All language subtitles for The.Sparks.Brothers.2021.1080

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[ambient synth music playing]

♪ Fanfare

[throat clears]

♪ The opening film fanfare

♪ Documentary film fanfare

♪ Edgar Wright film fanfare.

-And look right in the camera?
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

-Okay. Okay, great. -Just talk
to me through the camera.

-Speeding.
-Beck. Take one. Mark.

BECK: Throughout all the years
that I've been making music,

if you get on a tour bus

and you sit on a long drive
with a bunch of musicians,

eventually, the conversation
will go to Sparks.

My good friends, Sparks.

-Sparks. -Sparks.
-Sparks. -Sparks.

FLEA: I remember just
seeing them all the time

and like, "Who are those guys?"

They are an anomaly.

JASON SCHWARTZMAN: I don't feel
like they purposely

have been

trying to be mysterious, right?

They don't really
look like a band.

They do just look like people
who've been sort of

let out for a day.

♪ And it ain't me
who's gonna leave... ♪

CREW:
Look into camera.

-You want to look in the lens.
-Yeah.

Damn you
and your three-quarterness.

-[laughter]
-It's a damn mole!

Two members of like mind,

and they're conspirators.

It's a very clever thing
they've got going on.

KATIE PUCKRIK: They really
tiptoe through the tulips

between beauty

and revulsion.

What's going on? Oh, my God.

It's insane,
but it's fantastic.

[crowd cheering]

They would make
really good Muppets.

♪ Daily, except for Sunday...

PATTON OSWALT: You have
this snaky lead singer--

you know,
something for the ladies.

And then you got Adolf Hitler
on-on the keyboards.

It is a little strange.

Why has that bloke got
a Hitler mustache?

That's a good look.

DAVID KENDRICK:
Dean Martin was hanging out,

and he would always, like,

look at Ron like,
"What the...?"

♪

[vocalizing]

CHRIS DIFFORD:
When I first discovered Sparks,

I never thought of them
as being American at all.

I thought of them

just being this, like... Sparks.

They're otherworldly.

ALEX KAPRANOS: I always thought
Sparks were a... a British band.

PAUL MORLEY: They're the best,
uh, British group

ever to come out of America.

Je suis américain.

♪ Everywhere, heartbeat,
increasing heartbeat... ♪

They are a total enigma to me.

They are a band who
you can look up on Wikipedia

and know nothing.

Who the fuck are these guys?

Ron has a huge
snow globe collection.

Like... [gasps] Really?

LES BOHEM:
It's quite special and, um...

odd.

APRIL RICHARDSON: If you try
to describe them to people,

it's like, what do they
sound like? Sparks.

The work speaks for itself,
so I don't have to know them.

JACK ANTONOFF: All pop music
is rearranged Vince Clarke

and rearranged Sparks.

That's the truth.

So we have influenced everyone.

SCHWARTZMAN: Honestly,
I don't want to see this movie.

I don't want to learn
too much about 'em.

Um, I'll watch it
because I'm in it.

EDGAR WRIGHT:
What do you think about me

calling the documentary
The Sparks Brothers?

[laughter]

-Um, in lieu of anything
better... -Yeah, yeah.

RUSSELL MAEL:
We hate that name.

We are Sparks.

Sparks are a band.

Next question.

-We are not an English band.
-Dude.

I'm the singer.

I'm not the singer.

BOTH:
We are not identical twins.

We are brothers.

We are brothers.

We do not live together.

We are from
a middle-class background.

My sexual persuasion is
slightly horny.

There are 25 Sparks albums.

With advances
in medical technology,

hopefully there will be
200 to 300 more Sparks albums.

[crew laughing]

WRIGHT: Sparks-- how did
this glam rock anomaly

become a band with a career
spanning five decades?

How can Ron and Russell Mael
be successful, underrated,

hugely influential
and overlooked

all at the same time?

How do two brothers survive
in a rock and roll world

without killing each other?

And where does one even start

with 25 studio albums
and nearly 500 songs?

Join us as we
pull back the curtain

to shine a light
on the brothers Mael

and crucially offer
a window into the psyche

of these
extraordinary musicians

and, through their music,
paint a long overdue portrait

of them as real artists.

Our story begins
not in gloomy old England

but in sunny California.

♪ Gonna tell Aunt Mary
'bout Uncle John ♪

♪ He claim he has the misery,
but he has a lot of fun ♪

♪ Oh, baby, yeah, baby

♪ Whoo, baby...

To a kid seeing them on TV,

they just came
from another world.

♪ Well, long tall Sally...

They weren't supposed
to come from anywhere.

I think, originally, I did
think they were a British band.

I'm still not convinced
that they're American.

JOHN CONGLETON: I always
sort of thought of them as like

Cheap Trick in a way, like,
oh, they're probably

from the Midwest somewhere.

RON:
We're kind of the rare breed

of native-born Californians.

RUSSELL: I was born in
Santa Monica, California.

He was born in
Culver City, California.

Our father was an artist,
a painter

and was also
a commercial artist

for theHollywood Citizen-News.

♪ Well, I saw Uncle John...

RON: Some of the images
that he painted were

places that we would go to
quite a bit.

One of them was
the Santa Monica Pier.

We would spend days
fishing for perch.

And kind of-- the pier, to me,

looks like that painting,
not like the real thing is.

♪ Have some fun tonight...

RUSSELL: He always had
these records from Elvis

and Jerry Lee Lewis
and Little Richard.

Him introducing us
to cool music

was something that
we kind of retained.

♪ One, two, three o'clock,
four o'clock rock... ♪

RON:
It really was an amazing time

because we were exposed to the
first seismic shift in music.

I remember the first time
I went to see

Blackboard Jungle.

One instance of hearing
the title music

changed my whole DNA.

This kind of music
was really overturning

that staid
Eisenhower-era lifestyle.

This was wrong but in
all the kind of right ways.

KAPRANOS:
If you want to understand

Ron and Russell,
you need to see them

through one prism,
and that-that prism is

cinema
but specifically Hollywood.

RON: I remember spending
a lot of time at the movies

with Russell and our father.

We would go see a lot
of Westerns and war films.

I really cherished those

Saturday matinees.

It was a rich experience.

It was more than just a movie.

It was a... a total afternoon

with popcorn and cartoons
and newsreels.

Why don't you try
a juicy, good hot dog?

Our parents didn't care
if a movie had started,

so we would just come
in the middle of the movie

and try to imagine
what the beginning of it was.

And I think part of our, uh,

jagged sense of narrative
in the songs

might have been, uh,
initiated in some way by that.

♪

RUSSELL:
Um, when our father died, uh,

obviously, it was
a really traumatic experience.

You don't even understand,
really, how that's possible

or that he's not gonna
ever be there again.

And-and, uh, it's something
that's so abstract,

just the concept of death.

And, uh... and it's when...
when it's your father,

and then especially
at that age, too,

that you're so young
that you never

got to ask the questions

that you would now like
to have asked to him

and to have known
more about him.

And I think that's kind of
part of the sad thing, too,

is that, uh, so much
you'll never find out

about, uh, your own father.

RON:
We were both very, very young.

I was... I was 11,
and Russell was eight, and...

kind of everything changed
at that moment for us,

and I think it did
bring us closer together.

RUSSELL: 'Cause it was all
very unexpected,

the three of us
were then kind of

forced to be stronger
as a unit.

Um, Ron and I would,

you know,
do everything that we could

to help out our mom.

RON: Our mother decided that
I should have piano lessons.

I didn't want to admit
that I enjoyed

taking the piano lessons

because, you know, there...

always a rebellious streak
in me,

but piano lessons were actually
something I really enjoyed.

And they would have talent
shows at elementary school,

and I would get up there
in a pink sport jacket

and a... a tie, and my hair

really kind of greased
and everything,

and performing those talent
shows was an addictive thing.

You really saw
the audience reaction,

and you thought,
"This is kind of cool."

And it-it also

blended in
with our interest in sports.

Both music and sports were
things that garnered attention.

♪ Going out when the rest
are coming home ♪

♪ Coming home when the rest
are going out ♪

♪ And when I'm broke
and really down, I'm down... ♪

RUSSELL: It's an odd thing
that our huge passion

when we were growing up
in school was-was athletics.

Hard to believe that, uh,
this scrawny body

once played against, uh,
250-pound guys.

I sometimes equate
the experience

of going out onto the field
on Friday night

as the same sensation
as when you go onstage.

There's the same
adrenaline rush.

♪ I want to be, I want to be

♪ I want to be,
I want to be ♪

♪ I want to be like
everybody else. ♪

[song ends]

-♪ Ooh, ooh
-♪ Over the summer

-♪ Over the summer
-♪ Ooh

♪ Over the summer

♪ Ooh...

We lived always near

the ocean, so both in Venice
and then Pacific Palisades.

♪ You've got to trust
in summer ♪

♪ Miracles can happen
if you do... ♪

In the summer,
we would walk down.

There's a little bluff
that you have to walk

from our house
in the Palisades,

and it led down to the ocean.

It took maybe a half an hour.

We'd do that routine every day.

We'd stay from
like 9:00 in the morning

to maybe, you know,
7:00 at night.

So that was our life
for three months every year.

♪ July, you were
the plainest of Janes... ♪

RON: People say that
they don't see any Los Angeles

in what we're doing,
and I think that, actually,

they're missing a lot of
what the influence was on us.

We had our transistor radio,

and, uh, AM music
at that time in Los Angeles

was really incredible.

It was just one big mass
of pop music.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: Ladies and
gentlemen, the beat goes on.

♪ More music.

The Real Don Steele.

♪ 93 KHJ.

♪ Please, please, please...

RUSSELL: There was
no distinction between

British bands or soul groups,
Black groups, white groups.

It-it didn't really matter.

Like, no one cared or
questioned the genres of music.

You would always want
to go see any British band

that would come to Los Angeles.

The high point of our lives--
uh, we can actually say

we've seen The Beatles twice
because we had a cool mom.

ANNOUNCER:
The Beatles,

on their way
to the Hollywood Bowl.

Some of the youngsters
don't give up easily.

RUSSELL:
For whatever reason,

she agreed to drive us
to Las Vegas,

where they were playing
a concert.

So there we were in our little
Fiat Multipla that our mom had

and had this sort of bad
futuristic shape to it.

And, uh, we're putting along
the highway to Las Vegas

just to see The Beatles.

That's a mom.

["Happenings Ten Years Time
Ago" by The Yardbirds playing]

RON: While we were at UCLA,
everything coalesced for us

as far as soaking in all of
these things from the outside.

RUSSELL: We played in bands
early on with ridiculous names.

I don't know,
we were in Moonbaker Abbey,

and we were in
The Urban Renewal Project.

I mean, how successful
could a band ever get

calling themselves
Urban Renewal Project?

RON: The first two songs
that we ever recorded

were "Computer Girl" and, uh,
the other one-- what was this?

-What was the second one?
-RUSSELL: "Windmill."

I'm ashamed that I forgot that,
but "W-Windmill."

-So classic that he forgot it.
-Yeah.

RON: It's really strange
to have a song in 1966

called "Computer Girl,"
because we didn't even

really know what
a computer was at that time.

♪ Computer girl

♪ My computer girl

♪ This is a recording

♪ She's got no arms

♪ She's got no legs

♪ For computers

♪ Have no limbs...

-WRIGHT: Pre-Kraftwerk?
-RON: Pre-Kraftwerk. Yes.

RUSSELL:
Yeah, we predate Kraftwerk

when it comes
to computer songs.

RON: The first time
that we really got

serious about music
was when we met Earle Mankey

and the three of us
got together

and had similar musical taste.

EARLE MANKEY:
They seemed pretty much

just like normal
college students.

But once we got into
the recording process,

they-they turned out
to be different.

You have three people in a room
and a two-track tape recorder,

and you want to emulate,
let's say The Beatles.

Well, uh, first,
you might think you need drums.

Well, we didn't have any drums.

So, uh,

bang on some boxes

and find a table
that had a nice tone,

and if you needed a cymbal,
that was harder.

But as I recall,

there was a brass lampshade

that, uh, didn't really ring
like a cymbal,

but it would give us
a nice clank.

HARLEY FEINSTEIN:
When I joined the band,

it was called Halfnelson.

I was contacted by Russell,
and he explained to me,

"Well, we're not just
getting together

"to drink beer,
meet girls and play music.

We're actually gonna
become big."

That sounds like the scene
from our biopic

that's, uh, upcoming soon.

♪ Whoo!

♪ Fa-fa-fa, fa-fa,
fa-fa-fa... ♪

RUSSELL: I think, at the
beginning, I was trying to be

as much like Mick Jagger
or Roger Daltrey

as I could possibly be.

I kind of missed the mark
by a few thousand miles,

but something else emerged.

♪ From champagne

♪ And I have never
met the queen ♪

♪ And I wish I could have
all he has got ♪

♪ And I wish I could be
like David Watts... ♪

RUSSELL:
I think there was

sometimes a conscious

and sometimes
an unconscious attempt

at trying to emulate
the early Who songs

and the early Kinks songs
that really felt

in tune with what
we really wanted to be doing.

♪ I'd lead the school team
to victory... ♪

FEINSTEIN: I remember I liked
bands that they didn't like.

And I remember one time
I made the comment that,

"Hey, Blood Sweat & Tears,
they're great, huh?"

All the eyes rolled back
simultaneously.

It could've been worse.
He could have mentioned

Chicago or somebody
like that, and...

then he would have been
out of the band immediately.

["When You're a French
Director" by Sparks playing]

♪ When you're
a French director... ♪

RON:
There was a sense at the time

that if you were
kind of a hip person

that you would also
automatically be interested

in French New Wave films
and Bergman.

It kind of went hand in hand
with liking the British bands.

It was just
kind of a badge of honor,

liking nonmainstream things.

LARRY DUPONT:
When I first met Ron,

we were all deeply,
deeply rooted in film.

As far as Russ
was concerned, uh,

he wanted to be a filmmaker.

Early on, I was dabbling

in French New Wave cinema

and, uh, made a film
when I was at UCLA.

Um, and I don't know if it's...

I-I wouldn't call it
a great film,

-but it wasn't...
-Oh, don't be so modest.

MANKEY: I starred
in Russell's student film,

Très Sérieux,
which means, I guess,

Very Serious
or something like that.

My name in the movie was
Jean-Paul Mankey.

You know, it was poking fun
at, uh, French art films.

That's the cool thing
about them.

You know, they take something
that seems to be

really great and arty,

and then they shoot it
in the pants.

Other times, people think
they're making fun of something

when they're deadly serious.

[laughing]: They're kind of
inscrutable, those guys.

MIKE BERNS: Well, I had
a chance to meet Ron and Russell

when I worked at, uh,
Universal Records.

They brought
their demo tape in,

and I was taken
by the creativity,

the artistry,
uh, the individuality.

And it was something

that you just knew
was something.

And I lobbied my brains out
to have them get signed.

MANKEY: Every office
we'd go into was all excited.

They'd call their friends in
and say, "Listen to this stuff.

Isn't this weird?
Isn't this great?"

Uh, and then
they wouldn't sign us.

DUPONT:
The thing that marked them

was their unwillingness
to give up on rejection.

They just wouldn't give up.

RUSSELL:
There's always just been

one person
throughout our whole career

that would kind of get
what it was

that we were doing
at any one particular time--

and the first one
was Todd Rundgren--

when everybody else at every
record label rejected us.

If it hadn't been for him,

there wouldn't have been
a Sparks now.

RUNDGREN: Well, without me,
there would be no Halfnelson.

Sparks was something
that happened a little later.

ANNOUNCER: Todd Rundgren
first discovered Sparks

and produced their debut album.

BERNS:
We sent the demo album

to Todd Rundgren.
I had some notoriety

in the business,
so he took my call.

My memory was that, uh,
Russell's, uh, girlfriend,

part-time girlfriend,
girlfriend on and off, uh,

was Miss Christine
from the GTO's.

Miss Christine was like
my girlfriend for a while,

and then she became Russell's
girlfriend for a while.

RUSSELL:
We became friends

with-with, uh,
Miss Christine as well.

And so, um,
at that time, I, uh...

-We did?
-[laughing]: We did. We did.

-[crew laughing]
-[Russell clears throat]

Let me... let me, uh...
yeah, we were...

So I became... I became friends
with Miss Christine.

I think Russell thought
it was weird,

but I didn't consider it
any sort of affront,

but I think I knew
Miss Christine

better than he did.

PAMELA DES BARRES:
Yeah, I'm sure Miss Christine

played Todd the demo.

She was... she and Todd
were together quite a while,

um, and she loved Sparks.

MANKEY:
Christine said, "Oh, Todd,

"you've got to hear these guys.

It's so great.
You're gonna want to sign 'em."

RUNDGREN: I was struck by
the fact that it wasn't like

anything else
that I was normally getting.

It is sometimes like
butterfly hunting.

You're looking for some species

that nobody has ever
discovered before.

So they set up a demo

as if it was like a whole venue.

They had this rehearsal space
out in the Valley.

They called it
the Doggy Factory,

which implied that doggies
were made there,

but it was actually doggy beds.
[chuckles]

JAMES LOWE: Yeah, that's...
it was all left-handed.

It was... I mean, this band,
you're gonna go see 'em

at a doggy bed factory.

I thought they were joking.
I thought it was a club.

RUNDGREN: We all sat down
in some folding chairs,

and they put on a whole show.

MANKEY:
The biggest number, uh,

I guess it would have to be
the song

"Slowboat."

There was a papier-mâché boat.

Russell would sit in this boat

and be towed across the floor
by the roadie.

RUSSELL: I got in it as if it
was like a Rose Parade float,

and I was waving
to the audience

as the captain
of this slow boat.

MANKEY: And about three feet
later, he'd have to stop

because it would be
the end of the stage.

LOWE:
My wife thought

Russ was, uh, very cute,

and I kept asking her
about the music,

but she kept telling me
how cute Russ was.

Russ was really cute. [laughs]

RUNDGREN:
I was

well proud of the effort
that they put out

and said,
"We'll make a record."

♪ Slow boat, bring me back
another day... ♪

Of course, everything
that happened after that was...

was evolutionary.

♪

-[song ends]
-[crowd cheering]

[indistinct radio chatter]

MAN: Sorry, Sam, can we
take that back a little ways?

We'll pick it up.

RUSSELL: We really were
elated that now things

seemed real for once.

FEINSTEIN:
It was really amazing.

It was really surreal.

It was like,
"My God, this is...

How did I get here?
This is incredible."

RUSSELL:
It just, uh, seemed like

we were soon gonna be at
the Hollywood Bowl ourselves.

FEINSTEIN: The making of
the album was so much fun.

It was great.
Uh, we had what seemed like

an unlimited amount of time
in a good studio.

♪ All will join in

♪ In the
big scene... ♪

RON: To Todd's credit,
he really made us feel at home

and more importantly
made us feel at home musically

because he really wanted us
to keep to the essence

of what the demos were.

♪ Take a tall one,
take a small one... ♪

RUNDGREN:
I didn't want to mess with

this latent outsider genius.

I'm just gonna figure out

how to make it
a little bit more high-fidelity,

and that... [laughs]
and that will be fine,

I think.

FEINSTEIN:
This album was gonna be

just phenomenal,

just really good.

RUSSELL: We released
the Halfnelson album,

and it didn't really get
the commercial success

that I think Todd
was hoping for.

KAPRANOS:
With Sparks, you have this

strange combination of...

almost creative recklessness

because they don't follow
the conventional path,

which is what makes them
great as a fan.

There's this force
of creativity

that goes into
that experimentation,

but the culture
isn't there yet.

And then you find yourself
in the real world

where you have to sell records.

Well, you did it again.

JACK ANTONOFF:
You look at Sparks,

they're-they're just
blazing this trail, um,

because there's just no...

It-It's the ultimate experience

of what you want
from your artists.

There's just no connection
to what is actually going on

in the world.

FEINSTEIN: The album
didn't sell very well,

so the, uh, marketing geniuses
at the record company said,

"Well, maybe a different name

and a different album cover
would make the difference."

And he goes,

"You guys like comedy.
You like the Marx Brothers.

You're brothers.
So the Sparks Brothers."

And that met with one of those
pregnant pauses from us

where we both stare at-at him,
uh, kind of aghast.

FEINSTEIN:
I think we negotiated out

the word "brothers"
and ended up with just Sparks.

["Wonder Girl"
by Sparks playing]

♪ She was
a wonder girl ♪

♪ Some girl, that girl

♪ She was a wonder girl

♪ Some girl, that girl

♪ It was a grand old time
we had ♪

♪ She was there

♪ And I was pretty glad...

HILLY MICHAELS:
We're driving around,

and the radio is kind of on,

and I hear this voice,
and I yell,

"Yo, turn that up!

"What is that? Turn that up.

"Who is that?

"Turn it up louder.

That's amazing."

♪ To her friends

♪ It's a wonder that

♪ She always
started trends... ♪

MICHAELS: All the bells and
whistles went off in my head.

The radio announcer

never got back on
and said who that was,

and it haunted me for years.

♪ Ooh, wonder girl...

RON: We had made
our first appearance

onAmerican Bandstand,
which was pretty much

the equivalent of being, like,
onTop of the Pops in the UK,

but we still had no... no money

and we were on food
assistance plans, food stamps.

And so we went into
a supermarket the next week,

and the checker said,

"Hey, I saw you
on television last week.

You guys were great."

RUSSELL: And then we have
to pull out our food stamps

to the nice lady,
and then she's going,

"Can we get approval
for these poor guys

"on aisle six, please?

Poor people over here
who are on a television show."

♪ Ooh, wonder girl...

-Being humiliated in public.
-RON: Yeah. Yeah.

-Good training.
-Yeah.

I'm immune to humiliation
after that.

♪ Hey, Lisa,
they're having a big party ♪

♪ Down at
the Allele Pool tonight ♪

♪ Ooh, let's do it

["Biology 2" by Sparks playing]

DUPONT: It was a struggle
finding gigs for the band.

So the thing that happened is

the band went far afield.

MANKEY:
It's just ridiculous.

We played some
just terrible places

where they all hated us.
[laughs]

DUPONT: They went
to Redding, California.

It's like,
why the hell Redding?

But Houston got off to
a bad start and went downhill.

FEINSTEIN:
So, there we are

playing for
this redneck audience

that had been there to come see
a band called Cold Blood.

Needless to say, uh,
they did not like us very much.

RUSSELL: I used to,
as part of the stage act,

have this giant wooden
sledgehammer,

with this, like,
really heavy mallet on it.

MANKEY: He'd throw
the sledgehammer up in the air

and catch it, but this time,
he didn't catch it.

Came down-- slam!--
on his head.

And I won't say
it knocked him out,

but he was extremely bloody.

RUSSELL: And I had
this giant gash on my head,

and I'm bleeding
and blood's flowing down.

But the audience seemed
to think it was

part of our show,
like it was... you know,

it was Alice Cooper
with a blood capsule,

but this was no blood capsule.

This was my kind of brain, uh,
oozing out onto the stage.

We're all laughing
up until we see Ron's reaction.

And Ron's reaction is
a combination of,

"How dare you laugh?"

and, "Oh, my God,
Russ is gonna die."

FEINSTEIN:
I didn't even know

he hit himself in the head
until after it was over.

Then we went backstage,

and I saw he was bleeding,
and big brother Ron,

of course, was very concerned.

-Was I?
-WRIGHT: Yeah.

-Oh, times change.
-[laughter]

RUSSELL:
The next album

that we would come up with,

which was called
Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing,

was produced by Jim Lowe.

LOWE:
They were what I thought

rock and roll was
supposed to be.

And I thought,
"If this doesn't happen,

what am I gonna go do next?"

What would you produce
after you did Sparks?

MANKEY:
The fact that the second album

was more experimental
than the first album,

I think, was just
a natural progression.

It might have been better.

It was certainly
more complex, more artistic.

I thought that made for
a more interesting album.

RON: In a way, that album is
even more eccentric,

I think, than...
than the first album.

And so, you know, it was
really inspiring to us to know

that they were giving us
this permission

to kind of commit
self-destruction.

[tires squealing]

♪ Whippings and apologies...

LOWE: Those two records are
my two favorite records

that I've been involved with.

And I told my wife

after the Wooferalbum,

I said,
"If this album doesn't...

"doesn't make some noise
or do something,

I'm gonna go into
another business."

It was just, "I-I don't know
anything about music.

If people don't like
this stuff, it's crazy."

And so I started, uh,

directing
television commercials.

[laughter]

RUNDGREN:
It didn't create the spark

that they... [laughs]

that they had hoped for.

RUSSELL: They said,
"Well, it's not really

"clicking here in the States,
but the sensibility

"seems to be something
that we think

would go over better
in the UK."

And all of a sudden, one day,

we're on a frigging airplane
to London.

["Girl from Germany" by Sparks
playing]

♪ How I wished my folks
were gracious hosts... ♪

RUSSELL: Getting to see,
you know, Buckingham Palace

and riding on the tube,
and we were

living the good life
in our small little way.

FEINSTEIN: Back in the Doggy
Factory, we had a picture

on the wall of John's Children,

and they were really
cool-looking guys.

When we got over there,
John was our manager.

JOHN HEWLETT: The idea was,
would I look after them

and try and secure TV,
et cetera, and, uh,

some shows in London and press,
which we did.

♪ What a war, some war

♪ Lord knows
she's from Germany ♪

♪ Well, it's
the same old country ♪

♪ But the people
have changed... ♪

HEWLETT:
The only TV we did, I think,

was theGrey Whistle Test,

which Bob Harris said
was, like, the worst band

he'd ever seen.

MORLEY: Old Grey Whistle Test
was dark and underground,

and it was a bit worthy.

And the-the presenter
Bob Harris didn't like Sparks.

That was actually
a-a real turn-on

because whatever Bob
didn't like, you kind of liked.

Great stuff.

Everybody saw us
on Old Grey Whistle Test,

and being on the telly
was a big deal.

So, when we then got
the follow-up gig

at the Marquee Club,
the place was packed.

MORLEY:
Almost in that first moment,

when you see something
like Sparks,

which is just so distinctive

and sounds so distinctive,

everything that you ever
feel about them

for the rest of time
is in there.

♪ Oh, my word,
she's from Germany ♪

♪ Well, it's
the same old country ♪

♪ But the people
have changed... ♪

RON: "Girl from Germany"
was kind of a harbinger

of things to come for us
in a lyrical way, I think.

It's about a guy
who's defending his girlfriend,

who happens to be from Germany,

to his parents who are Jewish.

♪ Well, the car I drive
is parked outside... ♪

JANE WIEDLIN:
They come out with this song,

and it's like,
are you kidding me?

They're, like, talking about

how people still hate
Germans and stuff,

and it's so sick and so funny.

MIKE MYERS: My favorite lyric
from a Sparks song is

from "Girl from Germany,"
which is, uh...

"My word, she's from Germany.

It's the same old country,
but the people have changed."

Which is, like,
well played, well played.

♪ With its splendid castles
and its fine cuisine ♪

♪ Its lovely German women

-♪ And you and me.
-[song ends]

FEINSTEIN: There's a better
than even chance

that it would've continued
moving onward and upward

had the record company
at that point not decided

that, "Well, we've
invested enough.

"We're gonna pull the plug,

and we're gonna bring 'em
back to America."

DUPONT: They literally were
thrown out of England.

It was like one day's notice,

you're on an airplane,
you're out of here.

"Pack your gear
and get out of here."

FEINSTEIN: We had built up
way more momentum

in London than we had in L.A.,

but whatever momentum
we had built up in L.A.

had completely died out.

My memory of what the mood
was like

at that time was,

"Well, you know, this thing
may have run its course."

["Do-Re-Mi" by Sparks playing]

RON:
We were kind of stuck in a way,

knowing that there was

this promised land that was...
that was there for us

if we could only figure out
how to get there.

HEWLETT: They called and said
they'd like to come over

and, um, yeah, could I help?

Which I could and did.

I talked to David Betteridge
at Island Records,

and David said,
"Yeah, go for it."

[cheering]

As soon as I saw the pictures

of Ron and Russell--

this was before I'd met them--

just looking at the pictures

and listening
to those first two albums,

straightaway,
it all made sense.

It seemed to me
that the only way

that we could
get this happening

is if we made it
a little bit more rock and roll

and get an English
backing group with them.

FEINSTEIN:
A friend of mine said,

"I saw your old band buddies.

"They're having a garage sale.

And they told me that
they were moving to England."

And I said, "What?
They're moving to England?

News to me."

RON:
A yard sale in anybody's yard

in Los Angeles means
bad news for somebody.

It was an agonizing decision

for Ron and Russ to-to, uh,

cut the band loose
and go to England.

RON: To betray the other people
was a really difficult thing,

but also knowing that being

a British band
was a lifetime dream of ours.

FEINSTEIN: They were
on the horns of a dilemma.

Obviously, I think
they made the right decision.

The rest is history.

[bells chiming]

RUSSELL:
The bands that we had admired,

these English bands
that we liked so much,

we always thought of them
as being glamorous

and-and bigger than life.

So, when we put out
these ads for band members,

we were kind of trying
to find people

that would fulfill that image
of ours of this England

that was maybe
just in our minds.

WINWOOD:
Straightaway, it worked.

It just worked.

HEWLETT: Each time
you'd go to the rehearsal room,

there'd be something new there.

I'm like, "Shit, that's good."

Um, you know,
then the next rehearsal.

"Wow, that song's good."

WINWOOD: We found a momentum
very quickly,

and when we got enough tracks
to make an album,

then we said,

"We've made an album."

RUSSELL:
Well, everybody at Island was

really ecstatic about the album

and really supportive.

And-and especially in picking

"This Town Ain't Big Enough
for Both of Us"

to be the first song,
'cause it was...

you know,
it was taking a chance,

it was going for something
that was really extreme.

TONY VISCONTI: "This Town Ain't
Big Enough for the Both of Us"

was the first record I heard
by them on the radio.

I remember I-I had a, uh...
a darkroom in my home,

and that came on in the dark.

I nearly dropped my tongs,

as they say
in the photography world.

VINCE CLARKE: The first thing
that I ever bought was, um,

"This Town Ain't Big Enough
for the Both of Us."

I just played it nonstop

until the grooves wore out
pretty much, you know.

ANDY BELL: My granddad was
a wedding DJ, and he had

"This Town Ain't Big Enough

for the Both of Us" by Sparks.

I remember hearing, uh,

"This Town Ain't Big Enough for
the Both of Us" and just going,

"I've never heard
anything like this."

♪

RUSSELL: Everyone at
the record label said,

"It's gonna become a big hit
if we can just

get you
on theTop of the Pops."

The producer of the show was
a very dapper gentleman,

and he said, "Oh, hello.
My name is Robin Nash.

Nice to meet you."

I said,
"Hi. My name is Russell."

He was taken aback a bit
that I was an American,

and he went
and made a phone call

and had taken us off the show

because we hadn't gotten
work permits.

-So everyone at Island was
just distraught.-[screaming]

It allowed another band,

one of the greats of all time,
The Rubettes,

to take our place,

and so they sadly reached
number one.

RON: You know, all through
our career, there have been

The Rubettes
in-in some form or other.

I love "Sugar Baby Love"
by The Rubettes.

-WRIGHT: Ron will hate you
for that. -[laughs]

DIFFORD:
But where are they now?

RUSSELL: Finally, the British
Musicians' Union relented,

and there we were.

"This Town Ain't Big Enough
for the Both of Us."

♪

BJOÖRK:
I loved his voice.

You know, I-I guess it was
kind of like a bit--

I don't know what it was--
quite feminine, I guess.

Quite sort of...
possessed or something.

It definitely wasn't
like rock and roll.

♪ Zoo time is
she and you time ♪

♪ The mammals are
your favorite type ♪

♪ And you want her tonight

♪ Heartbeat,
increasing heartbeat ♪

♪ You hear the thunder
of stampeding rhinos ♪

♪ Elephants and tacky tigers

♪ This town ain't big enough
for the both of us ♪

♪ And it ain't me
who's gonna leave... ♪

I think there were
60 million people

at that time in the UK, and...

and 15 million of them were
watching Top of the Pops.

CLARKE: When I was growing up,
I never knew anybody

that went to university,
but I never knew anyone

that didn't watch
Top of the Pops.

DIFFORD:
When I saw them

onTop of the Pops
for the first time,

I instantly wanted to be
the keyboard player.

I wanted to be the quiet one
that didn't say anything.

I remember sitting there
probably with my parents

in front of Top of the Pops
on a Thursday night

and seeing these two guys
on there,

thinking, "What is that?"

♪ Daily, except for Sunday

♪ You dawdle into the café...

MARK GATISS:
Everyone came

to school the next day saying,

"Did you see that guy?"

[laughs]

The-the man
who looked like Hitler.

RON: A lot of people say,
"Why the Charlie Chaplin look?"

And a lot of people say,
"Why the Hitler look?"

And both of those people

seem to me to be
cartoon characters in a way.

MORLEY: The next day,
when you talk about it,

the word of mouth begins
in a way that is viral--

like we now have, obviously,
on everything--

but back then,
that was a rare thing.

And you start
to make things up slightly.

One of my favorite anecdotes

about thatTop of the Pops
appearance is...

is John Lennon ringing up
Ringo Starr and saying...

-You won't believe what's
on the television. -What?

-Marc Bolan is playing a song
with Adolf Hitler. -Hitler?

MORLEY: But that's how,
unfortunately, we all thought.

We all thought

Adolf Hitler.

SHELLEY WINTERS: Two years ago,
there was somebody

dressed like Hitler
playing the piano on the BBC.

Sparks.
She's talking about Sparks.

He-he was born
looking like Hitler, that guy.

[laughter]

MORLEY: From then on,
every single piece ever written

about the group would just say
"Adolf Hitler," which also

really kind of weirdly
tangled up

in the myth of the group.

You know,
the shock to the system

as a piece of choreography,
let alone his appearance,

was so remarkable
that immediately

it started to grow
in your imagination.

GILLIAN GILBERT:
They're playing this upbeat,

energetic, fantastic music,

and he just stood there.

I think it's really clever.

WINWOOD: The following day,
I remember going in

and one of
the sales guys saying,

"We've done 200,000 singles
today already.

"The vans are out everywhere,

and there were people
buying boxes of them."

That is a fantastic feeling.

RHODES: John and I have said,
"Always judge an album

by its cover."

Um, so if something has
a dreadful album cover,

don't buy it.

♪

JONATHAN ROSS: The cover's
amazing, with the two

kind of Geisha girls
with the smeared makeup on.

Here, you have this image
which should be and could be

perfect and pristine,
and if it had been

another band of the period,

it would have been--
there would have been...

They would have been
more objectified.

They're doing--
even with the visual,

they're doing
something interesting,

but you can't quite put
your finger on what it is.

MYERS: I was like, "Oh, my God,
this is fantastic."

At once like
fashion photography,

and at once making fun
of fashion photography.

And I think that is something
I love about Sparks is that

they are the ones

they were to mock,
you know, in a weird way.

TAYLOR:
The art direction's just superb.

Imagine, you know, us trying
to convince our record label,

"No, no, no, we don't want
the name of the band,

"uh, uh, and the title
of the album on the front.

No, that's going on the back."

JULIA MARCUS: The joy of
actually having this fantastic

12-inch vinyl in front of you,

and it had the lyrics
on it as well,

and then you're reading
through the lyrics,

and you're thinking,

"This band are amazing."

I had to know everything
about them

and threw myself
into being a fan.

[cheering]

♪

RICHARD COBLE: The first tour
was really exciting.

The audience would
just go crazy.

I mean, it was just fandom.

RUSSELL:
We were now thrown into kind of

what we thought was the...
sort of the big league,

having the success
ofKimono My House.

The concerts we were doing
at that time were just

-really wild events.
-[raucous cheering]

And I remember one
in Liverpool,

we were pressed
against the glass

of the exterior of the hotel,

just smashed against
the front of the building,

and then finally somebody
helped rescue us

and we went
through the kitchen.

You know, it was
a really special period.

♪ Amateur hour goes on and on,
and when you turn pro ♪

♪ You know,
she'll let you know... ♪

STEVE JONES:
I remember vividly seeing them

at Hammersmith Odeon.

And I remember being really
excited about seeing them.

There was a lot of screaming
'cause of cutie-pie on vocals.

It was a given after they'd
been onTop of the Pops.

♪ Our voices change
at a rapid pace... ♪

NICK HEYWARD:
I lived in Beckenham,

and, uh, that's where I saw

Ron and Russell
walking down the street.

And that was
a very strange experience.

I thought they didn't
really exist.

You know, they existed onstage,
they existed on the TV,

and, you know,
they were from other lands.

I remember sort of
wanting to hide.

♪ Amateur hour goes on and on

♪ And when you turn pro,
you know... ♪

We knew when they were
gonna be at the BBC.

We knew when they
were gonna be at Capital.

We knew when they were getting
off a plane at Heathrow.

We were detectives
in terms of actually

finding stuff out about them.

You know, it was
a full-time job

to make sure we were
on top of it.

We'd been to see them
quite a few times in London.

The excitement never,
ever went away.

It was always just a-a thrill.

COBLE: Somebody cut the budget
the morning of the show,

so they canceled security,

so it was really insane.

Oh, God, there I am, yeah.

-[Coble laughs]
-[raucous cheering]

MARCUS: Obviously,
Russell was beautiful,

but I always loved Ron.

He was different.

He was a little bit
more challenging.

I really felt like I could
kind of go places with Ron.

Oh, that's me.
That's me. That's me.

I've just put my arm round him.

[laughing]

I kind of got to him

and sort of really did realize
in that moment

that this was
a terrible thing to do.

This was a disaster.

I'm never gonna be able
to talk to him

on a serious level now
about, you know,

his love of French cinema
or The Beach Boys.

I was doomed forever
to be a child to him.

For everyone's safety,
I think we should have

a little restraint
in the hall, okay?

HEWLETT:
I mean, I've always been, like,

a believer in just--
go for it, you know?

If you've got material,

record.

Tour, record.
Just keep doing it.

["Never Turn Your Back on
Mother Earth" by Sparks plays]

♪ When she's on
her best behavior ♪

♪ Don't be tempted
by her favors ♪

♪ Never turn your back

♪ On Mother Earth

♪ Towns are hurled
from A to B ♪

♪ By hands that looked
so smooth to me ♪

♪ Never turn your back

♪ On Mother Earth...

COBLE: For two years,
we toured the world,

and we had a great time.

IAN HAMPTON:
It was very, very hectic

touring withKimono
and then recordingPropaganda

kind of at the same time.

But it was good fun.

♪ To my friends

♪ To my friends...

HEWLETT:
Ron's like a writing machine.

He wasn't, you know, one for

drinking in the bar
with the guys,

and in some ways,
he was quite aloof,

but that's what Ronnie
would be doing--

thinking and writing.

And so the material
kept coming.

Obviously, that was
a demand upon him

but one that I think
he kind of thrives on.

♪ On Mother Earth.

WINWOOD: There's always
massive pressures

if you've been successful
the first time

because, first of all,
everybody tells you

you're a genius,
and then they say,

"Now do it again."

Eins, zwei, drei, vier.
Eins, zwei, drei, vier.

♪ Something for the girl
with everything ♪

♪ See, the writing's
on the wall ♪

♪ You bought the girl a wall

♪ Complete with matching
ballpoint pen ♪

♪ You can breathe another day

♪ Secure in knowing
she won't break you yet ♪

♪ Something for the girl
with everything... ♪

RON:
I'm not exactly sure

how we were able to come up
with Propagandaso soon

after Kimono My House,
and especially

with all the touring.

I mean, I think

part of the thing was just being

in that milieu.

♪ Yes, everything

♪ Hey, come out and say hello

♪ Before our friends
all go... ♪

RON:
There was pure excitement

knowing that you're on this,
you know, fast-moving train

and-and kind of
you had to kind of

keep up with that
by coming up with the material.

MAN: Great, boys. We'll have
to put the piano on again

'cause Ronnie fell
off the stool.

-[train screeching]
-Is that a train?

And now, as all good things
come to an end,

we must say goodbye to Zurich,

auf Wiedersehen to Zurich,

uh, ciao, Zurich,

and bon voyage, Zurich.

♪ Bon voyage...

HEWLETT:
When the idea was presented

for the cover,
there was no question.

I mean, it was like, "These
guys know what they're doing.

You know, we'll go along
with whatever you want."

WINWOOD: Yet again,
this is that thing of theirs

where somehow
they marry their music

and their visuals
so brilliantly together.

This is me holding up
the front of it

so that you can cut to it.

This is me holding up
the back of it.

They're obviously
being kidnapped.

Probably, they're gonna be
thrown overboard and drowned.

Then you go to the back,
and they're tied up

in the back of the car.

And the inside cover,

they have somehow
not been drowned,

they haven't been thrown
out of a car,

and by working together,

you think maybe they are
phoning the police.

And I love the fact that
there is some kind of story.

WRIGHT:
It could be in the other order.

It could be that
the hotel one is the start,

then they're put in the car,

and then they're killed
on the boat.

-That's why you're a director.
-[laughter]

WINWOOD: When you make
successful records,

there's always a moment in time
where you've got to say,

"Do we carry on
using the same formula,

or do we change the formula?"

You've got to make changes.

You've got to move things on.

And, uh, I was one of
the things that was moved on,

but that's okay.

["Get in the Swing"
by Sparks playing]

♪ Get in
the swing, pal ♪

♪ Get in the swing

♪ With everybody
and everything... ♪

HAMPTON: I loved what Muff did
onPropaganda andKimono,

and the next album went
to Tony Visconti,

and it changed rapidly.

Everything changed.

♪ When salmon spawn...

They certainly got
Tony Visconti

at the height of his powers,

when he was working
with Bowie a lot and T. Rex,

uh, making
amazing-sounding records.

♪ But on they go...

VISCONTI: They didn't want
to make it necessarily

a strict, straight-up
band record.

They wanted

kind of the equivalent of

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Bandfor themselves,

which was difficult for
the other members of the band.

♪ And have a warm bed
waiting... ♪

RON:
We're not gonna be fooling

either ourselves
or anybody else

if the thing just sounds like
it's going through the motions.

We're willing
to take the chance,

however many people are...
feel alienated.

♪ With everybody
and everything... ♪

BECK:
I know that feeling.

Maybe that's just
the-the instinct

of somebody who's coming

from a place of art,

not necessarily trying
to make a hit.

♪ All for one, one for all...

VISCONTI:
We just let our imaginations

soar on every song in it.

You know, it does sound
like Sparks, but I mean,

it's so far out.

♪ One, two, three, one, two

["Under the Table with Her"
by Sparks playing]

HAMPTON: I never understood
any of it, actually.

Things like
"Under the Table with Her."

My God, what's that about?
[chuckles]

♪ Nobody misses

♪ Diminutive offspring

♪ Not when there's
big wigs there... ♪

VISCONTI:
"Dinner for 12 is now

dinner for ten because I'm
under the table with her."

I mean, it... I...
[laughs]: That's just so funny.

♪ With her...

GAIMAN:
You had Russell singing songs

with lyrics
that I always suspected,

as a 12-, 13-, 14-year-old,
were dirty.

What made it even weirder
was the only song of theirs

that I was convinced
wasn't dirty

was called "Tits."

GARY STEWART: The minute,
I think, a lot of people

see that
or saw that song title,

which was asterisked,
think like,

"Oh, this is, like,
a, you know...

a sexy, rockin',
hyper-masculine song,"

if you didn't know Sparks.

If you knew Sparks, you probably
should have known better.

GAIMAN:
It's about a drunk in a bar

grumbling about the fact
that his wife's tits

are no longer recreational
pleasure objects for him

but she's using them
for feeding the baby.

♪ God, these drinks...

And by the way, you realize

he's also, uh, complaining that
the guy that he is drunkenly

telling this to is also having
an affair with his wife.

♪ Fine from behind...

That one, at least,

I-I figured
I got to decode properly.

♪ Harry, drink
till you can't see... ♪

And normally, the codes
were not that easily cracked.

You can look at the title,

you can look at the idea
and laugh,

or you can go deeper

and grow
and maybe have a good time,

maybe a sense of humor.

And... cue Sparks.

FLEA: Something that's always
kind of confounded me

in popular music

is people's inability
to take humor seriously.

And I think that's
one of the things, like,

why a band like Sparks
isn't as big

as the biggest bands
in the world.

'Cause they're fucking funny.

♪ Looks, looks, looks

♪ You had sense, you had style,
you had cash galore... ♪

"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC:
A lot of critics and some fans,

uh, sometimes denigrate bands

that show their sense of humor.

Like, "Oh, it's a comedy band.
It's a joke band."

I just don't get that.

I don't know why it has
to be so stinking serious.

♪ You got a built-in seat
that makes you look effete... ♪

VISCONTI: I thought it was
gonna be a smash hit album

because it was so different
and anyone could see

that we spent hours of work
and put detail in it

and the songs were so great

and Russell's singing

was amazing.

The world just didn't
agree with us, you know?

It did well but not that well.

RON:
We were so irate at just

the lack of acceptance
for what we thought

was an amazing album

that we were
seriously considering

recording "Louie Louie"
as our next single,

you know, just for spite.

♪ Someday we'll have
one extra coastline ♪

♪ We'll tire of the Atlantic

♪ By then, we'll be rid
of your lot ♪

♪ A shot heard round the world
will soon be shot ♪

♪ Will soon be shot...

HEWLETT: When that tour ended,
Ron and Russell put it in

that they don't want
to live in London anymore.

They want to go back to L.A.
Totally understandable.

Um, after, you know,
some years away and touring.

But to ditch the band
needn't have been part of that.

HAMPTON:
They didn't actually sack me.

It was mutual, really.

That was it.

Band over.

HEWLETT:
Certainly, it gutted me.

I mean, I was really upset.

I mean, it was just folded,
and that was it.

You know, people went
their separate ways.

It was a shock,
of course, you know,

but Ian, I think,
just accepted it.

HAMPTON:
I could understand why.

They don't care about
the money or the fame.

Art for art's sake--

I respect them for it.

♪ I am the king.

[cheering]

-Thank you! Thank you!
-[song ends]

RON: I've always admired
French directors like Godard

that were kind of rebellious
against the whole system

and the whole idea even
of what cinema was

that they were almost
slightly standing outside

of filmmaking while
they were making a film.

It was kind of
inspirational to us.

HEWLETT: Ron and Russell
always had a desire

to write music in movies,

and they love movies and
wanted to be a part of movies.

RON: In the '70s, one of
our favorite filmmakers

was Jacques Tati.

Tati, at that time, was looking
to expand his audience

to younger people,

and somehow he thought that

maybe connecting with a band

would be a way for him
to broaden

the appeal of his films.

INTERVIEWER: Well, how was
that, uh, film project

with, uh, Jacques Tati?

-Whoa. There. You got it.
-Lost the cake.

Did you get it? Did you get it?

That's a film project, that is.

Did you get it?

Our-our film project
with Tati is...

could relate to that cake,
what just happened to it.

It's just fallen to bits.

RON: His health was not
as good as it had been,

and so the project
just sort of dissipated.

You know, we have
very few things

that we regret
not having happened, but,

you know, I probably
would have retired after that.

♪

HEWLETT:
Evolving their concept of art is

paramount to them.

That's what they have always
striven for and believe in.

RUSSELL: I think,
when we didBig Beat,

we really just wanted

to change the sound yet again.

RON: We're trying to be
a little less British,

in a certain sense.

In any sort of art form,
you need to keep

pushing yourself forward.

Otherwise, you just sort of...
you're a shark,

and you stop moving,
and you just... you die.

SAL MAIDA: Ron and Russell
had come to New York

to do this hard rock record

and change directions

and try to break America.

MICHAELS:
Russell says, "Well, look,

"we don't have a band

anymore, so do you know
a great drummer?"

-[drumbeat playing]
-[laughs]

Sparks is musically
an enigma to begin with.

Indiscreet doesn't sound
likeKimono My House,

and Big Beatis
completely different.

THURSTON MOORE: I remember
Big Beat coming out

and sort of considering it,

like, more as this kind of part

of the new
punk records.

PETER KNEGO: Sparks are always
pushing new boundaries

and changing their sound,

often to the deep frustration
of their fan base.

♪ I'm coming and I'm going...

KAPRANOS: You know, I think
the fans ofKimono My House

andIndiscreet

and Propaganda,

I imagine they felt
a little bit let down.

And that's great--
you shouldn't pander

to the expectations

of the conservative element
of your fan base.

Because if you did, you-you'd
make conservative music.

MICHAEL SILVERBLATT:
That record is written by

the anti-Sparks.

Lyrically,
they'd just go mental.

[chuckles]
"Everybody's Stupid," right?

[imitating guitar riff
from "Everybody's Stupid"]

TOSH BERMAN:
When I first heard that record,

I found it kind of shocking
because the songs were

so angry and kind of bitter.

What's he saying? What's he...

No, you know what he's saying.

It's clear as a bell.

♪ Everybody's stupid

♪ That's for sure.

I could visibly see
the audience being confused.

♪ You're stupid,
you're stupid. ♪

[laughing]

♪ Everybody's stupid

♪ That's for sure.

MAIDA: There's probably
two of the most

politically incorrect songs
on that record,

which are "White Women"

and "Throw Her Away
[and Get a New One]."

Which...

uh, you got to have
a sense of humor

and know the ironic intent
on both those.

♪ Throw her away
and get a new one... ♪

RUSSELL:
We want to shake up people,

and we think that pop music
at its best

has always been something
where you-you hear it

and you go,
"Oh, my God, what is that?"

ROSS: Sparks often do
that kind of thing

which has, I think,
a punk sensibility to it.

A desire to stir things up

and shake things up
and make you think.

-[playful screaming]
-[dramatic music plays]

My first experience of Sparks

was watching the film
Rollercoaster.

[guitar solo playing]

I assumed that
they were a made-up band

because I'd never
heard of them before.

And then years later,
I came across

"This Town Ain't Big Enough for
the Both of Us" and thought,

"Oh, it's those guys
from Rollercoaster."

MICHAELS: I had never been
on a huge movie set like that.

And I didn't know what
to make of it.

And I was looking
to Ron and Russell,

and I remember Ron--
I'll never forget this--

Ron said...

"This might be great.

"Maybe this is gonna be the one

that breaks the band
worldwide."

This disaster movie.

I-I mean, you know,
the movie is what it was.

It was kind of like...
it-it was pretty lame,

but how else
was I gonna see them?

[cheering]

MAIDA: They're connoisseurs,
and this was just,

you know, "a disaster movie"

in more ways than one.

I-I think I leaned over to him
at one point, I said,

"I guess this is not
a Jacques Tati movie." [laughs]

♪ Big boy...

RON:
Rollercoaster is kind of

theCitizen Kane
of disaster movies.

I mean, the disaster was that
nobody went to see the movie.

-[sirens blaring]
-[tires screeching]

♪

FLEA:
I was in high school,

and I had a friend who was
the first friend in my group

to have his own apartment.

We used to just get
in all kinds of crazy

drugged-out states
at this guy's house.

I remember, like, stumbling
into his bathroom all the time

to either throw up or pee,

and on the wall,

there was a picture of Sparks.

And I remember just
seeing them all the time,

like, "Who are those guys?"

And I was kind of in love,
and they were sort of like

these mysterious, like, icons,
like patron saints.

I looked at that picture,
like, kind of marveled at it

a thousand times
before I heard them.

♪ Why is there time?

♪ Why is there space?

♪ Why are there dogs and cats

♪ And trees
and the human race? ♪

MICHAELS:
I was sitting in my motel room

doing nothing, thinking,

"No matter what happens,

I'm sticking with you guys."

[laughs]

And then we got
a phone call saying,

"Party's over, guys.

"Big Beat didn't do
what it was supposed to do.

We're flying you guys
back to New York."

That was the end of it.

I was really brokenhearted.

And, uh, they came out
with a new record,

Introducing Sparks.

♪ Ooh, those mysteries...

Here you have Russell,
and here you have Ron here.

This is a great fucking album.

"Those Mysteries,"
most poignant song,

like, that's funny as hell
but also a question--

this kind of yearning,
searching,

trying to make sense
of, like, the awkwardness

and the pain of being
a human being

and doing it
in a funny, smart way.

Cool. I'm into it.

STEWART: I think so much
of their music requires

not taking it on face value.

If you want to work with them
and think about the music,

you can get more out of it.

If you want to just absorb it,

you're going to be
missing the point entirely.

That's what hurt them, I think.

It hurt Sparks
that they came of age

at a time when people could
only take things at face value.

One of the snottier

metal/punk magazines,

the review was:"Introducing
Sparks, dot-dot-dot.

Unfortunately,
we've already met."

HEWLETT: From the adulation
that they had been receiving

to the non-adulation around

Big Beatand Introducing,

it was just obvious
it wasn't working.

It became very difficult,

and I really liked
Ron and Russell.

I still admired
their abilities,

but I couldn't be 100% behind
what they were doing.

I mean, Ronnie was really
desperate, too, at this time.

I mean, he knew
it wasn't working.

♪ I want a big surprise
tonight... ♪

STEWART:
The record comes out in the heat

of punk rock,

and an album

that could not sound
more out of sorts with that.

♪

♪ Where is that
Yankee ingenuity? ♪

RON:
The whole passion and energy

and kind of statement of punk

seemed like it was
almost partially directed

towards what we were doing.

So we thought, "Is this, like,

kind of dinosaur music?"

We never felt that before,

and we've never
felt that since.

-♪ Big surprise tonight
-♪ Big surprise

♪ A really big surprise
tonight ♪

♪ I want a big surprise
tonight... ♪

RON: The Sex Pistols'
album is one of

the greatest albums
of all time,

but that wasn't
where we should be going,

so we had to find
a proper direction

so that we would feel
unthreatened.

-[applause]
-[chuckling]

[announcer speaking French]

RUSSELL: After we did
theIntroducing Sparks album,

we did an interview with
a journalist in Los Angeles.

She said, "Well,
what's next for Sparks?"

And then we said,
"Oh, well, we're going to be

working with Giorgio Moroder
on our next album."

She said, "Oh, that's funny.

"Giorgio didn't
mention that to me.

I'm really good friends
with him." And we went,

"Uh, eh, uh..." Gulp.

RON:
'Cause it was a total lie.

♪ Ooh...

We wanted to work
with Giorgio Moroder,

and we had heard "I Feel Love"
on the radio,

the great Donna Summer song
that Giorgio produced,

but we didn't know how
to contact Giorgio.

RUSSELL: And then she said,
"Well, I could introduce you."

ANNOUNCER: The number 30 song
this week on the Top 30,

the young man called Giorgio,
who's with us here

on Top of the Pops
this evening.

Let's give him a nice
Top of the Popswelcome.

-Thank you.
-[cheering, applause]

RUSSELL:
And he was really,

surprisingly to us,
up for the challenge

of working with a...
you know, a band.

RON: It really was
pretty brave of him.

["La Dolce Vita" by Sparks
playing]

We did the recordings
in Los Angeles.

Interesting studio because
it was totally electronic

with a massive amount
of Moog modular

and Roland synthesizers

and thousands of sounds.

RON: We were aware that we were
kind of reinventing ourselves

as we were making that,

but we knew that we were
doing something

that was totally new.

For me as a fan,
it would be hard to know

if it's willful
or if it's the innocence of:

"Wouldn't it be a great idea
if we just made

a synthesizer record in 1979,
before the '80s?"

♪ You're the only bank
that's open all night ♪

♪ La dolce vita

♪ Now that that's clear,
can you give me a light? ♪

♪ La dolce vita...

RUSSELL: We all went in it
with this kind of

naive spirit to just do
something that we thought

was really fresh-sounding.

And we think it was
something really special.

♪ Can I have another plate
of your la dolce vita? ♪

It took one year
after that album was recorded

before a label wanted
to sign it.

♪ Gold diggers are we

♪ Step up, follow me...

Someone at Virgin Records
in Germany

saw the tape sitting there
and said,

"Hmm, Sparks, Giorgio Moroder.
Let me give that a listen."

And said,
"This is pretty amazing,"

and shipped it off
to Richard Branson and company

in-in the UK, and they agreed.

STEWART:
WhenNo. 1 in Heaven came out,

it was two years after the
massive failure of Introducing,

and you're kind of seeing
the DNA of so much

of what would come later on.

TAYLOR: This was probably
one of the first

electropop dance records

of all time.

[dance beat playing]

[imitating beat]

MOORE: That, to me, was
such an astounding record.

It seemed really audacious.

DJ LANCE ROCK:
It just takes you on

this incredible, hypnotic trip.

Just belied and denied anything
else that was happening.

It just rose above it.

♪ We're just gleams
in lovers' eyes ♪

♪ Steam on sweaty bodies
in the night ♪

♪ But one of us
might make it through ♪

♪ All the rest
will disappear like dew ♪

♪ Pressure building,
getting hot ♪

♪ Give it, give it,
give it all you got ♪

♪ When that
love explosion comes ♪

♪ My, oh, my,
we want to be someone ♪

♪ Tryouts for
the human race... ♪

RHODES: It was a huge influence
on-on our early material.

Uh, we were already
big Moroder fans,

but this combination, uh,
it was just perfect.

♪ We just want
to be someone... ♪

That's why I ended up
working with Vince--

'cause those synths,

they just drove me.

MAN:
Sparks, "Beat the Clock,"

uh, Millaney/Grant,
sixth of June.

["Beat the Clock" by Sparks
playing]

♪ You gotta beat the clock,
you gotta beat the clock... ♪

Sparks-- well,
they're back in Britain,

they're back in business,

and they're currently trying
to beat the clock.

♪ You gotta beat the clock,
you gotta beat the clock... ♪

BERNARD BUTLER:
As a synthesizer duo,

I guess you could say that

they sort of set a template.

♪ You gotta beat the clock,
you gotta beat the clock... ♪

WRIGHT: I became first aware
of Sparks in their 1979 period.

Just seeing them on, like, Top
of the Popsaround that time.

You know, it's a very
sort of stark dynamic image--

Russell singing,
Ron on the synths.

He had his '79
kind of hipster hair.

ANNOUNCER:
Sparks and their new single

called "Beat the Clock."
Billy?

I think it was real great.

♪ Well, I've seen
everything there is ♪

♪ I've done
everything there is... ♪

There's myself, uh, there's
the guy from the Pet Shop Boys,

there's the guy
from Duran Duran.

I mean, we were all
miserable fuckers, you know?

It's a look, isn't it,
which we just stole

from Sparks.

["The Number One Song
in Heaven" by Sparks playing]

RUSTY EGAN:
I was desperately searching

for music to put in my DJ sets

at the Blitz Club.

I came across
"Number One Song in Heaven."

BELL:
It's just one of those songs

that gives me goose bumps.

EGAN:
What I loved about it

was the first four minutes,

and it was all synthesizers

and sequences.

And I was like,
"This is great."

♪ This is the number one song
in heaven ♪

♪ Written, of course,
by the mightiest hand... ♪

STEPHEN MORRIS: In Joy
Division, when we were doing

"Love Will Tear Us Apart,"

there were two records
that we were listening to.

Uh, one was

Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits,

and then the other one was
"Number One Song in Heaven."

ANTONOFF: "Number One Song
in Heaven" just sort of, like,

moves in this crazy way.

And there's even
a moment of silence

pretty early on in the song.
It's, like, this cut

and then it starts back up.
It's wild.

EGAN:
One, two, three.

[imitates drumbeat]

And it goes, like, I don't know,

180 BPM or something.

Oh, my God, that's...
that's too fast.

♪

MARTYN WARE:
This is the absolute apogee

of electronic pop music

for me.

I can't think
of anything better.

We can only, with Heaven 17,

kind of aspire to it.

♪

♪ It's number one
all over heaven ♪

♪ It's number one

♪ All over heaven

♪ It's number one
all over heaven ♪

♪ The number one song
all over heaven... ♪

MORODER: If they would
release nowNo. 1 in Heaven,

they would say,
"Wow, geniuses."

I mean, they were geniuses
then, but now even more

because this could be
the second sound of the future.

♪ Gabriel plays it

♪ God, how he plays it

♪ Gabriel plays it

♪ God, how he plays it

♪ Gabriel plays it

♪ God, how he plays it

♪ Gabriel plays it

♪ Let's hear him play it...

♪

ROSS: I really liked
seeing them stripped down,

and in a way, it made the image

more impactful.

♪

It was shortly after
that period, I guess,

that Paul McCartney did
that video "Coming Up."

♪ You want a love
to last forever... ♪

It was all Paul McCartney
doing loads of

very instantly
recognizable characters.

And, of course, he did Ron.

I mean, I know how much
Ron and Russell

are fans of The Beatles,

and so I suspect they were
really excited to see that.

SCHWARTZMAN:
That's amazing, like,

that a Beatle would pretend
to be all these...

like, Buddy Holly
and all these different people,

and he's Ron Mael.

RUSSELL: I started
respecting Ron a lot more

after Paul McCartney, uh,

gave his tribute to Ron--
then I realized,

"God, I'm working with somebody
that Paul McCartney likes."

FRED ARMISEN:
How cool is that?

It is the ultimate.

And it's Paul McCartney.

Just incredible.

RON:
After doingNo. 1 in Heaven

and working
with Giorgio Moroder,

which was
such an inspiring experience,

it was the time
for the follow-up album,

but Giorgio wasn't,
uh, available,

so it was kind of farmed out.

I think, for that reason,
the album became more generic.

To Giorgio's credit,
he was

involved with the selection,

and there was the song
"When I'm with You."

He thought that that song
was really something special.

["When I'm with You" by Sparks
playing]

EGAN: "When I'm with You."
[imitates bass line]

That bass line,

that beautiful string line.

It wasn't anything
that we kind of planned on,

but it became, uh,

the biggest-selling song
that we've ever done.

♪ When I'm with you

♪ I never have a problem

♪ When I'm with you...

RON: Most of those sales
were in France,

and the song was kind of
the soundtrack of the country

during that whole period.

"When I'm with You,"
the Sparks.

♪ When I'm with you...

RUSSELL: The video
for "When I'm with You"

was Ron being the ventriloquist

and me being the dummy,

and some things
never change in life.

DAVID WEIGEL: It's a love song.
Someone's in love.

Okay, I know what's going on.

And then the more he sings,

you realize that-that you're
listening to somebody panic.

♪ It's the break in the song

♪ When I should say
something special ♪

♪ But the pressure is on

♪ And I can't make up
nothing special ♪

♪ Not when I'm with you

♪ When I'm with you...

OSWALT: There is never
a "June, moon, spoon"

aspect to their lyrics.

There is always a three, four,

five times removed aspect of:

So, is the narrator...
This is clearly not the singer.

He's playing a character,
and then the... and you kind of

work out what
the character's biography is.

Each song has such
a personality to it.

That middle eight is
the thing that I think,

for some listeners
who might be investing

in, like, a love song,
will say, like,

"Oh, hold up. Is this a joke?"

It could be seen
as being insincere.

In reality,

it's the thing
that makes them more memorable.

[cheering and applause]

RUSSELL: The thing of doing
TV shows that we did

in a period of, like,
"When I'm with You" in France--

and we did a lot
in Germany at that time--

I think, you know, we realized
that the appeal of Sparks

was going to an area
that wasn't

where we wanted to be going.

And so, um, that was why
we wanted to start having

a band context again.

Please, uh, can you smile?

Uh, cheese.

Ah. [speaks French]

-Merci. Thank you.
-[applause]

[continues in French]

BOHEM:
My relationship to Sparks,

like most everything else,
is based on coffee.

I am an avid, to this day,
coffee drinker.

And in 1980,
it was pretty rough.

The one place you could go
in Los Angeles

was the Farmers Market.

They had a Belgian waffle stand
with one espresso machine.

RODDY BOTTUM:
People started to say,

"I saw the Sparks brothers

at Farmers Market."

And we're like, "What?"

-Small soy cappuccino, please.
-And for you?

Uh, what's a red-eye?

So, a coffee with
a shot of espresso.

-Really?
-Yeah, double caffeine.

-Wow. I'll try that.
-You want one?

-Yeah. Yeah.
-Small?

I'll... I hope I live
to tell the tale.

BOHEM:
I started noticing

Ron and Russell
at this other table.

They were there almost
every day that we were there,

and then after a while,
we-we started saying

sort of a grudging hello
to each other.

RUSSELL: One thing led
to the next, and we, uh,

poached their entire band,

and, uh, that was the end
of Bates Motel.

But it was the start of
the '80s version of Sparks.

BOHEM:
We went to S.I.R.--

Studio Instrument Rentals--
on Santa Monica

and we started
rehearsing the songs

for what eventually was
Whomp That Sucker.

KENDRICK: It was very
different thanTerminal Jive.

It was like, this is
a new thing going on.

I want to say we rehearsed
for six weeks,

and then we were
on a plane to Munich

and-and recording the album.

♪ And, boy, am I sorry...

All of a sudden,
we're in Musicland Studios.

It's Giorgio Moroder's studio.

It's in the basement
of this groovy hotel.

RON: Sometimes, we just
kind of drift into things,

but that really was
a conscious decision

to work with a band.

KENDRICK:
They were inseparable.

At that time,
I kind of had this thing.

They were almost like
a symbiotic thing.

They were like one
sort of complete form.

You know, it's
an interesting thing

about how they wrote
at that time

that the lyrics came last.

Russell would kind of do,

like, nonsense verbiage
just to fill in the space.

It was kind of incredible.

Ron would furiously
finish the lyrics,

literally, it seemed like,
the night before.

The lyrics would show up,
and we'd go,

"Wow, I had no idea." [laughs]

♪ I've got a snapshot
of your Aunt Maureen ♪

♪ She's 90 and you're a teen

♪ I'm trying to cheer you up

♪ Don't be so mean,
don't be so mean... ♪

"I've got a snapshot
of your Aunt Maureen."

[camera clicks]

I can't think of a cooler way
to start a pop song than that.

Who are you?
Who is Aunt Maureen?

I love that lyric.

It grabs me.

♪ Crash, bam,
now you're looking good ♪

♪ Tip-top,
now you're feeling good ♪

♪ Once more,
here's your Aunt Maureen ♪

♪ Don't you feel good?
Don't you feel good? ♪

RICHARDSON: It was
a funny thing of listening

to, like, two grown men
being like,

"Here are tips for teens,"
then sing about, like, zits.

Like, literally being like,

"Here's what you do
when you get a zit."

That's genius.

Songs are about,
like, two things.

Will you please fuck me?

Don't shut my party down.

♪ Tips for teens,
the kind you don't see... ♪

ANNOUNCER: Their wacko training
bra and blemish cream sound

is not typical fare
in the L.A. club scene,

and after several albums,
brothers Russell and Ron Mael

have yet to give up
the fight back home.

RON: The radio station
that really mattered was

"K-Rock," KROQ,
and they were playing

a lot of things
that just fit into our style.

["Don't Go" by Yazoo playing]

I never knew Ron and Russell
to ever make

a calculated move
to capture an audience.

Sometimes they hit it

because they liked something
everybody else liked.

KROQ played all the-the weird
stuff coming from England:

The Cure, Depeche Mode,
Duran Duran, New Order.

SHERMAN-PALLADINO: If you
listened to KROQ, you generally

didn't listen to other stations.

Like, it was sort of like
you just listened to KROQ.

KNEGO:
I remember just falling out

of my chair, you know,
hearing Sparks

actually on the radio.

BOHEM: You know, we're in
Munich, and somebody's calling,

like, "Hey they're playing
'Tips for Teens'

on KROQ every 15 minutes."

I'm like,

"Can we hear it?"
[laughs]: You know?

Sparks is extraordinarily
popular in Europe.

You are very popular
in this country,

but I think it's safe
to say that perhaps

you-your reception over there
is wilder

and more, uh, outgoing
than it is here.

What are you doing
to correct that situation?

We're gonna be
concentrating really heavily

on the States in the next year.

DICK CLARK: Would you introduce
me to your associates, please?

RUSSELL:
On bass, Les Bohem.

BOHEM:
I thinkWhomp That Sucker is

the Bates Motel backup band,

andAngst, that is the point
where we were a band.

STEWART: Angst in My Pants
is a record where culture

and zeitgeist all come together
in that record.

We have Ron and Russell.
Who is the older?

You are.

[laughter]

RICHARDSON:
First of all, best cover.

That cover totally rules.

This is how you do
an album cover.

DJ LANCE ROCK:
I just remember

looking at that,
and it's like,

there's this guy
in a wedding dress with this,

you know, weird mustache.

It was just
such a striking image.

Even now, it is.

STEWART: They themselves
are heterosexual, but they had

a huge gay following.

Their songs questioned
notions of masculinity.

They did it in their music,
they did it in their videos,

and I think they did it
on that album cover.

I mean, that is in the great
rock and roll tradition of:

"'F' you, America."

You know, it's-it's disturbing,
it's unsettling.

It's not right.
It's not Republican.

It's not apple pie.

MADELINE BOCCHIARO: Some dudes
wouldn't even buy the album,

'cause they didn't want to
bring it to the counter,

but that's their problem.

RON: We think it's
important to do something

that is polarizing.

We don't feel bad about that
in-in the slightest.

It kind of encourages us to...

to push what we're doing
even more.

["I Predict" by Sparks playing]

♪ You're gonna take
a walk in the rain ♪

♪ And you're gonna get wet

♪ I predict...

It's probably one of
the most macho,

badass Sparks songs
that's out there.

And the way
they illustrate it is

with Ron stripping,

and it's disgusting and creepy

and delicious.

♪ Philip don't care,
I predict... ♪

PUCKRIK: There's Russell being
the pretty boy, matinee idol,

and Ron, in his own way,
is a matinee idol,

but he's one from
the dark side of the lens.

[crowd cheering]

KAPRANOS: He doesn't fit in any
of the traditional roles

that you would have in a...
a rock and roll band.

That's almost

more powerful than a front man
in many ways.

Certainly very distracting.

FLEA: Yeah, it's shtick
and it's showbiz,

but it's also

emblematic and symbolic

of what their true essence
of who they are is.

BOTTUM:
Who is the star of Sparks?

Sometimes it's Ron,
sometimes it's Russell.

Russell is, like,
a sort of traditional singer,

but Ron was...
yeah, really shined

as just this sort of strange,
odd presence.

Thank you. Thank you.

Tell us, though, about Sparks.

I know that you're
an underground band.

What-what are you saying

to those kids out there
or to adults?

What-what is Sparks saying?

Sparks is a rock band
with a point of view.

The thing that we wish
to convey is-is a sense of joy

about the music
that we are creating.

And I think most
of this sense of joy

is from Russell's singing
and from my lyrical approach.

Sometimes it's satirical

but never without some sort
of witty point of view.

-HOST: Sparks.
-[cheering]

DJ LANCE ROCK:
"Cool Places" is a big hit.

I think that's the first time

some of my contemporaries

became aware of Sparks.

-Our time has come.
-Okay.

-And here we are.
-We've arrived.

I hope you like our new
single, "Cool Places."

♪ I wanna go to cool places
with you ♪

♪ I wanna take you
cool places tonight... ♪

RUSSELL:
The video for that song was

really played a lot on MTV
in the States,

and so it was really reaching

a new audience that perhaps
we wouldn't have had.

♪ A minimum of chitchat...

WIEDLIN: It's hard to overstate
how important MTV was

to the music business
at that time.

And the "Cool Places" video
is so wacky and so fun.

♪ I gotta tell you...

CHRISTI HAYDON: I guess
I would've been in high school

when "Cool Places" came out.

And I saw the video on MTV.

And I knew exactly
who Jane Wiedlin was

'cause I loved the Go-Go's.

But I thought,
"Who are these two guys

with my Go-Go?" [laughs]

♪ And they could tell
we're cooler now... ♪

SCOTT AUKERMAN: I remember
the video very, very distinctly

for the dancing in it,

which was very '80s dancing,

which was just basic swaying.

Has anybody traced back
that dance?

People call it
the Molly Ringwald.

WIEDLIN: No, no, no. I think
we thought of it, personally.

When we saw Molly Ringwald
doing it,

we were like, "Oh, my God,
she stole our dance."

♪ I wanna go, I wanna go...

How did you fall in
with this company?

-We met on a love boat cruise.
-[laughs]

No, no, seriously.
How did the...

Did you get a telephone call?
Did you see her?

What...
Who made the first call?

Oh, it was mutual admiration

for, uh, each other's
respective groups

and then mutual, uh, admiration

for each other's bodies.

-[laughter]
-Would you stop that?

I knew, if I let you go long
enough, I'd be in trouble.

WIEDLIN: As you can imagine, I
was madly in love with Russell

all through my teenage-hood,
and then I got to meet him, and

I basically
threw myself at him.

Let's just put it that way.
And, um...

so we had sort of this brief,
brief romance

that, uh, didn't ever really
get deep or anything,

and it was fun, and I think,
really, a lot of it for me

was getting to fulfill
a fantasy.

You know, one thing led
to the next, you know.

You're now getting
a little insight

into how things happen
in the music world.

You think it's all just
kind of--

people come out
with albums and record

and it's all lovey-dovey.

You know, this...
this is how...

We thought it was
limos and ludes,

but it's really sex, huh?

-This is how it happens, yes.
-It's really sex.

WIEDLIN: I was so in love with
Russell 'cause he was so cute,

so I chose beauty
over brains, but...

and I'm not saying
Russell's not smart

or Ron's not beautiful--
don't get me wrong--

but, like, now, like,
I think of Ron, and I'm like...

[swooning]:
"Oh, Ron Mael."

Like, I mean, he just wrote

some of my favorite songs
I've ever heard.

["I Wish I Looked a Little
Better" by Sparks playing]

KAPRANOS:
There is this continual theme

through Ron's lyrics

in Sparks songs

of somehow
not being good enough.

VERA HEGARTY:
Sparks do that thing--

it's like, they have
a really poignant theme,

and they're addressing
something quite serious,

but it's done in
a kind of a playful,

slightly throwaway way.

And then you kind of
think about it and you go,

"You know, it really
is quite sad."

♪ Turn out the light,
yeah, the light ♪

♪ And I might have a chance

♪ I guess I look
slightly worse ♪

♪ Than the Elephant Man

♪ Whoa-oh-oh

♪ I wish I looked
a little better... ♪

BOTTUM: All of the songs come
from the perspective of Ron,

and, you know,
he's socially awkward

and sort of, you know, like,
runs into issues,

which is what makes the band
so interesting to me, too,

'cause the face of Sparks and
the voice of Sparks is Russell,

and Russell is so handsome

and, you know,
kind of a ladies' man,

but he's singing these
really fucked-up, like,

"can't get the girl" lyrics.

JONES:
It didn't occur to me,

but being brothers,
at the time,

when he was the cutie-pie

and all the teenagers
loved him,

did he get jealous that he
wasn't getting any attention?

I mean, that would've done
me in if I was his brother.

CONGLETON:
He's celebrating all the things

that awkward kids feel.

Ultimately,
at the end of the day,

he's making you feel
less alone.

♪ Dress for success

♪ Oh, that's what they said

♪ Oh, give me some clothes

♪ To slap over my head

♪ I went to Balboa Island
and laid in the sand ♪

♪ I may be ugly as sin,
but at least now I'm tan ♪

♪ Whoa-oh-oh

♪ I wish I looked
a little better... ♪

KENDRICK:
We were headlining,

like, the Greek Theatre
by the end,

which is, like,
a 5,000-seat venue.

You know, it was big.

STEWART:
There they are, playing

multiple nights at the Whisky,

and then larger venues

like the Country Club
or the Palace

and even headlining
the Hollywood Bowl.

YANKOVIC:
I thought they were one of

the biggest bands in the world,

because if you lived in L.A.
in the early '80s,

that was pretty much
the impression you got.

♪

KNEGO:
I was happy for them

because they deserved
the success.

♪ Let's go.

[cheering and applause]

And then sadly, you know,
with Pulling Rabbits,

you know, everything started
going south.

I can't believe
what I'm seeing.

Me, either. [laughs]

♪ That is what I had intended

♪ Pretending to be drunk...

SILVERBLATT: Along comes Sparks
with a swing song

called
"Pretending to Be Drunk."

♪ You think I am
weak and feeble ♪

♪ You think I'm a bore...

Doesn't sound like
a Sparks song...

♪ Soon I'm out the door...

...but it doesn't sound like
any other kind of song, either.

It sounds like
an alpine glockenspiel song.

It's crazy.

♪ Pretending to be drunk...

RON: We really do enjoy
those periods

when we do have
commercial success,

but we wanted to do something

that was not
as easily pigeonholed,

obviously not wanting to commit

commercial suicide
at the same time.

♪ Pretending
to be drunk... ♪

In America,
Sparks had a hard time.

They were a bit much
for most people.

DJ LANCE ROCK: What can I say?
I'm an American,

so I don't want
to criticize too much,

but, you know,
Sparks are a lot of things

that many Americans
don't seem to care for.

People were immediately,
you know, taken aback.

They just thought
they were weird

or that they were a novelty.

♪ That is what I had intended

♪ Pretending to be drunk...

ROSS: I felt like
their career was over

more often than any other band.

You know, it felt to me like,
"I love this band.

"Oh, they're gone.

Oh, never mind.
Oh, they're back."

[laughs]
Some music from two young men

who had a host of hits
when I was but a...

but a child disc jockey.

I'm pleased to say
they're back to delight us

with a record
entitled "Change."

Ladies and gentlemen, Sparks.

-[applause]
-["Change" playing]

WIEDLIN:
They just keep doing it,

and they never let
anything stop them.

Whether they're popular
or not popular,

it just doesn't seem
to matter to them,

and I love that about them.

ROSS: They don't want to stick
with just one thing.

You know, and what an audience
seems to want is:

"This is what this band does,

and this is what they'll
continue doing for me."

And if you change too much,
I think it upsets people,

but in their case,
they needed to.

And I kind of love them
all the more for that.

♪ The rain is falling down...

RON:
People, a lot of the time,

they think of our image
as being maybe a bit eccentric

and they don't think
that it's dealing

with-with sort of real things,

and we really think
that by and large--

and I emphasize
"by and large"--

we're dealing

with real situations.

♪ But wait,
there's a rainbow... ♪

STEWART:
"Change" was this, um,

radical departure for them.

HEGARTY:
It was kind of more muted,

and it was sort of darker.

STEWART: You couldn't make
a less commercial record

or release it as a single.

And I remember how much
I loved it at the time

because of those qualities.

♪ Change

♪ Every dog is gonna
have his day ♪

♪ Change

♪ Every loser's gonna
have his way ♪

♪ Change

♪ I don't care
what other people say... ♪

BOHEM:
There's this ability--

so few people have it--
it's like...

you say very little,
you're funny as could be,

and all of a sudden,
it-it's devastating.

♪ It's a complete
waste of time... ♪

DEAN MENTA: When I was touring
with them, they would do that.

And I always thought, "Wow,

that's a super poignant song,"

considering their ups and downs

in the recording industry.

RUSSELL:
We were given

the unenviable task

of being on a show
on British TV

and our record label didn't
want to finance a video.

If there's any other
local bands out there

that would like this same
sort of video, uh, treatment,

they can contact me
through London Records.

♪ Change, change, change

♪ I don't care what
other people say... ♪

RUSSELL:
We hoped it would embarrass

our record label enough to,

the next time around, maybe,
uh, fling to do a video for us.

♪ I got places
that I've gotta be... ♪

RON:
We billed the record company

for the two pounds
to buy the, uh, board

that we made
the TV out of, too.

Still are waiting
to get paid back for that.

ANNOUNCER:
Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome Sparks.

[cheering and applause]

RUSSELL:
We really liked that song,

but unfortunately, it didn't
have the commercial success

that they had hoped for,
so there was one time

where the head of that label,
he just said, you know,

"You guys really should write

some music that
you can dance to."

♪ Music that you can dance to

♪ That and that alone

♪ Is enough for me

♪ Stark naked modern music

♪ Hotter than your mama
will ever be... ♪

RUSSELL: "Hotter than
your mama will ever be."

I mean, every song I write,
I try to make it hotter

than your mama will ever be.

♪ Music that
you can dance to ♪

♪ Cracks you
like a whip ♪

♪ But it feels so right...

RON: The lyrics sound like
it's trying to be kind of

nasty and oversimplistic,
but I swear to God,

they were... they were done
with total sincerity.

♪ So what's it gonna be?

♪ Gonna be, gonna be

-♪ A symphony tonight
-♪ Symphony tonight...

STEWART: It's a perfectly
crafted sellout song,

except it's not and it's
mocking that idea, and...

"Here's your fucking
dance pop record."

♪ Music that you can dance to

♪ Every single beat
where it ought to be... ♪

RUSSELL: The record executive
at that company

took it the wrong way,
and he wasn't

so happy, so we, uh,
severed our relationship

with that label.

♪

Fuck the guy
from London Records, right?

♪ Music that
you can dance to... ♪

SCHWARTZMAN: I told Ron and
Russell that I loved that song,

and they said something
in the email like,

"Yes, you're in
the age bracket for that song.

"That was in a really cheesy
'80s BMX movie

calledRad,
if you've ever seen it."

And I wrote back,
"Yes, I've seen it.

My mom was in it."

[sighs]

♪

KNEGO:
Their base of music, KROQ,

which was such a great
support to them

in the early '80s,
was moving on.

They wanted bands
like Red Hot Chili Peppers

and more of a angry,
edgier sound.

It seemed like the Top 40 era,

that, uh, wasn't happening
at that point.

STEWART: I bought
intoInterior Design

and would've put out any
Sparks record for any reason.

Unfortunately, at that time,

they had less relevance

than they ever had

to what was going on
in the market.

So we got to put
the record out,

but we weren't able
to do much for it.

KNEGO: You know, they weren't,
like, 20-somethings anymore.

It was a very, very hard time
commercially for them,

but creatively,
they never stopped.

They were always working
on something.

Is there anybody out there
at all right now?

DICK CLARK:
Let's take a look and see

what's going on out there
in California.

They're bringing it in
in style.

HAYDON:
They recorded every day,

sometimes seven days a week.

They were in their home studio

just coming up
with brilliant material

that wasn't being signed,
and it wasn't necessarily

going to culminate
into an album.

CLARK:
1990. Happy New Year!

HAYDON: Because of
the lack of a record deal

and any kind of record company
financial support, you know,

there comes a point where
the well is getting a bit dry.

It seemed, like,
really imperative

that Russell learn how
to be the engineer.

CLARK: It's 1991
onNew Year's Rockin' Eve.

HAYDON:
Had they have been two guys

that did drugs and all of that

and blew their money
in the past,

they wouldn't have been able

to pay their bills
during that time.

It's a testament to them
in every aspect, you know,

to how they had... had,

um, you know,
saved for that rainy day.

So they were able to have,
you know,

almost six years of rainy days.

CLARK:
Now, 1992. Happy New Year.

HAYDON [crying]:
Like, I get emotional

when I think about that time.

Every day-- like I said,
sometimes seven days a week...

...from morning till night,
they were working so hard.

And they never...
they never tried to,

you know, do their version
of being commercial.

They never tried to...
to dumb it down, water it down.

They stayed so true
to exactly...

what they've always been.

CLARK:
Five seconds to 1993.

Happy New Year's
Rockin' Eve '93.

RUSSELL: The one thing that
I'm proudest of with Sparks

is just our determination
and resilience.

For instance, we devoted
six years of our lives

to work on
a movie musical project

that was called
Mai, the Psychic Girl.

It was based on
a Japanese manga.

We were really up
for the challenge of that

because we-we thought

that this could be a way also

for Sparks to channel
what we were doing

but in another form yet again.

And Tim Burton was signed on
early on to direct it.

We did miss performing live
during that period,

but I think,
in the back of our heads,

we were also thinking
a lot of people

are gonna see
this Tim Burton movie

and it will obviously help
the cause for Sparks.

HAYDON:
When we got word that Tim was

bowing out of
Mai, the Psychic Girl,

there were tears,

and...
[chuckles]

And I-I-I cry easily,
but Ron and Russell don't,

and there were tears.

RON: We kind of had put all
of our chips on that one thing,

and-and maybe that was
the wrong thing to do.

RUSSELL: Somehow, you know,
you muster up the enthusiasm

to-to continue on.

I think sometimes
it's the setbacks

that-that actually
make you stronger.

And sometimes,
as a result of those things,

you end up doing something
even better.

CLARK:
Happy 1994.

KAPRANOS:
I remember going to Fopp

on Byres Road in Glasgow

and, um, this new
Sparks album was out.

Gratuitous Sax
& Senseless Violins.

I was thinking,
like, "Oh, wow.

So this band still exists?"

♪ No, no use
in lecturing them ♪

♪ Or in threatening them

♪ They will just say,
"Who are you?" ♪

GLORIA HUNNIFORD:
That unusual duo from the '70s

are back and still brilliant.

Bloody hell, they look amazing.

Have they not aged?

HUNNIFORD:
It's like a time warp.

The pair of you look
exactly the same.

Well, thank you.
What can I say?

So, after a six-year gap,

they came back
with a vengeance.

♪ No, no use
in taking their time ♪

♪ Or in wasting two dimes

♪ On a call to God knows who

♪ When all you feel
is the rain ♪

♪ And it's hard to be vain

♪ When no person looks at you

♪ So just be gracious
and wait in the queue ♪

♪ So when do I get
to sing "My Way"? ♪

♪ When do I get to feel
like Sinatra... ♪

Oh, my God, "When Do I Get
to Sing 'My Way.'"

Oh, I love it.

It absolutely was
the perfect song

for this big comeback.

RUSSELL: Our German manager
at the time said,

"Ja, ja,this is ein Hit."

So he approached BMG Records
in Germany,

and they said,
"Ja, you are right.

Das ist ein Hit."

♪ Don't see,
is my smiley face still on? ♪

HAYDON:
The video did showcase them

as these glamorous guys

who at least one of them
has it all,

but it's coming
out of a time when

they didn't have it all.

-I feel wonderful.
-[laughter]

♪ When do I get to feel
like Sinatra felt? ♪

KNEGO: Sparks singing "When
Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'"

is, like,
the ultimate statement.

It's like, "Yeah, okay,
you liked it

"when Frank Sinatra did it.

"You liked it when Sid Vicious
did it, you know?

Why can't we do it?"

♪ When do I get to feel
like Sid Vicious felt? ♪

KAPRANOS: The irony is I don't
think Ron or Russell want

to be either Sinatra

or Sid Vicious.

They just want to feel
as famous.

♪ They'll introduce me

♪ Hello, hello

RUSSELL:
We were being perceived

as a brand-new band now.

♪ Women seduce me...

RON:
Some of the radio stations

kind of accused us
of ripping off bands that,

in all modesty, were influenced
by what we had done,

and it was kind of humiliating.

Backstage at
a Pet Shop Boys concert,

while I was promoting
their records,

I approached Neil Tennant,
and I said,

"Why don't you guys ever
acknowledge Sparks?"

And he just gave me a, you
know, sort of a scornful look

and said, "You're very
naughty," and walked away.

MORRIS:
It was weird coming back...

GILBERT:
Yeah.

...to find something
you invented.

[laughing]: Yeah.
And you've left behind.

KNEGO:
We had a top ten with

"When Do I Get
to Sing 'My Way'"

and another couple
charting singles

off of that album as well.

So Sparks really sort of made
a name for themselves

in the clubs,
which was really cool.

RON: It became the number one
airplay song in Germany.

RUSSELL:
Thank you, uh, especially to...

everyone in Germany
for making this past year

so super special for Sparks.

So thank you very much.

[cheering]

[wind whistling]

[thunder crashes]

♪

RON: If we had
stayed strong,

we probably
wouldn't have done

thePlagiarism album.

Plagiarism was
something that was

recommended from
outside forces.

It's a retrospective
of their own career,

but they've done it

as grandiose, orchestral,
bombastic versions.

RON:
It was felt that since we had

reached a whole new audience,

maybe there's a group
of young people

that haven't heard
earlier stuff,

and we reluctantly
went along with that.

PUCKRIK: They're not interested
in looking backwards.

They're always on a quest.
They're always on a mission

to further their
musical perversions.

RON:
One of the reasons why

we've been able to go on
for so long

is because we're always kind of
looking to the next album

and not even bothering
with the past.

And so when we get back
to Los Angeles,

that's the first thing
we're gonna be working on

is an album of new material.

♪

SILVERBLATT: Sparks is
the quintessence of a band

that starts and starts again
and starts again.

No success is
big enough for them.

No failure is
small enough for them.

They can always move on.

["Balls" by Sparks playing]

TAMMY GLOVER:
Every single album,

we think, is going to be
the breakthrough album

where, you know, the world
finally gets wise.

♪ To succeed are balls

♪ All you need are balls...

RUSSELL:
Maybe there's something

to that lyric that resonates

with-with Sparks.

-[laughter]
-And I turn it over to Ron,

-who would like to...
-Such a... I'm just moved.

♪ Balls, all you need
are balls ♪

♪ To succeed are balls

♪ All you need are...

GLOVER:
Balls didn't break through.

But every time that happens,
Ron reinvents everything.

It's just in Sparks's DNA

to rip up the rule book
and start over.

KNEGO: They've reinvented
themselves several times,

but Lil' Beethovenwas,
I think,

phase three
in the Sparks genre.

MAIDA: It's almost
as if they erased

the chalkboard, you know,
and started over again.

♪ I am the rhythm thief

♪ Say goodbye to the beat

♪ I am the rhythm thief

♪ Auf Wiedersehen to the beat

♪ Oh, no...

PALLADINO: It was
a really interesting variation

on everything
they had done before.

It was almost like a--
you're combining

Steve Reich and his repetition

with Sparks and their comedy.

♪ You'll never get it back,
you'll never get it back ♪

♪ The rhythm thief has got it
and you'll never get it back ♪

♪ You'll never get it back,
you'll never get it back ♪

♪ The rhythm thief has got it

♪ Lights out, Ibiza...

There's all these
group vocals and chants

that are almost like raps,

kind of neoclassical feel
to the music.

-♪ I am the rhythm thief
-♪ Rhythm, rhythm thief♪

♪ Auf Wiedersehen
to the beat. ♪

STEWART: What they remind me of
with that album

is how important it is

to stay on your toes

and be alert
and be challenged as a listener

and to move away from
nostalgia and comfort food.

♪ I married myself

♪ I'm very happy together

♪ Long, long walks
on the beach ♪

♪ Lovely times

♪ I married myself

♪ I'm very happy together

♪ Candlelight dinners home

♪ Lovely times...

KNEGO:
They weren't trying to be

something to please
a record company.

They were just taking

all their creative juices

and putting it into
something that they loved.

It's that ability and desire

to take risks

and to mess things up
that makes them Sparks.

RUSSELL:
I think we spent over a year

recordingLil' Beethoven,
not even knowing for sure

what the end product
was going to be.

And I think, when you kind of

approach an album
in that sort of way,

we tend to spend
a lot of time on it.

It's you.

RON:
The albumLil' Beethoven,

in particular, was one where
the studio was essential.

Just creatively, you know,
we feel so energized

by working in this kind of way

where we don't
have to feel foolish

if we do something foolish.

And we do quite a bit
of foolish things,

but you'll never
hear about 'em.

RUSSELL:
Not being dependent

on massive budgets
and record companies

became a really
liberating thing

that now we could record

on our own,
and then we just hand that off

to a... to a label,

and then, uh,
take it or leave it.

[playing
"My Baby's Taking Me Home"]

♪ Home, my baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ Home...

RON:
"My Baby's Taking Me Home" is

one of my favorites
off of that album.

It's an emotional song

that has
lots of bumps and curves

and poetic images would have,

but it's only
pretty much saying,

"Home, my baby's
taking me home."

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home...

GLOVER: It was amazing to me
that you could repeat a lyric

and have it mean
something different

as the narrator

starts saying it
over and over and over again.

It was almost like
an acting technique.

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

Sing it!

♪ Home, my baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home...

BEN HOUSE:
I can remember playing

"My Baby's Taking Me Home"

for a friend of mine,

and as the song keeps going,

her eyes just got
wider and wider.

♪ My baby's taking me home...

Hearing it live, oh, man,

that is a hypnotic,
great, great song.

♪ Home, my baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home ♪

♪ My baby's taking me home

♪ My baby's
taking me home... ♪

HARRIS: There were a lot
of critics out there

that wanted to be able to like
Sparks and wanted to be able

to rave about them
and, you know,

run around shouting about them,

and Lil' Beethoven

enabled them to do that.

[cheering and applause]

With the Lil' Beethoven
album, the last album,

we-we were able to do something

that woke up people
in a certain way,

and we wanted to go
to the next step

with the
Hello Young Lovers album,

and-and we think
we've accomplished that.

[playing loud,
distorted chords]

HARRIS:
It was just a celebration.

This is fantastic.

We can just go mad now,
and we did.

♪ All I do now is dick around

♪ All I do now
is dick around ♪

♪ Dick around

♪ Think about the recent past

♪ The cynics said
too good to last ♪

♪ But she could change
her mind again ♪

♪ Oh, no, this movie
said "the end" ♪

♪ So I will go about my day

♪ Just dicking round,
my métier ♪

♪ And realize
that life is change ♪

♪ And furniture to rearrange

-♪ Why the hell, why the hell
-♪ Why the hell, why the hell

♪ Why the hell
did she desert you ♪

♪ When you were
so influential? ♪

-♪ Why the hell, why the hell
-♪ Why the hell, why the hell

♪ Why did she desert you

♪ When you told her
she was so essential? ♪

♪ Pull yourself up
off the ground ♪

♪ You've started liking
being down... ♪

ANTONOFF: If you took
a "Dancing in the Dark"

or a "Heroes" by Bowie

or a... you know,
any of the great ABBA songs,

"Dick Around" rips
right through that

and just gives you

the underbelly of a pop song.

A 600-vocal-tracked

orchestral arrangement
of vocal shouting,

"All I do now is dick around,"
right in your face,

it never lets you in slowly,

and it's just the saddest thing

in the world.

And it's so fucking catchy.

♪ All I do now is dick around,
dick around ♪

♪ Then I got
the late-night call ♪

♪ I really miss you after all,
I had a fling and that is all ♪

♪ A stupid fling,
then hit the wall... ♪

"Dick Around" is, uh,
incredibly demanding

on me as a... as a vocalist.

PALLADINO:
Ron has used Russell's voice

as an instrument

as much as he's used
that keyboard.

♪ All I do now

♪ Is dick around...

ANTONOFF:
If I was producing that song,

like a fucking idiot,

I'd, like, put a beat on it
or something

and be like,
"Oh, my God, this is amazing.

"Everyone's gonna feel
so sad about this,

and we're gonna sneak it
into them."

And then Sparks would have
been like, "No, you idiot."

[laughs]:
Like...

"Let Queen do that."

♪ All I do is dick around...

If you don't like this,
we don't care.

I think that that...
you know, that's kind of

the essence of what
popular music should be.

♪ But all I do now
is dick around ♪

♪ All I do now is dick around

♪ Dick around.

-[song ends]
-[cheering and applause]

HARRIS: Ron and Russell
toured comprehensively,

and they played the album
in its entirety, and then

the second set was
greatest hits;

so, then withExotic
Creatures of the Deep,

we were thinking about,

well, how do you
perform this live?

You know, what would
be the concept?

And it was just a really
sort of seemingly stupid idea--

what if you perform every album
followed by the new album?

RON: Sue Harris came up
with the idea

to do 21 of our albums--

the entire catalog--
one each night live.

By our nature, we said,
"Sounds great."

And then we realized
the enormity of the task.

♪

STEVIE NISTOR:
Russell said,

"We're thinking about playing
every song we've ever written

night after night in London.
What do you think?"

And I just laughed.
It's just impossible.

And Ron said,
"We're even gonna do

the B-sides for the encores."

And I said,
"How many songs is that?"

RUSSELL:
There were approximately,

I don't know, I think 270 songs.

I think the final total was...
it-it was closer to 300.

♪

HARRIS:
They rehearsed for...

I think it was
four months or so in-in L.A.

♪ Let the monkey drive,
we can have our fun... ♪

NISTOR:
It was like boot camp.

We start with
the first record, right?

And, well, okay,
once you rehearse

the first record for the day,

it sounds pretty good,
and by the end of the week,

you feel great about
the first record.

Well, now it's time to start
rehearsing the second record.

Okay, well, here's a new thing.

It's starting to sound good
by the end of the week.

Well, by the end of week two,

you've got the second record
sounding pretty good

and you've completely
forgotten the first record.

♪ Let him take the wheel

♪ Neath the setting sun...

Each day, the-the problem
gets compounded

about retaining everything
that you had been rehearsing,

and it just starts
compounding and compounding.

As you get to album
number 18, you go,

"Does anybody have a clue
about Big Beat?"

♪ While we have our fun...

It was a test of short-
and long-term memory.

I wouldn't advise it.

♪ Uh-huh.

♪

ROSS:
It was...

almost foolish.

And the day after we finished
recording the album,

we started in rehearsing,
so it's been four full months

of, uh... of work
to get to this point.

♪ Receiving favors
for what I am ♪

♪ Seems rather strange,
but I understand ♪

♪ 'Cause I am likable...

BERMAN:
The middle of the night,

and I woke up, I'm thinking,
"I have to go see every show."

It was almost like

God came to me and said,

"Tosh, you must see
every show."

♪ I'm just likable

♪ Night and day...

RHODES:
Let's face it,

you got to be completely crazy

to do 21 shows in a row

with a different album
every single night.

It's insane,
but it's fantastic.

Number one!

Number two.

Number three.

ROSS: They treated every
single one of their albums

with the same level of respect

and the same
attention to detail,

regardless of how well it did

commercially
or critically at the time.

♪ I'm just likable
night and day... ♪

HARRIS:
So it went on for a month.

But it was fun.
It was just exhausting.

I think everyone lost
a stone in weight

in the first week
and couldn't eat.

It was nerve-racking.

♪ Ah...

NISTOR:
It was hard.

Any time I was feeling
sorry for myself,

I would look at Ron doing

a sliding knee dive
across the stage

and Russell clapping
his hands above his head,

running like a crazy man,

and I'd just think,
"Yeah, I can do this."

ROSS: I admire their stamina,
but I admire

anyone who went to see 'em
21 nights.

I admire your stamina more.
[laughs]

♪ Just so you like me...

HARRIS: It's just
the most ridiculous thing.

It was preposterous,
and it was extraordinary,

but it was a triumph.

KAPRANOS: There's often
this, uh, terrible fate

which awaits bands either when
they keep going for too long

or when they re-form.

And that terrible fate
is becoming

a tribute to the band
that you once were.

DJ LANCE ROCK: They could
rest on their laurels

and just come out and just
do some sort of, like,

"Now we're gonna do
a greatest hits show,"

but no, they're challenging
themselves and their audience

and they're doing, like,
you know, radio opera.

♪ Bergman, Bergman

♪ Bergman, Bergman...

HARRIS: Ron and Russell
came up with the idea

of Ingmar Bergman,
the film director--

what if he had been
lured to Hollywood

with the promise

of big budgets and big bosoms?

And it was played
on Swedish national radio.

After that, they performed it
at the L.A. Film Festival

and, you know,
got a really good reaction.

KAPRANOS: They've always had
the desire to push on

and create something new,
and I think that's

probably what appealed to...
to them about the FFS project.

[Russell snickering]

-For fuck's sake.
-[laughter]

RUSSELL: We had met
the guys in Franz Ferdinand

12 or 13 years ago
in Los Angeles.

We had, you know, like bands
tend to do, they say,

"Hey, we should try to do
something together sometime."

♪ I'm just a little guy
from the suburbs... ♪

Ten years later,

we're walking in the morning,
just taking a little stroll

in downtown San Francisco,

and we see this guy
walking by, and we go,

"That looks like Alex Kapranos.
Hey, it is Alex Kapranos."

So we say, "Hey, Alex."

He goes, "Hey, Sparks guys."

He was on his way
to the dentist.

He had chipped
one of his teeth.

So we said, "Remember we were
gonna do a project together?"

He said, "Yeah,
we got to do that."

So we talked about,
"Well, let's just try

one song together,
see what happens."

KAPRANOS: In Ron's typically
perverse way... [laughs]

he sent over

"Collaborations Don't Work."

♪ Collaborations don't work

♪ They don't work

♪ They don't work...

And it was so obviously a test.
It was like,

"All right, you think
you can collaborate, do you?"

♪ Collaborations don't work

♪ They don't work,
they don't work... ♪

RON:
We opened up the door for, uh,

any return ammunition

coming our way.

♪ I ain't no collaborator...

CONGLETON:
As a response to that,

Alex sent kind of
a country groove.

So this song was

literally
a strange little argument

that they were doing online.

♪ I ain't no collaborator...

We sent it over to Ron,
and then suddenly,

it came back with Russell
singing on top of it

and these new melodies.
We got this great buzz.

It was like,
"Oh, God, this is fantastic."

Everybody was tentatively
kind of going like,

"You know, this sounds like
it could almost be...

[whispers]:
like, an album, maybe."

[laughs]

♪ I ain't no collaborator...

AUKERMAN:
One day, I pull up Pitchfork,

and I read that Franz Ferdinand

has made an entire record
with Sparks.

And it was just like, "What?"

It made me say,
"Yeah, Sparks is back.

"Okay, yeah,
let me pay attention

to what they've been doing
over the past ten years."

RUSSELL: "Johnny Delusional"
became the first single.

One of my favorite lines--
it's kind of one of

the saddest lines, I think,
in a, uh, Sparks song is:

"I'm borderline attractive

from afar."

And that-that line, to me,
is really, uh, touching.

♪ Some might find me borderline
attractive from afar... ♪

CONGLETON:
"Some might find me

"borderline attractive
from afar,

but afar is not where
I can stay, and there you are."

It's beautiful.
I mean, that's hilarious,

but it's also really beautiful.

♪ Though I want you

♪ I know I haven't
a chance... ♪

There's a real melancholic
vulnerability about it.

CONGLETON: It's very sad,
but it sounds celebratory.

It's, like, this meditation

on loneliness.

♪ Paging Mr. Delusional...

KAPRANOS: I often feel,
with Ron's lyricism,

that he's metaphorically,

like, slicing his chest open

and kind of going like,
"Here's my heart."

♪ You're wanted
at the front desk ♪

"Here's my heart.

Has nobody noticed?"

♪ Wouldn't it be terrible

♪ If there's no music there?

HARRIS: TheFFS album, it-it
introduced them to a crowd

that maybe hadn't been
aware of them before.

We particularly noticed it
in Latin America

where Franz Ferdinand, uh,
were very popular there.

♪ Wouldn't it be terrible
if there's no music there? ♪

RUSSELL:
A lot of those people,

they've become Sparks fans
and really

kind of hard-core Sparks fans,

and they had been introduced
via theFFS album.

♪ Though I want you...

INTERVIEWER:
Been watching you play live.

It seems to be more

of a kind of enjoyment thing.
It just seems to be fun.

Oh, we're faking it.

[laughter]

♪ Johnny Delusional here...

Does Franz Ferdinand know
how lucky they are

that that happened?

I hope that they were
grateful and psyched.

CONGLETON: That's their most
exciting record they've done

in quite some time, and I
really think they learned a lot

from working with these

elder statesmans of-of pop,
you know?

[playing "What the Hell
Is It This Time?"]

Hello.

♪ Historically, historically,
we make an appeal ♪

♪ To something greater
than we are ♪

♪ When we need to heal...

HARRIS:
Doing the FFS project,

they fell in love again
with the pop song,

and because of that love
for the pop song,

Hippopotamus was born.

♪ What the hell is it
this time? ♪

WINWOOD: Listening
toHippopotamus took me

straightaway back
toKimono My House.

The energy of that album

is just great.

MANKEY:
When I put the headphones on

and listened to it
for the first time, I thought,

"Holy cow.
This is like when we were back

at Ron and Russ's
mom's house, you know?"

I loved that.

HARRIS:
The reviews were incredible.

It was near four- and five-star
reviews across the board.

It was, um, included in

the "album of the year" lists,

you know, worldwide.

And the fact that Sparks
have had a top-ten record

is because they're not
trying to be

what other people
want them to be.

RUSSELL [a cappella]:
♪ I wish you were fun

♪ I wish you were fun
in every way ♪

♪ I wish you were fun

♪ To brighten the dark,
cold winter day ♪

♪ In every other way
I find you amazing but one ♪

♪ I wish you were fun,
I wish you were fun ♪

♪ La-la-la... Everybody.

-♪ La-la-la-la-la...
-[music joins in]

STEWART:
Here they are,

playing to some
of the largest crowds

in the last ten years

and playing to crowds
that weren't around

for the first, second
and often the third phase.

RUSSELL: The only part that...
that the public sees

is that 90 minutes onstage,

and they don't see
all the other stuff.

They don't see, uh, security
opening up our suitcases

and having the guy, uh,
you know,

taking out all your stuff

day after day after day
after day at the airport.

And, uh, they don't see
the jet lag

that I currently have
right now.

Uh, but obviously,
we're doing all this

'cause we really are
passionate about our music.

It definitely outweighs
all of the downside.

"Viva México, cabrones."

-Okay.
-Viva México...

-"Cabrones."
-"Cabrones."

-Cabrones.
-Yeah!

Viva México, cabrones.

[cheering]

♪ La-la-la-la-la♪

♪ I wish you were fun

♪ Fun in every way

♪ La-la-la-la-la♪

♪ I wish you were fun

♪ Have some chardonnay

♪ In every other way
I find you amazing but one ♪

♪ I wish you were fun

♪ I wish you were fun.

Okay, I'm tired.

I'm going to go to sleep.

Good night.

♪ La-la-la, la-la-la,
la-la-la♪

♪ I'm pushin'
on my lawn mower... ♪

SCHWARTZMAN:
The way they live their life

is just in service
of the music.

♪ The mornin',
it's my lawn mower... ♪

RON: I kind of have to force
myself to take this walk

'cause I've been doing it

for about 20 years
at this same park, and if...

I know, if I kind of
put it off for one day,

that it's all over
and I'll just be

laying in bed
extra long in the mornings.

♪ The neighbors look in awe
at my lawn mower... ♪

PUCKRIK:
They love ritual.

They love repetition.

I mean, you can hear
their love of repetition

in their music.

You know, they have a hook,
they have a phrase

that's repeated
over and over and over again.

And in their life, even the way
their day is structured--

you know, wake up, work out,
go to the studio,

have your 4:00 p.m.
coffee break,

go back to the studio,
you know, power down.

SCHWARTZMAN:
They are rock stars

that go to breakfast
at the same place

and get the same thing
in the morning,

and then go work at...

You know, they just...
they figured out

what works for them
and how to do it.

I come here religiously
every morning

to get a little
peace and quiet,

just to be by myself
before we start working.

And even once a week,
Ron comes here.

[quiet chatter]

HAYDON: They just keep
going up musically

with what they're writing.

They keep finding
new ways to tell their stories.

HARRIS:
Ron and Russell were in Cannes

and met the French
film director Leos Carax.

They got chatting,

and they were talking
to him about

their screenplay
calledAnnette.

We got along really well,
and when we came back to L.A.

after Cannes, we said,

"Let's send Leos this project,
Annette."

And then he said, uh,
"God, I really like this.

Let me think about it
a little bit more."

And he did, and he got
back to us, and he said,

"You know, I'd really like
to direct this."

We thought, "Oh, this is
amazing," but then we were also

thinking about
our Tim Burton experience

and our Jacques Tati experience
and going,

"Please, dear God,
we don't want

to have one more of those."

-Did you get it?
-That's a film project.

HARRIS:
Historically,

they've, you know,
nearly had films made on,

you know,
more than one occasion,

and you feel that
now is the time,

and it will be amazing
for them to be able

to see their work
on a big screen.

Oh, hello.

Welcome to the set.

RUSSELL: After several attempts
to get a movie off the ground,

Annette has finally
been the one

film project that's sticking,

and it's being shot here
in swinging Brussels, Belgium.

RON: To get a movie made
is a miracle.

We obviously feel good
about the film,

but we also feel good in
a really personal kind of way--

this proves that
we were right all along.

So, uh... so there.

Or voilà.

SCHWARTZMAN: When you get
a Sparks album, I feel like

that's where they are,
this is what they're into,

and they're not gonna
be here for long.

Do you know what I mean?
Like, I feel like by the time

you get the album,
they're already

on to something else.

RON: Sparks have a certain
sensibility that we've had

through all of our albums,

whatever the shift in styles
through time

or different producers
or different countries.

It's kind of something
that we really can't change.

♪ And all the holy places...

RUSSELL: From the beginning
of rock music

when, uh,Blackboard Jungle--

for them to go
and start ripping up,

uh, movie theater seats--

that, to us,
is like the essence

and the spirit
of what music can be.

And I think that
those sorts of things

have always been maybe
in the back of our minds.

We don't sit down and say,
"What can we do

to be provocative
or rebellious?"

But I think,
just by our nature,

that's just inherent
in what we do.

♪ All that we've done

♪ We've lost, we've won

♪ All that,
all that and more... ♪

PALLADINO: I think their
creative process has sustained

their friendship
and brotherliness,

and I think being brothers
has also sustained

their creativity
over the years.

It's-it's unusual,

but they like each other

and they respect each other.

[cheering]

HARRIS:
They are... first and foremost,

they're-they're gentlemen,
and they are,

you know... they're polite
and they're considerate,

extraordinarily creative,
you know, and they're funny.

-Oh, did I not push the button?
-Yeah.

[laughs]
You got to push the button.

RON: We're able to work kind of
without a lot of conversation.

The quieter it is,
the better it is,

because we know
we're kind of onto something

and we can communicate
with each other

in-in kind of nonverbal ways

just by having worked together
for so long.

DES BARRES:
It's some kind of magical

combination of brother blood
and, I don't know,

cosmic interference,

but I have loved them
for all these years,

and I'm really proud of it.

♪ All that we've done

♪ We've lost, we've won...

RUSSELL: I can't imagine having
done a career as a solo artist

'cause I just think the two
of us are sort of inseparable

when it comes to
our passion for music.

I think his songs
and my singing

are one and the same.

RON: I have that security
when I'm working with Russell.

If I were to work with myself,

I-I feel, you know,
really, really nervous.

It would put me in a position

where I-I just wouldn't
be able to-to take... take it.

EVAN WEISS: To me, they've been
such an example of how to age

in this business
with grace and dignity

and treat your band
and your crew, uh, kindly.

And not to reduce it
to such crude terms,

but they're just cool as fuck.

[laughing]:
Yeah.

RUSSELL:
Now that Ron isn't around,

I can finally tell
the real story.

Uh, all of the songs are mine.

All 840 songs written by me,

sung by me, performed by me.

So, uh, anyway, I just thought
it should come out now.

[whispers]:
Just between you and me...

Sparks.

He's just a singer.

[playing "When Do I Get
to Sing 'My Way'"]

♪ No, no use
in lecturing them... ♪

RUNDGREN: There's some comfort
in the fact that

something this weird
can survive

that long without being
corrupted ultimately

into something less weird.

♪ The plot is predictable...

I wouldn't really have seen how
they could've gotten any better,

'cause they were
kind of unique,

but they're doing
something right.

Nobody stays around that long
if they're making mistakes.

♪ No, no use in...

FLEA: If they had been
a band that just,

like, went and tried to make
hits that were sort of, like,

inorganic, outside of their
real natural inclinations,

they would've broken up
by 1977.

♪ It's hard to be vain...

ANTONOFF: Some of the greatest
artists in the world

just sort of had a period.

Sparks is way more
prolific than

all of the artists
we consider to be

the greatest in the world,
so it's overwhelming.

♪ So when do I get
to sing "My Way"? ♪

♪ When do I get to feel
like Sinatra felt? ♪

♪ When do I get
to sing "My Way"? ♪

♪ In heaven or hell...

RUSSELL:
You can knock us for not

having sold
two trillion records,

but staying true to our vision
and being consistent

for this long a period of time,
I think that that's

the measure of success.

♪ In heaven or hell...

JONES: I don't think
they could be really massive.

They're too weird.

Which is great.
Who wants to be really popular?

You know, you just want
to do your art

and love what you're doing
and be happy with that.

[cheering and applause]

It's been an amazing
evening for us.

Thank you very much.

RON:
We're deeply appreciative.

We don't... we don't take
any of this for granted,

and, uh, we'll be back soon.

[cheering]

Thank you.

RON: A lot of times,
people are trying

to find the key
to Sparks somehow,

and I think that really
it's out in the open

with what we're doing
lyrically and musically.

RUSSELL:
Being Russell and being Ron

and being Sparks,
it's kind of one and the same.

RON:
That is what we are.

There isn't some thing
behind the curtain.

SHERMAN-PALLADINO: The mystique
and that whole thing

is part of what makes them
cool no matter what.

They don't owe us anything.

They-they give us the music.

That's... We...
That's all we need.

BOHEM:
It is symbiotic.

It's like the two of them
make up

this whole that is Sparks.

You know, those of us
who've been lucky enough

to come and go in that,
like, it-it...

it's an amazing and
very cool thing to be around.

♪

STEWART: I don't feel
a kind of ownership with them.

I think it's really important
when people come along

20 or 40 years later,
you don't say,

"Oh, I was there all along,
and where were you?"

You say, "Welcome aboard,
and here's more."

WRIGHT: There's something
to be said for the fact

that sleeper success

will keep people talking
about them

a lot longer than artists
that are a lot more popular.

I think the fact that
they've always kept hungry

and consistently
pushed the envelope

is exactly why I wanted
to make this film.

OSWALT:
Their songs are worlds

that you really need
to delve into,

but once you delve into 'em,
the rewards are incredible.

JONES: I wish I had that drive
or that commitment.

I'm just like, "Ah, fuck it.
I can't be bothered."

FLEA: Some bands will give you
an outfit to wear,

and some bands will give you
a sewing machine

and some needle and some thread

and let you make what you want
but inspire you

and give you the energy
to make stuff.

And that's the kind of band
that Sparks is to me.

BECK: There's several
kind of archetypes of bands.

There's the bands
who are wildly popular

in their day and adulation,

and then there's bands
that sow all these seeds

and foment all these ideas
that grow up in other places.

And, uh, there's some
corollary in nature.

Like, we wouldn't survive
without the bees.

Sparks are part of
the ecosystem of music.

And they may have given birth
to other bands

who don't even know that
the lineage goes back to them.

They might not even
be aware of it.

♪ This is the number one song
in heaven ♪

[crowd cheering]

♪ Written, of course

♪ By the mightiest hand

♪ All of the angels are sheep

♪ In the fold of their master

♪ They always follow
the master and his plan ♪

♪ This is the number one song
in heaven ♪

♪ Why are you hearing it now,
you ask ♪

♪ Maybe you're closer to here

♪ Than you imagine

♪ Maybe you're closer to here

♪ Than you care to be...

We fear that, over the course
of the documentary,

we have revealed
way more about ourselves

than we are comfortable with.

So, in an attempt to create
some further mystique,

we'd like to leave you
with a bunch of Sparks facts

that are all 100% true.

Russell has been
an uncredited voice actor

in 27 Hollywood animated
feature films.

Ron briefly dated EÉdith Piaf.

Russell is not singing in
English on Kimono My House.

Ron has worn
the same white shirt,

a shirt he purchased
at Marks and Spencer

in December 1973,
for the last 46 years.

Between 1989 and 1993,

Russell was a NASCAR driver.

Ron has written many novels
under the pen name

John le Carré.

After realizing
he was too small

to compete in college football,

Russell trained
for nine months as a jockey.

26 days before every tour,
Ron goes on the alphabet diet,

eating foods
in alphabetical order.

Day one: avocados or asparagus.

Day 26: zucchini.

In 1982, we started
the first ever

seahorse rehabilitation ranch,
Back in the Saddle.

The tragic decline
in the seahorse population

has been a cause
we've long felt strongly about.

Sparks really only
have two songs,

a fast one and a slow one.

We constantly rewrite
the lyrics for these songs

to give the appearance
of having written

nearly 300 songs.

And finally,
we would like to reveal

that Ron is really Russell.

And Russell is really Ron.

♪ This is the number one song
in heaven ♪

♪ Why are you hearing it now,
you ask ♪

♪ Maybe you're closer to here

♪ Than you imagine

♪ Maybe you're closer to here

♪ Than you care to be.

♪

[audience cheering]

[audience clapping
rhythmically]

♪

♪

[song ends]

[cheering and applause]