Spinot Top FOURTEEN REAL-LIFE MOMENTS
THE 1984 ALBUM THIS IS SPINAL TAP WAS THE SOUNDTRACK to the mockumentary of the same name and contained full parodies of metal songs with titles like “Big Bottom,” “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” and “Sex Farm.” The album, which featured an all-black cover like the controversial Smell the Glove record in the movie, was the perfect accompaniment to the film — positioned so much like a real metal album that it kept the nagging “Are they or aren’t they?” question alive in the heads of fans who saw thought just might really a Spinal Tap. All of the misfortune the band experiences throughout This Is Spinal Tap, including malfunctioning stage props, disastrous promotional appearances and mid-tour lineup shifts are both funny and entirely plausible.
Clearly, co-writer and director Rob Reiner is not only familiar with the traditional music documentaries he parodies, but he’s also familiar with the lifestyles of musicians and bands and many of the predicaments they encounter on endless international tours. Reiner chose a perfect cast of actor/comedians and encouraged his actors — Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls), David Kaff (Viv Savage) and Ric Parnell (Mick Shrimp-ton) — to improvise dialog to fit the absurdity of the scenes. Had the actors turned their noses up at the music that their imaginary band was supposed to be celebrating, the movie wouldn’t have worked. Instead, the entire cast embraced their characters and treated all the ridiculous antics and circumstances as realistic situations, which, in the world of metal, they are.
Granted, it’s unlikely that any metal drummers have spontaneously combusted, but countless bands have gotten lost underneath the stage, stood slack-jawed as record label promoters and publicists proposed one inane idea after another and and many will tell you it’s the story of their lives.
