Hotlegs

Hotlegs was comprised of Eric Stewart, Lol Creme & Kevin Godley:

Graham Gouldman had to come back from New York, where he had been writing songs for Kazenatz Katz, to play bass with them on tour when they supported The Moody Blues,  starting with Festival Hall and playing “All God’s Children“, “Um Wah, Um Woh“, “Desperate Dan” and “Take Me Back“, etc. but not bothering to play their only hit “Neanderthal Man”.

They had marvellous reviews, but when they released the follow-up single, “Lady Sadie“, in September 1971, it just didn’t happen at all.

When I first heard “Neanderthal Man” in ’70 I thought it was amazing, so different and yet so simple.  It was musical marmite, one of those singles that people either loved or that they couldn’t stand.

I was shocked Kenny Everett hated it and wondered if he knew the song came from the same management camp as Herman's Hermits who of course had huge success with "I'm Into Something Good" sending his future wife's, Lady Lee (a.k.a. Lee Everett Alkin, born Audrey Valentine Middleton) version into musical oblivion:

I’m not so certain the group themselves were too keen on it, but after just six plays on BBC Radio One they found themselves with a hit in the U.K. (peaking at No. 2) and all across Europe too.

Suite F.A.  | Side 2 Track 1 | Thinks School Stinks | Hotlegs (1970)

  • 1st Movement: On My Way (7.10)
  • 2nd Movement: Indecision (2.45)
  • 3rd Movement: The Return (2.52)

They put out one album, Thinks School Stinks (1970) whose design may well have been borrowed for Alice Cooper’s School’s Out (1972):

Hotlegs: Thinks School Stinks (’70)  Alice Cooper: School’s Out (’72)