Morris Minor and the Majors

Morris Minor and the Majors was a British band from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, created by the British comedians and writers Tony Hawks and Paul Boross. The group became famous with their 1987 song "Stutter Rap", an original song in the style of the then-popular rap song "No Sleep till Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys.

The stage names of the group were ‘Morris Minor’, ‘Rusty Wing’ and ‘Phil Errup’ (real names Tony Hawks and Rotherham stars Paul Boross and Phil Judge).

The song reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart,[1] No. 14 in Canada and was a No. 2 hit in Australia. It sold over 220,000 copies, but subsequent song releases never had the same popularity or sales, earning them the title one-hit wonders in the United Kingdom; a title which would later inspire Hawks to seek another top 20 hit, albeit in Albania.[2]

On the 45 release, the record had a joke B-side titled "Another Boring B-side", the lyrics of which parody the actual creation of the song itself.

In Australia, they had a second charting single with "This Is the Chorus" (No. 22)[3], which parodied Stock/Aitken/Waterman.

As a result of the popularity of the song, a television series was created in 1989, titled Morris Minor's Marvellous Motors and written by and starring Hawks. On the series, the fictional band-leader attempted to maintain his pop music career while running an automotive garage. It ran for just one series and aired on BBC One.

In 1990, they parodied "Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers" classic "Swing the Mood", renamed "Spring the Mood" but it never made the charts.

In 1998, the band reunited with their cover of the Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers classic "Let's Party" but renamed it "Christmas Party Megamix"; this featured Christmas songs including "Do They Know It's Christmas?", "Saviour's Day", "Last Christmas", "Step Into Christmas", "Merry Christmas Everyone", "Merry Christmas Everybody", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", "2000 Miles", "Another Rock and Roll Christmas", "All I Want for Christmas Is You", "Mistletoe and Wine" and "White Christmas", and peaked at number 42 in the Christmas charts (just outside the Top 40).

Discography
  • "Stutter Rap (No Sleep 'til Bedtime)" (1987)
  • "This Is The Chorus" (1988)
  • "Spring the Mood" (1990)
  • "Christmas Party Megamix" (1998)

References
  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 369. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. Stuart, Julia (16 July 2002). "Tony Hawks: Big in Albania". The Independent. London, UK. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010.
  3. "australian-charts.com - Morris Minor And The Majors - This Is The Chorus". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 16 May 2020.

http://www.thepitchdoctor.tv/ Paul Boross website

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