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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 Spın̈al Tap
Directed byRob Reiner
Written byChristopher Guest
Michael McKean
Harry Shearer
Rob Reiner
Produced byKaren Murphy
StarringRob Reiner
Michael McKean
Christopher Guest
Harry Shearer
Fran Drescher
Bruno Kirby
Music byChristopher Guest
Michael McKean
Harry Shearer
Rob Reiner
Distributed byEmbassy Pictures
Release date
March 2, 1984
Running time
82 minutes
LanguageEnglish

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

Reiner and the three main stars are credited as the writers of the film, reflecting the fact that much of the dialogue was ad libbed. 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 play their musical instruments and speak with mock English accents 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. Hubbins' 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 of the band in an early scene set in a hotel room.

Plot overview

The movie is shown in the style of a documentary filmed and directed by the fictional Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner). The documentary covers a United States concert tour for the fictional British rock group "Spinal Tap" to promote their new album Smell the Glove, but interspersed with one-on-one interviews with the members of the group and footage of the group from previous points in their career.

"Listen to the Flower People"

The band was started by childhood friends David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) in the 1960s. Originally called "The Originals", then "The New Originals" to distinguish themselves from the existing group of the same name, they settled on the name "The Thamesmen", finding success with their skiffle/R&B hit, "Gimme Some Money". They changed their name again to "Spinal Tap" and enjoyed limited success with the flower power anthem, "Listen to the Flower People". Ultimately, the band found their long success in heavy metal and produced several albums (including Shark Sandwich, Intravenus de Milo, and The Gospel according to Spinal Tap, prompting the joke, 'On what day did God create Spinal Tap, and couldn't he have rested that day?') prior to 1982 when the "Smell the Glove" tour occurred. The group was eventually joined by bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), keyboardist Viv Savage (David Kaff), and a series of drummers, each of whom had mysteriously died under odd circumstances, including spontaneous combustion, a "bizarre gardening accident" and at least one choked to death on vomit from person(s) unknown ("you can't dust for vomit"). DiBergi's interviews with St. Hubbins and Tufnel reveal that they are competent composers and musicians, but are dimwitted and immature. Tufnel, in showing his guitar collection to DiBergi, reveals an amplifier that has a volume knob that goes to eleven; when DiBergi asks, "Why not just make 10 louder and make that the top?" Tufnel replies, "These go to 11. You see - one louder". Tufnel later plays a somber classical music composition for DiBergi, which he says is called "Lick My Love Pump".

As the tour starts, 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 and there is growing resentment shown towards the group's manager Ian Faith (Tony Hendra). Nigel becomes even more perturbed when St. Hubbins' girlfriend Jeanine (June Chadwick) — a manipulative yoga and astrology devotee — joins the group on tour and begins to participate in band meetings and attempts to influence their costumes and stage presentation. The band's label, Polymer Records, opts to release "Smell the Glove" with an entirely black cover without consulting the band. The album fails to draw crowds to autograph sessions with the band. In order to rekindle interest, Tufnel suggests staging a performance of "Stonehenge," an epic song that is traditionally accompanied in concert by a lavish stage show, and asks Ian to order a giant Stonehenge megalith, 18 feet high, to lower from the stage during that song of the band's set. However, due to Tufnel's mislabeling the sketch's dimensions, the resulting prop, seen for the first time by the group during a show, ends up only 18 inches high. Tufnel accuses Faith of mismanagement, and when St. Hubbins suggests Jeanine should co-manage the group, Faith quits in disgust. As the tour continues, rescheduled into smaller and smaller venues, including at a United States Air Force base and an amphitheater at an amusement park, Tufnel becomes upset and leaves the group in the middle of a show, forcing the remaining members to perform fusion-esque experimental music for lack of Tufnel's material.

At the last show of the tour, as the group considers venturing into a musical theater production on Jack the Ripper, Tufnel returns and informs them that while their American reception has died, the group is wildly popular in Japan, and that Faith would like to arrange a new tour in that country. The group warms up to the idea, letting Tufnel back into the band for their final performance. Despite losing their drummer as he explodes on stage, Spinal Tap ends up enjoying great success on their Japanese tour.

Cast

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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.[2][3] 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.[citation needed] 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?"[4] On Pete Townshend's 1985 album White City: A Novel, the back cover describes Pete Fountain, a "famous guitarist" visiting the title location, as seen by an old childhood friend. When Pete mentions an incident where his drummer complained that "the caviar in their dressing room was the wrong viscosity - for throwing," the friend notes "This is Spinal Tap is obviously a true story."

Lars Ulrich told a press conference crowd that the Metallica/Guns N' Roses 1992 tour seemed "so Spinal Tap." This tour was in support of Metallica's own "black album." 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". When the movie was released, Aerosmith's most recent album, Rock in a Hard Place, depicted Stonehenge prominently on the cover.

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.[4] After seeing a 1986 performance by British metal band Venom, singer Henry Rollins compared them to Spinal Tap.[5] 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 fourth album Condition Critical was given the two-word review of "Condition Terminal" in one magazine. In another example, the short-lived band GTR's eponymous debut LP was thus reviewed by Musician magazine: "SHT". 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.

The 2009 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil has been called the real life version of Spinal Tap.[6][7][8]

American Film Institute recognition

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, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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 (where it is revealed that the members of Spinal Tap were very disappointed in DiBergi for making a "hatchet job" of their film); 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. However, this version of the film was missing the subtitles that appear throughout the film (for example, introducing band members, other personnel, and location names) and did not include the commentaries from the Criterion edition.

A 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray release is in the works, and will include both commentaries from the Criterion disc, and the "in character" one from the Special Edition. It was slated for a January 20, 2009 release, but has been delayed indefinitely by the manufacturer. Amazon.com lists the new release date as July 14, 2009.

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 this is a joke in reference to the memorable scene in the film.[9]

Other musical parodies

Other rock/pop mockumentaries include:

  • Break Like the Wind (1992)
  • 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ spinaltapfan.com
  2. ^ see the notes for Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978, Rhino Records, 2002
  3. ^ Q&A: Robert Plant : Rolling Stone
  4. ^ a b Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head. Three Rivers Press. pp. 216–217. ISBN 0-609-80732-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Rollins, Henry, Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag, 2.13.61 Publications, 1994
  6. ^ "Anvil Exposed: Canadian Metal Vets Rock With Slash, Talk Doc". Rolling Stone. Jan 2, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Movie Review: Sweetness and humor lighten load of 'Anvil'". Sacramento Bee. May 1, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ ""Anvil! The True Story of Anvil": The Year's Great Rock Movie?". Rolling Stone. May 1, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ IGN: This is Spinal Tap DVD
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