemana. Fuemana and his younger brother Pauly Fuemana recorded two tracks as the new band for producer Alan Jansson's Urban Pacifica collection Proud. Pauly suggested that they shorten the band's name to just the initials, and thereafter, he and Jansson were OMC. Pauly became the public face of the band and its primary performer, serving as the frontman and playing several instruments during performances and tours. However, the music was created by both of them, with Jansson co-writing all of the tracks and handling most of the arrangement and production duties in the studio.
Signed to Simon Grigg's Huh! label, OMC released the single "How Bizarre" in New Zealand in late 1995. It was an immediate smash hit even without an initial video, reaching number one in early 1996 and staying there for three weeks. It sold over 35,000 copies.
That same year, "How Bizarre" went to number one in Australia for five weeks, sold over 150,000 singles, and was certified as a platinum single. Later in the year the single went to number 5 in the UK Singles Chart and number one in countries across Europe and much of the rest of the world.
In the United States, "How Bizarre" spent 32 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart, peaking at number one in August 1997 due to the high amount of radio play it received. This made OMC the first New Zealand artist to reach the number one spot in a Billboard chart. The song never charted on the regular Billboard Hot 100 as it was not released as a commercially available single there. It also became a BMI-certified "million airplay" song two years in a row.
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