Rik Mayall plays the bass in the band, left-handed. Highly unusual however is the fact that he doesn't reverse the strings as is usual when turning a guitar round. So his E-string is at the bottom of his bass instead of the top. He does appear to be actually playing the instrument.
About 10 minutes in, while driving to the gig, the camera zooms in on a direction sign saying 'The North' & 'Hatfield'. 'Hatfield & the North' were a rock band of the mid '70s.
Owing to so many similarities, it is often assumed that this episode and This Is Spinal Tap (1984) ripped each other off, depending on who you listen to. In fact, both projects were in production at the same time, completely unaware of each other. As this was a more low-budget TV show, it came out first.
Inspired the title of punk band AFI's 1995 studio album "Answer That and Stay Fashionable". Several audio clips from the film are also used on the album.
The Canadian punk rock band The Flatliners sampled the line "Okay, okay, we're heavy metal, okay? Heavy metal, heavy metal, heavy metal" for the song "Shithawks" on their 2010 album "Cavalcade."