Is there anyone who doesn't love This is Spinal Tap?

Not only that, there's another hour and a half "movie" made up of deleted scenes.

Spinal Tap is possibly my favorite movie (after Alien, of course). Its one of the few satirical treatments of metal that actually 'gets' the genre, and understands its place in the context of rock history. I love how the band is a perfect microcosm of all the most bloated aspects of rock trends from the British Invasion onwards. The film is really just a great satire of the rock and roll biz in general, and the human capacity for self-delusion in the face of failure. The songs are really convincingly well-done and hilarious, too.

There was supposed to be a 'hilarious' BJ scene that got cut or unfilmed, purely because it wouldn't have been included in a 'real' documentary.

OTM, the movie has a lot of little stuff like that. My favorite is after the manager Ian tells the band that their Boston show's been cancelled, then says it's nothing to worry about, "Boston's not a big college town."

Tony Hendra really does a great job playing the manager.

I think it was Kiss that didn't find it funny (or maybe both of them). Maiden's Bruce Dickinson's got a pretty good sense of humor, I'm surprised he didn't find it funny.

Seconded.

It wasn't Bruce, it was Blaze!

Tap is to Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind as the Beatles are to Wings, Lennon and Harrison solo. And the new film will be Back Off Boogaloo in comparison. (not that that's bad)

It's one of the best movies ever made, ever.

Hugely OTM.

SPINAL TAP
($75.00) (1984) here's the rare 4 hours 45 minute version you've heard about! ...with all the scenes "not fit" for even the the new extended 'uncut' legitimate release - there's nudity! drugs! bad attitudes! plus lots more! 3 tapes; But please take note -- this is a 'bootleg' tape and the quality is not up to our usual standard there are visual dropouts some missing audio spots... we would recommend it for rabid SPINAL TAP fans only -- where else will you see this stuff? ; {the visual quality of this print is rated as B-/C

almost every metal musician i've seen interviewed about spinal tap has been quite positive; inevitably the conversation leads to them describing how this or that bit from spinal tap actually happened to them.

as for kevin dubrow whining about it ... what HASN'T kevin dubrow whined about?

I don't understand what's so funny about this? I used to do the same thing, but only so that I could drink more beer onstage.

That's completely insane.

Tap is to Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind as the Beatles are to Wings, Lennon and Harrison solo. And the new film will be Back Off Boogaloo in comparison.

Good anology. Guest's other movies are great, as is a lot of Wings and Lennon's and Harrison's solo stuff. But the Beatles are the best band I've ever heard and Spinal Tap is the funniest movie I've ever seen.

my fave moment: dancing dwarfs around the tiny stonehenge

fave subtle line: the argument about going on AFTER the puppet show

speaking of...watch SNL in the 80s sunday night (no law and order!) and they showed a few moments of some classic clips from the season with Shearer and Guest, particularly the all-time classic synchronized swimming skit with Martin Short.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84aswimmers.phtml

Even the music itself makes me laugh - there's a great bit at the end of one of the songs where Nigel plays a souped-up Mozart guitar solo. Also when he's playing his piano "composition" and talking about how there are all these melodic lines interwoven when in fact he's just playing these really retarded-sounding blocky chords.

With ya there, that's a perfect moment of editing.

I think it is time for Tap to come back out of retirement. If you watch some of those current metal shows on Fuse or MTV, there is some comedy gold out there waiting to be mined.

it does, done by the cast, but not in character. it too is very funny. the deleted scenes are different, also - some overlap, but not much.

They should be so lucky.

I've heard it was loosely based on Saxon and Status Quo. The key word there, however, is loosely.

Not really an ILM question I suppose.

Wikipedia, our friend:

Guest became the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex, when his father died in 1996. According to an article in The Guardian, Guest attended the House of Lords regularly until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 barred most hereditary peers from their seats. In the article Guest remarked:

"There's no question that the old system was unfair. I mean, why should you be born to this? But now it's all just sheer cronyism. The Prime Minister can put in whoever he wants and bus them in to vote. The Upper House should be an elected body, it's that simple."

As Guest's children are adopted, they cannot inherit his Barony under the terms of the letters patent that created it. The current heir presumptive to the title is Guest's brother, Nicholas Haden-Guest.

I laughed out loud just reading this description.

I seem to have an anthology on hard rock/metal or two around here in which a member of Uriah Heep, probably Hensley, proudly takes some credit. Status Quo and the Heep fit more closely than Saxon if there's any -fit-. They both started out as kind of lame and flailing psychedelic bands, although the Quo had an actual hit. Status Quo didn't have any members die. Heep had personnel problems early on, a bassist actually being electrocuted onstage. Later he died in a bathtup or something. Quo match better in the UL label's regard for them. Despite a big splurge for a feature in Billboard at the time of "Blue for You," Quo were treated with great disrespect in the US. Uriah Heep had it much easier, being arena head-liners for a short time.

They all make nice stories.

In the latest Entertainment Weekly there's a feature with Rob Reiner talking aboot each of the films he's made, and for the Spinal Tap blurb he says their keyboardist, John Sinclair, was hired away by Uriah Heap before he could be in the movie. He would call the filmmakers from the road, saying things like "We're playing a military base" and they would put it in the film. Reiner also credits Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as the inspiration for getting lost on the way to stage.

there's too much fucking perspective

Some interesting info was discussed here: Battle of the LA Session Musos: the Wrecking Crew vs. the LA Mafia

Barry Bostwick interviews Spinal Tap on SNL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-HOHzafV1E

“I can’t believe you’re treating the departure of Nigel like he was Stumpy Joe or Peter James Bond”

“Well I’m sure I might feel a little bit more if I wasn’t under such heavy sedation”

that's actually my favorite bit of dialogue in the movie

I do slightly not-love This is Spinal Tap now - but not because of flaws in the film itself, but because of what I will call extrafilmic concerns.

Like my 10 friends in high school whose "sense of humor" consisted entirely of quotes from Monty Python and/or Spinal Tap.

And like the 10,000 corny-ass muso dudes who cannot possibly resist an ST reference. In 30mumble years of music-making I have carefully avoided mentioning the property of sustain because I know there's going to be some goofball who is going to do the movie quote in a bad accent.

And lord help me if the discussion of the increments on amplifier knobs comes up because I swear to god imma kill the next mofo who says anything about eleven

Yes, I get it, you watched a VHS tape. Cool. Now can we please get back to rehearsing the fucking song

I don't mind excess Spinal Tap quoting as long as you veer beyond the two obvious ones.

whenever I've been in a really bad theatre production, and I realize I'm in a complete piece of shit that is going to tank, I often have turned to the person next to me in frustration and asked "Are we gonna do stonehenge tomorrow?"

Okay, Stonehenge references get a pass from me.

A Hawkwind biopic would not be far off from Spinal Tap.

an Anvil biopic already wasn't

otm

obviously very different musically but the documentary on the UK pop group Bros. was definitely the that got closest to that perfect dimwit grandiosity of Spinal Tap

Fucking limmy.

RIP Ric Parnell, aka Mick Shrimpton -- the drum solo bit in this remains a top five moment in this film for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0QdAbGym8A

And I still love his physical comedy in the back of the shot here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE-S_WbUJE

Anyone who worked in a record store in the 80s will instantly recognize the absolutely spot on performance of Paul Shaffer as Artie Fufkin.

RIP Ric / Mick
Should I ask if he…spontaneously combusted into a little green globule on his drum seat?

Bizarre gardening accident

Things like that happen all the time. They’re just not widely reported

The authorities said best leave it unsolved.

Wait, are you guys quoting something?

Withnail & I

“We want the finest dwarves available to humanity. We want them here and we want them now.”

You can't really dust for vomit.

SEQUEL!

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/this-is-spinal-tap-sequel-rob-reiner-michael-mckean-1235265523/

The sequel will be in the style of Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” the legendary concert documentary that followed the farewell tour of the Canadian American rock group The Band. “Spinal Tap 2” will also feature real-life musicians in the film. No names have been revealed yet, but it will likely depend on the artists’ touring schedules.

Bono? Boaby?

Honk like the wind?

I have very low expectations for this

It'll either be bone dry and hilarious, or suck so hard it'll drag the original down with it

"The Last Waltz" ripe for parody + Christopher Guest's wonderful tried-and-true lead-up to a big show at the end gives me hope for it.

I thought we already had a modern-day reboot with Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping?

I'm a style boy for liiiiife

The tour video they released after the 1992 shows already was a sequel, really, thanks to the various interstitial/where are they now bits.

Plus, the "directors commentary" on the original, massively recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD94L7rzOm8

Just wanted to thank you for the display name nod there, C. Grisso.