If you lived in Britain in 1974 you’ll never forget that night when an unknown band, called Sparks, appeared on television performing “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us.” They were fronted by the operatic vocals of Russell Mael, whose dynamic rock star theatrics contrasted with brother Ron Mael, silent behind his keyboard, smirking behind his Hitler mustache.
That mustache was enough to raise eyebrows, but their performance, and their music, was unlike anything (although Queen would soon inch toward something similar). Sparks fit uncomfortably into the glam rock bin where critics put them, and they’ve seldom been easy to peg ever since.
Director Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers documents the long, strange journey of the assertively eccentric brother duo from childhood through the present. Wright’s eclectic presentation mirrors their music, and includes quick cuts, animation, Claymation, Guy Maddin-like historical recreations along with reels of archival footage and the film’s recurring motif: Russell and Ron in black and white, staring at the camera, answering questions, often with a twinkle or a twinge of a smile.
Close in age and from a close-knit artistic family, the brothers were probably drawn together ever tighter after the father’s death during their childhood. Mom took them to see The Beatles—twice. And no, they aren’t British, as was widely assumed when the emerged in the ‘70s. The Maels were from Los Angeles but modelled themselves after The Who and The Kinks. “We missed the mark but something else emerged,” Russell says.
That something seldom found more than a confused cult following in the U.S. Ron speaks of inspiration from “the England that was in our mind” and the real U.K. welcomed their music with enthusiasm. Many of their sporadic hits in the ‘80s and early ‘90s topped the charts in France and Germany. Despite appearing on “American Bandstand” in the ‘70s and MTV in the ‘80s, America never knew what to make of them. With Ron’s best lyrics as clever as Oscar Wilde, they were too sly, their satire too subtle.
And they never stood still, making it hard to place them. After the cabaret rock of their early years, Sparks confused fans by going punk in 1976 and reversing course a year later. Their 1979 album with producer Giorgio Moroder, No. 1 in Heaven, anticipated the synth pop of the ‘80s. Their visual sensibility lent them easily to music videos.
The Sparks Brothers glosses over some of their more generic albums but hammers home the main point: Sparks kept trying, pushing, defying record labels and surviving into the 21stst century. In recent years, working in their home studio, Russell and Ron produce what they want and shop it around or release it themselves.
Although their obscurity in the U.S. persists, the brothers influenced or inspired everyone from Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys to New Order and Björk. The Sparks Brothers includes testimonials from Beck, Todd Rundgren, Mike Myers, Neil Gaiman and other fans in high places.
The Sparks Brothers is playing at the Downer Theatre.
