How a classic Monty Python film influenced an early Megadeth favourite
The comedy troupe Monty Python have a long connection to the world of music. Famously, this mostly comes by way of their relationship with the late guitarist of The Beatles, George Harrison. The Liverpudlian was such a big fan of the group that he helped them to save Life of Brian from production limbo by stumping up the £2 million they needed to save it, and by remortgaging his house and establishing HandMade films.
Harrison wasn’t Python’s only connection to music. Some of the biggest bands of the day, including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull, all dipped into their pockets to help them fund their masterpiece, 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Other noteworthy financiers for the title included Island Records, Charisma Records, lyricist Tim Rice’s cricket team The Heartaches, and Chrysalis Records.
Funnily enough, the master of the modern fantasy novel, Neil Gaiman, a lifelong fan of Monty Python, once described the gang by evoking The Beatles: “A strange combination of individuals gave us Python. And you needed those people, just in the same way that with the Beatles, you had four talented people, but together you had the Beatles. And I think that’s so incredibly true when it comes to Python”.
In terms of music, Monty Python’s reach is extensive, and their influence can even be felt in thrash metal. This is thanks to genre pioneers Megadeth and their track ‘Chosen Ones’ from 1985’s Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!
The song references one of the most iconic scenes from The Holy Grail. At the piece’s start, frontman Dave Mustaine growls: “You doubt your strength or courage/ Don’t come to join with me/ For death surely wants you/ With sharp and pointy teeth“.
Some keen-eared fans of the Los Angeles group will have been familiar with the line “sharp and pointy teeth”. This is a riff on what is said in a scene in The Holy Grail where King Arthur leads his knights into the path of the notorious Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. Prior to meeting the creature, Arthur and his men are warned by Tim the Enchanter that “death awaits you all – with nasty, big, pointy teeth!” in the form of the murderous bunny.
Ironically, the real rabbit used in the movie to play the killer coney, became feared on set due to his violent behaviour. He was known as ‘Harvey the Killer Rabbit’, as he bit several people on set before he was eventually donated to the ASPCA in 1977.
