Ron Nasty

Ron Nasty
Born:	9 October, 1940 Liverpool, England
Occupation(s):	Musician, Actor, Babysitter, Pyrotechnics, Rutle
Years Active:	1945-1980, 1995, 2014
Associated Acts:	The Rutles, The Dirty Mac 'N' Cheese, Chastity Hitler, David Bowie, Ben Elton
Died:	December 30, 2019

Ron Nasty (9th October, 1940 - 30th December, 2019) was a 20th-century Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning English songwriter, prophet and babysitter, with his own particular brand of cigarette, who gained worldwide fame as one of the founder members of The Rutles.

Bibliography

Childhood

A young Ron (left) and his uncle (right).

Ron was born on 9 October 1940 in Liverpool. When he was a child, both his parents went missing in a strange incident involving a cricket ball and a stick of celery. He was raised by his uncle, a well-known Liverpudlian ventriloquist. He was a good boy whose main fault was Violence. At the age of 6, he blew up his local school.

To channel his violence he took up playing the banjo, the perfect instrument for the anti-social, at age 7. This led him into a career in music.

Nasty became attached to his banjo so that an operation was soon required to remove it, and some said that he would work on it in the bathroom every night, until he had something to show for it. The banjo now sits in pieces at a Hard Rock Cafe in Rutland.

The Rutles in 1960. (Nasty sits atop the box.)

In 1955, Ron failed his GCE O-levels, and thus became eligible to enter Rutland College of Art. There he met Charynthia Pleasant, Kevin, and Leppo. He was soon kicked out, but in retaliation, he blew it up. He was later inspired by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Little Richard.

At the age of 16, Ron wrote his first song, "Hello Little Pearl". He and some of his friends from the school created a band called The Rutland Art Band. It consisted of him, Kevin, Leppo, and Steve Allen. The band did not last long, which left Ron wandering the streets looking for a job.

During one of these frequent wanderings, Ron was walking through 43 Egg Lane when he bumped into Dirk McQuickly, who fell to the ground. Dirk offered to help him up, and the rest is history.

The Rutles: 1960-1970

In 1960 to 1961, for fifteen months, Nasty played with The Rutles at the Rat Keller. In October, Leggy Mountbatten entered the Rat Keller. Mountbatten saw The Rutles performing and Leggy hated it. He hated their music, he hated their hair, he hated their noise: but he loved their trousers. Mountbatten asked Ron Nasty what it would cost to sign the Rutles. "A couple of jam butties and a beer" was Nasty's reply. Next day Leggy sent them a crate of beer, two jam butties and a fifteen page contract. The Rutles signed immediately. before they finally escaped and returned to Liverpool. In the rush they lost Leppo. He had crawled into a trunk with a small German Fraulein and was never seen again. This inspired Nasty to write the song "Goose-Step Mama". The Rutles returned home to Liverpool. Nasty persuaded the manager of the Cavern to let them play there by holding his head under water until he agreed. Very soon their music began to create no small interest.

Archie Macaw offered to record the Rutles and recommended Leggy to Dick Jaws, who signed Ron Nasty and the rest of The Rutles to a publishing contract for the rest of their lives.  

In 1966, Nasty in a widely quoted interview had apparently claimed that the Rutles were bigger than God, and was reported to have gone on to say that God had never had a hit record. Sales of Rutles albums sky-rocketed. People were buying them just to burn them, many burnt their fingers attempting to burn their albums. Later that year, Nasty took a break from the Rutles to star in a war movie directed by Dick Lester, How I Won The Lottery.

After The Rutles and Antisociality

Footage of Nasty on the Dick Tracy show would be used in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. To his right is longtime Rutles fan Tom Hanks.

Nasty was well-known for making very few television appearances after the Rutles broke up. One of these rare appearances was on the Dick Tracy show in 1971, where he set fire to the entire building. Stock footage from this appearance would later be used in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.

Sometime in 1973 after releasing his critically-panned Mine Games album, Nasty turned his back on the world and became antisocial. For years he refused to sing, play, dance, or babysit, although he would later contradict himself in 1975 by helping write the song Foam for David Bowie. Don Nasty was born that same year. In 1977 he appeared briefly on SNL, where he performed his hit piece Cheese and Onions. In 1980 he came out of retirement briefly to release his musical hit Triple Ecstasy, but afterward regressed back into hiding. At this point, his hair had turned a streak-white. He would not be heard of for the rest of that decade following a sudden attack of performance anxiety.

In the mid-90s he began re-appearing publicly at Rutles reunions, starting off in 1995, when he and everyone else but Dirk recorded Archaeology 1. In late 2014 he returned to do several tours following the release of Imitation Song.

Ron passed away of natural causes on December 30th 2019, becoming the first member of the Prefab Four to die.

Discography

• Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Mormons (1968)
• Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with Willows (1969)
• Live Peas in Toronto 1969 (1969)
• Wedding Album (1969)
• Ron Nasty/Polyvinyl Wicker Trio (1970)
• Imitation Song (1971)
• Crime in New York City (1972)
• Mine Games (1973)
• Cum On Feel the Noize (with Rude Nasty)
• Shoots and Ladders (1974)
• Taking Off (1975)
• Triple Ecstasy (1980)
• Bilk and Money (1984)
• Ron Nasty: Live in New York (1986)
• Nasty (1990)
• Imitation Song (2009)