The Rutles were a band formed in 1975 by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a segment on Rutland Weekend Television. The songs (written by Innes) parody the work of The Beatles. Idle and Innes were joined by Ricky Fataar and John Halsey to form the "pre-fab four" - the fabulous Rutles.

The Beatles - The Rutles
John Lennon - Ron Nasty
Paul McCartney - Dirk McQuickly
George Harrison - Stig O'Hara
Ringo Starr - Barry Wom
Brian Epstein - Leggy Mountbatten
Stu Sutcliffe - Leppo, the fifth Rutle
Yoko Ono - Chastity
Allen Klein - Ron Decline
Please Please Me - Please Rut Me
A Hard Day's Night - A Hard Day's Rut
Help! - Ouch!
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour - Tragical History Tour
Yellow Submarine - Yellow Submarine Sandwich
Abbey Road - Shabby Road
Let It Be - Let It Rot
Anthology - Archaeology

Ron Nasty met Dirk McQuickly in 1959 and they quickly formed a group called the Rutles, along with guitarist Stig O'Hara. In a couple of years, they would find their drummer, Barrington Womble - later to be known as Barry Wom - hiding in the back of their van. The Rutles played at the Cavern Club where they were discovered by Leggy Mountbatten, who was to become their manager. After a brief period where the group played shows in Hamburg, Leggy got them a record deal. The Rutles had several instant hits including "Rut Me Do" and "Twist and Rut." In 1964, their song "Hold My Hand" became a hit in America, and Rutlemania was in full swing. Before long, the Rutles were playing on the Ed Sullivan show and at Che Stadium. They were the biggest thing in the world (Nasty even said that they were bigger than Rod Stewart). Scandal arose when it was discovered that the Rutles drank tea (a parody of the discovery that the Beatles smoked marijuana and used LSD). Even more turmoil arose when the Rutles manager, Leggy, moved to Australia. This was the beginning of the end for the Rutles. The members started to go their separate ways: Nasty met and married a conceptual artist named Chastity; Stig became interested in the Surrey Mystic, a mysterious man who offered him the answer to all his problems; Barry was pretending to be dead to spur publicity; and Dirk was interested in writing songs. Despite Dirk's best efforts, the Rutles broke up in 1970, playing one last concert on the roof of the Rutle Corps offices.Rutles Tragical History Tour: RutlesSeptember 21, 1997

In 1975, Neil Innes and Eric Idle wrote a sketch for Idle's show Rutland Weekend TelevisionThe Rutles: Rutlemania in which the "cure for love" was found to be love songs played by a group called the Rutles. In 1976, Eric Idle hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live and he showed a similar clip of the Rutles to that shown on Rutland Weekend Television. Lorne Michaels, producer of SNL, liked the Rutles so much that he decided to make a movie based on the Rutles. The film, "All You Need is Cash," had mild success in America. In 1996, with the release of the Beatles Anthology series, Neil Innes decided to release a parody called "Archaeology." The album was unsuccessful. In 2002, Eric Idle produced a sequel to "All You Need is Cash" called "Can't Buy Me Lunch." The sequel featured a retelling of the Rutles story as told by various celebrities, such as Conan O'Brien and Tom Hanks. The film was unsuccessful in America and it was not released in Europe.

Throughout the '80s, Neil Innes had been touring with a Beatles cover band playing Rutles songs and other Neil Innes compositions. They called themselves Ron Nasty and the New Rutles. In the mid '90s, the Beatles released two new tracks along with an extensive three-album-collection of demos, live tracks, and unreleased material known as The Beatles Anthology. Neil Innes found this to be the perfect opportunity to reunite the original Rutles for a reunion album parodying the Beatles' Anthology. Ollie Halsall, who did all of the singing for Dirk McQuickly, had died in 1992.Ollie Halsall Archive: Archive Innes asked Eric Idle if he would like to be involved with the project and possibly perform the vocal parts for the McQuickly character. Idle declined the offer.
Despite the fact that two of the main building blocks of the Rutles would not be involved with the project, Innes, along with Ricky Fataar and John Halsey, moved along with the project as planned. Some of the tracks from the album, known as Archaeology were actually unused parodies from the original Rutles documentary. Some of the songs were stand-alone Neil Innes compositions not intended to be Beatle parodies, that were changed to suit the Rutles. Other songs from the album were written specifically for the project.
The album was released on October 29, 1996, along with a single, "Shangri-La."Tragical History Tour: Official Website Archaeology was released in Japan with four additional bonus tracks that are still unavailable in America.Rutlemania: Japanese Archaeology

Please Rut Me (1963)
Meet the Rutles! (1963)
A Hard Day's Rut (1964)
Rutles for Sale (1964)
Ouch! (1965)
Rutle Soul (1965)
Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band (1967)
Tragical History Tour (1967)
The Rutles (1968)
Yellow Submarine Sandwich (1969)
Shabby Road (1969)
Let It Rot (1970)
The Triangular Album
1 (2000)

Ron Nasty was the rhythm guitarist for the Rutles. He first met Dirk McQuickly in 1959, and they started a band along with Stig O'Hara, a guitarist. Over a year later, they found Barry Wom sleeping in the back of their van. After the Rutles became famous, Nasty branched off into literature when he wrote his first book "Out of Me Head." Nasty created controversy when he told a reporter that he thought the Rutles were bigger than Rod Stewart, which was true at the time.Tragical History Tour Official Website However, the reporter was partly deaf and reported that Nasty had said the Rutles were "bigger than God." Nasty was forced to apologize. In 1966, Nasty attended an art show at the Indica Gallery, where he met a stern young woman named Chastity. Nasty fell in love with her, and they were married. After the Rutles broke up, Nasty faded into obscurity only emerging for a brief appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in 1977.Milk and Cookies: Eric Idle Neil Innes

Dirk McQuickly was the bass player for the Rutles. Always the businessman of the group, when asked what his hopes and dreams were, he said he'd like to write songs with Nasty and sell them to people. In 1968, McQuickly went with Nasty to New York to announce the formation of Rutle Corps. After the Rutles broke up, Dirk, with his French wife Martini, formed a punk rock band known as Punk Floyd.

Stig was known as the Quiet Rutle - and, in fact, he doesn't have one spoken line in the Rutles mockumentary, "All You Need is Cash." He was the guitarist for the Rutles. Stig was the first Rutle to become interested with Arthur Sultan, the Surrey Mystic. As the Quiet One, he didn't cause much controversy, until 1968 when Rutle fans began suspecting that he might be dead; in actuality he was only spending more time with his family. After the break-up of the Rutles, Stig became an air hostess for Air India.

Barry Wom born Barrington Womble, was the drummer for the Rutles. He was the first Rutle to be married, but there was a mix-up at the wedding ceremony and, for a time, his wife was married to a group of Scotsmen from Hull. In 1968, in response to the "Stig is dead" rumors, Barry stayed out of the public eye to gain attention with his own "Barry is also dead" rumors. After the Rutles broke up, Barry became a hairdresser.