Veal Isn't Fucking Wild

This week's look back at a classic album incorporates two of my favourite things: metal and comedy.

Long before Bill and Ted went off on adventures and journeys and Wayne and Garth schwinged their way on to the big screen, four guys in this country were proving that although metal is very serious indeed it doesn't always have to be.

I'm of course talking about Bad News and their eponymous album that they named after themselves, which is how these things generally work.

For the uninitiated Bad News were a “spoof rock” band featuring Ade Edmondson (lead guitarist, Vim Fuego), Rik Mayall (bassist, Colin Grigson), Nigel Planer (rhythm guitarist, Den Dennis) and Peter Richardson (drummer, Spider Webb) actually playing real instruments. The band appeared on two Comic Strip Presents programmes and this album surfaced in 1987.

You really need to watch both of these rockumentaries to appreciate how funny the whole thing was and how they were really the British Spinal Tap. If only to see the 100 pints of lager and 4 poppadoms bit.

It was produced by Brian May – yes the badger enthusiast and guitarist of monarchy-themed rockers, Queen. This makes the terrible cover of Bohemian Rhapsody even funnier – a cover which was released a single and actually peaked at number 44 on the UK singles chart.

The mix of songs and “studio out-takes” makes it sound like you're alternating between listening to a tape of a band practising in their garage and a Derek and Clive album.

In fact the out-takes make the album what it is. There is the excellent “fucking about” sketch and Introducing the Band is frankly hilarious. Other bits remind me of me and my school friends aged about 15 and armed with a crappy cassette recorder in a Hi Tec sports bag playing the album and giggling like lunatics in a corner of the playground.

The songs weren't all that bad either.

Warriors of Ghengis Khan was covered live regularly by fun-loving thrashers, Acid Reign, and it appeared on their Worst of... album.

Drink Till I Die is a fantastic ode to the joys of alcoholic beverages.

Bad News is the song from the album of the same name by the band of the same name and is a fairly good and simple song and it contains a solo that is 100% robbed from Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Don't tell anyone.

It isn't polished, as they say turds cannot be, but it is fucking brilliant. You're not truly a fan of metal until you've listened to this.

Bad News is 30 years old and still makes me laugh out loud.