I'm not sure I've ever seen bad-bad-bad ones (apart from some high school bands), but when I finally saw The Smashing Pumpkins in 2000 or so, they'd entered a phase in their music which left me so unsatisfied that I just stopped listening to the band for almost 20 years.
TIAMAT, some 5-7 yrs ago. The band was trying their best but Johan Edlund was absolutely shitfaced on booze, drugs and/or medication and didn't even seem to know where he was. I cried in disappointment.
So, not exactly the question, but back in the day when I was in a band, we got a last minute show one night that was supposedly at a bar, but it was a little early in the evening, like 6pm. That was kinda weird, but we were trying to play as much as humanly possible, so we happily loaded up our massive drum kit, two half-stack guitar rigs, and a full bass rig, and went on our merry way to the gig. Turns out, the "bar" was actually a restaurant, who thought they were hiring a tasteful, folky acoustic duo to make pleasant background music for their guests, instead of an alarmingly loud metal band. SOMEHOW they even let us set up and start sound checking before they politely kicked us out 😂
You need to look around, these guys dedication to a bit is just epic, they do full interviews and have done shows and such all totally in character, all of them are just legend tier comedians.
@@ghosthead84 the part when they are at fran dreschers party, there is a 3d style painting on the wall Nigel - "i tried to climb into that painting thinking it was a portal of some sort" the commentary is great. they slowly realize the movie is taking the piss
The DVD commentary track for this movie was amazing, all the actors were in character the entire time which was amazing when they got to the metal detector part. "Why was it wrapped in tin foil?" "Well you have to keep it fresh!"
The Stonehenge fiasco actually happened to Black Sabbath in 1983, but instead of being too small, it was grossly oversized due to feet being mistaken for meters. It was way too big to bring all of it into most venues. What they did manage to get onstage was so large it cramped the band to the front. To make matters worse, management also decided to hire a dwarf and put him in a devil costume (the latest album, "Born Again", had a poorly-designed picture of a devil baby on the cover, earning its place in several "Worst album covers" lists). They had him crawl around on top of the Stonehenge piece like a baby, then stand up and fall off, backwards, then the band start playing.
@@stutallis5673 I think many bands thought the movie was about them in some way because this stuff happens to all of them. I read Jon Anderson of Yes told his bandmates at the time to see this movie because it's about them. Ozzy Osbourne didn't find it that funny because it was too realistic.
This would explain that bit they did on the Simpsons when Spın̈al Tap played in Springfield. They had this huge inflated devil hanging over their stage, but it couldn't remain inflated and it started drooping over the drummer 😆
Christopher Guest is Jamie Lee Curtis's husband and has done some brilliant mockumentories, especially , Waiting for Guffman ( based on a small town musical) Best in Show ( based on a dog show) and A Mighty Wind ( based on a folk tribute concert) All well worth a look 😊😊😊
Yeah, they would absolutely love Chris' films, especially "Best in Show" (Simone will lose her mind over all the dogs in that one) and "Waiting for Guffman". And they all start Canadian comedy legends Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, so, win-win!
Christopher Guest is also Lord Hayden Guest. He went to the House of Lords with Jamie Lee Curtis as Lady Hayden Guest. The House Of Lords has now been reformed, so they probably won't let them back in.
One of the great things about A Mighty Wind is that the three Spinal Tap leads all play in a 60's folk band together during the movie. All of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries are worth it, especially Might Wind and Best in Show.
And it's also one of the early warning signs to us that the band is going downhill - all the little seeds are so skillfully and subtly planted that you don't really notice first time watching. But on re-watches, it becomes more and more clear. By the time we're at the "Where are they now" moment, I'm really feeling for them.
I like Derek's line that always seems to slip under the radar as well. When theyre discussing the Stonehenge prop being too small and Ian tells the guys it's no big deal and they're making too much of big a thing about it and Derek goes 'making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea'
Yes, "it turns up to eleven" started with this film, and yes, some manufacturers have run with that gag. I've got a distortion pedal where the dials go to 11 :)
"This goes to eleven" did indeed originate from this film, as did "Hello Cleveland!" And clearly it takes a lot of its...Beats...from the rise and fall of the Beatles, their start as a skiffle band, their experimentation with acid and Indian musicality, and introducing a girlfriend to co-manage the band but completely eroding their friendship. Although, I tend to think the ex-Beatles ended up making their best music on their own, or near the end when they were already separating themselves for the most part.
Definitely they blended a few things. They also spoof Zeppelin, with the crotch shots and violin on the guitar. but today I clicked the whole framing is similar to The Last Waltz, especially the scene with the band name evolution. The dead drummers definitely alluding to Zeppelin and The Who. And so many other generic band type hijinks from those eras. Or atleast what I've read and heard about. I wasn't born.
@@stuartkinzel8195 wiki says: "Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap
Seeing as how I've heard people say crank it to eleven BEFORE the movie ever came out, I don't think it originated in the film. The film took many tropes and stories from real life rock and roll and applied them all to Spinal Tap.
This movie had no script. Just outlines. They wrote and performed all of the music themselves. Years later the movie became so popular they did indeed tour a couple of times and released a couple of albums. They did many interviews in character.
Not only did they tour, but they would open for themselves in the guise of a folk band from the 1960's called The Folksmen. They later made a film starring the Folksmen called A Mighty Wind.
@grelch Even before the movie Michael McKean was performing on American Bandstand with Lenny and the Squigtones (playing his character from Laverne & Shirley), and their guitar player was Christopher Guest in character as Nigel Tufnel. The video is pretty easy to find on TH-cam.
The "Hello Cleveland!" bit actually happened to Dee Snider from the band Twisted Sister" a few years after this movie came out. He got separated from the band and got lost trying to find the stage. When he finally found the sign marked STAGE ENTRANCE, he ran out on stage, arms raised, ready to rock... to nobody. It was completely empty. They were playing at a venue that had two theaters/concert halls, and he didn't know that. It had to be such a mind****.
Pretty sure they were laughing at the line about it being 17 years and 15 albums later. Not sure how the arm thing is supposed to be physical comedy, much less brilliant, but I guess if it makes you laugh....
Spinal Tap was on a Simpsons episode as well, and I believe they lost another drummer there. Fun fact: When Reiner approached Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame) to score the Princess Bride, Knopfler agreed to do it only on the condition that the hat Reiner wore in Spinal Tap appeared in the movie somewhere. Hint: It's in Fred Savage's room.
Mark Knopfler is also in a bbc radio documentary with spinal tap talking bout their history ms how they inspired him. I think (part of) it is still on TH-cam.
The "cold sores" were actually meant to be herpes! There's a four hour cut of this movie (you can find on various special editions) there was a whole subplot about a female warm-up band. The visual (but unspoken) joke was that throughout the movie who had sores on their lips kept changing based on who was sleeping with the female singer, and the only person who never got sores was the drummer. When they were having a band meeting about ditching the warm-up band, all the members had cold sores and wanted to ditch the warm-up band while the drummer (who never had a sore on his lip) was like "What? They're great! We should keep them.". IIRC, that jokes ends later in the movie where you find out that warm-up band was actually becoming more famous than Spinal Tap.
@@hellyoung2091 They were questioning if those were cold sores on their lips, and the point was yes they were and there was a big subplot devoted to it in the film that was cut from the theatrical release. It's mentioned in the commentary that because of the unexplained cold sores, some test audiences thought the film was implying that Nigel and David were secretly lovers.
@@Matt_Mosley1983 Yes, somewhere around 4 hours. I saw it years ago, and the version I saw was pretty poor quality. In those days it was called "This Is Spinal Tap Workprint".
You guys also need to check out A Mighty Wind. The same 3 guys are in a folk band called The Folksmen involved in a tribute variety folk concert. Very similar feel, lots of improvisation, and features a ton of great comedic improvisational actors, including Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, and the AMAZING coupling of Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Very funny, and also very sweet movie.
Yep. As a rock musician of over 40 years this is amazingly accurate. I've lived this life. The guitarist is the spitting image of a guy I used to play with. What's really impressive is their English accents and they're really playing live. A real classic. ✌️♥️🇬🇧
@@dnish6673 never the less, bloody good acting. The attitude of the characters is uniquely British, especially the bit with the sandwich which was exactly like the kind of petty wining that goes on backstage. I played the original famous Marquee club in London 3 times and the toilet never flushed despite all the big names having played there. It was disgusting. That was really something to moan about, especially as I always got a wobbly belly before going on stage. 😂✌❤🇬🇧
Can confirm that this is scarily more documentary than Mockumentary. Many musicians point to this movie as the best movie representation of being on the road. I think our manager learned everything he knew from Ian Faith
The actors played their own instruments, sang themselves, and even went on a promotional tour as Spinal Tap. The movie's soundtrack was released as a Spinal Tap album, ... well, because it is.
The movie is full of real inside jokes: The Originals and New Originals bit was referring to The Yardbirds and New Yardbirds who became Led Zeppelin. Nigel does a solo rubbing a whole violin on his guitar- which is a play on Jimmy Page using a violin bow on Dazed and Confused. The band resurging in Japan could be Deep Purple who had a big live album filmed on tour in Japan. The girlfriend breaking up David and Nigel is a nod to Yoko Ono being blamed for driving Join Lennon and Paul McCartney apart and breaking up The Beatles. The choking on vomit is a poignant reference to the 27 club- with Mama Cass, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison etc all dying from drug overdoses essentially choking on vomit. The dead Drummers are an homage to Keith Moon of the Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, the pod that wouldn't open and the Stonehenge bit are likely references to Jethro Tull and other "prog" bands from the early 70s....the more you rewatch it the more REAL bands you connect to
Of course that myth is nonsense, the Beatles just were at the breaking point and ready to move on to solo projects. Paul was the one to announce he was leaving. John & Paul were on good terms at what became the end of John's life.
@@mournblade1066I think Cass had a piece of undigested ham sandwich in her throat when she nodded off causing acute apnia which in turn resulted in her myocardial infarction.
Christopher Guest plays Nigel. He also plays the six fingered man (Count Rugen) in Proncess Bride. Also of note: he's been married to Jaime Lee Curtis for almost 40 years.
He's a chameleon, all of his mockumentary roles (Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) plus he was in A Few Good Men as the lax medical examiner, Night at the Museum - Smithsonian as Ivan the Terrible, Little Shop of Horrors as the kind of weird customer who notices the plant in the window. He's so talented that it's kind of amazing he isn't a bigger name. He seems to choose pretty few roles considering he's probably a guy most producers would hire.
Every line, every freakin' line has become iconic. Started the mockumentary genre, really. Pretty much everyone in it went on to big things if they weren't there already. And yes, they did tour after the film came out, singing all original songs. You can have no idea how this affected the culture. Massive, just massive.
i've learnt yet another amazing fact about this film, i was saying to my mum last month how spinal tap should''ve toured with their music that's so brilliant they actually did that!!
It didn't start the mockumentary. In 1978, Lorne Michaels of SNL fame approved a TV movie made by Monty Python's Eric Idle, of a real fake history of a fake real band: THE RUTLES. The movie was called ALL YOU NEED IS CASH and I saw it on NBC one night in 1977 on my big-ass console color TV>
@@splitimage137. Yes. Absolutely. But The Rutles didn't break through in the same way. When I say "started the mockumentary" I should have said "kickstarted:. It was after the success of Spinal Tap that the broader public became aware of the mockumentary as a genre. I'm glad you mentioned The Rutles, because it was a great entry into the genre, but I really don't think it had the same impact on the broader public that Tap did.
@@blortmeister You are correct, of course. I just had to give The Rutles a little love, in case someone else reads this and checks it out. (If so, then my work here is done ;)
I worked as a tour manager in the late 80s, and every touring band with a VCR had a copy of this with them. Everything that happened to Spinal Tap has happened - more or less - to every band, just not all of them to the same band. I did see Tap live on Canada Day as part of the MuchMusic Great Canadian Party in 1992. I saw them at Molson Park in Barrie, mid-way through their one-day cross-Canada tour. They started in Halifax, then Barrie, then finished the day in Vancouver. Marshall did make amps that went to 11 for a time. The iMDB page for this movie also has a rating bar that goes to 11.
If you want to see a real version of this...Watch "Anvil: The Story of Anvil"... It's uncomfortably real. An actual documentary of the band Anvil. If this didn't come out way after Spinal Tap, you would think they based Spinal Tap on The Story of Anvil.
George asked at one point if these guys actually toured and yes they did, with some audience attendees actually not knowing it was all humor. Much of the dialogue in this movie was improved. The singing and playing was actually the actors. Great movie. A little bit of side trivia - I think it was and amnesty international tour that had Peter Gabriel, Sinead O'Connor, and others all on a bus traveling to the next city trying to think of songs that they all knew that they could sing together and they kept coming up with the Spinal Tap songs ... It kind of makes me smile to think of Sinead O'Connor singing Sex Farm or Big Bottom.
They've released a couple of albums even, including the black album, you used to be able to get it, and like in the movie, it's not bad! It definitely grows on you too, right from the first song titled "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
@@hellomark1 Most of Spinal Tap's music is too over the top for me even though I love the movie, but Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight is unironically a jam.
I've said it before, but I do really want to see you two do When Harry Met Sally. You are correct that the Stonehenge woman was Anjelica Huston. The label woman, Bobbi Flekman, is future "Nanny" star Fran Drescher. She also co-starred in Weird Al's cult classic UHF, which you should watch as well. Dana Carvey also plays the other mime waiter who isn't Billy Crystal. The other WHMS actor, playing the limo driver, is named Bruno Kirby (RIP). Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) would go on to be in Clue (yet another suggestion, which I'm sure you've gotten before), and recently in "Better Call Saul." This is indeed the origin of "This goes to 11" and also "None more black," if you've heard that one in pop culture. The movie was one of the first inducted to the DVD iteration of The Criterion Collection, which is a famous US home video label that licenses important classic and contemporary movies and releases them in special editions. That DVD had a traditional commentary by Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer. When MGM later released the film on DVD themselves, they couldn't license that track, and the cast didn't want to tell the same stories, so that release (and the later Blu-ray) have a commentary where Guest, McKean, and Shearer comment on the movie in character as Spinal Tap.
So many cameos: Sir Dennis is Patrick Macnee, who is most famous as John Steed in the classic British adventure show from the 60s: The Avengers. The promoter who wants them to kick his ass is Paul Shaffer, a legend in the music business but best known as David Letterman's band leader for decades. The guy in the hotel lobby who gets Ian's name wrong is Howard Hesseman. Done tons of TV shows and movies but best known as Dr Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati. Tons more I'm forgetting, for sure!
@@chadsmith3363 Ed Begley, Jr. as John "Stumpy" Pepys, their first drummer. The janitor who tries to give them directions to the stage in Cleveland is played by under the radar comedian Wonderful Smith. Fred Willard plays the liaison officer at the Air Force base. And on and on...basically, if you assume anybody with a speaking role is famous in _some_ circle, you're probably right.
@@Harv72b People thought the janitor was played by musician Bo Diddley for some reason. Ian is played by the late British humorist Tony Hendra, who worked with Guest on the National Lampoon Radio Hour. Hendra also worked as an contributing editor for National Lampoon Magazine during their heyday.
The “Lick my Love Pump” moment made me spit soda all over the poor guy in front of me at the theater, luckily I was only 14 so I didn’t get my ass kicked.🤣
"I'm big in Japan" was definitely a thing from the 70s on. A lot of bands that went on to become major successes had Japanese releases years before they made it in NA/EU.
Probably most notably Cheap Trick who were "big in Japan" and only started to have US success when tracks from a live album made exclusively for the Japanese market started to be played by an LA DJ.
@@snowdenwyatt6276 Yeah, I remember when I eventually heard the album version of I Want You To Want Me, and ws like "yeah, no wonder that didn't chart".
The absolute best part of the Spinal Tap DVD is the audio commentary. The three main musicians are there IN CHARACTER throughout the entire commentary, talking about what REALLY happened when Marty DeBerg filmed this Rockumentary. It is like watching This is Spinal Tap new for the first time because the concept forces you to put new humor in scenes we've seen twenty+ times. Hands down the best audio commentary ever (Casablanca is runner up, IMHO).
The extras on the DVD are great too like them rolling the cheese downhill, which has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. The best of cd commercial with songs on it like Bent for the Rent. Funny stuff.
This movie has one of the best (if not the best) "director's commentary" where the actors comment about the events of the movie in character. It's hilarious and a must watch (hear really)
For my money it's one of the funniest scenes in movie history. One of maybe a half-dozen times that I've laughed so hard at a film that it hurt. The dopamine surge made it tough to find anything amusing for like an hour afterwards, so I had to watch the movie again because I was just numb.
This is THE Mockumentary of all time! While there have been many other really great ones (several helmed by Christopher Guest), there is nothing that beats this one. An additional fun thing related to the "going to 11" . . . if you go to the IMDB page for this movie, you will notice that the star rating . . . yeah . . . Also, Jamie Lee Curtis watched this film when it originally came out and said "I'm going to marry that man" . . . and she did five months later . . . and they remain married to this day. I do remember when I first saw this movie, I had a moment somewhere in the middle where I suddenly shouted "OH MY GOD! THAT IS COUNT RUGEN THE SIX FINGERED MAN!!" . . . it completely blew my mind that that was the same person. Favourite song is absolutely "Stonehenge"
You mean Spinal Tap? cause ya I agree, but hoping the thought of "mockumentary" music type films takes me to that thought. Also an excuse to make anyone watch Dewey Cox.
As a British person, I really rate the London accents. I know Haden-Guest can naturally speak in a British accent but he clearly wasn't using his own. As for Derek Smalls - Mr Shearer has nailed it. David St Hubbins having a melt-down in pure Estuary is magic to the ear.
They are the real deal. Even though they made the movie as a gag, they made and produced an album with music. And they have sometimes performed in concert. It's every bit as hilarious as you can imagine.
There is a really funny "mockumentary" type film by Albert Brooks called Real Life. In the film Brooks sets out to record a real family's day to day life. It is brilliant!
This movie is a fantastic feat of improvisation. There was so much material that the bonus dvd has a near feature-length outtakes and deleted scenes video. The dvd commentary by the actors, totally in character, is brilliant. And yes, the movie was taken by some people as real - I spoke to a girl who had gone in thinking it was real and got slowly suspicious until the ‘it was someone else’s vomit’ line and she knew she’d been had.
I saw it when it came out and heard multiple people talking about never hav8ng heard of the band before when we were exiting. My friend and I were in hysterics.
I remember hearing the story that the musicians in Foghat insisted that the writers of Spinal Tap had to have been secretly recording them because there was no other way that the zodiac obsessed girlfriend in the movie could have been so similar to one of the band members' girlfriends.
If you want to wee more like this, the same core group of people did a few other mockumentaries--"Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind" being the two best. The first pokes fun at dog show fanatics, while the latter takes on folk music bands of the early 60s reuniting. Both are absolutely brilliant. Must see.
Thanks for the reaction! I was hoping I'd finally get the movie with you guys, but no. I think my tolerance for awkwardness is way worse than even George's. I wonder if I'd like it more if it was about the grunge era which I'm more fond of. The IMDB scale, normally from 1 to 10, goes to 11 with this one.
It's such a shame for you that you can't enjoy it. A friend of mine never really got enjoyed but we watched it late one night at his house and suddenly it clicked for him and he found it hilarious. Humour is a very subjective thing though and different things tickle us in different ways.
@@EfftupSmith It is, I’d really like to like it more. But comedy is a tough genre. I’ve lately watched way more comedies than I did in two decades because of Cinebinge, and the experiences are usually either hilarious or painful. Spinal Tap was neither, really; I just felt it was mildly amusing and a bit boring. Weird nuance things, probably, because I thought that relatively understated rock industry humor would be right up my alley. Oh well.
Fun Fact: July 1st 1992 Spinal Tap did a 24 hour Canadian Tour to celebrate Canada Day. they played St. Johns Newfoundland, Barrie Ontario, and Vancouver BC in one day.
@28:40 “Did amps actually go to 11?” The Marshall amp company actually released a new line about 10 years after that (the JCM900 series) with controls that went to 20, and ran an ad campaign featuring Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel noting that “… That’s nine louder, innit?”😂😂😂
This movie owes a lot to The Rutles, a mockumentary on a and based on a group like The Beatles. The songs were so close in style they were sued, but also had George Harrison in a cameo role.
The members of the Beatles were mostly supportive, John Lennon loved it and George Harrison is in it. If any suing was done, it would have been by ATV, the rights holders.
These situations are based on real stories. As a gigging musician for over fifty years I can assure you all this stuff happens to all of us all the time!
My top 3 rock mockumentaries of all time would be: 1. "The Rutles - All you need is cash", a fake Beatles documentary from no one less than the great Eric Idle of Monty Python. 2. "Bad News" + "More Bad News" (both can be found here on youtube), similar in style but more low budget and even more weird, clearly an inspiration for this one. 3. "Spinal Tap" - We just saw it, what a classic. I just recently realized that the actor Michael McKean who played the lead singer is the Saul Goodmans Brother in Better Call Saul.
" I just recently realized that the actor Michael McKean who played the lead singer is the Saul Goodmans Brother in Better Call Saul." I just now realized that too :-D
@@klausmogensen8691 There are still some of us around who are old enough to remember him from Laverne & Shirley (though I can never remember if he played Lenny or Squiggy) which is where he first made it big.
Bad News from the Comic Strip Presents. I remember them. Most of the Young ones crew and French and Saunders as well. They did a great piss take of the Famous Five as well.
@@chrispeel3123 Oh, then I have to check out The Young Ones (and probably more from The Comic Strip). I guess all that stuff was never aired over here in Germany. Only new about Bad News cause a friend who had it on VHS showed it to me.
What We Do In The Shadows, a Taika Waititi mockumentary on a group of vampires living together dealing with daily struggles. Also, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (not technically a mockumentary, but hilarious anyway)
1:27 That's actually the movie's director, Rob Reiner. (He also directed Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, and The American President, among others)
It's not even close to the first, even The Rutles skits and movie were following on a long tradition of mockumentaries. But it did make them much more well known and is probably the first or second one people think of.
@@smiffy68 Hey, I loved The Ruttles when I was a kid! But it was difficult to find, it only ran on PBS in my city once or twice, and home video wasn't a thing yet.
This is where "turn it up to 11" comes from The band wrote the songs and played their own instruments. There was no script, the actors improvised their lines. They did go on tour in character. There are loads of extra footage that you can find online. Watch the audio commentary from the DVD. Spinal Tap does the commentary.
If you want another good rock mockumentary, "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash". It is a parody of The Beatles and includes Eric Idle of Monty Python as the Paul McCartney parody, Dirk McQuickly.
The actor that played Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) has been in a lot of movies. You saw him in The Princess Bride as the six fingered man, and in A Few Good Men as the doctor that they questioned in court.
The guitarist Nigel Tufnel is played by Christopher Guest who was in (at least) 2 other Rob Reiner films, The Princess Bride as the 6 fingered man, and A Few Good Men as the medical expert brought in to the trial (a smaller part).
I remember seeing this movie when I was in high school in the 2000's. I talked to a friend about it. They said they loved Spinal Tap's music but had never seen the movie. They didn't know it was a joke. That's how good the music is despite the 80's-riffic cringe lyrics. Christopher Guest did a lot of great mocumentaries after this, the best being "The Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind", the latter of which has a Spinal Tap reunion of sorts.
Yeah, some amp manufacturers have made dials that go to 11. Marshall even had an ad with Nigel & the JCM 900 that goes up to 20. On the first generations of tube (valve) amps that are played on huge albums (and still today) there was no “gain” control. There was just a volume & to get the amp to distort, you had to crank up the amp. So you’d turn the amp full up to 10 to get it to crunch and distort and it sounds amazing. So the “these go to 11” (hes showing a Super Lead Plexi in the film) came from that idea that you needed to crank them & if everybody was going to 10, they’d go to 11 to be louder…fundamentally misunderstanding amp power, wattage, etc lol. Later, amps started adding a ‘Master Volume’ so the ‘volume’ essentially became a ‘gain’ knob…meaning you could get the pre-amp to distort, but you didn’t have to have the overall volume at such high levels. Randall Smith (Mesa/Boogie) started modding Fenders amps with this, then Marshall created the JCM 800 that had a ‘gain’ knob, etc and a bunch of companies now have a dedicated pre-amp ‘gain’ section along with a ‘master volume’. Pre-amp gain vs power-amp gain is a discussion that has millions of pages of guitar forum comments.
The Stonehenge scene is the one that made me fall in love with this movie. I nearly had an accident the first time I saw the little triptich descend from the rafters. Love your reactions.
I've introduced several people to this and I am proud to say that I got 1 of them to believe it was a documentary for a real band. One of the proudest moments in my life.
The first time I showed this to my band mate, I didn't tell it was a spoof. He nearly cried thinking it was real. He still holds a (minor) grudge against me to this day!
The "turning up to 11" came from Spinal Tap. Best ever Mockumentary. Fooled a lot of people when it came out. The way you know this is a great movie is that virtually every hard rock/metal/Progressive rock band of the 70s/80s has claimed the movie is based on them!
Yes they've toured & released records. They played the Freddie Mercury tribute show and even played the Glastonbury Festival about 10 years ago. They were joined on stage by Jarvis Cocker during Big Bottom.
Watch WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS... Hysterical Taika Waititi mockumentary. But if you like this another Christopher guest movie that always cracks me up is BEST IN SHOW
Watch "A Mighty Wind" another killer musicql Mockumentary from the same group of actors/film-makers/musicians! This time they take on Folk! It is HILARIOUS! (p.s. the entire film is on YT. Everyone should watch it). Also, check out other C. Guest awesomeness, Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman,
It was a stroke of genius to react to this movie. I saw it at the cinema during its' theatrical release during the 80s and it's remained one of my favourites.
Lot of nearly unrecognizable people in this one!! Did y'all catch Billy Crystal and Dana Carvy? Also that actor playing St Hubbins is Chuck from Better Call Saul!! Christopher Guest was also the six fingered man from Princess Bride. And that young Fran Drescher is smoking hot!!!!
Can we just take a moment to appreciate what an amazing run Rob Reiner had in the '80s and early '90s? He went from being a washed-up sitcom actor to a director and he made this movie, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, and The American President. I don't know what happened to him after that because his later movies sucked, but the dude was on fire back in the day.
Rob won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for a Comedy (All In The Family) and is the son of an Emmy winning actor/showrunner/comic (Carl Reiner). I wouldn't call him washed up.
You should react to more of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. Waiting for Guffman is my favorite, but Best in Show is a close second. Guest (who played Nigel “Goes to 11”) is married to Jamie Lee Curtis and is an actual British Baron, whose official title is Lord Haden-Guest. He served in the House of Lords and was one of the members who voted for the House of Lords Act of 1999, removing the rights of hereditary peers like himself from serving. He was in SNL for a year and also was the six-fingered man in The Princess Bride.
It's surprising how good and how bad the music can be at the same time. Melodically they are actually quite good. I'm surprised they never tried writing music on their own without the parody. But very few people could have pulled this off; improvising the dialogue, writing and performing the music. Brilliant stuff. And they did it again in the folk music genre with A Mighty Wind. One of the songs was(despite deliberately bad lyrics) nominated for an Oscar. I hope the sequel is also largely improvised.
@@Hexon66 Most metal fans not only realize how close it is to the scene but also love this legitimate addition to the genre for just about anything, really
What is the worst concert/performance you've ever seen live?
I'm not sure I've ever seen bad-bad-bad ones (apart from some high school bands), but when I finally saw The Smashing Pumpkins in 2000 or so, they'd entered a phase in their music which left me so unsatisfied that I just stopped listening to the band for almost 20 years.
TIAMAT, some 5-7 yrs ago. The band was trying their best but Johan Edlund was absolutely shitfaced on booze, drugs and/or medication and didn't even seem to know where he was. I cried in disappointment.
So, not exactly the question, but back in the day when I was in a band, we got a last minute show one night that was supposedly at a bar, but it was a little early in the evening, like 6pm. That was kinda weird, but we were trying to play as much as humanly possible, so we happily loaded up our massive drum kit, two half-stack guitar rigs, and a full bass rig, and went on our merry way to the gig. Turns out, the "bar" was actually a restaurant, who thought they were hiring a tasteful, folky acoustic duo to make pleasant background music for their guests, instead of an alarmingly loud metal band. SOMEHOW they even let us set up and start sound checking before they politely kicked us out 😂
Motley Crue a couple of years ago, I went for the openers and didn't make it halfway through the crue
@@mraustinworking Quite a Spinal Tap kind of story!
You need to look around, these guys dedication to a bit is just epic, they do full interviews and have done shows and such all totally in character, all of them are just legend tier comedians.
When they showed up for Metallica's Black Album...
The fact they do the commentary track and other special features for the DVD in character is amazing, such a great listen.
Actually, due to some legal issues, if they don't appear in character every few years, they lose the rights to these characters.
@@ghosthead84 the part when they are at fran dreschers party, there is a 3d style painting on the wall Nigel - "i tried to climb into that painting thinking it was a portal of some sort" the commentary is great. they slowly realize the movie is taking the piss
@@ghosthead84 “Pastel black”. LOL
I have NEVER seen George laugh that hard and that many times. This movie is just a masterpiece.
me neither, his hardest laugh was justifiable though, when the dwarfs danced around the miniscule Stonehenge!
It’s always interesting to see what hits George’s funny bone, as opposed to what strikes Simone’s.
Watch his reaction to Tropic Thunder.
@@johnbernhardtsen3008 you're absolutely right. It's the best gag in the movie.
The DVD commentary track for this movie was amazing, all the actors were in character the entire time which was amazing when they got to the metal detector part.
"Why was it wrapped in tin foil?" "Well you have to keep it fresh!"
And they still think 11 is louder.
I remember years ago see a TV spot for the Film in the style of those time life ads...lines like "not available in any shops, or over the phone".
Pastel black really
"If Viv could play that [the metal detector tone] he'd still be in the band."
It's like space without the stars.@@ThePorpoisepower
The Stonehenge fiasco actually happened to Black Sabbath in 1983, but instead of being too small, it was grossly oversized due to feet being mistaken for meters. It was way too big to bring all of it into most venues. What they did manage to get onstage was so large it cramped the band to the front. To make matters worse, management also decided to hire a dwarf and put him in a devil costume (the latest album, "Born Again", had a poorly-designed picture of a devil baby on the cover, earning its place in several "Worst album covers" lists). They had him crawl around on top of the Stonehenge piece like a baby, then stand up and fall off, backwards, then the band start playing.
I'm sure I remember something about a real band getting lost backstage too, might have been KISS but i'm not sure
@@stutallis5673 I think many bands thought the movie was about them in some way because this stuff happens to all of them. I read Jon Anderson of Yes told his bandmates at the time to see this movie because it's about them. Ozzy Osbourne didn't find it that funny because it was too realistic.
This would explain that bit they did on the Simpsons when Spın̈al Tap played in Springfield. They had this huge inflated devil hanging over their stage, but it couldn't remain inflated and it started drooping over the drummer 😆
@@NGC6144 So Ozzy was upset because it was too realistic. Spinal Tap is to old arena rockers what Saving Private Ryan is to WWII vets.
@@ndogg20 Not at all. When Spinal Tap came out in 84, Ozzy was in the midst of his earlier solo career, around the time of Bark at the Moon.
Christopher Guest is Jamie Lee Curtis's husband and has done some brilliant mockumentories, especially , Waiting for Guffman ( based on a small town musical) Best in Show ( based on a dog show) and A Mighty Wind ( based on a folk tribute concert) All well worth a look 😊😊😊
Yeah, they would absolutely love Chris' films, especially "Best in Show" (Simone will lose her mind over all the dogs in that one) and "Waiting for Guffman". And they all start Canadian comedy legends Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, so, win-win!
Christopher Guest is also Lord Hayden Guest. He went to the House of Lords with Jamie Lee Curtis as Lady Hayden Guest. The House Of Lords has now been reformed, so they probably won't let them back in.
@@garyneedham3961 Guest was also the 6-fingered man in "The Princess Bride" and was the doctor in "A Few Good Men."
One of the great things about A Mighty Wind is that the three Spinal Tap leads all play in a 60's folk band together during the movie. All of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries are worth it, especially Might Wind and Best in Show.
@@rhinehold4268 well said 👏 👍
"It's not a big college town" is one of the funniest lines in the whole thing and it's a total throwaway, few people notice it.
And it's also one of the early warning signs to us that the band is going downhill - all the little seeds are so skillfully and subtly planted that you don't really notice first time watching. But on re-watches, it becomes more and more clear. By the time we're at the "Where are they now" moment, I'm really feeling for them.
"We toured the world and elsewhere"
What's the difference between golf and miniature golf? The walls.
I like Derek's line that always seems to slip under the radar as well. When theyre discussing the Stonehenge prop being too small and Ian tells the guys it's no big deal and they're making too much of big a thing about it and Derek goes 'making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea'
I remember seeing on the big screen in Boston and that line got a huge laugh.
Christopher Guest makes a series of amazing mocumentaries, Best in Show is a great one.
A Mighty Wind was another that included the three from Spinal Tap as a folk band.
Yes, they HAVE to do Best In Show now, it's hilarious.
Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman are two of my all-time favorites, absolute masterpieces.
I prefer "Waiting for Guffman", but really can't go wrong with any of the stuff he did with Catherine O'Hara.
Best in Show is so funny, and Eugene Levy/Catherine O'Hara is such a classic comedy pairing
Yes, "it turns up to eleven" started with this film, and yes, some manufacturers have run with that gag. I've got a distortion pedal where the dials go to 11 :)
"This goes to eleven" did indeed originate from this film, as did "Hello Cleveland!"
And clearly it takes a lot of its...Beats...from the rise and fall of the Beatles, their start as a skiffle band, their experimentation with acid and Indian musicality, and introducing a girlfriend to co-manage the band but completely eroding their friendship.
Although, I tend to think the ex-Beatles ended up making their best music on their own, or near the end when they were already separating themselves for the most part.
Definitely they blended a few things. They also spoof Zeppelin, with the crotch shots and violin on the guitar. but today I clicked the whole framing is similar to The Last Waltz, especially the scene with the band name evolution. The dead drummers definitely alluding to Zeppelin and The Who. And so many other generic band type hijinks from those eras.
Or atleast what I've read and heard about. I wasn't born.
The saying "go to eleven" was around before the movie. They just took it to it's hilariously logical conclusion.
@@stuartkinzel8195 wiki says: "Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap
Seeing as how I've heard people say crank it to eleven BEFORE the movie ever came out, I don't think it originated in the film. The film took many tropes and stories from real life rock and roll and applied them all to Spinal Tap.
@@steelyspielbergo And Wiki is never wrong, right?
The bulk of this movie is improvised. It's truly one of the funniest movies ever made. Pure brilliance.
This movie had no script. Just outlines. They wrote and performed all of the music themselves. Years later the movie became so popular they did indeed tour a couple of times and released a couple of albums. They did many interviews in character.
Not only did they tour, but they would open for themselves in the guise of a folk band from the 1960's called The Folksmen. They later made a film starring the Folksmen called A Mighty Wind.
@@grelch "Old Joe's Place" and "Wanderin'" are great songs! They are the icing on the cake.
@grelch Even before the movie Michael McKean was performing on American Bandstand with Lenny and the Squigtones (playing his character from Laverne & Shirley), and their guitar player was Christopher Guest in character as Nigel Tufnel. The video is pretty easy to find on TH-cam.
Also I think in a few interviews they stated they had enough takes/scenes to make about a 5 hour film.
The "Hello Cleveland!" bit actually happened to Dee Snider from the band Twisted Sister" a few years after this movie came out. He got separated from the band and got lost trying to find the stage. When he finally found the sign marked STAGE ENTRANCE, he ran out on stage, arms raised, ready to rock... to nobody.
It was completely empty. They were playing at a venue that had two theaters/concert halls, and he didn't know that. It had to be such a mind****.
I saw them live about ten years ago and they were awesome, they even supported themselves as the Folksmen! 😂
The failed arm-crossing at 1:37 is a low key brilliant bit of physical comedy. Glad you both picked up on it.
Pretty sure they were laughing at the line about it being 17 years and 15 albums later. Not sure how the arm thing is supposed to be physical comedy, much less brilliant, but I guess if it makes you laugh....
I totally agree. The arm thing is 100% intentional and brilliant. It conveys Marty DiBergi's awkwardness in front of the camera.
@@MrLovegrove Thanks for setting things straight, Mr. Cinebinge's Dad.
@@MrLovegrove Why would they laugh at the years and albums? Prince released 38 studio albums in 37 years.
As is his cap: USS _Oral Sea_
Spinal Tap was on a Simpsons episode as well, and I believe they lost another drummer there.
Fun fact: When Reiner approached Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame) to score the Princess Bride, Knopfler agreed to do it only on the condition that the hat Reiner wore in Spinal Tap appeared in the movie somewhere. Hint: It's in Fred Savage's room.
Mark Knopfler is also in a bbc radio documentary with spinal tap talking bout their history ms how they inspired him. I think (part of) it is still on TH-cam.
The "cold sores" were actually meant to be herpes! There's a four hour cut of this movie (you can find on various special editions) there was a whole subplot about a female warm-up band. The visual (but unspoken) joke was that throughout the movie who had sores on their lips kept changing based on who was sleeping with the female singer, and the only person who never got sores was the drummer. When they were having a band meeting about ditching the warm-up band, all the members had cold sores and wanted to ditch the warm-up band while the drummer (who never had a sore on his lip) was like "What? They're great! We should keep them.". IIRC, that jokes ends later in the movie where you find out that warm-up band was actually becoming more famous than Spinal Tap.
Cold sores actually are herpes.
Cold sores ARE herpes! 🤣 Caused by Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), transmitted by oral or genital contact.
Cold sores are herpes lol.
@@hellyoung2091 They were questioning if those were cold sores on their lips, and the point was yes they were and there was a big subplot devoted to it in the film that was cut from the theatrical release. It's mentioned in the commentary that because of the unexplained cold sores, some test audiences thought the film was implying that Nigel and David were secretly lovers.
@@Matt_Mosley1983 Yes, somewhere around 4 hours. I saw it years ago, and the version I saw was pretty poor quality. In those days it was called "This Is Spinal Tap Workprint".
You guys also need to check out A Mighty Wind. The same 3 guys are in a folk band called The Folksmen involved in a tribute variety folk concert. Very similar feel, lots of improvisation, and features a ton of great comedic improvisational actors, including Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, and the AMAZING coupling of Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Very funny, and also very sweet movie.
Yep. As a rock musician of over 40 years this is amazingly accurate. I've lived this life. The guitarist is the spitting image of a guy I used to play with. What's really impressive is their English accents and they're really playing live. A real classic. ✌️♥️🇬🇧
TBF, Guest is part British.
@@dnish6673 does he normally have an English accent?
@@coot1925 No but he’d have a lot of exposure. His dad probably did.
@@dnish6673 never the less, bloody good acting. The attitude of the characters is uniquely British, especially the bit with the sandwich which was exactly like the kind of petty wining that goes on backstage. I played the original famous Marquee club in London 3 times and the toilet never flushed despite all the big names having played there. It was disgusting. That was really something to moan about, especially as I always got a wobbly belly before going on stage. 😂✌❤🇬🇧
Can confirm that this is scarily more documentary than Mockumentary. Many musicians point to this movie as the best movie representation of being on the road. I think our manager learned everything he knew from Ian Faith
The actors played their own instruments, sang themselves, and even went on a promotional tour as Spinal Tap.
The movie's soundtrack was released as a Spinal Tap album, ... well, because it is.
I still have the T-shirt from their 1992 tour....
@@Bikebrh _That_ is just awesome. 😁
The movie is full of real inside jokes: The Originals and New Originals bit was referring to The Yardbirds and New Yardbirds who became Led Zeppelin. Nigel does a solo rubbing a whole violin on his guitar- which is a play on Jimmy Page using a violin bow on Dazed and Confused. The band resurging in Japan could be Deep Purple who had a big live album filmed on tour in Japan. The girlfriend breaking up David and Nigel is a nod to Yoko Ono being blamed for driving Join Lennon and Paul McCartney apart and breaking up The Beatles. The choking on vomit is a poignant reference to the 27 club- with Mama Cass, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison etc all dying from drug overdoses essentially choking on vomit. The dead Drummers are an homage to Keith Moon of the Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, the pod that wouldn't open and the Stonehenge bit are likely references to Jethro Tull and other "prog" bands from the early 70s....the more you rewatch it the more REAL bands you connect to
Not to mention the Christy Minstrels and the New Christy Minstrels, and The Seekers and The New Seekers.
Of course that myth is nonsense, the Beatles just were at the breaking point and ready to move on to solo projects. Paul was the one to announce he was leaving. John & Paul were on good terms at what became the end of John's life.
Jimmy had been in the Yardbirds, "New Yardbirds" assembled as a means of fulfilling tour contracts put together by the Yardbirds.
Cass Elliot didn't choke on vomit; she died of a heart attack. Jimi Hendrix, Bon Scott, and John Bonham all choked on vomit.
@@mournblade1066I think Cass had a piece of undigested ham sandwich in her throat when she nodded off causing acute apnia which in turn resulted in her myocardial infarction.
Christopher Guest plays Nigel. He also plays the six fingered man (Count Rugen) in Proncess Bride. Also of note: he's been married to Jaime Lee Curtis for almost 40 years.
Eleven 🖐☝️🖐
@@richardrobbins387 hadn't thought of that before. cos he has 6 fingers on 1 hand, his fingers go up to 11.
@@richardrobbins387 YES!!
He's a chameleon, all of his mockumentary roles (Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) plus he was in A Few Good Men as the lax medical examiner, Night at the Museum - Smithsonian as Ivan the Terrible, Little Shop of Horrors as the kind of weird customer who notices the plant in the window. He's so talented that it's kind of amazing he isn't a bigger name. He seems to choose pretty few roles considering he's probably a guy most producers would hire.
So what you're saying is he's the luckiest person to ever live.
Every line, every freakin' line has become iconic. Started the mockumentary genre, really. Pretty much everyone in it went on to big things if they weren't there already. And yes, they did tour after the film came out, singing all original songs. You can have no idea how this affected the culture. Massive, just massive.
...and it was all improvised, except the songs.
i've learnt yet another amazing fact about this film, i was saying to my mum last month how spinal tap should''ve toured with their music that's so brilliant they actually did that!!
It didn't start the mockumentary. In 1978, Lorne Michaels of SNL fame approved a TV movie made by Monty Python's Eric Idle, of a real fake history of a fake real band: THE RUTLES. The movie was called ALL YOU NEED IS CASH and I saw it on NBC one night in 1977 on my big-ass console color TV>
@@splitimage137. Yes. Absolutely. But The Rutles didn't break through in the same way. When I say "started the mockumentary" I should have said "kickstarted:. It was after the success of Spinal Tap that the broader public became aware of the mockumentary as a genre. I'm glad you mentioned The Rutles, because it was a great entry into the genre, but I really don't think it had the same impact on the broader public that Tap did.
@@blortmeister You are correct, of course. I just had to give The Rutles a little love, in case someone else reads this and checks it out. (If so, then my work here is done ;)
Fun trivia: the stonehenge builder was Anjelica Huston
I worked as a tour manager in the late 80s, and every touring band with a VCR had a copy of this with them. Everything that happened to Spinal Tap has happened - more or less - to every band, just not all of them to the same band. I did see Tap live on Canada Day as part of the MuchMusic Great Canadian Party in 1992. I saw them at Molson Park in Barrie, mid-way through their one-day cross-Canada tour. They started in Halifax, then Barrie, then finished the day in Vancouver.
Marshall did make amps that went to 11 for a time. The iMDB page for this movie also has a rating bar that goes to 11.
That IMDB thing is epic. :D
I honestly thought George was going to hurt himself laughing. Great reaction.
If you want to see a real version of this...Watch "Anvil: The Story of Anvil"... It's uncomfortably real. An actual documentary of the band Anvil. If this didn't come out way after Spinal Tap, you would think they based Spinal Tap on The Story of Anvil.
George asked at one point if these guys actually toured and yes they did, with some audience attendees actually not knowing it was all humor.
Much of the dialogue in this movie was improved. The singing and playing was actually the actors. Great movie.
A little bit of side trivia - I think it was and amnesty international tour that had Peter Gabriel, Sinead O'Connor, and others all on a bus traveling to the next city trying to think of songs that they all knew that they could sing together and they kept coming up with the Spinal Tap songs ... It kind of makes me smile to think of Sinead O'Connor singing Sex Farm or Big Bottom.
I believe they’ve played gigs with their folk alter egos opening.
@@Yookeroo Correct, they have actually been their own opening act!
They've released a couple of albums even, including the black album, you used to be able to get it, and like in the movie, it's not bad! It definitely grows on you too, right from the first song titled "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
@@hellomark1 Most of Spinal Tap's music is too over the top for me even though I love the movie, but Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight is unironically a jam.
All the actors who play the band members are from the USA. Their English accents are flawless!
I've said it before, but I do really want to see you two do When Harry Met Sally.
You are correct that the Stonehenge woman was Anjelica Huston. The label woman, Bobbi Flekman, is future "Nanny" star Fran Drescher. She also co-starred in Weird Al's cult classic UHF, which you should watch as well. Dana Carvey also plays the other mime waiter who isn't Billy Crystal. The other WHMS actor, playing the limo driver, is named Bruno Kirby (RIP). Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) would go on to be in Clue (yet another suggestion, which I'm sure you've gotten before), and recently in "Better Call Saul."
This is indeed the origin of "This goes to 11" and also "None more black," if you've heard that one in pop culture.
The movie was one of the first inducted to the DVD iteration of The Criterion Collection, which is a famous US home video label that licenses important classic and contemporary movies and releases them in special editions. That DVD had a traditional commentary by Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer. When MGM later released the film on DVD themselves, they couldn't license that track, and the cast didn't want to tell the same stories, so that release (and the later Blu-ray) have a commentary where Guest, McKean, and Shearer comment on the movie in character as Spinal Tap.
The DVD I have also has the band commenting on the menu, which is completely black. The menu is about 20 minutes of them talking about the black menu.
So many cameos:
Sir Dennis is Patrick Macnee, who is most famous as John Steed in the classic British adventure show from the 60s: The Avengers.
The promoter who wants them to kick his ass is Paul Shaffer, a legend in the music business but best known as David Letterman's band leader for decades.
The guy in the hotel lobby who gets Ian's name wrong is Howard Hesseman. Done tons of TV shows and movies but best known as Dr Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati.
Tons more I'm forgetting, for sure!
@@chadsmith3363 Ed Begley, Jr. as John "Stumpy" Pepys, their first drummer. The janitor who tries to give them directions to the stage in Cleveland is played by under the radar comedian Wonderful Smith. Fred Willard plays the liaison officer at the Air Force base.
And on and on...basically, if you assume anybody with a speaking role is famous in _some_ circle, you're probably right.
Michael McKean also played Lenny on "Laverne & Shirley" and was a Not Ready for Prime Time Player on "Saturday Night Live"
@@Harv72b People thought the janitor was played by musician Bo Diddley for some reason.
Ian is played by the late British humorist Tony Hendra, who worked with Guest on the National Lampoon Radio Hour. Hendra also worked as an contributing editor for National Lampoon Magazine during their heyday.
The “Lick my Love Pump” moment made me spit soda all over the poor guy in front of me at the theater, luckily I was only 14 so I didn’t get my ass kicked.🤣
That name is pretty on brand for something that takes inspiration from Mozart, after all he wrote a song called "Lick me in the arse"
20:30 I love when George loses it 😂
The amount of bands that have similar stories to Spinal Tap is what makes it the greatest music movie of all time.
"A fine line between stupid and clever" - Indeed! Don't worry, when it comes to reactions, you're very much on the clever side ;)
The DVD commentary for this movie is hilarious. They do it completely in-character and it almost feels like a sequel in and of itself.
This reaction goes to 11. From what I heard, Spinal Tap was based on a number of bands, but especially Saxon.
Black Sabbath's 1983 tour played a large role as well.
When Ozzy Osborne saw this movie he was convinced that he'd toured with them
Michael McKean recently had an amazing role in Better Call Saul as a lead character. Emmy worthy performance.
Agreed.
I like reminding people that he was Lenny of Lenny and Squiggy on 'Laverne and Shirley", which starred Penny Marshall, Rob Reiner's former wife.
He played bandleader and harpist Adrien van Voorheis on Jiminy Glick.
And Fred in Short Circuit 2
"I'm big in Japan" was definitely a thing from the 70s on. A lot of bands that went on to become major successes had Japanese releases years before they made it in NA/EU.
Check out the Canadian 80's band Alphaville and their song "Big in Japan."
@@samswords9993 The song title actually comes from a UK punk band called Big in Japan. The phrase itself is almost as old as rock & roll.
Probably most notably Cheap Trick who were "big in Japan" and only started to have US success when tracks from a live album made exclusively for the Japanese market started to be played by an LA DJ.
@@snowdenwyatt6276 Yeah, I remember when I eventually heard the album version of I Want You To Want Me, and ws like "yeah, no wonder that didn't chart".
This movie is basically required watching for anyone starting a band. A true classic.
I'll never forget the guy who strung up his Les Paul with bronze acoustic strings.
There's a blooper reel that came with the DVD which is close to another two hours....all improv, all hilarious. What a funny movie!
As a person who was in the music business for 30 years. Spinal Tap is surprisingly accurate in all details.
The absolute best part of the Spinal Tap DVD is the audio commentary. The three main musicians are there IN CHARACTER throughout the entire commentary, talking about what REALLY happened when Marty DeBerg filmed this Rockumentary. It is like watching This is Spinal Tap new for the first time because the concept forces you to put new humor in scenes we've seen twenty+ times. Hands down the best audio commentary ever (Casablanca is runner up, IMHO).
It IS one of the funniest commentary tracks Ever!
It’s hilarious. The way they think Marty DiBergi did a hatchet job on them. “We have heard that people watch this film and LAUGH!”
The extras on the DVD are great too like them rolling the cheese downhill, which has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. The best of cd commercial with songs on it like Bent for the Rent. Funny stuff.
Tropic Thunder honorable mention.
It is among the best commentaries in my collection, too. Another I would add to it and Casablanca is Peter Bogdanovich's on Citizen Kane.
This movie has one of the best (if not the best) "director's commentary" where the actors comment about the events of the movie in character. It's hilarious and a must watch (hear really)
This movie was actually a total bomb at the box office, but was one of the most successful video rental titles of all time
It was a modest hit with a $4.7 million gross against a $2 million budget.
20:12 Georges laugh here makes me so happy. That has to be one of the most genuine heartfelt laughs I have heard someone have in years.
For my money it's one of the funniest scenes in movie history. One of maybe a half-dozen times that I've laughed so hard at a film that it hurt. The dopamine surge made it tough to find anything amusing for like an hour afterwards, so I had to watch the movie again because I was just numb.
This is THE Mockumentary of all time! While there have been many other really great ones (several helmed by Christopher Guest), there is nothing that beats this one. An additional fun thing related to the "going to 11" . . . if you go to the IMDB page for this movie, you will notice that the star rating . . . yeah . . . Also, Jamie Lee Curtis watched this film when it originally came out and said "I'm going to marry that man" . . . and she did five months later . . . and they remain married to this day. I do remember when I first saw this movie, I had a moment somewhere in the middle where I suddenly shouted "OH MY GOD! THAT IS COUNT RUGEN THE SIX FINGERED MAN!!" . . . it completely blew my mind that that was the same person. Favourite song is absolutely "Stonehenge"
Man would I love to see a day when you guys do Walk Hard: A Dewey Cox Story
George would absolutely lose it at the scene where Tim Meadows' character is trying to warn Dewey way from trying pot.
He don’t want nothing to do with that
You mean Spinal Tap? cause ya I agree, but hoping the thought of "mockumentary" music type films takes me to that thought. Also an excuse to make anyone watch Dewey Cox.
Loved seeing that the humor translated to a younger crowd. George seemed to be truly into it and laughed really hard At several points. Great choice
As a British person, I really rate the London accents. I know Haden-Guest can naturally speak in a British accent but he clearly wasn't using his own. As for Derek Smalls - Mr Shearer has nailed it. David St Hubbins having a melt-down in pure Estuary is magic to the ear.
They are the real deal. Even though they made the movie as a gag, they made and produced an album with music. And they have sometimes performed in concert. It's every bit as hilarious as you can imagine.
Two albums! I have them both.
@@AdamConus Bit late to this, but technically three albums. They released Back From The Dead in 2009.
Simone's British accent at the end ("I don't know, what are the hours") made my jaw drop! It was *really* good .... and that's coming from a Brit!
There is a really funny "mockumentary" type film by Albert Brooks called Real Life. In the film Brooks sets out to record a real family's day to day life. It is brilliant!
I love that movie!
This movie is a fantastic feat of improvisation.
There was so much material that the bonus dvd has a near feature-length outtakes and deleted scenes video. The dvd commentary by the actors, totally in character, is brilliant.
And yes, the movie was taken by some people as real - I spoke to a girl who had gone in thinking it was real and got slowly suspicious until the ‘it was someone else’s vomit’ line and she knew she’d been had.
@@ThreadBomb
Not sure which bit you mean
I saw it when it came out and heard multiple people talking about never hav8ng heard of the band before when we were exiting. My friend and I were in hysterics.
@@inapickle806
I love how open and guileless some people can be, but I do worry for them.
If you want to know how influential "goes to 11" is look at the IMDB score for this movie.
I remember hearing the story that the musicians in Foghat insisted that the writers of Spinal Tap had to have been secretly recording them because there was no other way that the zodiac obsessed girlfriend in the movie could have been so similar to one of the band members' girlfriends.
Truth is stranger than fiction nowadays...
99% of the dialogue in this film was improvised on the spot.
If you want to wee more like this, the same core group of people did a few other mockumentaries--"Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind" being the two best. The first pokes fun at dog show fanatics, while the latter takes on folk music bands of the early 60s reuniting. Both are absolutely brilliant. Must see.
Thanks for the reaction! I was hoping I'd finally get the movie with you guys, but no. I think my tolerance for awkwardness is way worse than even George's. I wonder if I'd like it more if it was about the grunge era which I'm more fond of.
The IMDB scale, normally from 1 to 10, goes to 11 with this one.
It's such a shame for you that you can't enjoy it. A friend of mine never really got enjoyed but we watched it late one night at his house and suddenly it clicked for him and he found it hilarious. Humour is a very subjective thing though and different things tickle us in different ways.
@@EfftupSmith It is, I’d really like to like it more. But comedy is a tough genre. I’ve lately watched way more comedies than I did in two decades because of Cinebinge, and the experiences are usually either hilarious or painful. Spinal Tap was neither, really; I just felt it was mildly amusing and a bit boring. Weird nuance things, probably, because I thought that relatively understated rock industry humor would be right up my alley. Oh well.
Fun Fact: July 1st 1992 Spinal Tap did a 24 hour Canadian Tour to celebrate Canada Day. they played St. Johns Newfoundland, Barrie Ontario, and Vancouver BC in one day.
Simone thought they were about to start making trouble in the neighborhood. 😂
@28:40 “Did amps actually go to 11?”
The Marshall amp company actually released a new line about 10 years after that (the JCM900 series) with controls that went to 20, and ran an ad campaign featuring Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel noting that “… That’s nine louder, innit?”😂😂😂
But we can't serve it alcohol unless someone makes one that goes to 21.
This movie owes a lot to The Rutles, a mockumentary on a and based on a group like The Beatles. The songs were so close in style they were sued, but also had George Harrison in a cameo role.
The members of the Beatles were mostly supportive, John Lennon loved it and George Harrison is in it. If any suing was done, it would have been by ATV, the rights holders.
These situations are based on real stories. As a gigging musician for over fifty years I can assure you all this stuff happens to all of us all the time!
My top 3 rock mockumentaries of all time would be:
1. "The Rutles - All you need is cash", a fake Beatles documentary from no one less than the great Eric Idle of Monty Python.
2. "Bad News" + "More Bad News" (both can be found here on youtube), similar in style but more low budget and even more weird, clearly an inspiration for this one.
3. "Spinal Tap" - We just saw it, what a classic. I just recently realized that the actor Michael McKean who played the lead singer is the Saul Goodmans Brother in Better Call Saul.
" I just recently realized that the actor Michael McKean who played the lead singer is the Saul Goodmans Brother in Better Call Saul."
I just now realized that too :-D
@@klausmogensen8691 There are still some of us around who are old enough to remember him from Laverne & Shirley (though I can never remember if he played Lenny or Squiggy) which is where he first made it big.
He played Lenny.
Bad News from the Comic Strip Presents. I remember them. Most of the Young ones crew and French and Saunders as well. They did a great piss take of the Famous Five as well.
@@chrispeel3123 Oh, then I have to check out The Young Ones (and probably more from The Comic Strip). I guess all that stuff was never aired over here in Germany. Only new about Bad News cause a friend who had it on VHS showed it to me.
I love how the depiction of Stonehenge was only inaccurate because they put '' instead of ' so it was inches, not feet haha
The Mockamentary NOONE needed, is now a a legendary movie 🤘😎🤘
What We Do In The Shadows, a Taika Waititi mockumentary on a group of vampires living together dealing with daily struggles. Also, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (not technically a mockumentary, but hilarious anyway)
1:27 That's actually the movie's director, Rob Reiner. (He also directed Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, and The American President, among others)
Carl's son, and well known for playing "the Meathead" Michael on "All in the Family" before going on to direct.
Most heavy metal bands not only loved this but said how accurate this actually was to reality. The soundtrack and their 'Break Like The Wind' album
I’ve never seen George laugh so hard as during the Stonehenge song…classic
Seeing George lose his shit at the "Stonehenge" bit made me lose MY shit!
I believe this is the film that started the mockumentary style. At the very least it popularized the style.
Such a classic film.
It's not even close to the first, even The Rutles skits and movie were following on a long tradition of mockumentaries. But it did make them much more well known and is probably the first or second one people think of.
Possibly, but five years before there was a made for TV movie mockumentary of The Beatles called “The Ruttles: All You Need is Cash.”
@@smiffy68 Hey, I loved The Ruttles when I was a kid! But it was difficult to find, it only ran on PBS in my city once or twice, and home video wasn't a thing yet.
"Take the Money and Run" was the first mockumentary.
@@annaclarafenyo8185 I’m not familiar with that one but the 1950’s short “Swiss Spaghetti Harvest” could also be an early contender.
IMDB rating for this movie goes to 11
One of the main things that make this movie so epic is the fact that none of them are English!
My friend saw this in the theater. She was convinced it was real and kept arguing with her friends about it afterwards.
So many amazing cameos in this film!!!
That was Billy Crystal. Him and Rob Reiner are like best friends in real life. No doubt why he just did that little cameo.
Plus he was on SNL with Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest.
This is where "turn it up to 11" comes from
The band wrote the songs and played their own instruments.
There was no script, the actors improvised their lines.
They did go on tour in character.
There are loads of extra footage that you can find online.
Watch the audio commentary from the DVD. Spinal Tap does the commentary.
If you want another good rock mockumentary, "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash".
It is a parody of The Beatles and includes Eric Idle of Monty Python as the Paul McCartney parody, Dirk McQuickly.
The actor that played Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) has been in a lot of movies. You saw him in The Princess Bride as the six fingered man, and in A Few Good Men as the doctor that they questioned in court.
He also had a bit part as a cop in the crime comedy, "The Hot Rock", starring Robert Redford.
And "customer" in the Little Shop of Horrors
The guitarist Nigel Tufnel is played by Christopher Guest who was in (at least) 2 other Rob Reiner films, The Princess Bride as the 6 fingered man, and A Few Good Men as the medical expert brought in to the trial (a smaller part).
I remember seeing this movie when I was in high school in the 2000's. I talked to a friend about it. They said they loved Spinal Tap's music but had never seen the movie. They didn't know it was a joke. That's how good the music is despite the 80's-riffic cringe lyrics.
Christopher Guest did a lot of great mocumentaries after this, the best being "The Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind", the latter of which has a Spinal Tap reunion of sorts.
Yeah, some amp manufacturers have made dials that go to 11. Marshall even had an ad with Nigel & the JCM 900 that goes up to 20.
On the first generations of tube (valve) amps that are played on huge albums (and still today) there was no “gain” control. There was just a volume & to get the amp to distort, you had to crank up the amp. So you’d turn the amp full up to 10 to get it to crunch and distort and it sounds amazing. So the “these go to 11” (hes showing a Super Lead Plexi in the film) came from that idea that you needed to crank them & if everybody was going to 10, they’d go to 11 to be louder…fundamentally misunderstanding amp power, wattage, etc lol.
Later, amps started adding a ‘Master Volume’ so the ‘volume’ essentially became a ‘gain’ knob…meaning you could get the pre-amp to distort, but you didn’t have to have the overall volume at such high levels. Randall Smith (Mesa/Boogie) started modding Fenders amps with this, then Marshall created the JCM 800 that had a ‘gain’ knob, etc and a bunch of companies now have a dedicated pre-amp ‘gain’ section along with a ‘master volume’.
Pre-amp gain vs power-amp gain is a discussion that has millions of pages of guitar forum comments.
The Stonehenge scene is the one that made me fall in love with this movie. I nearly had an accident the first time I saw the little triptich descend from the rafters. Love your reactions.
Tap is just an amazing movie. Another great music mockumentary is Walk Hard, but it helps to have seen the Johnny Cash and/or Ray Charles biopics.
I've introduced several people to this and I am proud to say that I got 1 of them to believe it was a documentary for a real band. One of the proudest moments in my life.
There is a similar movie, called Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), which you guys should check out. One of the most criminally underrated films out there.
The parade scene was filmed in my town.
The first time I showed this to my band mate, I didn't tell it was a spoof. He nearly cried thinking it was real. He still holds a (minor) grudge against me to this day!
The "turning up to 11" came from Spinal Tap. Best ever Mockumentary. Fooled a lot of people when it came out.
The way you know this is a great movie is that virtually every hard rock/metal/Progressive rock band of the 70s/80s has claimed the movie is based on them!
Yes they've toured & released records. They played the Freddie Mercury tribute show and even played the Glastonbury Festival about 10 years ago. They were joined on stage by Jarvis Cocker during Big Bottom.
Watch WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS... Hysterical Taika Waititi mockumentary.
But if you like this another Christopher guest movie that always cracks me up is BEST IN SHOW
I saw them live at Glastonbury and they really ROCK! Genuinely impressive musicianship
And Mr Burns on bass!
Did The Folksmen open for them?
Watch "A Mighty Wind" another killer musicql Mockumentary from the same group of actors/film-makers/musicians! This time they take on Folk!
It is HILARIOUS! (p.s. the entire film is on YT. Everyone should watch it).
Also, check out other C. Guest awesomeness, Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman,
It was a stroke of genius to react to this movie. I saw it at the cinema during its' theatrical release during the 80s and it's remained one of my favourites.
Lot of nearly unrecognizable people in this one!! Did y'all catch Billy Crystal and Dana Carvy? Also that actor playing St Hubbins is Chuck from Better Call Saul!! Christopher Guest was also the six fingered man from Princess Bride. And that young Fran Drescher is smoking hot!!!!
Can we just take a moment to appreciate what an amazing run Rob Reiner had in the '80s and early '90s? He went from being a washed-up sitcom actor to a director and he made this movie, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, and The American President. I don't know what happened to him after that because his later movies sucked, but the dude was on fire back in the day.
Rob won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for a Comedy (All In The Family) and is the son of an Emmy winning actor/showrunner/comic (Carl Reiner). I wouldn't call him washed up.
You should react to more of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. Waiting for Guffman is my favorite, but Best in Show is a close second.
Guest (who played Nigel “Goes to 11”) is married to Jamie Lee Curtis and is an actual British Baron, whose official title is Lord Haden-Guest.
He served in the House of Lords and was one of the members who voted for the House of Lords Act of 1999, removing the rights of hereditary peers like himself from serving.
He was in SNL for a year and also was the six-fingered man in The Princess Bride.
It's surprising how good and how bad the music can be at the same time. Melodically they are actually quite good. I'm surprised they never tried writing music on their own without the parody. But very few people could have pulled this off; improvising the dialogue, writing and performing the music. Brilliant stuff. And they did it again in the folk music genre with A Mighty Wind. One of the songs was(despite deliberately bad lyrics) nominated for an Oscar. I hope the sequel is also largely improvised.
I'm not sure some metal fans realize this is not a million miles away from what they love.
@@Hexon66 Most metal fans not only realize how close it is to the scene but also love this legitimate addition to the genre for just about anything, really
15:16 is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, makes me double-over laughing.
“Mach” & the beautiful piano part & it being called ‘Lick My Love Pump’ 😂🤣😆