Dirk, Stig Nasty and Barry
I am often asked what music do you like? After pondering the answer for years I have come to this conclusion.
THE RUTLES
ON JANUARY 21ST 1959 The Rutles story really began at 43 Egg Lane Liverpool, where Ron Nasty and Dirk McQuickly first bumped into each other. Ron invited Dirk to help him stand up. Dirk, merely an amateur drinker, agreed and on that spot a legend was created--a legend that will last a lunchtime. They were soon joined by Stig O'Hara a guitarist of no-fixed hairstyle, but it would be another two years before they found their regular drummer, Barrington Womble, hiding in the van. When they did, they persuaded him to change his name to save time and his haircut to save Brylcreem. He became simply Barry Worn.
They gained their first manager--Arthur Scouse--as part of a bet (which they lost). So impressed was he with their music that he sent them immediately to Hamburg. Thinking that Hamburg was just outside Liverpool they accepted. It turned out to be not only in Germany, but in the very worst part of Germany. The Reeperbahn Hamburg is one of the naughtiest streets in the world. This is where they ended up, far from home, and far from talented. In those days there was a fifth Rutle--Leppo--who mainly stood at the back. He couldn't play the guitar but he knew how to have a good time, and in Hamburg that was more difficult. For five hungry working class lads there are worse places than prison, and The Rat Keller Hamburg is one. For fifteen months, night after night, they played the Rat Keller before they finally escaped and returned to Liverpool. In the rush they lost Leppo. He had crawled into a trunk with a small German Fraulein and was never seen again. His influence on the other Rutles was so immeasurable that no one has ever bothered to measure it.
In the U.S of A. the Rutles came into existence after an appearance on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. The producer of the show Loren Michaels offered the whopping sum of 3,000 dollars for the BEATLES to reunite on the show and play whatever song they wanted.
Needless to say, The Beatles didn't take Michaels up on his offer, but it turned out to be precisely the entre' that was needed to get The Rutles onto American television. Lorne Michaels tells the story, in his introduction to the "I Must Be In Love" film.
Interestingly, the Rutles clip made its world premiere on NBC's Saturday Night, since the Rutland Weekend Television programme from which it was taken wouldn't air in the U.K. for six more weeks.
Here is the version of that film (actually a recreation that appeared in the NBC TV movie)
A few months later the Documentary on the Rutles aired on NBC. Critics loved it but what do they know. It was and still is to this date the lowest rated prime time TV movie ever shown. The week it was shown out of the 65 made for tv programs aired it came in at 65. Gooooooo Rutles! NBC even went so far as to cancel its scheduled 2 reruns and opted to air it only once more in the timeslot right before the nightly sign-off.
A clip from that film (of a clip from the non existant film "YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICH")
Featuring the song CHEESE AND ONIONS
The soundtrack to that film was a rare find but what a find indeed.
Oh but what a soundtrack it was!
It was re-released on CD by RHINO sans a few tunes.
Yes they are a Beatles parody.
Yes The Rutles even have their own tribute band.
THE RUTLES
ON JANUARY 21ST 1959 The Rutles story really began at 43 Egg Lane Liverpool, where Ron Nasty and Dirk McQuickly first bumped into each other. Ron invited Dirk to help him stand up. Dirk, merely an amateur drinker, agreed and on that spot a legend was created--a legend that will last a lunchtime. They were soon joined by Stig O'Hara a guitarist of no-fixed hairstyle, but it would be another two years before they found their regular drummer, Barrington Womble, hiding in the van. When they did, they persuaded him to change his name to save time and his haircut to save Brylcreem. He became simply Barry Worn.
They gained their first manager--Arthur Scouse--as part of a bet (which they lost). So impressed was he with their music that he sent them immediately to Hamburg. Thinking that Hamburg was just outside Liverpool they accepted. It turned out to be not only in Germany, but in the very worst part of Germany. The Reeperbahn Hamburg is one of the naughtiest streets in the world. This is where they ended up, far from home, and far from talented. In those days there was a fifth Rutle--Leppo--who mainly stood at the back. He couldn't play the guitar but he knew how to have a good time, and in Hamburg that was more difficult. For five hungry working class lads there are worse places than prison, and The Rat Keller Hamburg is one. For fifteen months, night after night, they played the Rat Keller before they finally escaped and returned to Liverpool. In the rush they lost Leppo. He had crawled into a trunk with a small German Fraulein and was never seen again. His influence on the other Rutles was so immeasurable that no one has ever bothered to measure it.
In the U.S of A. the Rutles came into existence after an appearance on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. The producer of the show Loren Michaels offered the whopping sum of 3,000 dollars for the BEATLES to reunite on the show and play whatever song they wanted.
Needless to say, The Beatles didn't take Michaels up on his offer, but it turned out to be precisely the entre' that was needed to get The Rutles onto American television. Lorne Michaels tells the story, in his introduction to the "I Must Be In Love" film.
Interestingly, the Rutles clip made its world premiere on NBC's Saturday Night, since the Rutland Weekend Television programme from which it was taken wouldn't air in the U.K. for six more weeks.
Here is the version of that film (actually a recreation that appeared in the NBC TV movie)
A few months later the Documentary on the Rutles aired on NBC. Critics loved it but what do they know. It was and still is to this date the lowest rated prime time TV movie ever shown. The week it was shown out of the 65 made for tv programs aired it came in at 65. Gooooooo Rutles! NBC even went so far as to cancel its scheduled 2 reruns and opted to air it only once more in the timeslot right before the nightly sign-off.
A clip from that film (of a clip from the non existant film "YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICH")
Featuring the song CHEESE AND ONIONS
The soundtrack to that film was a rare find but what a find indeed.
Oh but what a soundtrack it was!
It was re-released on CD by RHINO sans a few tunes.
Yes they are a Beatles parody.
Yes The Rutles even have their own tribute band.
posted by Gavin Elster at 11:43 PM
1 Comments:
I know a guy who once took his sister's Rutles button and destroyed it to make (of all things) a Rocky Horror Picture Show button.
I still have my vinyl copy of the album. Apparently "Cheese and Onions" occasionally turns up as a John Lennon bootleg.
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