The Upper Crust is an American hard rock

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from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. The members adopt the personae of 18th-century

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

fop Fop is a pejorative term for a foolish man. FOP or fop may also refer to: Science and technology * Feature-oriented positioning, in scanning microscopy * Feature-oriented programming, in computer science, software product lines * Fibrodysplasia ...

s and sing songs from that perspective. They use titles of

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

, wear powdered

wigs A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...

and period costumes, and maintain a

snob ''Snob'' is a pejorative term for a person who believes there is a correlation between social status (including physical appearance) and human worth.De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton ''Snob'' also refers to a per ...

bish 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 and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...

-era AC/DC, along with

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

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. It was first known for its ...

'' 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, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

wit to go around". The group originated from a

surf rock 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 late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'' 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 ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, 2 ...

''. The music video game ''

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

'' included the band’s signature song "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 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. Additio ...

) *''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 Musical quartets Bands with fictional stage personas Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups from Boston