The Rutles

The Rutles (aka The pre-fab four) was a parody of the Beatles, jointly created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes. The fictional group is best known for the 1978 mockumentary film about them titled All You Need Is Cash (often referred to just as The Rutles . Tagline: The Musical Legend which will last a lunchtime.). The film was written by Idle and featured songs written by Innes.

Their history (fictional)

Ron Nasty first met Dirk McQuickly in January 1959, at the now-historical address of 43, Egg Lane, Liverpool. Having joined up with Stig O'Hara, they started playing as a trio. After 18 months, they discovered Barry Wom hiding in their van, and the classic line-up was complete.

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In 1960, at the suggestion of then-manager Arthur Scouse, the group went to Hamburg where, with fifth member Leppo, they played all the clubs on the Reeperbahn. Tragically Leppo was lost in transit on the return trip.

Related Topics:
Hamburg - Reeperbahn

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In October 1961, fate intervened in the shape and other attributes of one-legged retail chemist from Bolton, Leggy Mountbatten, who, falling into "Der Rat Keller" one night, decided he liked the cut of the boys' jib (and other attributes, especially their tight trousers). He became their manager, cleaned up their image, and touted them around the major record companies. Eventually they signed to Parlourphone, and their debut album, recorded in 20 minutes, became an enormous success. By December 1963, they were the biggest thing ever to hit the music business, with nineteen out of the top twenty singles in the UK.

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1964 saw Rutlemania go worldwide and then some. The group swiftly conquered the U.S., while Nasty's book of comic prose, Out of me Head, dominated the best-seller lists. In July of that year, the group's first film, A Hard Day's Rut, was released. This was followed in 1965 by Ouch!. By this time, Rutlemania had reached such a fever pitch that crowd control was a serious problem. In August 1965, the prefab four played a sell-out concert at New York's Ché Stadium ("named after Cuban guerrilla leader Ché Stadium" rather than Ché Guevara, as well as playing on the Beatles' famous concert at New York City's Shea Stadium), arriving a day early in order to get away before the audience arrived.

Related Topics:
Ché Guevara - Beatles - New York City - Shea Stadium

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In 1966, controversy hit the Rutles when Ron Nasty was quoted as saying that the group were "bigger than God". Nasty, however, insisted that he had been misquoted, and had actually said they were bigger than Rod, referring to Rod Stewart, then a relative unknown. The band bounced back with their 1967 masterpiece Sergeant Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, though this too was misted over in controversy when the group claim they wrote it under the influence of tea, which they had been introduced to by Bob Dylan. When Nasty was arrested for possession of tea, there was a national outcry and a leader in The Times called for tea to be legalised. More bad news followed for the group - while staying with the mystic Arthur Sultan at his retreat in Bognor Regis, the band heard that Mountbatten had left them, emigrating to Australia. Some critics argue that the band lost their direction at this point. Their self-indulgent TV movie about four Oxford professors on a tour of English tea-shops, The Tragical History Tour, was regarded as a failure, despite the success of the soundtrack, which included the classic songs "W.C. Fields Forever" and "I Am The Waitress".

Related Topics:
God - Rod Stewart - Tea - Bob Dylan - The Times - Bognor Regis

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In April 1968, the group launched their new record company, Rutle Corps. Despite signing up some promising talent (notably Arthur Hodgeson and the Kneecaps),

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poor financial management finally led to the label's ultimate failure. It was in this atmosphere that the group's last album, Let it Rot, was recorded. Soon afterwards, the band fell apart amid much legal wrangling, with McQuickly suing Nasty and O'Hara, Wom suing McQuickly, Nasty suing O'Hara and Wom, and in all the confusion, O'Hara accidentally suing himself. Wom had some success with his solo LP, When You Find the Girl of Your Dreams in the Arms of some Scotsman from Hull, but like the other members, soon drifted into obscurity, punctuated only by the making of a 1978 retrospective documentary, All You Need Is Cash.

Related Topics:
Atmosphere - 1978 - Documentary

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