UFO
Biography and discography of UFO, the British hard rock band formed in London in 1969, with pages for its studio albums from UFO 1 to The Salentino Cuts, its EP, reissues, archive live albums and box sets: running orders, CD details, liner notes, official videos and the band's concerts in Japan.
Biography
UFO
Biography
UFO was a British hard rock band from London. The singer Phil Mogg, the bassist Pete Way and the guitarist Mick Bolton were playing as Hocus Pocus when the drummer Andy Parker joined them in the summer of 1969, and those four were the first UFO. The early records the band made for Beacon leaned towards space rock and found more listeners in Japan and Germany than at home. With the guitarist Michael Schenker, recruited from Scorpions in 1973, the band made five studio albums for Chrysalis beginning with Phenomenon (1974), and the 1979 live album Strangers in the Night reached No. 7 in Britain. After Schenker left, Mechanix (1982) still reached No. 8, but the band came to a halt in 1983 and spent the following decades rebuilding, reuniting and changing line-ups. With the guitarist Vinnie Moore, who joined in 2003, it went on releasing records up to the covers album The Salentino Cuts (2017), its 22nd studio album. The last dates of Last Orders, the 50th-anniversary farewell tour, were cancelled when Mogg had a heart attack in 2022, and in 2024 he confirmed that the band was over.
Formation and the Beacon years (1969-1972)
In Andy Parker's own account, he met Phil Mogg, Pete Way and Mick Bolton in the summer of 1969 at the Golden Lion, a pub in Hoddesdon. The three had just fired their drummer, and Bolton asked Parker whether he wanted to join his band, Hocus Pocus; Parker auditioned, got the job, and the four of them became the first line-up of UFO (Andy Parker's own biography, 2007). The band's official site also dates its beginnings to London in 1969 (official site, 2004). Mogg, on the other hand, called 2018 the band's 50th anniversary, and some accounts give 1968 as the year of formation (Blabbermouth, 2018). Louder places the band's psychedelic beginnings in Enfield, a suburb of North London (Louder, 2008).
The new name came from the UFO Club in London, where Pink Floyd had played in their early days, and replaced Hocus Pocus; it was at the club that the four were spotted and signed to the independent Beacon Records (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2015; official site, 2004). Parker remembers having to wait for his 18th birthday to sign the contract, because his parents refused to sign it on his behalf (Andy Parker's own biography).
The debut album, UFO 1, came out in October 1970, mixing the band's own songs with covers of Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody" and Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?". UFO 2: Flying followed in 1971 and pushed the space rock further to the front (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2015); Parker later recalled that it fitted about half an hour of music onto each side of the record (Louder, 2008).
UFO 1 sold little in Britain and even less in the United States, where Motown's Rare Earth label released it in 1971, but Japan and, to a lesser degree, Germany took to the band (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2015; Louder, 2023). That first phase closed with the live album Live, after which Mick Bolton left (Ultimate Classic Rock, 2015). Parker says the band never saw any money from the Beacon recordings, but that those records made the name UFO known around the world and led to better things (Andy Parker's own biography).
Finding a new guitarist took time. Larry Wallis, later of the Pink Fairies and Motörhead, had a brief spell with the band in 1972 (Blabbermouth, 2019), and Bernie Marsden, later of Whitesnake, passed through UFO early in a professional career that began in 1972 (Guitar World, 2023).
Michael Schenker and Chrysalis (1973-1976)
In June 1973 UFO went to Germany for a tour as a trio, because their guitarist had suddenly quit. Phil Mogg, Pete Way and Andy Parker borrowed the teenage Michael Schenker, then in Scorpions, for the German dates, and Schenker soon joined full time (Rolling Stone, 2008). The band's official site says that Schenker left Scorpions to take up an offer from Mogg and Way (official site, 2004).
Phenomenon (1974), the first album with Schenker and the first after the move from Beacon to Chrysalis, was produced by Leo Lyons, the bassist of Ten Years After. "Doctor Doctor", written by Mogg and Schenker, grew out of a riff Schenker had layered with a tape echo unit he had kept since his Scorpions days; Chrysalis picked it as the album's first single, but it did not chart at the time (Songfacts). "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom" went on to become two of the band's signature songs (official site, 2004; Rolling Stone, 2008).
In 1974 the Welsh guitarist Paul Chapman joined as a second guitarist to fill out the sound on stage. He had answered an advertisement in the music paper Melody Maker and auditioned at the Unity Theatre in London; he toured Phenomenon but recorded no album with the band, and left in January 1975 to form Lone Star (Blabbermouth, 2020).
Leo Lyons also produced Force It (1975) and No Heavy Petting (1976) (Louder, 2024). Rolling Stone heard sharper songwriting on Force It and noted that keyboards arrived with No Heavy Petting (Rolling Stone, 2008). The band's first keyboard player was Danny Peyronel, and Paul Raymond was brought in to replace him in 1976 (Blabbermouth, 2019). That year UFO also played three shows in California with Fleetwood Mac (Louder, 2021).
From Lights Out to Strangers in the Night (1977-1979)
Looking for a new producer, the band checked who had made the albums they liked best, and the name that kept coming up was Ron Nevison. With Paul Raymond now on keyboards and second guitar, the five of them recorded Lights Out (1977) at Air Studios at Oxford Circus in London (Louder, 2024). The album stopped at No. 54 in Britain (Official Charts Company) but reached No. 23 in the United States (Louder, 2024). Obsession (1978), again produced by Nevison, was recorded in California (Louder, 2024) and reached No. 26 in Britain (Official Charts Company). The official site names "Too Hot to Handle", "Lights Out" and "Only You Can Rock Me" as the hit singles of the two albums (official site, 2004), and "Only You Can Rock Me" reached No. 50 in Britain in August 1978 (Official Charts Company).
By then, Andy Parker recalls, the band could headline sizeable arenas on its own, and in Chicago, its biggest market, it played three nights in a row (Louder, 2021). Strangers in the Night, a double live album, was recorded on two nights of the American tour of October 1978, in Chicago and Louisville; Ron Nevison oversaw its completion, and the performances were chosen at the Record Plant in New York (Louder, 2021).
That tour was Michael Schenker's last. Parker says the band knew he would leave at the end of it. The usual account has him going straight after the final show, in Palo Alto on 29 October 1978, while Schenker himself says he stayed on until the album was being mixed; by the time Strangers in the Night came out in January 1979, he was no longer a member (Louder, 2021). The album reached No. 7 in Britain and stayed on the chart for eleven weeks, and a live "Doctor Doctor" entered the British singles chart in January 1979 and reached No. 35, five years after the song had first failed to chart (Official Charts Company; Songfacts). The official site describes the album as one the press still counts among the best live records ever made, and as the end of the line-up of Phil Mogg, Pete Way, Schenker, Parker and Raymond (official site, 2004). Schenker briefly went back to Scorpions and then started his own band, the Michael Schenker Group (Louder, 2021; Blabbermouth, 2019).
The Paul Chapman years and the end of 1983 (1979-1983)
To replace Michael Schenker, the band brought back Paul Chapman, who had played with it in 1974 and 1975 (Louder, 2024). No Place to Run (1980), his first album with UFO, was produced by the Beatles' producer George Martin and recorded at Martin's newly opened AIR Studios on Montserrat in the Caribbean (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2025). The album reached No. 11 in Britain and the single "Young Blood" No. 36 (Official Charts Company).
Paul Raymond then left for Schenker's Michael Schenker Group (Blabbermouth, 2019), and Neil Carter, who had been in Wild Horses, took his place on keyboards and guitar (Blabbermouth, 2019; Chrysalis Records). The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, released in January 1981, was Carter's first album with the band; he also played saxophone and sang backing vocals on "Lonely Heart" (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2026). The album reached No. 19 in Britain and "Lonely Heart" No. 41 (Official Charts Company). Mechanix, released in February 1982, reached No. 8 and was the first studio record on which Carter played throughout (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2026; Official Charts Company).
Louder puts Pete Way's departure after Mechanix down to the softening of the band's sound (Louder, 2024). Way does not play on Making Contact (1983) (Louder, 2023). He formed Fastway with "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead and the Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley, played bass for his longtime friend Ozzy Osbourne, and then started his own band, Waysted (Blabbermouth, 2020).
Making Contact reached No. 32 in Britain (Official Charts Company). Andy Parker stayed until April 1983; by then, he says, the band had all but run aground, and after a final British tour everyone went their own way (Andy Parker's own biography). Paul Chapman also stayed until 1983 and later joined Way in Waysted (Blabbermouth, 2020). The same year the compilation Headstone: The Best of UFO reached No. 39 in Britain (Official Charts Company).
Misdemeanor and Ain't Misbehavin' (1984-1988)
Phil Mogg rebuilt UFO from scratch for Misdemeanor (1985) (Louder, 2024), his first album with the Japanese-born guitarist Atomik Tommy M (Cleopatra Records). It reached No. 74 in Britain, and in March 1986 the single "Night Run" reached No. 94 (Official Charts Company). Recorded after the 1987 tour for Misdemeanor, the EP Ain't Misbehavin' (1988) again had Atomik Tommy M on guitar (Cleopatra Records). Pete Way plays on none of Making Contact, Misdemeanor and Ain't Misbehavin' (Louder, 2023).
High Stakes & Dangerous Men (1991-1993)
In 1991 Phil Mogg and Pete Way put the band back together without Michael Schenker (Louder, 2024). High Stakes & Dangerous Men (1992), the first UFO album in ten years with Way on it, had Laurence Archer, of Grand Slam and Wild Horses, on guitar and Clive Edwards, who had played with Uli Jon Roth and Bernie Marsden, on drums; it is the only UFO album either of them played on (Cleopatra Records). A concert in Japan on 20 June 1992, on the tour for the album, became the live album Lights Out in Tokyo (Cleopatra Records).
The reunion and Walk on Water (1993-1995)
In the autumn of 1993, to the surprise of fans, Phil Mogg, Pete Way, Michael Schenker and Paul Raymond came back together (official site, 2004). Andy Parker also returned after more than ten years away: in December the band toured Germany with Quiet Riot and Doc Holliday, in June 1994 it played in Japan, and in December 1994 it began work on Walk on Water with its old producer Ron Nevison (Andy Parker's own biography). Walk on Water, with eight new songs (Louder, 2023), came out in 1995, first in Japan on Zero Corporation; it followed in Europe on Eagle Records in 1997 and in the United States on CMC International in 1998 (MusicBrainz).
The tension within the band had not gone away. Parker declined to tour and went back to England (Andy Parker's own biography), and Schenker left again during the Walk on Water tour to return to his own Michael Schenker Group (official site, 2004). Mogg and Way made two albums together as Mogg/Way, the second of them Chocolate Box (official site, 2004; Louder, 2024).
Covenant and Sharks (1997-2003)
By 1998 Michael Schenker was back with Phil Mogg, Pete Way and Paul Raymond, with Simon Wright, who had drummed for AC/DC and Dio, behind the kit; Cleopatra Records presents this line-up as a newly reunited UFO (Cleopatra Records; official site).
Covenant (2000) and Sharks (2002) were recorded by Mogg, Way and Schenker with the drummer Aynsley Dunbar. Covenant was the reunited band's next record after Walk on Water, and Sharks was the last UFO album with Schenker (Cleopatra Records; official site, 2004). In July 2003 UFO officially named Vinnie Moore as Schenker's replacement (Blabbermouth, 2003).
The Vinnie Moore years (2003-2017)
The American guitarist Vinnie Moore was known for his 1987 solo debut, Mind's Eye (official site, 2004). UFO had first talked to John Norum, formerly of Europe and Dokken, but Norum stayed with his solo album, and Moore's arrival was made official in July 2003 (Blabbermouth, 2003). On drums came Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. With Phil Mogg, Pete Way and Paul Raymond, they recorded You Are Here at the Area 51 studio in Celle, near Hanover in Germany, with Tommy Newton producing, and released it in 2004 (official site, 2004). The new line-up played its first show in Athens in February 2004 (Blabbermouth, 2021).
In 2005, after Jason Bonham left to join Foreigner, Paul Raymond called Andy Parker, who came back for the Piorno Rock Festival in Granada, Spain, in November 2005 and stayed on (Andy Parker's own biography; official site). The same year Steamhammer/SPV released the live set Showtime on CD and DVD (official site). The Monkey Puzzle, recorded in March 2006, came out on SPV (Andy Parker's own biography; Louder, 2023). When Parker broke his ankle in early 2007, Simon Wright of Dio played the March dates in his place (official site).
When Pete Way could not get a working visa for the United States, Rob De Luca, a bassist who had played with Spread Eagle, stood in for him on an American tour (official site). In February 2009 the band announced that Way, who was being treated for a liver condition, would take some time away from UFO (official site, 2009); he never returned (Louder, 2024). The Visitor, recorded in Germany that year, reached No. 99 in Britain; Seven Deadly (2012) reached No. 63 and A Conspiracy of Stars (2015) No. 50 (official site, 2009; Official Charts Company). Rob De Luca became a full member in 2012 (Blabbermouth, 2024). The covers album The Salentino Cuts (2017) was UFO's last studio album (Blabbermouth, 2018; Blabbermouth, 2024).
Last Orders and the end (2018-2024)
In May 2018 Phil Mogg announced that the band's 50th-anniversary tour in 2019 would be his last as UFO's frontman. He proposed calling it Last Orders and said there would be no new records. The line-up at that point was Mogg, Vinnie Moore, Paul Raymond, Andy Parker and Rob De Luca (Blabbermouth, 2018).
The British and Irish leg of Last Orders ended with a sold-out show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Days later, on 13 April 2019, Paul Raymond died of a heart attack at the age of 73 (Blabbermouth, 2019). The band decided to carry on with the tour, and Neil Carter, a member in the early 1980s, came back (Blabbermouth, 2019). Paul Chapman died on 9 June 2020, his 66th birthday (Blabbermouth, 2020), and on 14 August 2020 Pete Way died at 69 of the injuries he had suffered in an accident two months earlier (Blabbermouth, 2020).
In September 2021 the band announced its final concerts for the summer and autumn of 2022: a public rehearsal at the Beatbox in Hanover on 20 June, a private open-air show for 300 people the next day, and a very last concert on 29 October 2022 in Athens, the city where it had first played with Moore (Blabbermouth, 2021). UFO's appearance at the Lieder Am See festival near Nuremberg on 16 July 2022 turned out to be its last show. In August Mogg had a heart attack and surgery, and on 1 September his doctors banned him from performing, so every date of the European Last Orders run from 15 to 29 October 2022 was cancelled (official site, 2022). Mogg had two stents fitted in his coronary arteries (Blabbermouth, 2024; Louder, 2024).
In April 2024 Mogg said that the band had reached its conclusion, the 2019 British tour having been, in effect, the end (Blabbermouth, 2024), and in October that year he told Louder that UFO were finished for good (Louder, 2024).
Reissues, archive releases and Phil Mogg's next band (2016-)
Cleopatra Records in the United States has released one archive live recording after another, starting with Live Sightings (2016), a box set of four concerts from 1980 to 1982 (Cleopatra Records; MusicBrainz). The 1980 Chicago concert appeared in part on the LP Lights Out Chicago in September 2016 and complete on the CD Lights Out Chicago 1980 in December 2023 (Cleopatra Records); its edition for Japanese distribution came out in Japan on 24 July 2026 (Tower Records). The show at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis on 14 March 1982 first appeared as the third disc of Live Sightings and came out on a CD of its own in December 2023 (Cleopatra Records); its Japanese edition, Landing in St. Louis: Live 1982 (Remaster), an SHM-CD in a paper sleeve from Belle Antique, has a release date of 25 November 2026 (Tower Records; Oricon). The 1976 Hollywood concert from the Michael Schenker years was released by Cleopatra as Hollywood '76 in August 2023 (Cleopatra Records), and Belle Antique's Hollywood 1976 (Remaster) shares the release date of 25 November 2026 (Tower Records; Oricon). A 1998 concert by Schenker, Phil Mogg, Pete Way, Paul Raymond and Simon Wright came out as the double CD Werewolves of London in February 2023 and was reissued in a jewel case in May 2026 (CLO7295CD), with an edition for Japanese distribution in June (Cleopatra Records; Tower Records), and in the same year Cleopatra also reissued Walk on Water and Werewolves of London on vinyl (official site).
The 2019 remaster of Phenomenon grew to three discs, adding demos, rough mixes and a concert in Atlanta on 5 November 1974, and was issued in Japan in 2025 as the three-SHM-CD Phenomenon (3CD Special Edition) (Tower Records). Lights Out (2024 Remaster), released in February 2024 on two CDs and three LPs, adds the band's April 1977 show at the Roundhouse in London, and the CD edition also carries edits of "Too Hot to Handle" and "Try Me" and an acoustic "Alone Again Or" (Louder, 2024); it reached No. 10 on the Scottish albums chart (Official Charts Company). Chrysalis Records carried on with expanded reissues: No Place to Run in August 2025, with a show at the Marquee in London on 16 November 1980 (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2025), and The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent in May 2026, with the Hammersmith Odeon show of 29 January 1981 (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2026). In September 2026 Chrysalis announced the latest in the series, Mechanix (2026 Remaster - Deluxe Edition), on two CDs or three LPs with a newly mixed recording of the Hammersmith Odeon show of 28 January 1982 and liner notes by Michael Hann drawing on new interviews with Mogg, Andy Parker and Neil Carter, with a release date of 4 December 2026 (Chrysalis Records; Blabbermouth, 2026).
Two box sets came out on Chrysalis in 2014: Original Album Series, five CDs holding the five albums from Phenomenon to Obsession, and The Complete Studio Albums 1974-1986, ten CDs holding expanded editions of the ten albums from Phenomenon to Misdemeanor (MusicBrainz).
In 2024 Phil Mogg signed his new band, Moggs Motel, to Steamhammer/SPV, and its album Moggs Motel came out that September. He wrote the songs with Tony Newton, the bassist of Voodoo Six, and with Neil Carter, and the album was recorded at the Essex studio of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris; the line-up is completed by Tommy Gentry of Gun and The Raven Age on guitar and the former Voodoo Six drummer Joe Lazarus (Blabbermouth, 2024; Louder, 2024). Mogg had worked outside UFO before, on two albums with Pete Way as Mogg/Way and in 2002 with a project called $ign of 4 (Louder, 2024).
Influence
Classic Rock writes that Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains have all named UFO as an influence (Louder, 2024). Rolling Stone described Phenomenon, Force It and No Heavy Petting, the first three albums with Michael Schenker, as a model for the bands that followed, among them Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and Guns N' Roses (Rolling Stone, 2008).
Iron Maiden have long played "Doctor Doctor" before they go on stage; in 2022 Bruce Dickinson explained that about five minutes of the song ahead of the intro tape tells the audience that the show is about to start (Blabbermouth, 2022). Iron Maiden recorded the song themselves in 1996 (Louder, 2023). In 2021 Steve Harris named "Love to Love" from Strangers in the Night as one of the songs that changed his life, praised the guitar playing of Schenker and Paul Chapman and the singing of Phil Mogg, and recalled Iron Maiden opening for UFO at two shows in Long Beach and San Bernardino, California, in 1981 (Blabbermouth, 2022).
Mogg himself says he tries not to take such praise too seriously, though he mentions the warm note he received from Pearl Jam's Mike McCready after UFO covered "River of Deceit" by McCready's band Mad Season (Louder, 2024).
Members
The singer Phil Mogg was the only member to be part of every UFO line-up (Blabbermouth, 2018). The main line-ups were as follows.
| Period | Line-up |
|---|---|
| 1969-1972 | Phil Mogg (vocals), Mick Bolton (guitar), Pete Way (bass), Andy Parker (drums) |
| 1972-1973 | Mogg, Way, Parker; on guitar Larry Wallis (1972) and Bernie Marsden |
| 1973-1978 | Mogg, Michael Schenker (guitar), Way, Parker; Paul Chapman (guitar) in 1974-1975; on keyboards Danny Peyronel, then from 1976 Paul Raymond (keyboards, guitar) |
| 1979-1983 | Mogg, Chapman (guitar), Way (until Mechanix), Parker, Raymond, later Neil Carter (keyboards, guitar) |
| 1984-1988 | Mogg, Atomik Tommy M (guitar) and others |
| 1991-1993 | Mogg, Way, Laurence Archer (guitar), Clive Edwards (drums) |
| 1993-1995 | Mogg, Schenker, Way, Raymond, Parker |
| 1998 | Mogg, Schenker, Way, Raymond, Simon Wright (drums) |
| 2000-2002 | Mogg, Schenker, Way, Aynsley Dunbar (drums) |
| 2003-2005 | Mogg, Vinnie Moore (guitar), Way, Raymond, Jason Bonham (drums) |
| 2005-2009 | Mogg, Moore, Way, Raymond, Parker |
| 2009-2019 | Mogg, Moore, Raymond, Parker; Rob De Luca (bass) a full member from 2012 |
| 2019-2022 | Mogg, Moore, Parker, De Luca, Neil Carter (keyboards, guitar) |
Discography
| Year | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | UFO 1 | Studio album |
| 1971 | UFO 2: Flying | Studio album |
| 1974 | Phenomenon | Studio album |
| 1975 | Force It | Studio album |
| 1976 | No Heavy Petting | Studio album |
| 1977 | Lights Out | Studio album |
| 1978 | Obsession | Studio album |
| 1980 | No Place to Run | Studio album |
| 1981 | The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent | Studio album |
| 1982 | Mechanix | Studio album |
| 1983 | Making Contact | Studio album |
| 1985 | Misdemeanor | Studio album |
| 1988 | Ain't Misbehavin' | EP |
| 1992 | High Stakes & Dangerous Men | Studio album |
| 1995 | Walk on Water | Studio album |
| 2000 | Covenant | Studio album |
| 2002 | Sharks | Studio album |
| 2004 | You Are Here | Studio album |
| 2006 | The Monkey Puzzle | Studio album |
| 2009 | The Visitor | Studio album |
| 2012 | Seven Deadly | Studio album |
| 2015 | A Conspiracy of Stars | Studio album |
| 2017 | The Salentino Cuts | Covers album |
| 2023 | Lights Out Chicago 1980 | Live album (archive) |
| 2024 | Lights Out (2024 Remaster) | Remastered edition (2CD) |
| 2025 | Phenomenon (3CD Special Edition) | Remastered edition (Japanese 3 SHM-CD) |
| 2026 | Werewolves of London | Live album (archive) |
| 2026 | Hollywood 1976 (Remaster) | Live album (archive, Japanese edition) |
| 2026 | Landing in St. Louis: Live 1982 (Remaster) | Live album (archive, Japanese edition) |
| 2026 | Mechanix (2026 Remaster - Deluxe Edition) | Remastered edition (2CD) |
Other live albums and compilations
Besides these there are the live albums Live (1972), Strangers in the Night (1979), Lights Out in Tokyo (1992) and Showtime (2005), the box set Live Sightings (2016) and Hollywood '76 (2023), and the compilations Headstone: The Best of UFO (1983), The Best of UFO (1974-1983) (2008) and The Best of a Decade (2010), among others (Official Charts Company; Rolling Stone, 2008; official site; Cleopatra Records; MusicBrainz). The records of Mogg/Way and Moggs Motel were not released under the UFO name.
Box Sets
| Year | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Original Album Series | Box set (5 CDs) |
| 2014 | The Complete Studio Albums 1974-1986 | Box set (10 CDs) |
Concerts in Japan
In Japan, Toshiba Musical Industries issued the two albums of 1971 on its Stateside label, King Record issued Phenomenon, Force It, No Heavy Petting and Lights Out between 1975 and 1977, and Toshiba EMI the records from 1977 to 1988. After that, Victor issued High Stakes & Dangerous Men and Sharks, Zero Corporation Walk on Water, Nippon Crown Covenant and You Are Here, and Marquee Inc. everything from The Monkey Puzzle on (the Japanese editions' obi strips; Oricon; Tower Records). Most of the Japanese editions carried Japanese titles of their own (the obi strips; Oricon). Walk on Water came out in Japan about two years before anywhere else and reached No. 17 on the Oricon albums chart, and the single "C'mon Everybody", released in Japan in 1970, reached No. 34 on Oricon's singles chart (Oricon).
UFO first came to Japan in 1971. In its 1998 tour announcement, Udo Music Office recalled that the band's first two albums had found an audience in Japan and Germany and that a live album was recorded during that first visit (Udo Music Office, 1998 announcement).
The second visit, in June 1979, was promoted by Udo Music Office. The company's history of its concerts files the visit as the band's tenth year, and the picture it shows pairs the tour programme's cover with a ticket stub printed "6.23" (Udo's concert history, 1979). According to Udo, the guitarist Michael Schenker had left the band shortly before Strangers in the Night came out, that is, just before this second visit (Udo Music Office, 2026 concert page). The tour programme, UFO JAPAN LIVE, lists two nights at the Nakano Sunplaza Hall in Tokyo and a concert in Osaka (a back-number dealer's description of the programme).
In 1992 the band returned with a line-up Phil Mogg and Pete Way had put together afresh. The live album Lights Out in Tokyo was recorded at Club Citta' in Kawasaki on 20 June 1992, during the world tour for High Stakes & Dangerous Men; the labels give the line-up as Mogg, Way, the guitarist Laurence Archer and the drummer Clive Edwards (HNE Recordings' product sheet; Cleopatra Records' product page).
In June 1994 the classic five, Mogg, Schenker, Way, the keyboard player Paul Raymond and the drummer Andy Parker, toured Japan together, promoted by Udo Music Office; the tour artwork in Udo's history is printed "1994 JAPAN 'RETURN' TOUR" with the five names (Udo's concert history, 1994). Parker's own biography also records that the band played some shows in Japan in June 1994 (Andy Parker's official biography). It was the first time UFO played Japan with Schenker in the band. A Tokyo concert from this visit came out in Japan on Marquee in 2024 as Too Hot in Tokyo 1994 (Marquee's product information).
Udo Music Office announced the April 1998 visit as the band's first Japanese concerts in four years, with Schenker and the other classic members joined by the former AC/DC and DIO drummer Simon Wright, who had played with UFO since its 1995 American tour (Udo Music Office, 1998 announcement). The schedule ran from the IMP Hall in Osaka on 21 April and the Diamond Hall in Nagoya on 22 April, presented by Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, to the Nakano Sunplaza Hall in Tokyo on 24 and 25 April, presented by the bayfm programme Power Rock Today. Every show was printed to start at 19:00 except 25 April at 17:00, and Tokyo seats cost 7,000 yen (S) and 6,500 yen (A), tax included (Udo's schedule). On 28 April, however, Udo announced that the Tokyo concerts of 24 and 25 April, and of 26 April, a date not on the February schedule, had been cancelled because of Schenker's poor health, and that tickets would be refunded (Udo's notice of 28 April 1998).
The band's official site gives its last show as 16 July 2022, at the Lieder am See festival near Nuremberg in Germany; the European farewell dates planned for October that year were all cancelled after Mogg's heart attack (UFO's official site). In April 2024 Mogg confirmed that UFO had come to an end (BARKS). The concerts billed as "My Years With UFO" in Tokyo and Osaka in January 2026 were Schenker's own (Udo Music Office's concert page).
| Date | Venue | Show |
|---|---|---|
| 23 June 1979 | Nakano Sunplaza Hall (Tokyo) | Ticket stub shown in Udo's concert history |
| 20 June 1992 | Club Citta' (Kawasaki) | Recorded for Lights Out in Tokyo |
| 21 April 1998 | IMP Hall (Osaka) | Promoted by Udo Music Office |
| 22 April 1998 | Diamond Hall (Nagoya) | Presented by Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting |
About the sources
The sources are UFO's official website (ufo-music.info, as preserved by the Internet Archive) and Andy Parker's own biography published there; announcements and product pages of Chrysalis Records, Cleopatra Records and Steamhammer/SPV; the chart records of the Official Charts Company; Blabbermouth.net; Louder (Classic Rock); Rolling Stone; Ultimate Classic Rock; Guitar World; Songfacts; Tower Records; Oricon; the Japanese editions' obi strips; and Udo Music Office's concert history and notices (as preserved by the Internet Archive). Some labels and release dates, and the contents of the box sets, were checked against MusicBrainz.
Trivia
UFO left their mark in Japan in the 1990s too. On the 1992 tour for High Stakes & Dangerous Men, the album that brought Pete Way back after ten years, they recorded a show at Club Citta for the live album Lights Out in Tokyo, pairing new songs such as "Running Up the Highway" and "Borderline" with classics like "Lights Out", "Rock Bottom" and "Doctor Doctor", and closing with Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody". Cleopatra Records describes the choice as an obvious one, given how big the band's pre-Michael Schenker line-up had been in Japan. In 1993 Schenker and Andy Parker returned, reuniting the classic line-up, and Parker recalls that after a short German tour that December the band played several shows in Japan in June 1994, before starting work on Walk on Water with their old producer friend Ron Nevison that December.
In their first years it was Japan, not Britain, that took UFO to heart. UFO 1 made little impression at home or in America, but Japan and, to a lesser extent, Germany unexpectedly embraced the new band, giving them enough momentum to carry on with their spacey early sound a while longer. That run culminated in the 1971 album Live, after which guitarist Mick Bolton left. Decades later Cleopatra Records, describing its double CD of High Stakes & Dangerous Men and Lights Out in Tokyo, wrote that the first line-up, before Michael Schenker's arrival, had been greeted in early-1970s Japan with something approaching Beatlemania.
Andy Parker was seventeen when he became UFO's drummer, in the summer of 1969. As he tells it, he was having a few pints with friends at his favourite pub, The Golden Lion in Hoddesdon, when Phil Mogg, Pete Way and Mick Bolton walked in looking for somewhere to audition drummers, having just fired theirs. One of Parker's friends had been at school with Way, so they got talking, and Bolton said his band needed a drummer. Hearing that Bolton had a Marshall stack, a Gibson Les Paul and even a manager, Parker decided this was the big time; he auditioned and got the job. At the time he was in a blues band with Steve Casey, later the unseen guitarist with the Michael Schenker Group.
UFO 1 came out on Beacon Records in 1970, and Andy Parker had to wait for his eighteenth birthday before he could sign the contract: his parents, convinced he was being ripped off, refused to sign it for him. Parker admits they were right, since the band never saw any money from the Beacon recordings, but he still thinks he chose well, because those records made the UFO name known around the world and opened the way to bigger things. The album itself did very little business in Britain, partly because the label was short of money, and even less in the United States, where Motown's Rare Earth imprint licensed it the following year.
Germany's official charts list two early UFO singles: "Boogie", which entered on 22 February 1971 and peaked at No. 30, and the Beacon single "Prince Kajuku", which entered on 4 October that year, reached No. 26 and stayed for ten weeks. Among albums, Decca's release of Live entered on 15 September 1972 and climbed to No. 23, which remains the band's best placing on the German album chart, ahead of A Conspiracy of Stars at No. 28 in 2015. Of the studio albums released in Michael Schenker's time, the best performer there was Force It, which entered on 15 August 1975 and peaked at No. 35.
UFO's story on the UK singles chart is a short one. "Doctor Doctor", Chrysalis's first UK single from Phenomenon in 1974, failed to chart at all, and the band's first appearance came only in August 1978, when "Only You Can Rock Me" reached No. 50. The live "Doctor Doctor" from Strangers in the Night, which entered on 27 January 1979, climbed to No. 35 and gave them their first Top 40 hit. The only other was "Young Blood", No. 36 in January 1980: of the eight UFO singles that made the chart, those two are the only Top 40 entries. The last, in March 1986, was "Night Run" at No. 94.
UFO reached the UK top ten only twice on the albums chart. The higher of the two was the live Strangers in the Night, which entered at No. 7 on the chart dated 10 February 1979 and stayed for eleven weeks; the other was Mechanix, which entered on 20 February 1982 and reached No. 8. In between, No Place to Run came close with No. 11 in January 1980. Lights Out, by contrast, got no higher than No. 54 in June 1977 and was gone after two weeks, and Obsession managed No. 26 the following year.
The band took its name from the UFO Club in London, the venue where Pink Floyd played some of their earliest shows with Syd Barrett and which later became a favourite haunt of Swinging London's stars. The first choice had been Hocus Pocus. It was at the club that singer Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker were spotted and signed by the independent Beacon Records. Parker's own account of how he joined in 1969 confirms the earlier name: on their first meeting, Bolton told him he had a band called Hocus Pocus and was looking for a drummer.
News
UFO's 'Mechanix' Expanded And Remastered For December Reissue
Chrysalis Records will reissue UFO's 1982 album Mechanix on 2CD digipak and 3LP tri-fold 180gm vinyl on December 4, 2026, newly remastered from the original tape transfers at AIR Mastering. The set adds a previously unreleased mix of the band's January 28, 1982 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, restored by producer Brian Kehew, plus new liner notes by Michael Hann. Mechanix was Neil Carter's first full studio record with the band and reached No. 8 on the UK albums chart.
Albums
Chrysalis's 2026 deluxe Mechanix, remastered at AIR Mastering, adds two bonus tracks and a new mix of the Hammersmith Odeon show of 28 January 1982.
Belle Antique's 2026-remastered paper-sleeve SHM-CD captures UFO at the Starwood in Los Angeles on 3 May 1976, with Michael Schenker.
Belle Antique's 2026-remastered paper-sleeve SHM-CD captures UFO at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis on 14 March 1982, on the Mechanix tour.
Cleopatra's 2026 reissue of its 2023 double CD captures UFO at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on 10 February 1998, with Michael Schenker back.
Marquee's first Japanese edition of the 2019 deluxe Phenomenon puts demos, single edits and a 1974 Atlanta show on three paper-sleeve SHM-CDs.
Chrysalis's 2024 two-CD deluxe edition of the 1977 album, newly remastered by Andy Pearce, adds a new mix of the Roundhouse show of 2 April 1977.
Cleopatra's 2023 CD gives UFO's complete twelve-song set at the International Amphitheater in Chicago on 16 March 1980.
UFO's first covers album, released by Cleopatra Records on 29 September 2017, honours twelve favourites from the Yardbirds and the Doors to ZZ Top.
UFO's 2015 album, produced by Chris Tsangarides in Kent and first out in Japan and Scandinavia on 18 February, was the first with bassist Rob De Luca.
Recorded with Tommy Newton in Celle and out first in Japan on 22 February, UFO's 2012 album went straight to the top of the UK Rock & Metal chart.
UFO's 2009 album, first out in Japan on 20 May, was made without founding bassist Pete Way, who was being treated for a liver condition.
UFO's album of 25 September 2006 brought founding drummer Andy Parker back and was the band's last album with bassist Pete Way.
Released in Europe on 16 February 2004, this was UFO's first album with Vinnie Moore and Jason Bonham, produced by Tommy Newton near Hanover.
UFO's sixteenth album, released in September 2002 and produced by Mike Varney and Steve Fontano, was Michael Schenker's last with the band.
UFO's fifteenth album, released in July 2000 with Michael Schenker back and Aynsley Dunbar on drums, came with the live disc Live USA.
UFO's fourteenth album, out first in Japan on 15 April 1995, reunited Phil Mogg and Pete Way with Michael Schenker, Paul Raymond and Andy Parker.
UFO's thirteenth studio album, released in February 1992, was the only one with Laurence Archer and Clive Edwards and brought Pete Way back.
Ain't Misbehavin', a seven-track EP issued by FM-Revolver in 1988, was the last record Phil Mogg made with guitarist Atomik Tommy M.
Misdemeanor, released by Chrysalis in November 1985, brought UFO back with a new line-up around Phil Mogg, Atomik Tommy M and Paul Gray.
Making Contact, UFO's early-1983 album, was made by a four-piece without Pete Way and was followed by the band's break-up that spring.
Mechanix, released by Chrysalis in February 1982, reached number 8 in Britain, the best UK placing of any UFO studio album, before Pete Way quit.
The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, a self-produced UFO album released on 16 January 1981, brought in Neil Carter in place of Paul Raymond.
No Place to Run, UFO's January 1980 album and the first with guitarist Paul Chapman, was produced by George Martin and reached number 11 in Britain.
Obsession, recorded in Los Angeles and released by Chrysalis in June 1978, was Michael Schenker's last UFO studio album until his 1993 return.
UFO's sixth album, released in May 1977, their first with producer Ron Nevison and Paul Raymond, reached No. 54 in the UK and No. 23 in the US.
UFO's fifth album, released in May 1976, added ex-Heavy Metal Kids keyboard player Danny Peyronel and was Leo Lyons's third production for the band.
UFO's fourth album, released in July 1975 and produced by Leo Lyons, was their first to reach the US chart, peaking at No. 71 on the Billboard 200.
UFO's third album and first for Chrysalis, released in May 1974, introduced Michael Schenker and gave the band "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom".
UFO's second album, issued by Beacon in 1971, is a self-produced space-rock record built around the long "Star Storm" and "Flying".
UFO's debut album, released by Beacon Records in October 1970, with Mick Bolton on guitar and three covers among its ten songs.
BOX
Box sets and multi-disc anniversary and expanded editions, listed separately from the albums.
Ten UFO albums, Phenomenon (1974) to Misdemeanor (1985), in their 2007-09 remasters with over forty bonus tracks, on ten CDs in card sleeves.
UFO's five albums with Michael Schenker, Phenomenon (1974) to Obsession (1978), one to a disc in the Original Album Series, in card sleeves.