The original , the for - real Shitty Beatles. Dallas , 1986. The reason they were referenced in "Wayne's World" was , a friend of the band (And future Kid Congo collaborator.) , Sally Norvell , was on the joke - writing staff for the movie. They were told to come up with funny band names , and the best one would appear in the final cut.   To this day , most people think The Shitty Beatles never existed. 


 The Deep Ellum club scene in Dallas was just springing to life at the time , but , I noticed bands well past 19 And without Zeppelinish hair were taking longer to acquire a following. Even Jim Heath (The Rev. Horton Heat.)  was not a local success , overnight.  He was all of 27 , and the idea of a somewhat older guy playing Rockabilly , concurrent with The Stray Cats' first failed comeback attempt was a hard sell.....Though nothing compared to the Shitty Beatles in all their glory.   Imagine a guitarist who looked a bit like Eugene Chadbourne , tho' not as "Look at me! I'm weird !", a red headed bassist with a Shakey's Pizza mustache (At least 25 years before that would get you laid like crazy.), and a Drummer who resembled a heavier version ofRobert Carradine in "Revenge of The Nerds" . Again , before Nerdism was equated with sexual magnetism. Teen idols , they were'nt. Their own teen years were about 20 years behind them
The idea behind the band was to BE the Teen Garage band they wanted to be in the 60's , but never had the chance to....


Their set consisted , not suprisingly , of drunk and sloppy Beatles covers , augmented by Elvis tunes given the same treatment , and Garage standards like "Pushin' Too Hard" , "You're Gonna Miss Me", "Psycho" ,and "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White. NO ONE was doing that stuff in Dallas.  Only The Peyote Cowboys (With Murray Hammond, now of The Old 97's) and Lithium Xmas (With Mark "MC900 Ft. Jesus" Griffin.) broke the mold and the sound barrier with a Heavy Psych sound that could eat The Black Angels and their ilk for breakfast , but theirs was a thing entirely dissimilar to The Shitty Beatles. Their prodigous onstage beer - swilling and the penchant for covers drew comparisons to The Replacements , but , there IS no comparison. Originals like "My Baby Drives a Cadillac", "Moosehenge" , "Cookie The Clown" ( About the Chicago Kiddie co - host on "Bozo's Circus" ) ., and many titles I forget , rounded things out nicely , much like the Russ Meyer Amazonian Woman Go Go Dancer who frequented their gigs. 


The Shitty Beatles morphed into The Potatoes , a Novelty/Lounge - Rock act that later got into more of a "World Music " thing , throug the intervention of Producer , Carl Finch , from Brave Combo. The Potatoes put out a 45 and some cassettes , but , I don't know if anything exists on The Shitty Beatles. And , no , it was'nt just a clever name . And it should have been retired , but , it has'nt been