Max Rebo Band

Concept art of the original Max Rebo Band by Ralph McQuarrie. From left to right: Max Rebo, Droopy McCool, and Sy Snootles

The Max Rebo Band is a fictional alien pop music band in the Star Wars franchise, first appearing in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi as a three-piece group performing the song "Lapti Nek" for crime lord Jabba the Hutt. The original lineup consists of the blue-skinned Ortolan organist Max Rebo, the plump Kitonak woodwind player Droopy McCool, and Pa'lowick lead singer Sy Snootles, while additional members were inserted into the later-edited Special Edition of the film. A great deal of further information about the band and the personal histories of its members is found in various literature of the now-noncanonical Star Wars Legends universe.

The group are classified as "jizz-wailers", which, according to the Star Wars Encyclopedia, refers to a "musician who plays a fast, contemporary, and upbeat style of music."[1]

Max and Droopy were portrayed by actors in bodysuits, while Snootles was operated by two puppeteers stationed above and beneath the set. For the 1997 Special Edition of Return of the Jedi, the original Snootles puppet was replaced with a computer-generated version, and nine new band members were added with live actors and computer animation digitally composited into new and existing footage. "Lapti Nek" was additionally replaced with a new track titled "Jedi Rocks".

  1. ^ "Jizz-wailer," Star Wars Encyclopedia, Stephen J. Sansweet (New York: Del Rey, 1998), p. 152, ISBN 0-345-40227-8.