The Upper Crust is an American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The members adopt the personae of 18th-century aristocratic fops and sing songs from that perspective. They use titles of nobility, wear powdered wigs and period costumes, and maintain a snobbish attitude both during live performance and on their albums. The members say that their guiding philosophy is "if not great and excellent, then debauched." Their major music influence is

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...

-era

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, along with

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

band

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

and fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote, " smiss Boston's Upper Crust as a joke rock band if you must, but give them this much: they're actually funny, and there's as much rock as mock to their singular brand of 'roque'", adding "there's plenty of worthy riffs and

double-entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

wit to go around". The group originated from a

surf rock Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

band called 'The Clamdiggers'. Other related bands were The Bags, The Titanics, The Satanics, The Flies, The Oysters and Seks Bomba. The Upper Crust has appeared on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of the ''Late Night (franchise), Late Night'' franchise originally established by David Letterman. Hosted by Conan O'Brie ...

'' and ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airi ...

''. The music video game ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

'' included the band's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

"Eureka, I've Found Love" as a bonus song. The band has also guest starred in an episode of '' Codename: Kids Next Door'' ("Operation: P.A.R.T.Y.") on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

on January 26, 2007, as they perform the songs "Tell Mother I'm Home" and "Let them Eat Rock".

Members

*Lord Bendover (Nat Freedberg) (guitar, vocals) (1995–present) *Count Bassie (Chris Cote) (bass, vocals) (1996–present) *The Duc D'istortion (Dave Fredette) (guitar, vocals) (1995–present) *Jackie Kickassis (Jim Janota) (drums) (1995–present)

Former members

*Lord Rockingham ( Ted Widmer) (guitar, vocals) (1995–1997) *Marquis de Roque (aka Marquis Marque, Marc Mazzarelli) (bass) (1995–1996)

Discography

*''Let Them Eat Rock'' LP (1995) (Upstart Records) *''The Decline and Fall of The Upper Crust'' LP (1997) (

Emperor Norton Records Emperor Norton Records was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine. Additional ...

) *''Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be: A Tribute to AC/DC'' (compilation) one track: "Back in Black" (1999) (Reptilian Records) *''Entitled'' – double live album (2000) (Reptilian Records) *''Once More Into the Breeches'' LP (2001) (Emperor Norton Records) *''Cream of the Crust'' CD (2006) (Upper Crust Ltd) *''Revenge for Imagined Slights'' (2009) *''Delusions of Grandeur'' (2017)

Filmography

* ''Let Them Eat Rock'' (Documentary – 2004)

References

External links

* * *Carioli, Carly
"Money shots: Why the Upper Crust rule
''Boston Phoenix'', July 6–13, 2000. *Green, James Jr
"The Buckled Shoe of Rock: Paul Revere & The Raiders vs. The Upper Crust"
''Crawdaddy! Magazine'', November 12, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Upper Crust, The Hard rock musical groups from Massachusetts American musical quartets Bands with fictional stage personas Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups from Boston