| The Remington Steelers | |||||
| Studio album by The Remington Steelers | |||||
| Released | October 23, 1999 | ||||
| Recorded | Screenmusic Studios, Studio City, California | ||||
| Genre | Novelty, Pop, Hard rock, others | ||||
| Length | 35:48 | ||||
| Label | Arista | ||||
| Producer(s) | Moby | ||||
| The Remington Steelers chronology | |||||
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The Remington Steelers is the moderately successful debut album for the Remington Steelers, released on October 23, 1999.
Background[]
This is the first album by the Remington Steelers. The first track recorded was "Another One Rides the Bus", which was recorded by Emma Watson on keyboards and Rupert Grint on lead vocals and percussion. When "Weird Al" Yankovic came by the studio and asked who they were, Rupert replied, "Just a couple of kids who are finished recording one of your songs." Emma allowed Weird Al to attend a mixing session, and when they presented to him the final product, he was amazed at how good a job they did.
Soon he commissioned them to cover three more songs of his: "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", "My Bologna", and "School Cafeteria". After a recording session for "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", the kids realized they needed a bassist and drummer, so Weird Al allowed them to use his bassist, Steve Jay. When they put out wanted posters for a drummer, Ringo Starr answered the call, and the band came together. Quickly, they were commissioned to cover songs by Toni Basil, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Nena, and Cyndi Lauper among others. The Remington Steelers became a household name, at least in Los Angeles and the rest of California as well as England and Japan. The album was a moderate success.
Rupert had this to say about the album: "It's kind of awesome that you can create an album featuring songs performed by just two people, but in the long run, you just need four people to create a moderately successful album. I obviously can't wait until the next album, because I'd like to do some real Queen. Nice of Weird Al to allow us to use his bassist, because he's cute, in a male strawberry blonde non-Mohawk-wearing white sort of way. No offense to any black or Asian people."
Artwork[]
The cover art consisted of a Queen-like pose featuring, clockwise from the top, Rupert Grint, Ringo Starr, Emma Watson, and Steve Jay. The liner notes, typical of a Remington Steelers album, feature the song titles, the original songwriters, the lyrics, and the personnel who worked on the song. This was repeated with every song, and the liner notes finished with the technical information and special thanks. The quote after the special thanks was "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality." The liner notes also contained photos of the band recording their parts at the studio and performing at the Troubadour Club.
Track listing[]
Side R[]
| # | Title | Length | Original writers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" | 2:32 | Billy Joel, Al Yankovic |
| 2 | "Another One Rides the Bus" | 2:36 | John Deacon, Al Yankovic |
| 3 | "School Cafeteria" | 2:12 | Al Yankovic |
| 4 | "My Bologna" | 4:55 | Doug Fiegel, Berton Averre, Al Yankovic |
| 5 | "Mickey" | 4:18 | Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn, Toni Basil |
| 6 | "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" | 3:58 | Robert Hazard |
Side S[]
| # | Title | Length | Original writers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | "99 Luftballons" | 3:53 | Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Carlo Karges |
| 8 | "I Love Rock N Roll" | 2:52 | Alan Merrill, Jake Hooker |
| 9 | "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" | 3:55 | Tom Petty, Mike Campbell |
| 10 | "Theme from Sesame Street" | 1:00 | Joe Raposo, Jon Stone, Bruce Hart |
| 11 | "La Bamba" | 2:13 | Traditional |
| 12 | "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" | 1:04 | F.J. Ricketts, Toby O'Brien |
Personnel[]
Songs[]
Rupert Grint - lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12), keyboards (1, 10), percussion (2, 12), lead guitar (4, 5, 8), and rhythm guitar (9, 11) Emma Watson - lead vocals (5, 6, 10, 12), backing vocals (6, 8), keyboards (1-3), synths (6, 8, 10), organ (5), percussion (12), lead guitar (9, 11), and rhythm guitar (4) Steve Jay - backing vocals (4, 8) and bass (4-11) Ringo Starr - lead vocals (3, 11), drums (4-9, 11), and percussion (10)
Production[]
Moby - producer Rupert Grint - mixer (Another One Rides the Bus and It's Still Billy Joel To Me) Emma Watson - mixer Steve Thompson - mixer George Marino - mastering Victor Deyglio - assistant engineer Micajah Ryan - assistant engineer Andy Udoff - assistant engineer Jeff Poe - assistant engineer Jack Lue - photography Greg Freeman - photography