Битлздің пародиалық тобы - The Rutles

Parody group of The Beatles

The Rutles ('/r//ʌ//t//əl//z/) were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid 1970s BBC television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes' death in 2019. Encouraged by the positive public reaction to the sketch, Idle wrote the mockumentary television film All You Need Is Cash (1978, The Rutles). Idle co directed the film with Gary Weis; it features 20 Beatles' music pastiches written by Innes, which he performed with three musicians as the Rutles. A soundtrack album in 1978 was followed in 1996 by Archaeology, which spoofed the then recent Beatles Anthology series. A second film, The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (modelled on the 2000 TV special The Beatles Revolution) was made in 2002 and released in the US on DVD in 2003.

The Rutles were foreshadowed in episode 3 of Eric Idle's 1975 BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television, in which Neil Innes accompanied himself on a piano singing what later became the song "Good Times Roll" (included on the Rutles' first, self titled album in 1978). The Rutles themselves first appeared in a sketch later in 1975, which presented a mock mini documentary about the fictional 1960s band. The sketch featured Neil Innes (formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and a frequent Monty Python collaborator) fronting the band, singing "I Must Be in Love", a pastiche of Lennon and McCartney's 1964 style. but, when it became a parody of the Beatles, Idle suggested the name "Rutles". 'The Prefab Four' is a play on the Beatles' nickname 'the Fab Four' with an additional subtext: a prefab was a cheap postwar form of British housing, intended to be temporary, often poorly constructed, draughty and leaky, and not well regarded by those who had to live in them. The Rutles had connections with the Beatles aside from the parody. The Beatles were fans of Innes's previous band, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and had featured the Bonzos in their television film Magical Mystery Tour (1967). Paul McCartney (working with Gus Dudgeon under the collective alias Apollo C. Vermouth) had produced the Bonzos' hit single "I'm the Urban Spaceman" in 1968. George Harrison made a guest appearance on Rutland Weekend Televisions 1975 Boxing Day special, with Idle and Innes, and he encouraged them to make a film that would parody the Beatles' career and serve to deflate the myths surrounding the band's legacy. This proposal led to the mockumentary All You Need Is Cash (1978), directed by SNL film director Gary Weis, with Idle credited as co director. On 23 April 1977, Idle made another appearance on Saturday Night Live, with Neil Innes as a musical guest. A running theme for this episode was the "Save Great Britain Telethon", and it included an appearance by "the Rutle who lives in New York, Nasty". Innes appeared as Nasty with a lone white piano, singing a short version of "Cheese & Onions". Later in the episode, as Neil Innes, he performed "Shangri La", a song subsequently recorded by the Rutles.

After an 18 year hiatus, the Rutles (Innes, Halsey and Fataar) reconvened to record the 1996 album Archaeology (a parody of The Beatles Anthology). Halsall had died in 1992, but he appears on several tracks that were outtakes from the original 1978 album, and he is credited as a band member. (Similarly, the three surviving Beatles had incorporated recordings by John Lennon in the songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love".) On record, the band was augmented by keyboardist Mickey Simmonds (who also played with the band live) and bassist Malcolm Foster (ex Pretenders), as the Rutles had no bass player. Guitarists Doug Boyle and Bernie Holland were featured.

Following the release of the 1978 the Rutles album, ATV Music, the then owner of the publishing rights to the Beatles catalogue sued Innes for copyright infringement. Though Innes hired a musicologist to defend the originality of his songs, he settled with ATV out of court for 50% of the royalties on the 14 songs included on the album. The settlement did not include any other Rutles songs which were not on the original LP release (some of which were included in the television film, e. g., "Baby Let Me Be", "Between Us", "Blue Suede Schubert", "Get Up And Go", "Goose Step Mama", and "It's Looking Good"); Innes retained 100% royalties to these. On actual Rutles releases, LP, CD, etc., writing credit for all songs has always been printed as Neil Innes only.