This Is Spinal Tap

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This article is about the film. For the soundtrack album, see This Is Spinal Tap (album).
This Is Spinal Tap
Directed by Rob Reiner
Produced by Karen Murphy
Written by Christopher Guest
Michael McKean
Harry Shearer
Rob Reiner
Starring Rob Reiner
Michael McKean
Christopher Guest
Harry Shearer
Fran Drescher
Bruno Kirby
Music by Christopher Guest
Michael McKean
Harry Shearer
Rob Reiner
Distributed by Embassy Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of the United States March 2, 1984
Running time 82 minutes
Language English
Followed by A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

This Is Spın̈al Tap (officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut over the letter 'n' and dotless 'i') is a 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the fictional heavy-metal/hard rock band Spinal Tap. The film is a mock rockumentary that satirizes the wild personal behavior and musical pretensions of hard-rock and heavy-metal bands.

Much of this film was ad libbed, and several dozen hours of footage were shot before Reiner edited it down to the released film. A 4½ hour bootleg version of the film exists and has been traded among fans and collectors for years.[1]

The three core members of Spinal Tap, David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel, are portrayed by the American actors Michael McKean and Harry Shearer and British American Christopher Guest respectively. The three actors actually play their musical instruments and speak credible British English throughout the film. Reiner appears as Marty DiBergi, the maker of the documentary. Other actors in the film are Tony Hendra as the group manager Ian Faith and June Chadwick as St. Hubbin's interfering girlfriend Jeanine. Actors Paul Shaffer, Fred Willard, Fran Drescher, Bruno Kirby, Howard Hesseman, Ed Begley Jr., Patrick Macnee, Anjelica Huston, Dana Carvey and Billy Crystal all play supporting roles or make cameo appearances in the film. Scream queen starlet Brinke Stevens appears in an uncredited cameo as a groupie or girlfriend of a band member.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot overview

This Is Spinal Tap chronicles the group's waning popularity during a tour of the United States to promote their latest album Smell the Glove in the fall of 1982. The sexist, misogynist, and overly-masculinized elements the general public associates with heavy metal music are parodied throughout. Marty DiBergi (Reiner), a director of television commercials, films the tour and interviews the musicians.

David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel were childhood friends who ran through many band names at the beginning of their career — the initial name of the band was "The Originals", which they had to change to "The New Originals" because there was already another band going by the name — before settling on "The Thamesmen". Under this name, the group found its first fame with the early skiffle/R&B hit, "Gimme Some Money".

'Listen to the Flower People'
'Listen to the Flower People'

Invariably, the Thamesmen tried to capitalize on whatever music trend was popular, but always as it was waning. Renaming themselves Spinal Tap, they had another hit with the flower power anthem, "Listen to the Flower People", before turning to heavy metal. Various real bands underwent similar musical development. Status Quo started out as a psychedelic band before turning to the more traditional rock and roll sound that made them famous; Black Sabbath were originally a blues-based psychedelic band before turning to their current heavy metal stylings; while Sweet went from bubblegum pop to hard rock, while Queen did the opposite; started out as a hard rock or metal band before softening their sound. However, their trajectory appears to most closely track that of The Beatles until 1970; that is, they were originally a skiffle band founded by friends that went on to a more psychedelic sound.

A theme running through the story is that St. Hubbins and Tufnel possess genuine talent as composers, but have compromised their talents through laziness, stupidity, or through pursuit of commercial success. This idea is demonstrated when Nigel plays a complex new composition for Marty, discusses its minor key and relation to classical music (D minor is the saddest of keys), then reveals that the title is "Lick My Love Pump."

One of the most famous scenes in the film sees Tufnel showing DiBergi his guitar collection, and noting that all of their amplifiers "go to 11," a parody on the standard numbering of 0 - 10 on a typical amplifier's gain (volume) control dial. When DiBergi asks, "Why not just make 10 louder and make that the top?" Tufnel pauses before replying, "These go to 11." Hence the phrase 'Up to 11' entered the pop culture as a way of saying, "Turn it up as loud as possible."

The film notes early on that Spinal Tap — "One of England's Loudest Bands" — have had a succession of drummers, all of whom have died under odd circumstances, one in a "bizarre gardening accident". (Since the film's release, Toto's drummer Jeff Porcaro actually died in a gardening-related accident.) Another of Spinal Tap's drummers "choked on vomit", specifically someone else's vomit (several musicians have died after choking on their own vomit, notably guitarist Jimi Hendrix, drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and Bon Scott, the original singer of AC/DC); and one drummer seems to have fallen prey to spontaneous human combustion. St. Hubbins reports that "Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported." This run on drummers was a nod towards several bands; both John Bonham and Keith Moon had died years before, while Judas Priest were, for a variety of reasons, on their seventh drummer at the time of the film's release. However, the main inspiration for the running joke is the supposed curse on keyboard players for the Grateful Dead[citation needed].

Spinal Tap's concert appearances are repeatedly canceled due to low ticket sales. Tensions continue to rise when several major retailers refuse to sell Smell the Glove because of its sexist cover art (which was boycotted in stores) and there is growing resentment shown towards the group's manager Ian Faith (played by humor writer Tony Hendra). Nigel becomes even more perturbed when St. Hubbins' girlfriend Jeanine — a manipulative yoga and astrology devotee — joins the group on tour and proceeds to participate in band meetings and attempts to influence their costumes and stage presentation.

Airport Security. Smalls sports a Shrewsbury Town F.C. shirt.
Airport Security. Smalls sports a Shrewsbury Town F.C. shirt.

"Polymer Records" (not Polydor Records) decides to release Smell the Glove with an entirely black cover, though without consulting the band (four years after The Damned's The Black Album some versions of which were genuinely all-black, but embossed; two years after AC/DC's Back in Black, also all black with embossed writing; and seven years before Metallica's eponymous 1991 album, which featured a nearly-all black cover). This prompts more distress from the band, declaring the album cover depressing and reminiscent of death, but they are somewhat mollified after Faith reminds them that so much great art is about death. While studying the Smell The Glove cover, Tufnel says that it seems to ask how much more black it could be (the answer, "none more black", later became the name of an American rock band), and St. Hubbins makes the memorable observation that "There's a fine line between stupid and clever."

In an interlude, Nigel Tufnel is shown during one of his trademarked on-stage guitar solos, playing the guitar first with his feet (parodying Jimi Hendrix's habit of playing his guitar with his teeth) and then with a violin, parodying Jimmy Page's violin bow solo spot on "Dazed and Confused".

As resentment towards Ian Faith grows, Jeanine increasingly becomes involved in the group's problems. During a tense meeting where Jeanine's idea for new stage costumes based on astrological signs is rejected, Nigel suggests the band reinstate the Stonehenge set and scribbles out a diagram of Stonehenge on a napkin. Ian agrees he will follow the band's direction to the letter; unfortunately he does not check the diagram properly and presented with an 18-inch (46 cm) model, made exactly as indicated on the original plan by Tufnel (a restaurant napkin with 18" instead of 18' written on it). The band is surprised when the tiny Stonehenge appears in the show, as it is smaller than the two dwarves who arrive on stage to dance around it, and it seems ridiculous to the concert audience who laugh at the band. St. Hubbins laments during the gig debrief, "I think that the problem may have been... that there was a Stonehenge monument on stage that was in danger of being crushed... by a dwarf", which causes Smalls to suggest that the band remedy the situation by choreographing the dwarves' dance in such a way that the mini-monuments were not in danger of being "trod upon". Black Sabbath's tour for 1983's Born Again album featured massive Stonehenge sets that barely fit on the stages the band played.[2] (Sabbath's management had ordered the set measurements in feet, but the manufacturers accidentally built the set using metres; Sabbath's models would thus have been roughly three times too large, whereas Tap's were one twelfth the desired size). [3] The film may have inspired the real-life band, as the Stonehenge sequence appeared in a 1982 20-minute demo of the film. Led Zeppelin had also had a Stonehenge stage theme in the final US concerts held in Oakland, California in July 1977, so the sequence in the film may also have been a reference to this.

After the Stonehenge debacle, manager Ian Faith quits in disgust when St. Hubbins suggests that his girlfriend Jeanine can co-manage the group. Jeanine takes over management duties and begins plotting astrology charts for the group members and for the group itself, and begins basing their concert appearances on the alignment of stars. Her character is drawn chiefly on the public image of Yoko Ono, Linda McCartney and Nancy Spungen as inexperienced interlopers in their lovers' music careers.

The group performs at a US Air Force base, managed by Fred Willard, who calls the group "Spinal Tarp", and requests a Barry Manilow song suitable for slow-dancing. The audience disapproved, not expecting a hard rock group, and Tufnel's wireless guitar-amplification system picks up interference from an air traffic control broadcast. After the various problems of the tour, resentment towards Jeanine, and the general unsuitability of the Air Force gig, this latest problem prompts Nigel to storm off stage. We soon learn that he has left the group; DiBergi asks St. Hubbins how he feels about his longtime collaborator's departure and St. Hubbins replies, "Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation."

The remaining band members continue the tour. After arriving to play at an amusement park (filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain) where they are given second billing after a puppet show ("Puppet Show and Spinal Tap") they plan the show omitting all the Tufnel-composed tracks. This leaves them with about 10 minutes of material. Against St. Hubbins' initial reluctance, faced with a dearth of material to perform the group is forced to launch "The new birth of Spinal Tap, Mark II", with Smalls' fusion-esque, "Jazz Odyssey", which is roundly rejected by their already diminishing fan base.

After that, it becomes apparent to the remaining members that Spinal Tap cannot continue as it has been, and consider winding-up the band. St. Hubbins and Smalls reconsider "Saucy Jack", their long-abandoned idea for a musical based on Jack the Ripper (perhaps a jab at any number of overwrought rock and roll concept albums, probably those of the Kinks in the late 70s). Backstage at their last show, before the band takes the stage, Tufnel returns to tell the group that "Sex Farm", one of their songs from the album Shark Sandwich, treated with a frosty reception in the States (with one review merely composed of two words - "Shit Sandwich") has become a big hit in Japan and that their former manager would like to arrange a tour. His entreaties are initially rebuffed, but later, as Tufnel watches from the wings and mouths the words to "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight", St. Hubbins relents and invites his friend back onstage.

The film ends with Spinal Tap performing in Japan with new drummer, Joe "Mama" Besser (a reference to one of the latter members of The Three Stooges as well as a pun on the comic insult standby "yo mama"), after Mick Shrimpton's sudden death from spontaneous human combustion. As the band plays on stage, reinstated manager Ian Faith stands proudly offstage, aggressively brandishing the cricket bat he carries to assert his dominance, while David's girlfriend sits passively by looking rather morose. The revival in Japan is a nod to KISS[citation needed], who toured extensively in Japan after popularity began to wane in the US in the early 80s[citation needed]. Deep Purple also held a similar embrace of Japanese fans[citation needed], although they didn't suffer poor popularity like the band[citation needed].

[edit] Reception

This Is Spinal Tap was only a modest success upon its initial release, suffering from, among other things, the failure of many viewers to understand that it was not a real documentary. Audience feedback cards from early screenings had comments such as "Too shaky. Get new cameraman." However, the film found greater success, and a cult following, after it was released on video.

In 2002, This Is Spinal Tap was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The movie cut a little too close to home for some musicians. Robert Plant, Dee Snider and Ozzy Osbourne all reported that, like Spinal Tap, they had become lost in confusing arena backstage hallways trying to make their way to the stage.[4] [5] Singer Tom Waits claimed he cried upon viewing it and Eddie Van Halen has said that when he first saw the film, everyone else in the room with him laughed as he failed to see the humor in the film. "Everything in that movie had happened to me," Van Halen said. When Dokken's George Lynch saw the movie he is said to have exclaimed, "That's us! How'd they make a movie about us?"[6]

Lars Ulrich told a press conference crowd that the Metallica/Guns N' Roses 1992 tour seemed "so Spinal Tap." Shortly after the tour started, Metallica's James Hetfield suffered third degree burns on his arms after he stood too close to a pyrotechnic device.

According to a 1997 interview in Spin magazine with Aerosmith rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford, "The first time Steven [Tyler] saw it he didn't see any humor in it. That's how close to home it was. He was pissed! He was like, 'That's not funny!'"

It became a common insult for a pretentious band to be told they were funnier than Spinal Tap. As George Lynch put it, the more seriously a band took themselves, the more they resembled Spinal Tap.[6] After seeing a 1986 performance by British metal band Venom, singer Henry Rollins compared them to Spinal Tap.[7] In their respective Behind the Music episodes, Quiet Riot's Rudy Sarzo and Ratt's Robbin Crosby compared their own bands to Spinal Tap to some extent. For example; as a parallel to the "Shit Sandwich" incident, Quiet Riot's 4th album Condition Critical was given the two-word review of "Condition Terminal" in one magazine. R.E.M.'s Mike Mills described early tours as "very spinal tap," citing, among other things, the fact that they had indeed played at a US Air Force base.

[edit] DVD release

This Is Spinal Tap has been released twice on DVD.

The first release was a 1998 Criterion edition which used supplemental material from the 1994 Criterion laserdisc release. It included an audio commentary track with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer; a second audio commentary track with Rob Reiner, Karen Murphy, Robert Leighton and Kent Beyda; 79 minutes of deleted scenes; Spinal Tap: The Final Tour, the original twenty minute short they shot to pitch the film; a mock promo film, Cheese Rolling; a TV promo, Heavy Metal Memories; and a music video, Hell Hole. Sales of this edition were discontinued after only two years and the DVD has become a valuable collector's item. Much of this material had appeared on a 1994 CD-ROM by The Voyager Company that included the entire film in QuickTime format.

In 2000, MGM released a special edition with new supplemental material. It has a new audio commentary track with Guest, McKean and Shearer performing in character throughout, commenting on the film entirely in their fictional alter-egos, and often disapproving of how the film presents them; 70 minutes of deleted scenes (some of which were not on the Criterion DVD); a new short, Catching Up with Marty DiBergi; a shorter version of Cheese Rolling; the Heavy Metal Memories promo and six additional TV promos; music videos for Hell Hole, Gimme Some Money, Listen to the Flower People and Big Bottom; segments of Spinal Tap appearing on The Joe Franklin Show; and the theatrical trailer. The special features were produced by Automat Pictures.

On IGN, This Is Spinal Tap was the only DVD - and seemingly the only thing reviewed on IGN - to get 11 out of 10, though it is more than likely a joke in reference to the memorable scene in the film.[8]

[edit] Other musical parodies

Other rock/pop "mockumentaries" include:

The Adult Swim show Metalocalypse has also been compared to Spinal Tap.

[edit] Related works

  • Break Like the Wind (1992), a music album that is the follow-up to Smell The Glove.
  • A shorter made-for-TV sequel, "The Return of Spinal Tap", was released in 1992 to promote Break Like the Wind. It consisted mostly of footage from an actual Spinal Tap concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
  • This is Spinal Tap: The Official Companion (ISBN 0-7475-4218-X) was published in 2000. It featured a "Tap'istory", full transcript of the film (including out-takes), a discography, lyrics and an A-Z of the band.

[edit] Audio samples

The Thamesmen - Gimme Some Money excerpt

An excerpt from the Thamesmen's Gimme Some Money
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Spinal Tap - Stonehenge excerpt

An excerpt from Spinal Tap's Stonehenge
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] References in popular culture

Main article: Up to eleven

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ spinaltapfan.com
  2. ^ Born Again. Caramba! Anecdotage. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  3. ^ Geezer Butler interview. Classic Rock Revisited. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  4. ^ see the notes for Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978, Rhino Records, 2002
  5. ^ Q&A: Robert Plant : Rolling Stone
  6. ^ a b Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head. Three Rivers Press, 216-217. ISBN 0-609-80732-3. 
  7. ^ Rollins, Henry, Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag, 2.13.61 Publications, 1994
  8. ^ IGN: This is Spinal Tap DVD

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Spinal Tap
Nigel Tufnel · David St. Hubbins · Derek Smalls
Studio albums
Fictional album
Feature film
Cast and crew
Related articles
v • d • e
Films directed by Rob Reiner
This Is Spınal Tap (1984) · The Sure Thing (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Princess Bride (1987) · When Harry Met Sally... (1989) · Misery (1990) · A Few Good Men (1992) · North (1994) · The American President (1995) · Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) · The Story of Us (1999) · Alex & Emma (2003) · Rumor Has It... (2005) · The Bucket List (2007)