2.15: Sledge, Rattle, 'N' Roll
Technical Information
![[Sledge frying the band]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr05.jpg)
First Broadcast: Friday, January 15, 1988, 9:30 PM
Production Code: B-87514
Number of bullets fired by Sledge: 7
Critical Info
TV Guide summary: The Monkees' Davy Jones plays a sleazy record producer confronted by Hammer after the murders of a heavy-metal rock star and his band.
Ph episode rating on the Hammer scale (1 to 6 bullets):
4.
Hammer's intense distaste for rock music drove the episode.
Episode references:
-
Shake, Rattle, and Roll
-
Sex Pistols (band), namely Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious
Act One
Exiting a back door, the rock star Rak Vulture exits after a performance with his band from England, the Plague. In order to get to his limo, he battles through and spits on the hoards of fans that have come to see him.
![[Rak Vulture battling through the crowd]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr01.jpg)
When Rak notices the limo is headed the wrong way, he berates the driver. Unfortunately for Rak, the driver turns out to be someone he told to get out of his life, as the driver then shoots him.
After Hammer disperses the crowd gathered around the limo [gunshot 1], Doreau recognizes the body as Rak Vulture.
![[the crowd fleeing the scene]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr02.jpg)
The unsympathetic Hammer is disgusted with rock music.
Hammer: Rock. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Doreau, and you know why? Because this whole rock scene makes me puke. You know what's responsible for the moral degeneration of our American youth? Rock. Crime in the streets? Rock. You look under any rock. You know what you find? Rock.
[207 KB WAV file]
At Electricution Records, Hammer and Doreau question Jerry Vicuna, Rak's producer. After Vicuna said that anyone would want to kill Rak because he was an animal, Hammer is not satisfied.
![[Vicuna pointing at picture of Rak]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr03.jpg)
Hammer: Alright, I'm tired of your fond reminiscences, pal. That satanic noise you pawn off as music feeds on the minds of our young people, causing them to grow their hair long, and smoke funny cigarettes, and then cut school, and stay home all day watching that... that NBC.
Doreau: MTV.
Hammer: Don't confuse me! Now I wants some answers. Answers, music man.
[166 KB WAV file]
Vicuna directs them to the other boys in the band downstairs rehearsing.
There, Hammer and Doreau find them kicking and abusing Rusty, the band's roadie and coffee boy. To stop them from harassing Doreau, Hammer must get physical.
![[band members surrounding Doreau]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr04.jpg)
Hammer: Now listen up, you dirty, filthy, foul-mouthed scum.
Zippy: Hey, you ever thought about writing lyrics?
Hammer: Yeah, how's this? I'm tired of your degenerate fun, so you better tell me what you've done, or I'll blow you away with my gun.
[175 KB WAV file]
Zippy: Yeah, that was pretty good, alright.
The other band members say they hated Rak, calling him a glory hog.
Zippy: He treated us like fools.
Hammer: Well, you are fools.
Rocket or Buzzy: Yeah, but that's no excuse for that type of behavior.
Nevertheless, they claim to have not killed Rak. In fact, they have even written a song in his memory. Upon performing this song, however, Hammer fries the members (touching a plug and an audio cable together).
Hammer: Now, that's entertainment.
Back in his office, Trunk is amazed when Hammer asks for warrants to arrest the other three members, even though Trunk must explain to Hammer what a warrant is. However, Hammer is too late, as the band has already taken off for their sixteen-city "Fatality Tour" in memory of Rak. The three then learn from the TV news report that the Plague's plane has crashed.
Act Two
At the scene of the crash, an white outline is drawn around the plane like it was a dead body.
![[the site of the plane crash]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr06.jpg)
Hammer and Doreau run into Vicuna, who mourns the loss of his plane, and Rusty, who mourns the lost of the best job he ever had. Hammer recovers the "black box" flight recorder from Rusty. Just as Hammer and Doreau leave, a few suitcases fall from the sky.
Hammer: It always gets there after you do.
In Trunk's office, Hammer struggles to get the black box open. [gunshots 2-4] After Doreau easily opens it and replays their last few words, the three learn that the pilot jumped out of the plane shortly before their death.
Hammer and Doreau follow Vicuna into his limo after the funeral. While Hammer accuses him of killing them to cash in on their royalties, Vicuna maintains that those royalties will go to their next of kin. Vicuna throws them out of the limo, but gives them some Plague records so that there are "no hard feelings."
Hammer: Well, just what I expected from a sleeze-bag like that.
Doreau: What, that we'd got nothing out of him?
Hammer: No, that he didn't give us compact discs.
After Hammer shoots two of the records [gunshots 5 and 6] at his apartment, he decides to listen to one of them.
Hammer: I've heard better noises when Mayjoy had indigestion.
Hammer wonders if they sound better played backwards. Upon spinning the record backwards, he hears, "These are my songs. You'll pay for it. All of you will pay."
Hammer decides to find out which "looney tune wrote these looney tunes." At Vicuna's office, Hammer and Doreau find a dead Vicuna stabbed in the back and slumped over his disk. From the record contract, they learn that in the event of death, all money should be awarded to the roadie Rusty Vulture, Rak's brother.
In the studio, Hammer and Doreau find Rusty practicing on an acoustic guitar.
Hammer: Sounds like you're a little rusty, Rusty.
Rusty says he wrote all the songs for his brother but was ripped off by the band and Vicuna. Hammer accuses him of killing them, but Rusty insists on giving his own confession, breaking into song.
![[Rusty confessing the Hammer and Doreau]](../../images/sh/season2/srnr07.jpg)
Rusty: Now posing as the pilot was easy to do. I just brought the plane up to a high altitude.
Hammer: And then you got a parachute and jumped out the door.
Rusty: I left those jerks screaming and hugging the floor. And now they're dead, you see.
Doreau: You killed all three.
Rusty: And now with Jerry Vicuna, I had to get creative.
Hammer: So you stabbed him in the back.
Rusty: Oh, I love feeling elated.
Doreau: Now you've got a record, five counts of murder one.
Rusty: I don't think that two more counts should bother anyone. (swings guitar and hits Hammer)
Rusty battles Doreau and Hammer with microphone stands and guitars, respectively. Rusty escapes into the sound booth and turns on unbearable noises. Hammer manages to reach for his gun [gunshot 7] to break the glass and recording equipment.
Tag
In Trunk's office, Doreau tells Hammer that Rusty has cut a record from prison.
