The Masked Marauders

Rolling Stone spoof

The Masked Marauders began as a spoof dreamed up by Rolling Stone editor Greil Marcus. Under the pseudonym T.M. Christian (a reference to Terry Southern’s novel The Magic Christian), Marcus wrote a satiric review of a fictitious double bootleg album in collaboration with record reviewer Bruce Miroff. The review was intended to parody the "supergroup" trend then taking place (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Blind Faith and Led Zeppelin) and was also inspired by Great White Wonder, a double album of unreleased Dylan recordings often credited as the first bootleg.

Many readers, however, took the review seriously, despite its obvious jokes:

Recording sessions and contract

Enquiries began pouring into Rolling Stone regarding the album’s availability, not only from fans and retailers, but reportedly from the artists' managers, Allen Klein (Beatles and Rolling Stones) and Albert Grossman (Dylan). The response sparked part two of the put-on: the album itself. Marcus and Rolling Stone editor Langdon Winner recruited the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band, a Berkeley, California, group which had an album the previous year on Vanguard Records and played frequently at San Francisco’s Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms. The group initially recorded three of the songs cited in the review: the Nashville Skyline-inspired instrumental "Cow Pie", Jagger doing "I Can’t Get No Nookie" (deemed "an instant classic"), and Dylan’s "Duke of Earl".

After the songs aired on San Francisco and Los Angeles radio stations – from tapes Marcus supplied – the pranksters began looking for a major label to produce an album. Several recording companies expressed an interest, but Warner Bros. won the production rights, offering a $15,000 advance plus its considerable promotional power. In November 1969, Warner released The Masked Marauders as a single LP on its newly created Deity label. The album, which sold more than 100,000 copies, spent twelve weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at #114. "Cow Pie", actually released as the B-side of "I Can't Get No Nookie", managed to dent the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at #134, for a single week on November 29, 1969.

Original and follow-up releases

Tipping off buyers to the joke (albeit after they had purchased the album), Warner inserted the Rolling Stone review as well as a San Francisco Chronicle column by critic Ralph J. Gleason, a co-founder of Rolling Stone. Gleason found it incredible anyone believed the review and declared the gag a "delightful bit of instant mythology." The closing track, "Saturday Night at the Cow Palace," also made clear the album was all in fun. The track featured a riotous monologue by a record buyer so indignant at being taken in by the hoax that he vows, "When I get through with those people at Deity Records, I’ll have them walking out of the building in barrels." The album’s liner notes, penned by "T.M. Christian," also offered its share of clues, most notably the line:

"In a world of sham, the Masked Marauders, bless their hearts, are the genuine article."

In 2003, Rhino Records, under its Handmade label, remastered the album, releasing a numbered edition of 2,000 copies entitled The Masked Marauders - The Complete Deity Recordings. The lineup of songs is the same as on the original LP, except for bonus tracks of the monaural single, "I Can’t Get No Nookie" b/w "Cow Pie". The title of the re-issue posed yet another joke: the album was Deity’s only recording. As one of its contributions to the spoof, Warner created Deity under its Reprise subsidiary to match the name of the non-existent record company credited in the Rolling Stone review.

Media coverage

The story of The Masked Marauders hoax was featured in an April 5, 2013, segment of the TV program Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Side one

1. "I Can't Get No Nookie" (The Masked Marauders) – 5:29
2. Features vocals by a Mick Jagger impersonator. This track is sometimes mislabeled as an outtake from the Rolling Stones' Jamming with Edward sessions.
3. "Duke of Earl" (E. Dixon, E. Edwards, B. Williams) – 3:21
4. Also briefly incorporates "Blue Moon" (Rodgers, Hart).
5. Features vocals by a Bob Dylan impersonator.
6. "Cow Pie" (The Masked Marauders) – 2:18
7. Mainly instrumental, but features brief vocals by a Bob Dylan impersonator.
8. "I Am The Japanese Sandman (Rang Tang Ding Dong)" (A. Williams) – 3:45
9. "The Book Of Love" (W. Davis, C. Patrick, G. Malone) – 2:21
10. Also briefly incorporates "Norwegian Wood" (J. Lennon, P. McCartney).
11. The group's John Lennon impersonator is heard speaking briefly at the end of this track.

Side two

6. "Later" (W. Davis, C. Patrick, G. Malone) – 1:11
7. A continuation of "The Book Of Love".
8. "More or Less Hudson's Bay Again" (The Masked Marauders) – 3:31
9. Features vocals by a Bob Dylan impersonator.
10. "Season of the Witch" (Donovan Leitch) – 10:13
11. Features vocals by the Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan impersonators.
12. "Saturday Night at the Cow Palace" (The Masked Marauders) – 1:30
13. A spoken monologue atop a piano rendition of "Cow Pie," with a disgruntled voice profanely denouncing the album as a rip-off.

CD bonus tracks

10. "I Can't Get No Nookie" (The Masked Marauders) – 5:02 (Monaural)
11. "Cow Pie" (The Masked Marauders) – 2:18 (Monaural)

Musicians

As listed on the Rhino Handmade CD release: