In the 1960s, inspired by one of his favourite rock and roll stars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his name to Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow. Following a successful career as an early-'60s rock 'n' roll attraction, it became customary for the UK press and citizens to refer to him as Screaming Lord Sutch, or simply Lord Sutch. Early works included recordings produced by legendary audio pioneer Joe Meek. During the 1960s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, as well as for usually dressing as Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Alice Cooper by several years. Accompanied by his band, The Savages, he often started the show by coming out of a big black coffin. Other stage props included knives and daggers, skulls, and "bodies". Despite his self-confessed lack of any vocal talent, he released many horror themed singles during the early- to mid-'60s, the most popular and well known of which is "Jack the Ripper", which has been covered both live and on record by many garage rock bands over the years, including the White Stripes. In 1968, Dave Sutch took off for the USA in a Rolls Royce emblazoned with a Union Flag on the roof and pulling a trailer full of Marshall amplifiers which he intended to sell. He had a share interest in the Marshall company. Lord Sutch's album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time. In the 1960s, he stood in various parliamentary elections, often standing as a representative of the 'National Teenage Party'. His first attempt to enter Parliament was in 1963, when he contested the by-election in Stratford-upon-Avon caused by the resignation of John Profumo. He gained 208 votes. His next foray was at the 1964 General Election when he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency. Here he got 518 votes. He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 and fought the Bermondsey by-election. In his career he contested over 40 elections, rarely threatening the major party candidates, but often getting a respectable number of votes. He was an easily recognisable figure at election counts due to his flamboyant clothes. He also made an appearance - as himself - in the first episode of ITV comedy The New Statesman, coming second in the 1987 election (ahead of the Labour and SDP candidates) which saw Alan B'Stard elected to Parliament. A series of adverts in the 1990s for Heineken Beers boasted that "Only Heineken can do this". One ad had Sutch at 10 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister. Despite his seemingly light-hearted antics, Screaming Lord Sutch in reality suffered from periods of depression and committed suicide by hanging on June 16,1999.