The creator of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Richard O’Brien, has revealed why one song was axed from the beloved film for over 30 years.
O’Brien, who also co-wrote the screenplay and starred in the cult classic as Riff Raff, opened up about the musical mystery while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the “Rocky Horror” movie’s release on Aug. 14.
The song in question, “Super Heroes,” originally came toward the very end of the Jim Sharman-directed classic and was sung by Susan Sarandon (Janet Weiss) and Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors).
But the melancholic tune was ultimately cut from the 1975 original US release.
“I think I might have to take some of the blame for that,” O’Brien, 83, exclusively told The Post. “Because the first time we saw the first cut, we see the house taking off, and then we cut to the ‘Super Heroes’ song.”
“There was an awfully long intro, and I said, ‘Why don’t we cut that intro?’” O’Brien continued, “because it doesn’t do anything, and it’s only an intro.”
However, the film’s editors ended up cutting the entire sequence, and it wouldn’t be officially added back in until a special 35th anniversary edition of “Rocky Horror” was released in 2010.
“The next thing I see, they’ve cut both Brad and Janet’s songs and gone straight to the narrator,” O’Brien explained. “That’s the way it showed for an awfully long time, unfortunately.”
“Now they’ve gone back to straighten it out to where I suggested it the first time, because it seems silly to lose those two verses,” he said. “I feel I might have been misinterpreted.”
“Or maybe they said, ‘Let’s cut the whole song.’ I don’t know,” O’Brien joked. “You know what editors are like.”
Before “Super Heroes” was restored, it was replaced by the fan-favorite “Time Warp” and a reprise of the movie’s opening tune, “Science Fiction/Double Feature.”
But “Super Heroes” wasn’t the only song removed from “Rocky Horror” to the dismay of countless fans.
“Once in a While,” which was again sung by Bostwick, was also cut from the film. Yet unlike “Super Heroes,” it was never added back in.
Bostwick, 80, opened up the decision during an interview with Orlando Weekly back in 2022.
“Brad is just one of 10, and I’ve always learned to be part of an ensemble, and I appreciate and know my place,” he said of his “Rocky Horror” character. “I think that anything that was cut in the movie of my stuff was wisely done.”
“The song ‘Once in a While’ was in the absolute wrong place in the film,” he continued. “The film was just starting to take off, there was some energy, and then all of a sudden, you’ve got me sitting there singing after getting boned by Fran-N-Furter, and it stopped the momentum of the movie.”
“I totally get that; you know, it’s not my favorite song in the film anyway,” the actor added.
As for “Super Heroes,” Bostwick admitted that he “regretted” the fact that it was initially cut from the movie.
“They thought it was too much of a downer, and I thought it was the whole message of the movie,” he told the outlet. “It was the last scene we shot, and it was an emotional scene for me, because when they cut at the end of that, I was in tears.”
“Because I had had such an amazing time,” Bostwick continued. “Even though I was doing a lot of off-off-Broadway and stuff like that in New York, these people were on top of their game, all of them: whether the editing, or the designers, or the costumes and all of the actors.”
“The whole thing was so fulfilling to me that I was emotionally filled at the end,” he added.
Besides starring O’Brien, Sarandon and Bostwick, the “Rocky Horror” film adaptation featured Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Peter Hinwood (Rocky Horror), Patricia Quinn (Magenta) and Meat Loaf (Eddie).
“Rocky Horror” first premiered at the Rialto Theatre in London, England, on Aug. 14, 1975, and the musical comedy horror film is still in limited release 50 years later – making it one of the longest-running theatrical releases in movie history.
“I think we did as well as we could with it, and the songs are pretty wonderful,” O’Brien said while looking back at “Rocky Horror” after five decades.
“That sounds as if I’m boasting, but they do work,” he concluded.
