Five Degrees of Mike Oldfield

Date: Tue Oct 07 10:57:26 1997
Subject: Sizzlin' bacon

Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 08:22:48 +1000
From: JAJ
Subject: 5 Degrees of MO

I'm bored so I thought I'd start a silly game along the lines of 5 degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Ahhh, what goes around, comes around. I know it's before most of you joined, but I can't help remembering...

>Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 11:28:49 +1000
>From: Rory Ewins
>To: Multiple recipients of list oldfield@vast.unsw.edu.au
>Subject: Mike's Bacon Number?
>
>Hey, does anyone else here take an occasional look at the newsgroup
>rec.arts.movies? If so, has anyone worked out Mike's "Bacon Number"? If
>you start with The Killing Fields or the Exorcist you might get it...
>
>Mike Oldfield
>Soundtrack to the KILLING FIELDS
>with John Malkovich
>who appeared in IN THE LINE OF FIRE
>with Clint Eastwood
>who appeared in A PERFECT WORLD
>with Kevin Costner
>who appeared in JFK
>with Kevin Bacon...
>
>A Bacon number for Mike of 4. Once again demonstrating that "Kevin Bacon
>is the Centre of the Universe".
>
>(Intrigued? Take a look at the rec.arts.movies newsgroup, it's a blast.)

Didn't get any response that time, but then those were the days when the Oldfield list was a message a day, or less.

 

Date: Wed Oct 08 12:43:51 1997
Subject: 5 Degrees of MO

Okay. After wasting the whole morning coming up with obscure links, I've decided to narrow the list down to a few favourites:

Just about everyone who was anyone in British music in the mid-1980s gets an Oldfield number of 4 via

Band Aid - Big Country - Kate Bush - Morris Pert - MO
         1             2           3             4

1 = 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' (the b-side, and maybe the a-side but who can really tell?)
2 = 'The Seer'
3 = The Kick Inside & Lionheart
4 = QE2 & Five Miles Out

Here's my number one favourite:

The Sex Pistols - PIL - Jah Wobble - Brian Eno - MO
                1     2            3           4

1 = via Johnny Rotten/John Lydon
2 = Jah Wobble was a member of PIL
3 = and is a sometime collaborator with Eno
4 = Mike guested on 'June 1st, 1974' (live album, with Eno, Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico)

The Brian Eno link puts Mike only two steps away from scads of bands and artists: Roxy Music, U2 (and via them Keith Richards & The Rolling Stones, BB King, Sinead O'Connor, and plenty more that come to mind), David Bowie (and thus Iggy Pop and countless others), Talking Heads (and thus the Heads, whose collaborative-style album opens up further vistas), James, Robert Fripp & King Crimson, Laurie Anderson, Jane Siberry, Ultravox, Devo, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Michael Nyman and more.

(Note that we could have 'Sex Pistols - MO', since a sample of TB appears on the Sex Pistols' 'Carri On Sex Pistols' spoken-word documentary album - but since there's no direct collaboration, it looks like cheating, as does using Richard Branson or Virgin as the link!)

And, to annoy all you Britpop haters, there's a distant link with Oasis via

Noel Gallagher - P. McCartney - D. Gilmour - Nick Mason - Maggie Reilly - MO
               1              2            3            4               5

1 = 'Come Together' on the Help benefit album
2 = 'No More Lonely Nights'
3 = A band of some repute
4 = Mason+Fenn, Profiles LP
5 = have been known to work together

I'd better stop now before I spend all day on this.

©2001 Rory Ewins