Update 11/2/14: I did wonder what Peter Gabriel would make of The Life Of Rock with Brian Pern. Despite a plethora of gags at his expense it appears that he liked it (if this is genuine). Read his response here.
The rock documentary genre is pretty well-trodden terrain. From before The Rutles to after Spinal Tap comedians and music obsessives have been sending up everything from the clothes to the lyrics to the management. The latest addition to this format is The Life Of Rock With Brian Pern. And I'm relieved to say that it is a welcome addition. An all-star one too.
Simon Day plays veteran public schoolboy-turned-muso Pern, who was apparently responsible for recording the lowest ever bass note, inventing world music and using plasticine in his videos. Any similarity to Peter Gabriel is, I suspect, satirically intentional. The character first cropped up on radio and online but here Day/Pern gets a chance to spread his wings with a three-part TV series charting the history of music and also telling Pern's own story.
While there are plenty of moments here that feel a little too familiar, everything is executed with rigorous comic precision (co-writer and director - on and off camera – is Rhys Thomas, aka Down The Line's Gary Bellamy). Michael Kitchen is particularly good value as Pern's foulmouthed current manager who instinctively turns down every offer, from headlining the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury to a lucrative gig for Middle Eastern billionaires.
While the plot pretty much writes itself, the cameos bring LORWBP to life and blur boundaries between fact and fiction in the same way George Harrison and Mick Jagger's cameos brought The Rutles to life. Roger Taylor recalls Queen's rivalry with Pern's prog-rock band Thotch, while Rick Wakeman, for instance, claims to have played piano on David Bowie's Starman, which I think he did, but he also claims to have played piano on Roxy Music's Virginia Plain, which I don't think he did. Real clips and fake clips rub shoulders. Best of all is a bizarre old Pop Quiz clip with Leo Sayer and Rick Parfitt, which may or may not have been doctored but is hilarious either way.
Day has also made extensive use of his bulging contacts book. David Baddiel recalls being bullied every day at school because he lost interest in punk rock and decided he preferred Thotch. Matt Lucas is beautifully full-on as unhinged blond-locked producer Ray Thomas, who likes to record eggs even though they are silent. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer briefly revive their old folkies Mulligan and O'Hare to moan about how folk turned into rock music around the time that Dylan went electric: "he was gas before that."
Elsewhere Paul Whitehouse shows how versatile he can be as quietly normal posh Thotch guitarist Pat Quid, who remembers how the band split when Pern becomes obsessed with wearing masks in the shape of animal heads. Alongside the familiar Fast Show/Smell of Reeves & Mortimer gang Nigel Havers raises his game as Thotch band member Tony Pebblé, who was more interested in women than music.
LORWBP is actually much cleverer than it superficially seems. As well as parodying the whole music industry it also spoofs the whole TV documentary industry. When Annie Nightingale appears onscreen to talk about her passion for music she is credited as "Fearne Cotton". David Baddiel is credited as "Danny Dyer". Jools Holland, credited simply as "Hootenanny", can't resist bashing out some blues on his piano so Pern quietly whispers "stop it". Wonderful stuff. Maybe we will get to hear more of Thotch's epic opus "Onion Divorce" in parts two or three.
The Life Of Rock With Brian Pern is on BBC4, Mondays, 10pm.
