Favorite music parody movies...sort of.

[The Human Brain]

I will name 3 to start with -

I guess the most obvious and best known is Spinal Tap. I remember watching this for the first time back in the 80's and not really finding it that funny, but successive viewings brought out the many subtleties, and I also had no idea back then that the actors were american, as none of them were well known then.

So many classic lines it hard to know where to start...but you know what they all are by now.

I think they have milked it a little too much over the years, but it's still a classic.


The Rutles - ok, not strictly a film, but it is on DVD )). If you have not seen this and are a fan of musical parodies, then you have to see it.

It's a Beatles parody, and an extremely clever and affectionate one. This came out of a sketch from a Pythonesque tv series Eric Idle and Neil Innes did called Rutland Weekend Television.

What impresses most about this is the accuracy of the musical parodies...some of them, dare I say it, could actually pass for genuine Beatles songs. And every aspect of the Beatles rise to fame is mercilessly yet lovingly parodied...the early years in the notorious Ratkeller bar in Germany...the embarrasing incident where the band claimed they were bigger than Rod (as in Rod Stewart) and were misquoted...their dalliance with the strange substance known as...tea. ('Well, it's true...I have had tea...lots of tea...and biscuits')...and being taken under the wing of legendary Surrey mystic Arthur Sultan and the legendary pilgrimage to Bognor.

And what a cast -

Eric Idle
Neil Innes
Gwen Taylor
John Junkin
John Belushi
Gilda Radner
Bill Murray
Michael Palin
George Harrison
Dan Akroyd
Ron Wood
Bianca Jagger
Mick Jagger
Barry Cryer
David Frost
Paul Simon
Roger McGough

Yes...it was a co-production with Saturday Night Live. Though most of the SNL cast have largely cameo roles.

They even do a wonderfully faithful version of the Yellow Submarine animation, plus the Help video (though redone here as 'Ouch!), the rooftop sessions, ('Get up and Go'), and a take on the Magical Mystery Tour that is far more bizarre than the Beatles, but somehow musically quite compelling.


Bad News - ok, another stretch, this was TV as well. This was the Comic Strip doing a Spinal Tap, Ade Edmonson (Vim Fuego!), Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Peter RicharRABon as a truly inept metal band. They even did a follow up called More Bad News where they played Castle Donington Monsters Of Rock!

Check out their 'wonderful' cover version of Bohemian Rhapsody...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wM58YXp2x0

(I love Rik Mayall's little 'ad-lib during the acapella sequence...'Bismillah, no, no,no, no, no, no no - absolutely not!')

 

[An Asteroid]

Wow, that was a rather concise post, can't think of too many other music pastiches. CB4 the rap film....mmmmm. Oh, I've not seen it yet, cannot wait though but I think The new Shane Meadows film may come into this category somewhere, Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee. Looks great, and Paddy Considine is amazing.

I only saw Spinal Tap once back in the late 80's, must see it again some time, but The Rutles is pure class, but that is coming from a 'Python and associated' fan

 

[Ganja ♥ Baby]

...but The Rutles IS a film.
It's called "All You Need Is Cash".
I've got it on DVD.
It's brilliant !

 

[Uh-Huh!]

on manager Leggy Mountbatten's discovery of the Rutles -

Iris Mountbatten: Well, he told me that he'd been to see these young men in a dark cellar.

Narrator: Yes.

Iris Mountbatten: He was always very interested in young men.

Narrator: Oh, yes.

Iris Mountbatten: Youth clubs, Boy Scouts, that sort of thing.

Narrator: Yes.

Iris Mountbatten: But these, he said, were different.

Narrator: In what way?

Iris Mountbatten: Their hair, and... their presence... and their music...

Narrator: He liked it?

Iris Mountbatten: No, he hated it.

Narrator: What did he like?

Iris Mountbatten: Well, em... the trousers.

Narrator: What about their trousers?

Iris Mountbatten: Well, they were, eh, they were very, em... tight.

 

[MacDaddy_101]

Narrator - 'When suddenly, and without warning, manager Leggy Mountbatten tragically...accepted a teaching post in Australia.

The band were asked for their comments -


Narrator: It was a bombshell for the Rutles. They were shocked... and stunned.

Dirk McQuickly: Well, we're shocked.

Ron Nasty: Yeah, shocked.

Barry Wom: Shocked.

Dirk McQuickly: And stunned.

Ron Nasty: Yeah, stunned.

Barry Wom: Very stunned.

Reporter: Did Guru Arthur Sultan have any worRAB of encouragement for you?

Ron Nasty: No.

Dirk McQuickly: Well, yeah.

Ron Nasty: Well, yeah and no... he said, uh, that it took all sorts to make a world, and that we shouldn't worry unduly about where he'd gone.

Dirk McQuickly: You know, we shouldn't become covered with grief at thoughts of Australia, because ...

Ron Nasty: He did say that we could still keep in touch with him by tapping the table.

Dirk McQuickly: And postcarRAB.

Ron Nasty: Yeah.



















Barry Wom: ...Very stunned.

 

[MG08]

"Cheese and Onion" Who would have thunk it!