
EMI did not promote the "cassingle" due to its lyrics ("Off the radio I get constant flow/Hit it, pause it, record and play/Turn it, rewind and rub it away"), which promoted home taping at a time when music piracy was a hot-button issue. Initially released only on cassette, it was the world's first-ever cassette single (a 7" vinyl version was released several months later). EMI Records īow Wow Wow signed with EMI Records in July 1980 and released their first single, " C♳0 C♶0 C♹0 Go!", shortly thereafter. O'Dowd soon formed a new band called Culture Club and went on to superstardom under the name " Boy George". Shortly after Lwin joined the group, McLaren added a second lead singer, George Alan O'Dowd, dubbed "Lieutenant Lush" (in an early version of "Mile High Club", Annabella refers to herself as "Captain Lush"). Talent scout Dave Fishel heard 13-year-old Lwin singing along to the radio at a West Hampstead dry cleaners where she worked, and Fishel persuaded McLaren to audition her. The band embarked on a six-month audition process for a lead singer.

In 1980, former Sex Pistols manager McLaren persuaded David Barbarossa (also known as Dave Barbe), guitarist Matthew Ashman and bassist Leigh Gorman to leave Adam Ant and form a new group under McLaren's management. The band's music was characterized by a danceable new wave sound that drew on a Burundi beat provided by Dave Barbarossa on drums, as well as the subversive, suggestive, and sometimes exuberant lyrics sung and chanted by their teenage lead vocalist. They released their debut EP Your Cassette Pet in 1980, and had their first UK top 10 hit with " Go Wild in the Country" in 1982.

McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band with then 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980.
