Not Letting It Be. Matt Lucas. Copyright: BBC
Not Letting It Be

Not Letting It Be

  • Radio documentary
  • BBC Radio 2
  • 2009
  • 1 episode

Matt Lucas looks at the tradition of music business satire. Features Matt Lucas, Neil Innes, John Sessions, Harry Shearer, Alfred Yankovic and more.

Press clippings

You may think that rock and roll musicians in particular are in no need of being satirised, as they do the job pretty well themselves. Well, that doesn't mean they aren't ripe for a bit of a ribbing. Matt Lucas, himself no stranger to making the michael out of rock gods with David Walliams in Rock Profile on BBC2, hosts this chronological countdown of the best of the mickey-takers.

Step forward Neil Innes with his tales of Rutlemania; Harry Shearer, who turns the amp all the way up to 11 with Spinal Tap (surely the definite send-up/homage) and the Hee Bee Gee Bees... remember Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)? They had Angus Deayton among their number but got Richard Curtis to write the lyrics. Not bad.

Quite why Stella Street is here is a bit of a mystery to me - just because Phil Cornwell and John Sessions get to practise their Mick and Keef voices doesn't make it satire.

Plenty of great music, a few lightly tossed anecdotes and - voila! - an hour of high-quality entertainment.

Frances Lass, Radio Times, 5th May 2009

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