I picked up influences from the Beatles, The Mamas and The Papas, The Who, The Doors, Van Halen, David Bowie... I know I'm missing some! I can see how this is a cult classic with some great quotes. And the music was actually super good?! Full length reaction on patreon.com/chrissiereacts
The actors never disclosed their real life inspiration, but I think you were right about one being Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page notoriously played his guitar with a violin bow. The movie took it to the extreme by having Nigel play with a whole violin. Another one pretty easy to spot is the Stonehenge bit. It really happened to Black Sabbath (in reverse: they built the prop too big, but for the same reason. Metric vs imperial confusion).
Totally, 100%! I love that you picked up on The Who influences!! Van Halen and that kind of "cock rock" (excuse my language) was definitely one of the main points of parody! And of course, nothing is more fundamental in rock lore as the Yoko Ono/Beatles saga! (I actually love Yoko, I wrote her the year after John died.....and she wrote back!!!!)
The transition from Flower People to their later stuff is definitely Status Quo... If you want a real Beatles parody rockumentary you MUST watch "The Rutles"... All you need is cash (!) which actually pre-dates Spinal Tap Full of cameos from Bill Murray to Mick Jagger
Christopher Guest is brilliant in his ability to say the most hilarious sh*t with the STRAIGHTEST face! He's also a convincing dramatic actor appearing quietly as Doctor Stone in the Tom Cruise film A Few Good Men!!
Nah, there are still only 10 stars to select when rating this film on IMDb. What they do is report the current rating out of 11. At the time of writing it was "7.9/11". It would have been better to do it like you suggested because 7.9/11 is worse than 7.9/10.
Btw... that wasnt George Carlin 🤣. that was Howard Hesseman. At the time probably most famous for the sitcom"WKRP in Cincinatti". But they did both have pony tails. 🤣 Carlin did some acting.. probably best known as Rufus in the Bill & Ted films.
He was also in Billy Jack. Billy Jack is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name
The mime waiters at the party were played by Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey. My favorite little exchange: "I think you're making too big a deal of it." "Making a big deal of it would've been a good idea." "I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't so heavily sedated." 🤣
Oh yes. A lot of musicians will tell you the first time they saw it they didn’t laugh. Sting told Rob Reiner when I watch Spinal Tap I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
@NapAttack I've heard just the opposite. First of all, everyone knows its a "Mockumentary" now. Second, it's an iconic hilarious movie. Most musicians are pretty cool and love watching to see what scenes most closely resemble any experiences they can relate to. A bunch of scenes are probably pretty universal for 70s and 80s bands I bet. Getting confused how to get around an old theater back then I bet happened a lot. Getting irritated by the pre show food buffet I bet is pretty common. Reading scathing album reviews from Rolling Stone, guys like Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, and the British music press was very nasty sometimes. Interband tensions between the top 2 players, like Lennon/McCartney, Simon&Garfunkel, Waters/Gilmour etc is almost universal. I'd say there are TOO MANY BANDS that mistakenly claim "oh, that scene is about us!". It was a badge of HONOR to be associated with the movie, so I've heard too many of those types of stories.
"I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf."
There are so many excellent gags in this film, but I think my favorite is the pretentious tuning of the violin during the guitar solo. I'm glad you enjoyed that, too.
They even had good interviews in guitar magazines. One quote from there was about why they got rid of their manager "he took everything personally, including our profits"
They wrote all the songs, performed them, and have gone on tour and played in stadiums at festival events with multiple bands. They're the real deal. Comic actors who can seriously play.
The Rutles: All You Need is Cash was probably the first fake rock documentary in 1978, although it was a very specific send up of The Beatles. Spinal Tap actually made their first appearance on a skit in a TV variety show one year later in 1979.
The most obvious Led Zeppelin reference is when Nigel starts dragging the violin over his guitar strings. It was also widely speculated that Nigel was supposed to look like Jeff Beck- You can see an earlier version of Nigel playing with Lenny and the Squigtones in their American Bandstand appearance.
Though Jimmy Page used just a violin bow in "The Song Remains the Same," not an entire violin. The bit with Nigel attempting to tune the violin is hilarious.
@@Bikebrh Bruce Dickinson had only just joined Iron Maiden in 1982, so Number of the Beast would be either brand new or still in production when this movie was shot. Iron Maiden couldn't really have been called "huge" (at least not in the states) until at least 1984, when Powerslave came out. So any resemblance between Nigel and Bruce Dickinson would have to be considered coincidental.
Nice reaction! Hey, if you can get your hands on the DVD version that has the *_in character_* audio commentary by Nigel, David and Derek (Guest, McKean and Shearer), you'll be laughing all over again as they react to their own movie. *_All improvised,_* and every bit as funny as the film itself. Cheers!
They actually wrote an entire album for this (more if you count the reunion album that came out in the 90s). If you look up on youtube you can find them playing at Wembley at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. I'm even more impressed by how much of the script was actually improvised on the spot. As a musician it's even more hilarious because you pickup on small details, like how he can't get up while playing the guitar solo on the floor because that particular guitar is very heavy, or the particular players they're referring to in certain bits.
The amount of talent between the music and improv is crazy. 100% gonna check out that album! Ohhh hahaha I thought he couldn't get up because his pants were too tight 😂 thanks for the inside scoop!
They released a second album called Break Like the Wind with all new material. I saw them play at Wembley Arena in 2009 to mark the 25th anniversary of the movie.
There's a live Guns n Roses concert in New York on video where Slash had the same problem that he was on the floor with his Les Paul and the roadie had to help him up. Should have had an SG like Angus Young. If you watch the Let There be Rock film, he is running around with it, flops on the floor, spins round and round in one direction, then the other to untangle himself and get up and carrys on Duckrunning without breaking a beat, or missing a single note.
I recall Metallica bought out two videos about recording and touring the Black album. There was a part when they were playing a festival (I don't remember which) and Spinal Tap were there. ST went to Metallica's dressing room and thanked them for the "tribute album". The look on their faces was priceless.
@@jasonheaford8271 I was there for that too - most expensive tickets I'd paid for + emptiest I've seen the arena. I wonder if that was somehow connected?
The stonehenge mixup was a reference to a similar incident for Black Sabbath, where the units were mistaken the other way around; feet -> meters, making it too large.
So many lost references. I always assumed the black album was poking fun at Metallica, think it was the who's Pete Townsend who got trapped in a prop on stage(i could be wrong, it was frickin 45 years ago, or more). Many bands lost backstage.... Even the trope of girlfriend comes on the road and pulls a Yoko
@@ryurc3033 Metallica and the Black Album didn't exist in the early 80s. Metallica did their Black album as a blatant rip off of Spinal Tap. The black album bit was a direct spoof of The Beatles White Album, which was even mentioned earlier. You must have been born in the 90s.
@@kbrewski1 dude WTF? At least I'm not listening to Taylor Swift, and wearing rainbow socks. I was wrong, great 👍. I'm glad you hate anyone who actually enjoys music from before they were born.
I'm pretty sure you're right about a Led Zep reference - when Nigel talks about his signature guitar solos, he plays a guitar with a violin, reminiscent of Jimmy Page playing a guitar with a bow. The scene where Nigel gives a tour of his guitar collection reminds me of an interview with Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen. The movie is basically a compilation of every band anecdote they could piece together. Once I saw Peter Gabriel in the round and the drummer rose from the center of the stage in a clear box that the stage crew had to disassemble. It reminded me of Derek getting stuck in the pod. Every band sees their own story in this film.
I tuned in a little late, to this late movie on TV, while talking to my mom. An we initially thought it was a documentary, but it soon became apparent it was a mockumentary becaue it was so outrageously funny, and we started to recognise some of the stars. We howled for hours into the wee hours. Saw them live on Canada Day in St John's Newfoundland.
One of the greatest comedies ever. Most of it was improvised. Christopher Guest, Michael Mckean, & Harry Shearer are all very good musicians. There was a tv show special (kind of a Spinal Tap update) in the early 90s sometime that was a lot of fun also. It probably came out around the time they put out their album "Break Like the Wind", but ill have to go look up dates for specifics.
I'm sure this was mentioned in other comments, but I didn't see it. The actor who played lead vocalist David St. Hubbins is Michael McKean, who also played "Lenny" in 149 episodes on _Laverne and Shirley_ (1976-1983) as well as Jimmy McGill's stuffed-shirt big-time-lawyer brother Chuck McGill in 28 episodes of _Better Call Saul_ (2015-2018).
Fun fact, the British band Bad News came out before this, members were Rik Mayall Ade Edmonson Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson, it was part of the Comic Strip presents.
Big Young Ones fan here in the States, and I know a couple fun facts, but never knew that one. Was Richardson the one Christopher Ryan replaced on the show?
@@VaraLaFey no it was a totally different show on a different channel called the comic strip presents, there's some gems in it, but the two Bad News episodes are the best.
@@TreVader1378 My bad for totally missing where you originally said "Comic Strip Presents". I'm marginally familiar with that show, but haven't seen the Bad News episodes. And it looks like they're available online, so now I know what I'll be watching later. Thanks. 🙂
Many of the incidents are based on real events. Stonehenge - the band Black Sabbath ordered a set where as backdrop they’d have a complete replica of Stonehenge only ⅓ bigger than the real thing. Then once it was built it was found that there was no venue on the plane that could practically fit it all in - because the original henge is so huge. So they decided to use only two supports and a cross piece, only they’d get a midge, paint his face red and put horns on him and as a devil he’d move up and down along the cross piece hissing… And he was miked up to the sound system so he could be heard. But during the number he slipped and fell and he broke his leg and was screaming out in pain - all captured on a state-of-the-art amphitheatre sound system. Folding bread - supposedly based on several quibbling artists such as Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason complaining in the cafeteria of Abbey Road Studios that the apple pie he got didn’t have the crusts cut off like he asked. This can be seen in extra footage on some versions of “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii”.
Wow, never knew Sabbath did a Stonehenge set and it's just as funny, it was too big while Taps was too small. Of course Nigels solo, Jimmy Page used a bow on his guitar so Nigel uses the whole violin lol.
Good news, they've released songs and albums beyond the movie's soundtrack. I recommend "Break Like the Wind", especially the single "Bitch School", viewable here on TH-cam.
I saw them at the Freddie Mercury tribute in April 1992. They only did one song, but when they left the stage Harry Shearer shouted "THANK YOU WIMBLEDON!" (they were at Wembley).
23:46 Angelica Huston was the artist lady who made the little Stonehenge thingy. She played it *_perfectly._* I felt _so bad_ for her - she was so proud of the piece, only to get yelled at like that. 😂
Notice the change from 2:55 with Billy Crystal ("Mime is money") to Bruno Kirby (the Limo driver). As I understand, they were best friends in real life and star in another Rob Reiner movie "When Harry Met Sally" (and also City Slickers).
I started watching this on television with no idea. I confess it wasn't until Fran Drescher appeared that I caught on, okay I'm slow, had a good laugh at my own expense. Hilarious mockumentary. Thanks
I like how you identified specifically so many bands and artists. I think rob reiner and spinal tap members , especially rob reiner, intended this movie as a parody of all rock music bands and artists, as ive heard ozzy osbourne saying he thought the movie was a real documentary, as he identified with it so strongly. Really good analysis, you found influences from real bands all over the place.
Ahh - the flashbacks and the haze! I live not far from Stonehenge, and the proportions for the stage prop is about right, from a distance. LOL. Great t-shirt - love sharks.😊
These guys have two other satires/parodies that are must see: Best in Show, which takes on the national dog shows, and A Mighty Wind, a wonderful movie paying homage to the folk bands on the 60s/70s.
Christopher Guest had been part of the National Lampoon, which was a magazine that branched out into stage shows, a radio show--both of which he was a part of--and of course, movies. Michael McKean and Harry Shearer were members of a comedy group called The Credibility Gap. Shearer, Guest and McKean all had short-lived stints on SNL....Guest and Shearer joining the cast in 1984-1985, just as this movie was getting theatrical release.
What’s amazing about this film is that *many* bands have pointed to Spinal Tap and stated “yeah, that was us” or “yeah, that happened”. In a nice bit of “poetry”, the same three appeared as another fake band. This time it was the Folksmen (and that was more of a direct parody and in this case it was The Kingston Trio). This is A Mighty Wind, directed by Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel). A funny personal anecdote about the film: My parents saw the film at a theatre in Great Falls, MT. It was just them and two other people at the showing. When it came to the line “The Boston gig has been cancelled. But I wouldn’t worry about it though It’s not a big college town”, they were the only ones laughing at it. Many decades later, I saw a screening of it at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. I happily reported to my parents: yes, there were more people in it and they all laughed at the Boston line.
If there were only 4 people in the theater 😮, it's not surprising that only 2 of them laughed. What's funnier is there were only 4 people in the theater. Was Puppet Show playing on another screen?
Nigel’s guitar solo reportedly was a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page solos. A good primer to start you off on Zeppelin would listening to “Whole Lotta Love,” “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” and “Over the Hills and Far Away.” Another great band from that era that likely influenced “Tap” is Deep Purple (“Hush,” “Highway Star (find one of the live versions on YT),” “Smoke on the Water”).
Saxon were the main inspiration - they went on tour with them for research & things like getting lost on the way to the stage etc. actually happened to Saxon
I think getting lost to the stage happened to Springsteen too, it happens more often than you think. I think a member of Bebop Deluxe got stuck in a pod. These kinds of mishaps happen all the time
Michael McKean and Harry Shearer were in a comedy troupe together called The Credibility Gap. Christopher Guest was a member of National Lampoon with Bill Murry and John Belushi. He played Mister Rogers on one of their records. Hilarious.
Not sure this was the first mockumentary. There is an earlier one called The Rutles - a Beatles spoof written by Neil Innes and Eric Idle (Monty Python) in 1978.
@@chrissiereacts If you're new to Python, you're in for a treat. The best thing about the Rutles movie is the amazing songs written by Neil Innes. They sound so much like Beatles tunes! If you'd like an appetizer, try "I must be in love" on TH-cam.
The best trivia about The Rutles film is that John Lennon loved it and Paul McCartney hated it, which delighted George Harrison who was involved in it's production!
Michael McKeon is famous for playing Lenny as in Lenny & Squiggy from Laverne & Shirley as well as hundreds of other roles over the years & Saul's brother on Better Call Saul!!!
Spinal Tap parodied what was considered the stereotypical heavy metal band of the time. You are correct on the Zeppelin references - much of this film parodies "The Song Remains the Same."
7:15 That is Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnatti, ALSO another actor I saw is "Billy Crystal", he's 1 of the Mime's @ the Party Fran Drescher is at.
This is my all time favorite movie. I have it on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. I watch it every couple of years. Most of the move was improvisation. The band actually did tour at one time. They also released a couple of CDs.
I always love the window roll-up on Bruno Kirby; on one hand, it feels rude, but on the other hand, he's someone you'd really want to roll the window up on.
The beauty and brilliance of this parody is it hits highlights of stuff that happens to almost every band. This is why some bands holed with laughter because they got the joke, while others were horrified and incensed because they got the joke. :)
always happy to run into another spinal tap fan, the fun fact is the comedians ARE all musicians, justw anted comedy more as a career, i had the tap record once,
There was a Canadian band in the late 70s/early 80s named Prism that myself and a few HS buddies liked several of their "Proggy" Synth rock albums (songs like Spaceship Superstar, Armageddon, See Forever Eyes). They got moderate radio play. So in the early 80s we found out they were playing in a small music club in our city, so we decided to go because none of us had seen them live. They advertised on the radio with snippets of their most well known songs etc. So we go down to this club and there is us and a few dozen other people at this show. They played for about 45 minutes, played none of their most well known tunes, and sounded like a cheesy synth pop band, not progressive at all. We come to find out that basically the entire band had changed personnel from the band we knew from their best albums from 77-79. Even the lead singer was different. We had been taken. It was a whole different band who somehow kept the Prism name! By the end people were booing and yelling out stuff, but when they walked out after playing 45 minutes of apparently new stuff, that really was too much. We actually followed the band out the back door onto their bus parked directly in back. The venue at first didnt even try to stop us because they also were peeved at their sucky setlist and the short show. My buddy got about halfway down the bus aisle and we were all ripping them a new one. The band actually looked scared because the crowd was so pizzed. Finally the club bouncers pulled us off the bus, but they fully sympathized and were irritated they weren't informed of the band changes. We didn't get our $ back though. But Prism will never forget that. They didn't last much longer. A true Tap night.
Kind of ironic that you’re talking about an angry mob nearly lynching a band that played in front of a few dozen people in a club- because they didn’t play their prog numbers! Not much peace and love there, that might, I guess.
@tomfabozzi5353 Lmfao 🤏. Uhhh, "nearly lynching"???? Where in my comment did you get the idea we "nearly lynched an entire band"??? Are you nuts? Did I mention any hangin ropes? Any chains? Any weapons at all? Any violence at all? No, we were mad,irritated and angry, but there was no violence, much less a "lynching". We yelled at them for ripping us off. For misrepresentating who they were. For defrauding not only the customers, but the venue itself. It was an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BAND then the band Prism we knew. They had advertised themselves as I clearly explained on radio stations playing the songs that we knew from the original Prism band. They proceeded to play none of those songs and instead only played some lame synth poppy new wave crap that sounded nothing like the band we all knew. And on top of it, instead of playing for 2 hours or at least 1.5 hours, they played about 40-45 minutes and skiddaddled. The venue owners were just as pizzed, and they couldn't believe it either. They let us chew them out on their bus, didn't try to stop us until we ripped them a new one (figuratively). What don't you understand numbnuts? What is your major malfunction? It was a Spinal Tap like story. Chillax. Lighten up Francis.
I was lucky enough to meet Harry Shearer (bass player Derek Smalls, along with half the voices on The Simpsons) at a special screening of This Is Spinal Tap in Australia for its 10th anniversary. I owned the album with it's all black cover and got him to autograph it . . . in black texta (sharpie). You have to tilt the cover to a certain angle in the light to make out the signature. It's blacker than black!
I just remembered the same crew also did a parody of folk music in 2003 called " A Mighty Wind " , not as good but also released an album of the same name . There was a Hip Hop Rap parody movie in 1993 called " The Fear Of Black Hats " where the band kept accidentlly killing their managers Spinal Tap is still the best
I used to have a car stereo with a Bass Boost button because sometimes you've turned Treble fully up Bass fully up and... "When you need that extra push over the cliff..."
they were also a real band and I got to see them live in Boston. one of the greatest evenings of my life. they were promoting the movie and came and did a performance in front of 200 people at the channel Club in Boston
Two of the three main guys (Shearer, McKean) previously worked together in a comedy group called The Credibility Gap until '79. You can find some of their bits on TH-cam. Their take on the Abbott & Costello classic "Who's on First" is particularly funny.
Great reaction! Spinal Tap referenced many bands and lampooned many rock-n-roll clichés. Back in the day, many bands had to tour incessantly and build an audience, and this was more of the reality of touring rather than the idealized fantasy that many aspiring musicians thought touring was.
That was fantastic!!!! And such a great edit! You have a distinctive editing style! It's great because the more you know about music, the more you get it, and you definitely got it! And yeah, it takes from all those bands and more. (Led Zep, definitely). There actually IS a mockumentary that predates this that IS entirely goofing on the Beatles: Eric Idle (from Monty Python) did it. "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash". Also hilarious! Other than that, the only other earlier mockumentaries I can think of are two Woody Allen movies (Take The Money And Run, and Zelig), and those have nothing to do with music. * - The drummers dying. Some bands are cursed! The Grateful Dead lost 4 keyboard players, for instance! And the "choking on vomit" thing; a lot of rock stars died of overdoses. And the news report would always make it a point to say "Hendrix choked on his own vomit; Jim Morrison choked on his own vomit; Keith Moon.....John Bonham......etc etc. So that's where that joke comes in. And the whole guitar solo thing with the violin, that's a parody of Jimmy Page in the concert movie "The Song Remains The Same" where he plays this interminably long guitar solo and at one point uses a violin bow on his guitar. (and on and on and on!). LOVE that they wrote and performed their own songs....and they're all actors! The bass player is the voice of half the characters on The Simpsons (Mr. Burns, for instance). GREAT REACTION, CHRISSIE!!! THANKS!
Thanks for all the extra tidbits! I knew some stuff would go over my head... choked on his own vomit 😂 it's funny, I never even realised how redundant that was. And it was likely improv too which makes it even funnier 😆
Hi chrissie, I loved your reaction, you're adorable! Anjelica Huston was the lady that sculpted the Stonehenge Monument. Lol. Subscribing! Keep on keeping on. Rock on and prosper sweetie! 🎉❤🎉
Sorry, who u think was George Carlin was actually Howard Hessman who played Dr Johnny Fever, a DJ on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati then he was Dan Schneider's teacher on Head of the Class
Angelica Houston was the designer of the 18 inch Stonehenge stage piece. You may have also missed a young Dana Carvey as the mime being told “mime is money” by Billy Crystal.
There's so much fringe humor in this movie that's aimed at musicians... every band I've ever been in has had a moment of "well, we did a Spinal Tap there." An absolute classic. 😅😂 It was not obvious at the time that it was a fake band. Nigel Tufnel later did advertisements for Marshall with his new invention, the Amplifier Capo.
He and David(Michael) did an interview for Guitar World in character, said hilarious things and I think they had the music, or tab for Tonite I'm gonna Rock You.
Dana Carvey and Billy Crystal were the mimes/waiters. Paul Schaffer was Artie Fufkin (Polymer Records promoter). Schaffer was in the original Saturday Night Live band, then became the bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman and bandleader for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Polymer records is a spoof on Polydor Records
Such a funny movie. There is definitely a reference to Led Zeppelin. When Nigel is using a violin on his guitar, is a direct play on the fact that Jimmy Page used to use a violin bow during a solo. The songs are awesome and is a great soundtrack. They did a second album and I own both. They also went on tour which I got to see and it was so much fun. When they did Stonehenge, the model was so big that when lowering it got hung up. The whole show had mishaps like that. The second album has a song with Chet and when they did that one they had a screen with pictures of her with only her lips singing her parts. Too funny. These go to 11 is a super popular saying in pop culture. Lastly you should at least listen to Led Zeppelin’s first album. Really good bluesey rock.
The Mockumentary is a parody of all rock music, obviously mostly of 70s hard rock and 80s Cheese Metal bands. They parody many different bands and incidents. Yes, the girlfriend horning in and affecting the group was a direct link back to Yoko Ono in the late 60s. Nigel's guitar solo scene was a parody of Jimmy Page of Zeppelin who used to do long guitar solos with a violin bow. Here, they ramp it up with Nigel scratching the entire violin on the guitar, taking a quick second to "tune" the violin laughably. Getting caught in the pod things could be many 70s bands who had elaborate stage setups, for instance Progressive Rock bands like Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis. There are numerous stories about issues with the costumes Peter Gabriel as lead singer of Genesis used to wear in the early 70s where his face was so muffled by masks his vocals were barely audible (see Slipperman costume, Lamb Tour). Same with stage props and scenery like the Stonehenge mini sculpture. Getting confused and lost trying to navigate back stage of old theaters was I'm sure a common thing, especially with the 70s/80s drug scene. The "black album" was a parody of The Beatles White Album, which then Metallica ripped off for real. Led Zeppelin also had an album (IV) which had no name and writing on it, and it was known as Untitled (the one with Stairway to Heaven). Just about every scene was a parody of something in rock, from the canceled gigs ("Boston is not a big college town"), to the downside of a band (PUPPET SHOW over Spinal Tap on the marquee at a Six Flags), to getting new life with a "Japan Tour". If you knew more 70s rock and had seen some real band documentaries, you would have laughed a lot more. This was a dialogue movie first and foremost, so the dialogue is the key, all the funny and clever lines. You cut out a LOT of great punch lines. The amazing thing is those 3 guys actually WROTE AND PLAYED ALL THE SONGS AND MUSIC. On top of that, a lot of the movie was AD LIBBED. The first real music "Mockumentary" was a few years before this, in 1978 or so with THE RUTLES >ALL YOU NEED IS CASH, done by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. It's a direct parody of The Beatles and is HILARIOUS!!!
THE RUTLES is the mockumentary that is based on THE BEATLES story. It has cameos by George Harrison, Mick Jagger, and Paul Simon. It was done by Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame), had many cameos by the original cast of Saturday Night Live (including John Belushi as "Ron Decline," a take-off on second manager Allen Klein), and also features an amazing set of Beatles parody songs by Neil Innes (Bonzo Doo Dog Band, featured in Magical Mystery Tour), such as PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE, a take-off of I AM THE WALRUS. It was a movie from NBC-TV in 1978. "The Rutles are a living legend. A living legend that will live on long after other living legends have died..."
This movie inspired me and my mates to form a band. Some of the most fun years I've ever had. Rock and Roll Baby!!! 🤘And yeah - seriously, you should have a listen to Led Zepplin, (and Black Sabbath - Just cause haha)
All time comedy classic. Rob Reiner hit this out of the park. Love the homage to Scorsese with the Navy hat. Great reaction, Chrissie. Thanks! And, go listen to a Led Zep album. :-)
What you really need to watch now is the commentary track where they do the commentary in character. That was awesome. Best commentary EVER. A lot of the inside jokes are explained, like the coldsores.
@@chrissiereactsThere is also an additional audio track with the cast (but not in character) discussing how the movie was made, the additional comedic actors they found to play minor parts, and what they had to leave on the editing floor. (Their herpes sores subplot was cut.) You should be able to find it on TH-cam too.
I have a shirt - shows the precise arrangement of my bone structure - ribs, spine..... (like Nigel Tufnel!)... says Spinal Tap on the back, of course. When I was a teenager I had an older friend who looked exactly like the bass player, Derek Smalls! Stonehenge! The little people! Body-snatchers pods which don't open! Classic! The albums still get played at least once a year.
Their making a sequel and also the director did : Misery - Princess Bride and other movies. One of cast members of the band Spinal Tap does the voice on The Simpsons. And they really can play instruments and have albums out. Check them out Live At Royal Albert Hall and other festivals. Spinal Tap also did a full episode on the Simpsons.
I love watching young women react to Spinal Tap with mostly blank looks on their face as the jokes and inside references go whizzing over their head. Lmao 🤣
All the music for this film was brilliant. Listening to the album as a stand-alone piece of work it's really very good. And of course the parody is sublime, carefully balanced on the edge of cringe.
I picked up influences from the Beatles, The Mamas and The Papas, The Who, The Doors, Van Halen, David Bowie... I know I'm missing some! I can see how this is a cult classic with some great quotes. And the music was actually super good?!
Full length reaction on patreon.com/chrissiereacts
I heard a little Yes during the puppet show venue 😂
The actors never disclosed their real life inspiration, but I think you were right about one being Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page notoriously played his guitar with a violin bow. The movie took it to the extreme by having Nigel play with a whole violin.
Another one pretty easy to spot is the Stonehenge bit.
It really happened to Black Sabbath (in reverse: they built the prop too big, but for the same reason. Metric vs imperial confusion).
Totally, 100%! I love that you picked up on The Who influences!! Van Halen and that kind of "cock rock" (excuse my language) was definitely one of the main points of parody! And of course, nothing is more fundamental in rock lore as the Yoko Ono/Beatles saga! (I actually love Yoko, I wrote her the year after John died.....and she wrote back!!!!)
The transition from Flower People to their later stuff is definitely Status Quo...
If you want a real Beatles parody rockumentary you MUST watch
"The Rutles"... All you need is cash (!) which actually pre-dates Spinal Tap
Full of cameos from Bill Murray to Mick Jagger
Christopher Guest is brilliant in his ability to say the most hilarious sh*t with the STRAIGHTEST face!
He's also a convincing dramatic actor appearing quietly as Doctor Stone in the Tom Cruise film A Few Good Men!!
This is the only film that IMDB allows you to rate as an 11. Of course it counts as 10 but you get to click on 11.
Love that!!
lol that's funny.
Nah, there are still only 10 stars to select when rating this film on IMDb.
What they do is report the current rating out of 11. At the time of writing it was "7.9/11".
It would have been better to do it like you suggested because 7.9/11 is worse than 7.9/10.
On-demand online BBC media with audio has a volume control that goes from 0 to you-guessed-it ---check it out
@raphaelperry8159 that is clever and hilarious. Very cool. But the rating is 7.9 so there are some real buffoons out there rating it wrong
Btw... that wasnt George Carlin 🤣. that was Howard Hesseman. At the time probably most famous for the sitcom"WKRP in Cincinatti". But they did both have pony tails. 🤣 Carlin did some acting.. probably best known as Rufus in the Bill & Ted films.
Well that's embarrassing 😂🙈
I remember him from the TV sitcom Head of the class in the 80's.
@@veddyveddygood Oh yeah!! Pre Billy Connolly
@@veddyveddygood WKRP was what people knew him from to start.
He was also in Billy Jack. Billy Jack is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name
The mime waiters at the party were played by Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey.
My favorite little exchange:
"I think you're making too big a deal of it."
"Making a big deal of it would've been a good idea."
"I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't so heavily sedated." 🤣
Derek: "So that's what....50hrs?"
i didn't know that was dana carvey!
Anjelica Huston was the artist who made the "Stonehenge" prop.
Damn I didn't recognize her!
Wow! She was so young, I never would have guessed!
I've seen this movie so many times, and never realized that was Angelica Houston.
Who hasn't been floored by Tap's punctuality?
Cleveland probably
Damned by faint praise indeed !
I saw Tap go onstage early once. It was an 8 PM show and they went on at 4. It was for the fans, really.
The most accurate movie about rock n roll, nothing even comes close. A brilliant movie that still holds up very well to this day.
You've obviously never seen The Rutles.
The Rutles are great, Eric Idle’s the man, but Tap is so on the money to this day
I've heard that a number of rock stars don't like the movie because it reminds them of some of their own Spinal Tap moments.
Oh yes. A lot of musicians will tell you the first time they saw it they didn’t laugh. Sting told Rob Reiner when I watch Spinal Tap I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
@NapAttack
I've heard just the opposite. First of all, everyone knows its a "Mockumentary" now. Second, it's an iconic hilarious movie. Most musicians are pretty cool and love watching to see what scenes most closely resemble any experiences they can relate to. A bunch of scenes are probably pretty universal for 70s and 80s bands I bet.
Getting confused how to get around an old theater back then I bet happened a lot. Getting irritated by the pre show food buffet I bet is pretty common. Reading scathing album reviews from Rolling Stone, guys like Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, and the British music press was very nasty sometimes. Interband tensions between the top 2 players, like Lennon/McCartney, Simon&Garfunkel, Waters/Gilmour etc is almost universal.
I'd say there are TOO MANY BANDS that mistakenly claim "oh, that scene is about us!". It was a badge of HONOR to be associated with the movie, so I've heard too many of those types of stories.
Michael McKean's face when the mini Stonehenge comes down... OMG... priceless!!!🤣
Yes!! 😂
"I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf."
(From a Brit) best Americans doing English accents so far!
Don't forget that Harry Shearer became Mr Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders and so many more great characters. ❤
He also hosts, "Le Show" on public radio. Good stuff for anyone interested in giving it a listen.
He’s also a voice in Star Wars
Harry Shearer spoke at our graduation. Long Beach School of the Arts...
Handsome Dan in Waynes World.
There are so many excellent gags in this film, but I think my favorite is the pretentious tuning of the violin during the guitar solo. I'm glad you enjoyed that, too.
lol as a guitarist I always notice that and nobody else ever does!
Jimmy Page using a violin bow in dazed and confused. Leslie Harvey also used a bow (less histrionics) in Stone the Crows (Another Peter Grant band.)
I laughed at that part when I saw it the first time as well.
Puppet show and Spinal Tap never gets old for me. You don't want to find yourself second on the bill to Puppet Show, you just don't.
Especially at an Amusement Park.
At least they got the big dressing room. That's something.
They even had good interviews in guitar magazines. One quote from there was about why they got rid of their manager "he took everything personally, including our profits"
They wrote all the songs, performed them, and have gone on tour and played in stadiums at festival events with multiple bands. They're the real deal. Comic actors who can seriously play.
The Rutles: All You Need is Cash was probably the first fake rock documentary in 1978, although it was a very specific send up of The Beatles. Spinal Tap actually made their first appearance on a skit in a TV variety show one year later in 1979.
The most obvious Led Zeppelin reference is when Nigel starts dragging the violin over his guitar strings.
It was also widely speculated that Nigel was supposed to look like Jeff Beck- You can see an earlier version of Nigel playing with Lenny and the Squigtones in their American Bandstand appearance.
Jeff Beck thought Nigel was a parody of him.
Though Jimmy Page used just a violin bow in "The Song Remains the Same," not an entire violin. The bit with Nigel attempting to tune the violin is hilarious.
@@RocketToTheMoose The violin was hilarious, but Nigel trying to tune it had me on the theater floor.
Nigel looks like Jeff Beck, true, but he also looks like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, who were huge at the time.
@@Bikebrh Bruce Dickinson had only just joined Iron Maiden in 1982, so Number of the Beast would be either brand new or still in production when this movie was shot. Iron Maiden couldn't really have been called "huge" (at least not in the states) until at least 1984, when Powerslave came out. So any resemblance between Nigel and Bruce Dickinson would have to be considered coincidental.
They wrote AND performed all the music!
Nice reaction! Hey, if you can get your hands on the DVD version that has the *_in character_* audio commentary by Nigel, David and Derek (Guest, McKean and Shearer), you'll be laughing all over again as they react to their own movie. *_All improvised,_* and every bit as funny as the film itself. Cheers!
Artie Fufkin, the dork who says "kick my ass" was played by Paul Shaffer, Letterman's bandleader ,
She didn't laugh at any of that. I thought his bit was hilarious.
Shaffer was also leader of the SNL Orchestra.
They actually wrote an entire album for this (more if you count the reunion album that came out in the 90s). If you look up on youtube you can find them playing at Wembley at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. I'm even more impressed by how much of the script was actually improvised on the spot.
As a musician it's even more hilarious because you pickup on small details, like how he can't get up while playing the guitar solo on the floor because that particular guitar is very heavy, or the particular players they're referring to in certain bits.
The amount of talent between the music and improv is crazy. 100% gonna check out that album!
Ohhh hahaha I thought he couldn't get up because his pants were too tight 😂 thanks for the inside scoop!
They released a second album called Break Like the Wind with all new material. I saw them play at Wembley Arena in 2009 to mark the 25th anniversary of the movie.
There's a live Guns n Roses concert in New York on video where Slash had the same problem that he was on the floor with his Les Paul and the roadie had to help him up. Should have had an SG like Angus Young. If you watch the Let There be Rock film, he is running around with it, flops on the floor, spins round and round in one direction, then the other to untangle himself and get up and carrys on Duckrunning without breaking a beat, or missing a single note.
I recall Metallica bought out two videos about recording and touring the Black album.
There was a part when they were playing a festival (I don't remember which) and Spinal Tap were there. ST went to Metallica's dressing room and thanked them for the "tribute album".
The look on their faces was priceless.
@@jasonheaford8271 I was there for that too - most expensive tickets I'd paid for + emptiest I've seen the arena. I wonder if that was somehow connected?
The stonehenge mixup was a reference to a similar incident for Black Sabbath, where the units were mistaken the other way around; feet -> meters, making it too large.
Came here to say this.
I've seen pictures and my God, they were so much bigger than the actual stones that the band look like dwarves. 🤭
So many lost references. I always assumed the black album was poking fun at Metallica, think it was the who's Pete Townsend who got trapped in a prop on stage(i could be wrong, it was frickin 45 years ago, or more). Many bands lost backstage.... Even the trope of girlfriend comes on the road and pulls a Yoko
@@ryurc3033the black album is still years away
@@ryurc3033
Metallica and the Black Album didn't exist in the early 80s. Metallica did their Black album as a blatant rip off of Spinal Tap. The black album bit was a direct spoof of The Beatles White Album, which was even mentioned earlier. You must have been born in the 90s.
@@kbrewski1 dude WTF? At least I'm not listening to Taylor Swift, and wearing rainbow socks.
I was wrong, great 👍.
I'm glad you hate anyone who actually enjoys music from before they were born.
Spinal Pap is 40 years old already, wow!
Your comment got me missing Bruno Kirby.
You mean Spinal Tarp.
I'm pretty sure you're right about a Led Zep reference - when Nigel talks about his signature guitar solos, he plays a guitar with a violin, reminiscent of Jimmy Page playing a guitar with a bow. The scene where Nigel gives a tour of his guitar collection reminds me of an interview with Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen. The movie is basically a compilation of every band anecdote they could piece together. Once I saw Peter Gabriel in the round and the drummer rose from the center of the stage in a clear box that the stage crew had to disassemble. It reminded me of Derek getting stuck in the pod. Every band sees their own story in this film.
i died laughing when he got stuck lol
I tuned in a little late, to this late movie on TV, while talking to my mom. An we initially thought it was a documentary, but it soon became apparent it was a mockumentary becaue it was so outrageously funny, and we started to recognise some of the stars. We howled for hours into the wee hours. Saw them live on Canada Day in St John's Newfoundland.
One of the greatest comedies ever. Most of it was improvised. Christopher Guest, Michael Mckean, & Harry Shearer are all very good musicians.
There was a tv show special (kind of a Spinal Tap update) in the early 90s sometime that was a lot of fun also. It probably came out around the time they put out their album "Break Like the Wind", but ill have to go look up dates for specifics.
Christopher Guest has been married to Jamie Lee Curtis coming up on 40 years
I'm sure this was mentioned in other comments, but I didn't see it. The actor who played lead vocalist David St. Hubbins is Michael McKean, who also played "Lenny" in 149 episodes on _Laverne and Shirley_ (1976-1983) as well as Jimmy McGill's stuffed-shirt big-time-lawyer brother Chuck McGill in 28 episodes of _Better Call Saul_ (2015-2018).
"When was this made....1984...I don't know Van Halen that well,were they around?"
Van Halen literally had an album titled 1984 in 1984.
Maybe she's more familiar with the Van Hagar catalog?
Fun fact, the British band Bad News came out before this, members were Rik Mayall Ade Edmonson Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson, it was part of the Comic Strip presents.
Big Young Ones fan here in the States, and I know a couple fun facts, but never knew that one.
Was Richardson the one Christopher Ryan replaced on the show?
@@VaraLaFey no it was a totally different show on a different channel called the comic strip presents, there's some gems in it, but the two Bad News episodes are the best.
@@TreVader1378 My bad for totally missing where you originally said "Comic Strip Presents". I'm marginally familiar with that show, but haven't seen the Bad News episodes. And it looks like they're available online, so now I know what I'll be watching later.
Thanks. 🙂
During the song "Big Bottom," the guys are playing 3 Bass Guitars 😂 😂 😂
Great movie. Thank you for the reaction ✌️😎
Many of the incidents are based on real events.
Stonehenge - the band Black Sabbath ordered a set where as backdrop they’d have a complete replica of Stonehenge only ⅓ bigger than the real thing. Then once it was built it was found that there was no venue on the plane that could practically fit it all in - because the original henge is so huge.
So they decided to use only two supports and a cross piece, only they’d get a midge, paint his face red and put horns on him and as a devil he’d move up and down along the cross piece hissing… And he was miked up to the sound system so he could be heard.
But during the number he slipped and fell and he broke his leg and was screaming out in pain - all captured on a state-of-the-art amphitheatre sound system.
Folding bread - supposedly based on several quibbling artists such as Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason complaining in the cafeteria of Abbey Road Studios that the apple pie he got didn’t have the crusts cut off like he asked. This can be seen in extra footage on some versions of “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii”.
You got any middle pieces? Sorry Nick they only have the round apple pies. Nick Mason is an anticrust superstar.
That wasn’t a midget, it was Ronnie James Dio. Common mistake.
No disrespect RJD, RIP
David Bowie got stuck on a cherry picker out over the audience. Thought that was the inspiration for the pod that wouldn't open.
Wow, never knew Sabbath did a Stonehenge set and it's just as funny, it was too big while Taps was too small. Of course Nigels solo, Jimmy Page used a bow on his guitar so Nigel uses the whole violin lol.
Good news, they've released songs and albums beyond the movie's soundtrack. I recommend "Break Like the Wind", especially the single "Bitch School", viewable here on TH-cam.
I saw them at the Freddie Mercury tribute in April 1992. They only did one song, but when they left the stage Harry Shearer shouted "THANK YOU WIMBLEDON!" (they were at Wembley).
23:46 Angelica Huston was the artist lady who made the little Stonehenge thingy. She played it *_perfectly._* I felt _so bad_ for her - she was so proud of the piece, only to get yelled at like that. 😂
The fact that you find all the disasters and silliness suggest we have compatible senses of humour. Subscribed.
Notice the change from 2:55 with Billy Crystal ("Mime is money") to Bruno Kirby (the Limo driver). As I understand, they were best friends in real life and star in another Rob Reiner movie "When Harry Met Sally" (and also City Slickers).
I started watching this on television with no idea. I confess it wasn't until Fran Drescher appeared that I caught on, okay I'm slow, had a good laugh at my own expense. Hilarious mockumentary. Thanks
I like how you identified specifically so many bands and artists. I think rob reiner and spinal tap members , especially rob reiner, intended this movie as a parody of all rock music bands and artists, as ive heard ozzy osbourne saying he thought the movie was a real documentary, as he identified with it so strongly. Really good analysis, you found influences from real bands all over the place.
Ahh - the flashbacks and the haze! I live not far from Stonehenge, and the proportions for the stage prop is about right, from a distance. LOL. Great t-shirt - love sharks.😊
These guys have two other satires/parodies that are must see: Best in Show, which takes on the national dog shows, and A Mighty Wind, a wonderful movie paying homage to the folk bands on the 60s/70s.
Christopher Guest had been part of the National Lampoon, which was a magazine that branched out into stage shows, a radio show--both of which he was a part of--and of course, movies. Michael McKean and Harry Shearer were members of a comedy group called The Credibility Gap. Shearer, Guest and McKean all had short-lived stints on SNL....Guest and Shearer joining the cast in 1984-1985, just as this movie was getting theatrical release.
I saw Guest in “Lemmings” which also featured Chevy Chase and John Belushi. He’s really a very good guitarist.
@@jonathanroberts8981 That was a National Lampoon show.
What’s amazing about this film is that *many* bands have pointed to Spinal Tap and stated “yeah, that was us” or “yeah, that happened”.
In a nice bit of “poetry”, the same three appeared as another fake band. This time it was the Folksmen (and that was more of a direct parody and in this case it was The Kingston Trio). This is A Mighty Wind, directed by Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel).
A funny personal anecdote about the film: My parents saw the film at a theatre in Great Falls, MT. It was just them and two other people at the showing. When it came to the line “The Boston gig has been cancelled. But I wouldn’t worry about it though It’s not a big college town”, they were the only ones laughing at it.
Many decades later, I saw a screening of it at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. I happily reported to my parents: yes, there were more people in it and they all laughed at the Boston line.
Ian’s right. Boston isn’t really a big deal. It’s not like anyone would name a band after it or something.
@@0okamino don't worry about it, it's not a big college town.
If there were only 4 people in the theater 😮, it's not surprising that only 2 of them laughed. What's funnier is there were only 4 people in the theater. Was Puppet Show playing on another screen?
@@kbrewski1 Easy morale builder. Jazz Odyssey was on another screen.
Nigel’s guitar solo reportedly was a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page solos. A good primer to start you off on Zeppelin would listening to “Whole Lotta Love,” “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” and “Over the Hills and Far Away.” Another great band from that era that likely influenced “Tap” is Deep Purple (“Hush,” “Highway Star (find one of the live versions on YT),” “Smoke on the Water”).
The pod sequence idea came from the band Be Bop Deluxe when Bill Nelson got stuck in a similar prop. June Chadwick( Janine) was in V!
Alan White of Yes got similarly stuck.
Saxon were the main inspiration - they went on tour with them for research & things like getting lost on the way to the stage etc. actually happened to Saxon
I think getting lost to the stage happened to Springsteen too, it happens more often than you think. I think a member of Bebop Deluxe got stuck in a pod. These kinds of mishaps happen all the time
Some of it was based on Saxon- some Of the stage moves. Apparently Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and Status Quo were other inspirations
@@tomfabozzi5353 Particularly the flower power version of Quo. I always thought that section was a parody of The Pictures of Matchstick Men era.
"It sounds like barbershop reggae" is genius.
Michael McKean and Harry Shearer were in a comedy troupe together called The Credibility Gap. Christopher Guest was a member of National Lampoon with Bill Murry and John Belushi. He played Mister Rogers on one of their records. Hilarious.
Not sure this was the first mockumentary. There is an earlier one called The Rutles - a Beatles spoof written by Neil Innes and Eric Idle (Monty Python) in 1978.
Ooh good to know! I don't know much Monty Python so looking forward to seeing how their minds work too 😃
It's not very Python-esque but it is funny.
If you know the Beatles, it's worth a watch for sure.
@@chrissiereacts If you're new to Python, you're in for a treat. The best thing about the Rutles movie is the amazing songs written by Neil Innes. They sound so much like Beatles tunes! If you'd like an appetizer, try "I must be in love" on TH-cam.
It’s a fantastic parody of The Beatles and the songs are great. Highly recommend
The best trivia about The Rutles film is that John Lennon loved it and Paul McCartney hated it, which delighted George Harrison who was involved in it's production!
Michael McKeon is famous for playing Lenny as in Lenny & Squiggy from Laverne & Shirley as well as hundreds of other roles over the years & Saul's brother on Better Call Saul!!!
Spinal Tap parodied what was considered the stereotypical heavy metal band of the time. You are correct on the Zeppelin references - much of this film parodies "The Song Remains the Same."
I had forgotten how hilarious this film was. What a gem, so glad you reacted to it. 😂😂
This is a great watch. The hostess really understood where the laughs were.
7:15 That is Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnatti, ALSO another actor I saw is "Billy Crystal", he's 1 of the Mime's @ the Party Fran Drescher is at.
This is my all time favorite movie. I have it on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. I watch it every couple of years. Most of the move was improvisation. The band actually did tour at one time. They also released a couple of CDs.
I always love the window roll-up on Bruno Kirby; on one hand, it feels rude, but on the other hand, he's someone you'd really want to roll the window up on.
The beauty and brilliance of this parody is it hits highlights of stuff that happens to almost every band. This is why some bands holed with laughter because they got the joke, while others were horrified and incensed because they got the joke. :)
The Rolling Stones also famously went through their Flower Power phase.
"I'd feel a lot worse if I wasn't under such heavy sedation"
always happy to run into another spinal tap fan, the fun fact is the comedians ARE all musicians, justw anted comedy more as a career, i had the tap record once,
I miss George "Howard Hessman" Carlin, especially his work in Clue.
Yeah I was like that is Johnny Fever not George Carlin.
There was a Canadian band in the late 70s/early 80s named Prism that myself and a few HS buddies liked several of their "Proggy" Synth rock albums (songs like Spaceship Superstar, Armageddon, See Forever Eyes). They got moderate radio play. So in the early 80s we found out they were playing in a small music club in our city, so we decided to go because none of us had seen them live. They advertised on the radio with snippets of their most well known songs etc.
So we go down to this club and there is us and a few dozen other people at this show. They played for about 45 minutes, played none of their most well known tunes, and sounded like a cheesy synth pop band, not progressive at all. We come to find out that basically the entire band had changed personnel from the band we knew from their best albums from 77-79. Even the lead singer was different. We had been taken. It was a whole different band who somehow kept the Prism name! By the end people were booing and yelling out stuff, but when they walked out after playing 45 minutes of apparently new stuff, that really was too much. We actually followed the band out the back door onto their bus parked directly in back. The venue at first didnt even try to stop us because they also were peeved at their sucky setlist and the short show. My buddy got about halfway down the bus aisle and we were all ripping them a new one. The band actually looked scared because the crowd was so pizzed. Finally the club bouncers pulled us off the bus, but they fully sympathized and were irritated they weren't informed of the band changes. We didn't get our $ back though. But Prism will never forget that. They didn't last much longer. A true Tap night.
Kind of ironic that you’re talking about an angry mob nearly lynching a band that played in front of a few dozen people in a club- because they didn’t play their prog numbers! Not much peace and love there, that might, I guess.
@tomfabozzi5353
Lmfao 🤏. Uhhh, "nearly lynching"???? Where in my comment did you get the idea we "nearly lynched an entire band"??? Are you nuts? Did I mention any hangin ropes? Any chains? Any weapons at all? Any violence at all? No, we were mad,irritated and angry, but there was no violence, much less a "lynching". We yelled at them for ripping us off. For misrepresentating who they were. For defrauding not only the customers, but the venue itself. It was an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BAND then the band Prism we knew. They had advertised themselves as I clearly explained on radio stations playing the songs that we knew from the original Prism band. They proceeded to play none of those songs and instead only played some lame synth poppy new wave crap that sounded nothing like the band we all knew. And on top of it, instead of playing for 2 hours or at least 1.5 hours, they played about 40-45 minutes and skiddaddled. The venue owners were just as pizzed, and they couldn't believe it either. They let us chew them out on their bus, didn't try to stop us until we ripped them a new one (figuratively). What don't you understand numbnuts? What is your major malfunction?
It was a Spinal Tap like story. Chillax. Lighten up Francis.
@@tomfabozzi5353
I detect a serious reading comprehension issue here. Or a metal plate in the head that needs adjustment.
I like seeing Michael McKean as the singer David St. Hubbins after watching him for years as Lenny from Laverne and Shirley.
I was lucky enough to meet Harry Shearer (bass player Derek Smalls, along with half the voices on The Simpsons) at a special screening of This Is Spinal Tap in Australia for its 10th anniversary. I owned the album with it's all black cover and got him to autograph it . . . in black texta (sharpie). You have to tilt the cover to a certain angle in the light to make out the signature. It's blacker than black!
I just remembered the same crew also did a parody of folk music in 2003 called " A Mighty Wind " , not as good but also released an album of the same name . There was a Hip Hop Rap parody movie in 1993 called " The Fear Of Black Hats " where the band kept accidentlly killing their managers
Spinal Tap is still the best
I used to have a car stereo with a Bass Boost button because sometimes you've turned Treble fully up Bass fully up and... "When you need that extra push over the cliff..."
The epitome of musical comedy! And they are touring to this day. 11/10 obviously.
they were also a real band and I got to see them live in Boston. one of the greatest evenings of my life. they were promoting the movie and came and did a performance in front of 200 people at the channel Club in Boston
Two of the three main guys (Shearer, McKean) previously worked together in a comedy group called The Credibility Gap until '79. You can find some of their bits on TH-cam. Their take on the Abbott & Costello classic "Who's on First" is particularly funny.
Yes
Great reaction! Spinal Tap referenced many bands and lampooned many rock-n-roll clichés. Back in the day, many bands had to tour incessantly and build an audience, and this was more of the reality of touring rather than the idealized fantasy that many aspiring musicians thought touring was.
That was fantastic!!!! And such a great edit! You have a distinctive editing style! It's great because the more you know about music, the more you get it, and you definitely got it! And yeah, it takes from all those bands and more. (Led Zep, definitely). There actually IS a mockumentary that predates this that IS entirely goofing on the Beatles: Eric Idle (from Monty Python) did it. "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash". Also hilarious! Other than that, the only other earlier mockumentaries I can think of are two Woody Allen movies (Take The Money And Run, and Zelig), and those have nothing to do with music. * - The drummers dying. Some bands are cursed! The Grateful Dead lost 4 keyboard players, for instance! And the "choking on vomit" thing; a lot of rock stars died of overdoses. And the news report would always make it a point to say "Hendrix choked on his own vomit; Jim Morrison choked on his own vomit; Keith Moon.....John Bonham......etc etc. So that's where that joke comes in. And the whole guitar solo thing with the violin, that's a parody of Jimmy Page in the concert movie "The Song Remains The Same" where he plays this interminably long guitar solo and at one point uses a violin bow on his guitar. (and on and on and on!). LOVE that they wrote and performed their own songs....and they're all actors! The bass player is the voice of half the characters on The Simpsons (Mr. Burns, for instance). GREAT REACTION, CHRISSIE!!! THANKS!
Thanks for all the extra tidbits! I knew some stuff would go over my head... choked on his own vomit 😂 it's funny, I never even realised how redundant that was. And it was likely improv too which makes it even funnier 😆
Hi chrissie,
I loved your reaction, you're adorable! Anjelica Huston was the lady that sculpted the Stonehenge Monument. Lol. Subscribing! Keep on keeping on. Rock on and prosper sweetie! 🎉❤🎉
Sorry, who u think was George Carlin was actually Howard Hessman who played Dr Johnny Fever, a DJ on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati then he was Dan Schneider's teacher on Head of the Class
Paul Schafer thete as well
@@E-d1d3 longtime David Letterman sidekick!
@@group-music ... and Dana Carvey as the other mime.
@@group-music was Dana Carvey the first time we saw?
In The Return of Spinal Tap 1992 concert they had a nurse on stage monitoring their drummer for his safety lol.
Angelica Houston was the designer of the 18 inch Stonehenge stage piece. You may have also missed a young Dana Carvey as the mime being told “mime is money” by Billy Crystal.
I have their "Break like the wind" album. It's great. Lots of amazing guest musicians on it too.
There's so much fringe humor in this movie that's aimed at musicians... every band I've ever been in has had a moment of "well, we did a Spinal Tap there." An absolute classic. 😅😂 It was not obvious at the time that it was a fake band. Nigel Tufnel later did advertisements for Marshall with his new invention, the Amplifier Capo.
He and David(Michael) did an interview for Guitar World in character, said hilarious things and I think they had the music, or tab for Tonite I'm gonna Rock You.
Dana Carvey and Billy Crystal were the mimes/waiters. Paul Schaffer was Artie Fufkin (Polymer Records promoter). Schaffer was in the original Saturday Night Live band, then became the bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman and bandleader for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Polymer records is a spoof on Polydor Records
'No dry seat in the house.'
Their lyrics are a gift to comedy and it's the gift that keeps on giving.
Its crass, but Steve Marriott said that at Small Faces concerts you could smell the quim from the stage.
Whoa, Helmut Newton shoutout. Subscribed !
The scene with the band at the table discussing " doubly" was similar to a scene in Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii.
I saw them in concert in D.C. around 1992, 2nd row. Such a hilarious and fun night!
Awesome!!
Such a funny movie. There is definitely a reference to Led Zeppelin. When Nigel is using a violin on his guitar, is a direct play on the fact that Jimmy Page used to use a violin bow during a solo. The songs are awesome and is a great soundtrack. They did a second album and I own both. They also went on tour which I got to see and it was so much fun. When they did Stonehenge, the model was so big that when lowering it got hung up. The whole show had mishaps like that. The second album has a song with Chet and when they did that one they had a screen with pictures of her with only her lips singing her parts. Too funny. These go to 11 is a super popular saying in pop culture. Lastly you should at least listen to Led Zeppelin’s first album. Really good bluesey rock.
Spinal Tap actually wrote two albums and toured (In real life).
A quick note, it wasn't George Carlin, it was Howard Hesseman who also played Dr. Johnny fever in WKRP in Cincinnati.
The Mockumentary is a parody of all rock music, obviously mostly of 70s hard rock and 80s Cheese Metal bands. They parody many different bands and incidents. Yes, the girlfriend horning in and affecting the group was a direct link back to Yoko Ono in the late 60s. Nigel's guitar solo scene was a parody of Jimmy Page of Zeppelin who used to do long guitar solos with a violin bow. Here, they ramp it up with Nigel scratching the entire violin on the guitar, taking a quick second to "tune" the violin laughably.
Getting caught in the pod things could be many 70s bands who had elaborate stage setups, for instance Progressive Rock bands like Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis. There are numerous stories about issues with the costumes Peter Gabriel as lead singer of Genesis used to wear in the early 70s where his face was so muffled by masks his vocals were barely audible (see Slipperman costume, Lamb Tour). Same with stage props and scenery like the Stonehenge mini sculpture. Getting confused and lost trying to navigate back stage of old theaters was I'm sure a common thing, especially with the 70s/80s drug scene.
The "black album" was a parody of The Beatles White Album, which then Metallica ripped off for real. Led Zeppelin also had an album (IV) which had no name and writing on it, and it was known as Untitled (the one with Stairway to Heaven). Just about every scene was a parody of something in rock, from the canceled gigs ("Boston is not a big college town"), to the downside of a band (PUPPET SHOW over Spinal Tap on the marquee at a Six Flags), to getting new life with a "Japan Tour". If you knew more 70s rock and had seen some real band documentaries, you would have laughed a lot more. This was a dialogue movie first and foremost, so the dialogue is the key, all the funny and clever lines. You cut out a LOT of great punch lines.
The amazing thing is those 3 guys actually WROTE AND PLAYED ALL THE SONGS AND MUSIC. On top of that, a lot of the movie was AD LIBBED.
The first real music "Mockumentary" was a few years before this, in 1978 or so with THE RUTLES >ALL YOU NEED IS CASH, done by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. It's a direct parody of The Beatles and is HILARIOUS!!!
THE RUTLES is the mockumentary that is based on THE BEATLES story. It has cameos by George Harrison, Mick Jagger, and Paul Simon. It was done by Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame), had many cameos by the original cast of Saturday Night Live (including John Belushi as "Ron Decline," a take-off on second manager Allen Klein), and also features an amazing set of Beatles parody songs by Neil Innes (Bonzo Doo Dog Band, featured in Magical Mystery Tour), such as PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE, a take-off of I AM THE WALRUS. It was a movie from NBC-TV in 1978. "The Rutles are a living legend. A living legend that will live on long after other living legends have died..."
I think it's great that you find this movie very funny and you get the connective parodies.
This movie inspired me and my mates to form a band. Some of the most fun years I've ever had. Rock and Roll Baby!!! 🤘And yeah - seriously, you should have a listen to Led Zepplin, (and Black Sabbath - Just cause haha)
07:30 Howard Hesseman better know as Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati!
All time comedy classic. Rob Reiner hit this out of the park. Love the homage to Scorsese with the Navy hat.
Great reaction, Chrissie. Thanks!
And, go listen to a Led Zep album. :-)
Haha 🫡😁
All of the Christopher Guest mocumentaries are amazing.
What you really need to watch now is the commentary track where they do the commentary in character. That was awesome. Best commentary EVER. A lot of the inside jokes are explained, like the coldsores.
Nice. Gonna check that out!
@@chrissiereactsThere is also an additional audio track with the cast (but not in character) discussing how the movie was made, the additional comedic actors they found to play minor parts, and what they had to leave on the editing floor. (Their herpes sores subplot was cut.)
You should be able to find it on TH-cam too.
I have a shirt - shows the precise arrangement of my bone structure - ribs, spine..... (like Nigel Tufnel!)... says Spinal Tap on the back, of course. When I was a teenager I had an older friend who looked exactly like the bass player, Derek Smalls! Stonehenge! The little people! Body-snatchers pods which don't open! Classic! The albums still get played at least once a year.
The little Stonehenge is one of my fondest comedic memories
Them harmonising at Elvis grave is fxxkin class......
Their making a sequel and also the director did : Misery - Princess Bride and other movies. One of cast members of the band Spinal Tap does the voice on The Simpsons. And they really can play instruments and have albums out. Check them out Live At Royal Albert Hall and other festivals. Spinal Tap also did a full episode on the Simpsons.
Awesome!
"I'd love to stay and chat, but i need to go sit down and wait for the limo"
I love watching young women react to Spinal Tap with mostly blank looks on their face as the jokes and inside references go whizzing over their head. Lmao 🤣
“Was Van Halen around in 1984?”
Well, they released an album in 1984… titled “1984”. So… 😉
All the music for this film was brilliant. Listening to the album as a stand-alone piece of work it's really very good. And of course the parody is sublime, carefully balanced on the edge of cringe.
Funny bit of trivia but on IMDB it's 7.9/11 rather than 10