'The Troggs Tapes' is an infamous compilation of studio chat said to have inspired the Spinal Tap rockumentary. The British pop band, led by millionaire crop-circle enthusiast Reg Presley and famous for Wild Thing and Love Is All Around, became the subject of cult fame with The Troggs Tapes. These recordings, available on bootleg, were made during a session and display, according to The Penguin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, "instrumental incompetence, mutual recrimination and much foul language". They inspired the sequence in which Tufnel and St Hubbins have their row in the Rainbow Trout Recording Studio.

In 1972 Presley and Bond reformed the band with two new members. They worked the club and college circuit here in the UK and in Europe and a studio tape made during some of their later Page One sessions surfaced in bootleg form as The Troggs Tapes and revealed some laughably amateurish behaviour. The Trogg Tapes album released by Penny Farthing was unconnected with the earlier bootleg but capitalised on the name because of its notoriety.

Rock's Wild Things - The Troggs Files by Alan Clayson and Jacqueline Ryan published in October 2000 has a full unexpurgated transcript of the tapes, the legendary and fruity studio disagreements feature 137 swear words in only a few minutes. Surely a record on a record!

Listen to:
The Troggs Tapes in real audio
The Troggs Tapes MP3