Published: 15 September 2016
Last updated: 4 March 2024
With a combination of eccentric, bordering on downright weird film clips, flamboyant stage antics and quirky and at times hilariously funny lyrics and song titles, Schatz believes Sparks may just be the greatest band that lots of us have never heard of.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael (where they enjoyed a relatively affluent Jewish upbringing in the burbs), the band is still going strong 45 years later, due in part to a hardcore army of long-term fans and a constantly growing band of new ones, thanks to collaborations with acts such as Scottish indie band Franz Ferdinand, with whom they made an album last year.
Starting out life as Halfnelson in 1968, the band renamed themselves Sparks (a play on the Marx Brothers) after one self-titled debut album. Their follow-up, A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, led to a tour of the United Kingdom, including a residency at the Marquee Club in London, where, as legend has it, Queen opened for them one night.
These London appearances helped secure a significant cult following, as the English quickly took to Russell’s animated, hyperactive frontman antics and falsetto singing, and Ron’s deadpan scowling and keyboards.
The band also achieved some success in Germany, France, and the US in the 70s, a period in which, in collaboration with renowned soundtrack composer Giorgio Moroder, they reinvented themselves as a new wave/synthpop duo.
Speaking to plus61J, Schatz said his passion for Sparks began when he was 13 and he heard the song Get in the Swing on the Israeli hit-parade. “They sounded like a weird mixture of opera-circus and rock music and I was hooked. Since then I’ve bought all their albums. Their next one is due in 2017.”
Sparks have certainly been prolific, releasing 24 studio albums to date, including 2002’s Lil’Beethoven, their ‘genre-defying opus’, as well as the more recent Hello Young Lovers, Exotic Creatures of the Deep and fantasy musical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman.
As a life-long fan, Schatz said he felt compelled to make this film for a number of reasons. “This was an opportunity for me to do something never done before and break the boring tradition of rockumentaries (that all look the same whether they’re about mainstream bands or obscure ones like The Residents). Sparks are eccentric and influential yet at the same time largely unknown and, in my opinion, the most underrated pop-rock-avant garde band in music history.”
Making the film was a true labour of love, and as head of programming for Tel Aviv Cinematheque for the past 19 years, Schatz says he’s seen thousands of documentaries and knew exactly what sorts of mistakes he didn't want to make. “Hopefully I succeeded in creating a film as quirky and weird as Sparks’ songs, at least according to the fans and critics.”
He also wanted to make a film through the fans’ eyes, given that “they are every bit as eccentric as the Maels”, and to acknowledge Sparks’ ability to constantly reinvent themselves. “They’re still making records with new music at 67 (Russell) and 71 (Ron). That’s what separates them from their peers, who go on nostalgia tours just to recycle their old hits and make money,” he says.
By way of example, he cites their recent collaboration with Franz Ferdinand that resulted in the album FFS, released in June 2015, which helped introduce them to a generation of younger fans.
Some of Sparks’ best-known songs include; Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth, This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us, which reached number 2 in the British charts in 1974, the electronic hit The Number One Song in Heaven, When I’m With You, which reached number one in France in 1980, and When Do I Get To Sing ‘My Way’, which topped the German and European charts in 1994.
Schatz adds that the Maels were involved in the making of the documentary, but, having managed to keep their personae a mystery for 45 years, they wanted it to remain that way, so he only used archival footage.
Asked about Sparks’ influence on popular music, Schatz is emphatic. “Without Sparks there would be no Queen, Petshop Boys, Erasure, or Devo,” he says. “Their fans include Morrissey, Biork, Mike Patton, Joe Elliott from Def Leppard, Jello Biafra, and many other famous names.”
Never turn your back on Sparks screens on Saturday 17 September at 1.30pm and Monday the 19th at 7.30pm at Sydney’s Ritz Cinema in Randwick, and Saturday the 17th at 1.30pm at Cinema Nova in Melbourne as part of the AICE Israeli Film Festival.
This The Jewish Independent article may be republished if acknowledged thus: ‘This article first appeared on www.thejewishindependent.com.au and is reprinted with permission.’
And watch: Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us - YouTube 02.01.10 [3:01]
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