All the actors played their own instruments and performed the songs. They actually went on tour after the movie was released. One tour featured an act called The Folksmen as an opening act. The Folksmen were actually the same actors in different costume and make up.
I actually saw them at Riverport Amphitheater in 1991 or 92. I still have the shirt, on which they had clearly overprinted the current dates over the dates on unsold T-shirts from the previous tour!🤣🤣🤣
Many actual rock bands have commented on how true to life this movie is - being a rock star is truly an absurd life. One of R.E.M.'s early gigs was, in fact, at an Air Force base.
It's been said many times that this movie made the world laugh...but made rock stars shudder. It really held a mirror of truth to rock stars and how vapid, self-involved, and stupid they can be.
The jokes aren't dated, imo. Some of the jokes they won't get because they aren't in band. The cameos are dated though. Few recognize Carvey, Crystal, Schafer, Hesseman, Drescher etc.
The actors all played their own instruments and were in bands at one time in their lives. The movie was unscripted, there are like 90 minutes of unused footage, cut down to this length.
I’m glad you said you would watch another mockumentary by these people. Christopher Guest, who played Nigel, directed at least three other mockumentaries, with many of the same performers, and all are great! In order, “Waiting For Guffman”, “Best In Show”, and “A Mighty Wind”. There was a fourth one a few years later that was okay, but not as well received, “For Your Consideration”. This one was directed by Rob Reiner, who also played Marty. Btw, there’s talk of doing an updated follow up of “Spinal Tap” with the same actors playing themselves again.
"This movie only goes up to 11".😂 One of the funniest Rock documentary comedy movies ever made! The Stonehenge Concert was one of the funniest WTF moments in film history!
FUN FACT: Spinal Tap actually put out a few albums and have gone on tour. The cast actually made the music in this!! I saw them live in the late 1980s. Gimme some Money got a TON of airplay on radio back then too. And there is talk of a reunion movie!! Spinal Tap 40 years later!
My brother worked at his college radio in 92, he has the promotional piece that was sent out for the tour. It was supposed to be a Spinal Tap 1992 calendar. In true Spinal Tap form, there was a note in the package “An irregularity in order fulfillment led to production of colanders rather than calendars. We hope you find the enclosed item useful.” There was an actual colander in the package with a Spinal Tap tag.
There’s so much trivia about this movie, but I will stick with just one: Nigel was played by the same actor as the Six-Fingered Man in Princess bride. I highly recommend his other mockumentaries: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind.
And David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) was an SNL alum as well as going on to play highly lauded Chuck McGill in Better Call Saul. Such a talented actor/musician/comedian
Interesting fact: the DVD has an hour of “outtakes” which is what they used to refer to as deleted scenes. And Christopher Guest (Nigel) would often record hours worth of material for his own purposes.
"A Mighty Wind" is a mockumentary of folk music and features the Spinal Tap actors as a folk band called The Folksmen. It also has Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as Mitch & Mickey.
It’s more like a warm hug , but A Mighty Wind is still hilarious. I’d love to see a reaction to it! And Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy’s characters are the standouts in it. One of the songs they sing in it was Oscar nominated, and they actually performed it as their characters at the Oscars.
Great reaction guys. The guy you were referring to as "Smalls" is the guy who voices Mr. Burns on the Simpsons (and of course the lead singer is Lenny from Laverne & Shirley - way before your time).
Lenny and Squiggy ( Michael McKean and David Lander ) had a fictional band called "Lenny and the Squigtones". Christopher Guest played in that band also using the same name ( Nigel Tufnel ).
Yeah I saw that vid on UA-cam, late show, he said he was the only one that wasn't laughing. He says everything that was in the movie does happen to a lot of artists, he got lost back stage. "Yo where is the stage man."!?!?
I'd give it a higher rating because they wrote and performed their own music. It was good enough to make their popularity understandable, but still over the top enough to be funny. And yes, the movie dialogue was all improvised, another very impressive feat.
The girlfriend breaking up the band is clearly a reference to Yoko Ono and the Beatles IMO. I thought the bit with the kerfuffle over the tiny sandwiches (a scene you guys didn't include in the reaction) seems like a reference to an old legend about Van Halen going beserk over the wrong color M&Ms being placed in their dressing room. I think the business about the drummers' weird deaths was making light of the various terrible deaths, usually due to overdose issues, that befell various rockers like Jim Morrison, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon of The Who etc. I really enjoyed the actual songs, particularly the intro number that leads off the movie and that they play at the end. It's my understanding that they did in fact play their instruments for the film.
Also, after watching lots of videos from Todd in the Shadows, it's interesting to think about how many bands had their careers revived or continued in Japan.
That was such a fun reaction, I wasn't expecting you to watch this one! Most of the jokes are referencing actual famous stories/clips of rock stars as opposed to just being silly, but it obviously works just as well, even if a person doesn't know all those stories and clips! They also did other movies together, including a really hilarious one about a dog show called "Best In Show" (from 2000, or 2001). Definitely put that on your list! Another mockumentary!
@@0okamino I also died laughing in the Stonehenge scene, but I was resurrected and returned with the knowledge that God doesn't want you to believe in him!
That was the one demand Mark Knopfler made when Reiner asked him to do the score for The Princess Bride. He wanted that hat to appear somewhere in the movie.
I love this movie. I remember when it came out and a local news station had someone at the theater talking to people as they came out. One young man came out and said the film was really good, but he didn't know why they didn't make it about a better band.
Artie Fufkin is played by Paul Shaffer, the band leader on David Letterman. Nearly all of Christopher Guest (Nigel)'s movies are in this vein. My favourites are Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. In real life, he's married to Jamie Lee Curtis and, despite being American, is a British Baron, formally known as Lord Haden-Guest, making Jamie Lee Curtis Lady Haden-Guest. However, Curtis refuses to use the title and Guest is opposed to the House of Lords, of which he is a member, and believes the places within should be allocated via election.
i knew about Paul Schaffer (although, truth be told, I learned about this very recently). The personal info on Christopher Guest was news to me, though. Thanks for sharing!
Jamie Lee Curtis after she saw this movie wanted to meet Christopher Guest. And the rest they say is history. Spinal Tap has guaranteed a very long and still healthy marriage.
When I first saw this it was on television at least 30 years ago. I came in about 10 minutes after it started. At first I thought it was a real documentary about a band I had never heard of until it just became more and more absurd and I was laughing in every scene.
If you're interested in a real-life version of this story, check out "Anvil: The Story of Anvil". Unlike Spinal Tap, who became a band for real after they pretended for this movie, Anvil was a real metal band back in the early 80's who basically got left behind when the ship with all the heavy hitters took off. The movie is a story about their attempt to break through with a new album and a tour, and there are a LOT of Spinal Tap moments that are both funny and heartbreaking because they're all actually happening and not part of a fictional movie. Check it out if you liked this one.
The Bass player,you guys have probably heard your entire lives without realizing it. He is Harry Shearer and provides "The Simpsons" voices for Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, formerly Dr. Hibbert until 2021, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Scratchy, Kang, Dr. Marvin Monroe, and Judge Snyder, among others.Cool reaction. Subscribed✔️
The Criterion DVD commentary track has a great line from one of the guys (can’t remember which): “The joke isn’t that they’re bad musicians; the joke is that they have no taste.”
Right, because they really are good musicians, but that’s pretty much all the characters are functionally competent at. It’s only slightly exaggerated, in some cases.
A lot of stuff in the movie is based on real bands. For example, the bit about having lots of band members come and go and changing the name to Spinal Tap mark II is directly inspired by Deep Purple, which has had 14 members over the years, and went from just "Deep Purple" to Deep Purple mark II, Deep Purple mark III, and Deep Purple mark IV in the '70s.
The commentary track on the Spinal Tap DVD features the three main actors in character, complaining about how the movie is a complete "hatchet job". It's a riot and like getting an entire second movie!
I first saw this at my University student union shortly after it came out. I had no idea who the band was nor that it was a "mocumentary". Slowly, some of my group started to figure it out to the bemusement of our other friends who were in the know. I was a huge Ozzy and classic Black Sabbath fan at the time, had watched a lot of bands from the '60s transform their image and sound over the decades, and this narrative is such a great collection of realistic road stories. It's really an homage to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, KISS, and dozens of other great, (now classic), bands.
"All You Need is Cash" (aka "The Rutles") was a mockumentary made for TV in 1978. It features a Beatles-like band (The Rutles) and had some success with the pastiches imitating a bunch of Beatles songs. Eric Idle of Monty Python was the main person behind the movie.
Now you’ve gotta watch “Waiting For Guffman” and “Best in Show” your gonna love them! Hey what happened!?!? Also, Christopher Guest is married to Jamie Lee Curtis irl...
I highly recommend their movie ‘Best In Show’ another mockumentary about an e turkey different subject matter. The three main guys are all American and you’ve seen them in other movies. The list back stage was put in the movie after they heard about it happening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in real life. The Director, Rob Reiner, also directed ‘The Princess Bride’.
I had a hard time when I first saw this movie, thought it was really boring. But I was also around 15 at the time and had an immature point of view about comedy. Love this movie now. Using Michael McKean and Christopher Guest as the main characters was brilliant. Those two shine a lot of charisma on screen. Harry Shearer is equally talented with all of his character and voice work ( does a lot on The Simpsons ).
One of the greatest movies of all time, about the greatest rock group of all time... Seriously! I saw them live at Glastonbury festival and they're shockingly talented musicians Mr Burns (Harry Shearer) on bass being a highlight (!)
That makes it even funnier in the 'you couldn't make it up' ludicrousness of it. Tiny Stonehenge lol. The joke has been reused many times as well in movies and sitcoms.
Love Spinal Tap but not as much as my friend David who, for about 15 years, held an annual "Spinal Tap" viewing party in his den. To be invited, you first had to answer 10 "Spinal Tap" trivia questions. Everybody remembered "Hello Cleveland," but lots of people stumbled trying to remember that the puppet show took top billing over the band at the amusement park.
You’ll find yourself using many quotes from this movie in every day conversation. Haha! That’s how I gage who’s cool and who gets my sense of humor. This mocumentary is a true comedy classic! Some great cameos: The mimes at the party is Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey (Garth from Wayne’s World) , Fran Dresser (The Nanny), Fred Willard . The band, and a few of the others were on SNL. This movie is a riot! 😂 There’s a bunch of real rock stars who hate the movie because it’s too real to them. Hahaha!
The entire film was ad-libbed. They actually filmed something like eight hours of video and selected the best parts for the movie. There are videos on UA-cam showing some of the out-takes. The bass player, Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), you might recognize as many voices from 'The Simpsons'. Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) was also the six-fingered man in 'The Princess Bride'. David St Hubbins (Michael McKean) was Mr Green in 'Clue'.
For another Christopher Guest movie watch Best in Show. Just for the fact it has Eugene Levy in it. The humor is definitely more subtle, but if you guys are dog lovers, please watch. The other one I want to recommend, I don’t know why, is Strictly Ballroom. It’s a shocker of a movie where an ambitious young man dares to dance his own steps in a highly controlled ballroom competition. The characters are just as silly as these guys. Thank you for watching This is Spinal Tap!
Many thanks to Cameron & Isaiah! 👨🎤 Rob Reiner's directing/writing prowess is notable... a pretty good human being, as well. Also cool to be reminded that Fran Drescher had a small role as 'Bobbi' in this. She's been all over the news in the last 100 days, as she's the current president of SAG-AFTRA.
An absolute classic, and the films with the same group of actors are also excelletn: Best in Show, Waiting for Huffman a Mighty Wind etc. You'll have seen these actors in a whole host of other things. As well as heard them in shows like the Simpsons.
The tiny stonehenge bit is a reference to Black Sabbath who accidentally commissioned their stage set in metric and ended up having a monument so large they could barely fit at the very front of the stage. There's a couple pictures of it and it's almost as ridiculous as 18 inch stonehenge.
This movie mocked the Beatles (Yoko Ono), Led Zeppelin, (Nigel playing his guitar with a violin mocking Jimmy Page's playing his guitar with a violin bow) and Black Sabbath (Stonehenge being underbuilt as opposed to Black Sabbath's Stonehenge was built way too big, true story). Even the drummers dying when bands go through drummers like toilet paper. Seen this a thousand times and it never gets old. I used to roadie for a few bands back in the 80's and much of this stuff happens. (Except drummers spontaneously combusting.) The girlfriends interfering with band matters especially happened a lot. The BEST mockumentary ever made. Good reaction.
The short hairy bass player is Harry Shearer. He voices The Simpson's characters Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Julius Hibbert, Kang, Lenny Leonard, Otto, Principal Skinner, Smithers and more.
Its mocks the ROCKUMENTARY derps. Thus its a MOCKUMENTARY, the first true MOCKUMENTARY. This led to THE RUTLES (BEATLES SPOOF). This same group of actors did a whole slew of other mockumentaries, one on folk music, one on dog shows (Best in Show), one spoofing actors in an Oscar race, etc etc. There were tons of cameos in this too and you missed every one of them.
All-time classic. The subsequent Christopher Guest movies are all pretty great. Since you started with Spinal Tap, I suggest you go chronologically and start with Waiting For Guffman, which is arguably one of the best in the "series."
The bands that are most often cited as being parodied are Britian's 'Status Quo' and 'Deep Purple', both of which started out as psychedelia and went through multiple genre and personnel changes. Deep Purple was literally named "The World's Loudest Band" in 1972 by the Guinness Book of World Records when one of their concerts topped 117 decibels..
The wrong sized Stonehenge story was based on a then recent story that happened to Black Sabbath. On their 1983 album Born Again, there was a Song called Stonehenge. The bassist , Terry "Geezer" Butler sent in an order for a Stonehenge mock up that was too large to fit into any Rock Theater. Our local venue had Ozzy Osbourne performing there to promote The Ultimate Sin. A huge monster was supposed to descend from the rafters and open it's arms to reveal Ozzy sitting on a throne. The venue couldn't fit the monster. I was at that show and I didn't care about the monster not being there. I was riding high from seeing his opening act that I wanted to see since 1983 and in 1986, I finally saw Metallica with their bassist, Cliff Burton, who would be killed 5 months later in a tour bus accident in Sweden.
Derek Smalls is Harry Shearer, the voice of Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Dr. Hibbert , Kang, Lenny, Otto Mann, Skinner, Smithers and Rainier Wolfcastle. Did you notice who is the audience in every show?
this is basically the first mockumentary. its what all of those other shows and movies based their style on. everyone of a certain age knows this movie and its groundbreaking nature.
Felt bad for Ian cause he is trying to manage a band on the downhill slope of a career and they just havent realized it yet. He has, but is trying to keep it afloat as long as he can
get the dvd and watch the commentary... the actors do it in character and it's even funnier - also check out the 3 of them in 'The Mighty Wind', 'Best in Show' and a lot of the same actors in 'Waiting for Guffman'
Such a great iconic movie. When Ozzy saw it, he couldn’t understand why people were laughing because he thought it was true. As mentioned other rockers say it’s so accurate. The back stage food bit is connected to Van Halen having a clause in their contract with promoters that there be MnM’s with all the blue or whatever color it was be removed.
Harry Shearer (Derek) would go on to become a voice actor. He was hired to do voice work on The Simpsons, he's the voice of Principle Skinner and Ned Flanders (among others). In season 3, they did an episode where Bart goes to his first rock concert. The band was Spinal Tap and all three band members did the vocal for the show, including Shearer reprising the role of Derek.
To promote the movie, the magazine "Rolling Stone" had the group on the cover. Jamie Lee Curtis thought Christopher Guest (Nigel) was cute and got his phone number. They hit it off and married at the end of the year (months after they met). That was in 1984, they're still married to this day.
I saw Spinal Tap play at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival in 1984, where they were billed as the hot new metal band from England. It was great! Later that night, the film had a sneak preview. The horned skull prop disappeared after this Seattle show. Years later at Bumbershoot, I saw Soundgarden play. For their encore, they played the Tap’s “Big Bottoms”. And for the finale, the same horned skull dropped down behind the band. Apparently, Soundgarden had found the prop hidden in the basement of the Seattle Center Colosseum.
It's the end of the tour as we know it, and I feel fine. As a matter of fact, they did do another musical mockumentary like this. It was called "A Mighty Wind", and it covered folk music. In it, they had three musical groups, instead of just one. In that film, the actors played a group similar to a quartet, except it had three members - a trio, in other words. In addition, there was a non-musical mockumentary that covered dog shows. It was called "Best in Show". One noteworthy aspect about the film is that everyone learned and mastered their instruments, so all the music is real. For the interviews, they would do long takes of about 15 minutes or more, and they would ad-lib. This gave the interviews a very natural feel to them. Now, that you have seen this film, it is VERY likely that you are going to start noticing references. In certain circles, it has greatly influenced pop culture. For instance, you should eventually notice someone talking about turning something up to 11. In conclusion, for more mocumentaries, I'd suggest checking out "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show". For something a little different, but still musically related, you might also like "Rock of Ages". It's an odd film. It's like a tribute to 70's musicals, but modernized. I still think you guys will like it.
The Stonehenge bit has some basis in fact - Black Sabbath had a big Stonehenge monument built for their shows on one tour, but instead of being comically undersized it ended up being too big and cumbersome to install in half the venues and it was just a logistical headache to travel with.
One of the funniest movies of all time. Much of the dialog was improvised. The interviewer/director was Rob Reiner. He became famous for his role in the 70s sitcom All in the Family. Now he's a successful director, directing films like The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men. Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) voices Mr. Burns, Smithers, and many other characters on The Simpsons. Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) played Count Rugen in The Princess Bride. The mime waiters were played by Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey.
Fun Fact: Spinal Tap is the only move on IMDB where the score is marked out of 11
Another thing that goes to 11 is the BBC iPlayer volume.
I worked in the concert industry for years, the getting lost backstage scene happens more than people think. Especially in arenas.
It shouldn't. I tour for a living, and any tour worth its weight puts big arrows on the ground in fluorescent gaff tape leading to the stage.
All the actors played their own instruments and performed the songs. They actually went on tour after the movie was released. One tour featured an act called The Folksmen as an opening act. The Folksmen were actually the same actors in different costume and make up.
I actually saw them at Riverport Amphitheater in 1991 or 92. I still have the shirt, on which they had clearly overprinted the current dates over the dates on unsold T-shirts from the previous tour!🤣🤣🤣
Folksmen were featured in a later mockumentary -- "A Mighty Wind. "
There are three actual Spinal Tap albums.
I hope these gents look into the Guest mockumentary lineup. Didn’t know Guffman well but loved Best in Show and A Mighty Wind.
I saw them at Wolfgang's in San Francisco on 6-25-84. Still have the ticket stub.
"I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation." One of my favorite lines. 😂
Many actual rock bands have commented on how true to life this movie is - being a rock star is truly an absurd life. One of R.E.M.'s early gigs was, in fact, at an Air Force base.
It's been said many times that this movie made the world laugh...but made rock stars shudder. It really held a mirror of truth to rock stars and how vapid, self-involved, and stupid they can be.
I quote the great David St. Hubbins...
"It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever." 😂😂
This is I think the immortal line of this film, even more than "these go to 11."
The first best mocumentary. I fear many of the jokes will be lost on younger viewers but it remains a classic. The "these go up to 11" bit is iconic.
technically Cannibal Holocaust was.
Albert Brooks's "Real Life" was the first mockumentary, but this was the first big hit of the genre.
The jokes aren't dated, imo. Some of the jokes they won't get because they aren't in band.
The cameos are dated though. Few recognize Carvey, Crystal, Schafer, Hesseman, Drescher etc.
The actors all played their own instruments and were in bands at one time in their lives.
The movie was unscripted, there are like 90 minutes of unused footage, cut down to this length.
The Rules:All You Need Is Cash predates this.
The two mime waiters are Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey.
Both of them also we're mistaken for being funny during the 90s.
Youngsters: "Who?"
I’m glad you said you would watch another mockumentary by these people. Christopher Guest, who played Nigel, directed at least three other mockumentaries, with many of the same performers, and all are great! In order, “Waiting For Guffman”, “Best In Show”, and “A Mighty Wind”. There was a fourth one a few years later that was okay, but not as well received, “For Your Consideration”. This one was directed by Rob Reiner, who also played Marty. Btw, there’s talk of doing an updated follow up of “Spinal Tap” with the same actors playing themselves again.
I cast a vote for "Best in Show", if you're trying to pick which to watch first. But they're all great. (well, maybe not FYC as much)
And Christopher Guest looks completely different in every role he does. He was also the Six Fingered Man in The Princess Bride.
Best in show: You look like Alan Ladd in the godfather. Bratwurst and Shillalahs paging Dr. Froyd!!!😂🤣👍
"This movie only goes up to 11".😂 One of the funniest Rock documentary comedy movies ever made!
The Stonehenge Concert was one of the funniest WTF moments in film history!
He choked on vomit.... it was someone else's vomit.. The police said it was best to leave it unsolved.
@@LiveFromThePorcelainPalace You can't fingerprint for vomit.
FUN FACT:
Spinal Tap actually put out a few albums and have gone on tour. The cast actually made the music in this!! I saw them live in the late 1980s.
Gimme some Money got a TON of airplay on radio back then too. And there is talk of a reunion movie!! Spinal Tap 40 years later!
My brother worked at his college radio in 92, he has the promotional piece that was sent out for the tour. It was supposed to be a Spinal Tap 1992 calendar.
In true Spinal Tap form, there was a note in the package “An irregularity in order fulfillment led to production of colanders rather than calendars. We hope you find the enclosed item useful.”
There was an actual colander in the package with a Spinal Tap tag.
There’s so much trivia about this movie, but I will stick with just one: Nigel was played by the same actor as the Six-Fingered Man in Princess bride. I highly recommend his other mockumentaries: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind.
And David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) was an SNL alum as well as going on to play highly lauded Chuck McGill in Better Call Saul. Such a talented actor/musician/comedian
@@bilkywaygalaxyHe also had a very memorable turn as Mr. Green in Clue.
Interesting fact: the DVD has an hour of “outtakes” which is what they used to refer to as deleted scenes. And Christopher Guest (Nigel) would often record hours worth of material for his own purposes.
"A Mighty Wind" is a mockumentary of folk music and features the Spinal Tap actors as a folk band called The Folksmen. It also has Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as Mitch & Mickey.
Catherine O'Hara bugs me; I just dont think shes that funny. This is so much funnier
@@paulinegallagher7821 ok.
It’s more like a warm hug , but A Mighty Wind is still hilarious. I’d love to see a reaction to it! And Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy’s characters are the standouts in it. One of the songs they sing in it was Oscar nominated, and they actually performed it as their characters at the Oscars.
Great reaction guys. The guy you were referring to as "Smalls" is the guy who voices Mr. Burns on the Simpsons (and of course the lead singer is Lenny from Laverne & Shirley - way before your time).
Now days people know him as Chuck McGill from Better Call Saul.
Lenny and Squiggy ( Michael McKean and David Lander ) had a fictional band called "Lenny and the Squigtones". Christopher Guest played in that band also using the same name ( Nigel Tufnel ).
You will be amazed at how much these guys are still a part of popular culture, film-tv and movies. Even the on-screen director! Check it out.
This is the favorite movie of any band that matters.
Also, almost the entire movie is improvised.
When this movie came out Ozzy Osborne thought it was a real documentary.
Yeah I saw that vid on UA-cam, late show, he said he was the only one that wasn't laughing. He says everything that was in the movie does happen to a lot of artists, he got lost back stage. "Yo where is the stage man."!?!?
I'd give it a higher rating because they wrote and performed their own music. It was good enough to make their popularity understandable, but still over the top enough to be funny. And yes, the movie dialogue was all improvised, another very impressive feat.
The girlfriend breaking up the band is clearly a reference to Yoko Ono and the Beatles IMO. I thought the bit with the kerfuffle over the tiny sandwiches (a scene you guys didn't include in the reaction) seems like a reference to an old legend about Van Halen going beserk over the wrong color M&Ms being placed in their dressing room. I think the business about the drummers' weird deaths was making light of the various terrible deaths, usually due to overdose issues, that befell various rockers like Jim Morrison, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon of The Who etc. I really enjoyed the actual songs, particularly the intro number that leads off the movie and that they play at the end. It's my understanding that they did in fact play their instruments for the film.
The brown M&Ms thing turned out to be a rather shrewd test to see if their riders and contracts were actually being read or just skimmed.
Also, after watching lots of videos from Todd in the Shadows, it's interesting to think about how many bands had their careers revived or continued in Japan.
That was such a fun reaction, I wasn't expecting you to watch this one! Most of the jokes are referencing actual famous stories/clips of rock stars as opposed to just being silly, but it obviously works just as well, even if a person doesn't know all those stories and clips! They also did other movies together, including a really hilarious one about a dog show called "Best In Show" (from 2000, or 2001). Definitely put that on your list! Another mockumentary!
Best In Show is fantastic.
I died laughing the first time I saw the Stonehenge scene.
RIP, but I’m glad to see you’ve recovered. Some people don’t.
@@0okamino I also died laughing in the Stonehenge scene, but I was resurrected and returned with the knowledge that God doesn't want you to believe in him!
@@jcartwrt I suspected as much.
The hat Rob Reiner is wearing through out the movie, Is hanging in the boys bedroom in The Princess Bride
That was the one demand Mark Knopfler made when Reiner asked him to do the score for The Princess Bride. He wanted that hat to appear somewhere in the movie.
If you enjoyed This Is Spinal Tap, you'd love reacting to A Mighty Wind (2003) - Same style, but with folk music.
I love this movie. I remember when it came out and a local news station had someone at the theater talking to people as they came out. One young man came out and said the film was really good, but he didn't know why they didn't make it about a better band.
Artie Fufkin is played by Paul Shaffer, the band leader on David Letterman. Nearly all of Christopher Guest (Nigel)'s movies are in this vein. My favourites are Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. In real life, he's married to Jamie Lee Curtis and, despite being American, is a British Baron, formally known as Lord Haden-Guest, making Jamie Lee Curtis Lady Haden-Guest. However, Curtis refuses to use the title and Guest is opposed to the House of Lords, of which he is a member, and believes the places within should be allocated via election.
i knew about Paul Schaffer (although, truth be told, I learned about this very recently). The personal info on Christopher Guest was news to me, though. Thanks for sharing!
@@KennethSorling No problem!
Jamie Lee Curtis after she saw this movie wanted to meet Christopher Guest. And the rest they say is history. Spinal Tap has guaranteed a very long and still healthy marriage.
When I first saw this it was on television at least 30 years ago. I came in about 10 minutes after it started. At first I thought it was a real documentary about a band I had never heard of until it just became more and more absurd and I was laughing in every scene.
They usually ask all the bands " What What Your SPINAL TAP Moment ?". And every singer , band has had at least 1😂😂
If you're interested in a real-life version of this story, check out "Anvil: The Story of Anvil". Unlike Spinal Tap, who became a band for real after they pretended for this movie, Anvil was a real metal band back in the early 80's who basically got left behind when the ship with all the heavy hitters took off. The movie is a story about their attempt to break through with a new album and a tour, and there are a LOT of Spinal Tap moments that are both funny and heartbreaking because they're all actually happening and not part of a fictional movie.
Check it out if you liked this one.
I agree so much. I remember feeling so sorry for them when I watched it.
Anvil shares a lot of feels with American Movie.
The Bass player,you guys have probably heard your entire lives without realizing it. He is Harry Shearer and provides "The Simpsons" voices for Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, formerly Dr. Hibbert until 2021, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Scratchy, Kang, Dr. Marvin Monroe, and Judge Snyder, among others.Cool reaction. Subscribed✔️
The IMDB page for this movie rated the movie on a scale from 1 to 11 instead of 10.
It's 7.9 out of 11, was 8 but it went lower.😢
The Criterion DVD commentary track has a great line from one of the guys (can’t remember which): “The joke isn’t that they’re bad musicians; the joke is that they have no taste.”
Right, because they really are good musicians, but that’s pretty much all the characters are functionally competent at. It’s only slightly exaggerated, in some cases.
The bass player does SEVERAL voices on the Simpsons including Principal Skinner.
In "The Return of Spinal Tap", Nigel complains that other bands stole his "11" idea, and shows off his new speakers. Which go up to infinity.
A lot of stuff in the movie is based on real bands. For example, the bit about having lots of band members come and go and changing the name to Spinal Tap mark II is directly inspired by Deep Purple, which has had 14 members over the years, and went from just "Deep Purple" to Deep Purple mark II, Deep Purple mark III, and Deep Purple mark IV in the '70s.
The commentary track on the Spinal Tap DVD features the three main actors in character, complaining about how the movie is a complete "hatchet job". It's a riot and like getting an entire second movie!
5:48 a legend stands right there. the original Avenger John Steed himself. Patrick Macnee.
"Talk about mud flaps my girl's got 'em!".....lyrical brilliance!
"Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind" are two other great mockumentaries--pretty much the same cast in all. Wonderful.
I first saw this at my University student union shortly after it came out. I had no idea who the band was nor that it was a "mocumentary". Slowly, some of my group started to figure it out to the bemusement of our other friends who were in the know. I was a huge Ozzy and classic Black Sabbath fan at the time, had watched a lot of bands from the '60s transform their image and sound over the decades, and this narrative is such a great collection of realistic road stories. It's really an homage to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, KISS, and dozens of other great, (now classic), bands.
"All You Need is Cash" (aka "The Rutles") was a mockumentary made for TV in 1978. It features a Beatles-like band (The Rutles) and had some success with the pastiches imitating a bunch of Beatles songs. Eric Idle of Monty Python was the main person behind the movie.
Love The Rutles!
Now you’ve gotta watch “Waiting For Guffman” and “Best in Show” your gonna love them! Hey what happened!?!?
Also, Christopher Guest is married to Jamie Lee Curtis irl...
You called it correctly, a lot of this is improvisation. The basics of the scene were given, and they acted it out and went with the best takes.
An absolute classic from my younger days. Hubbins played by Michael McKean, was the beloved Lenny in the Laverne & Shirley Sitcom 1976-1983
I highly recommend their movie ‘Best In Show’ another mockumentary about an e turkey different subject matter. The three main guys are all American and you’ve seen them in other movies. The list back stage was put in the movie after they heard about it happening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in real life. The Director, Rob Reiner, also directed ‘The Princess Bride’.
I had a hard time when I first saw this movie, thought it was really boring. But I was also around 15 at the time and had an immature point of view about comedy. Love this movie now. Using Michael McKean and Christopher Guest as the main characters was brilliant. Those two shine a lot of charisma on screen. Harry Shearer is equally talented with all of his character and voice work ( does a lot on The Simpsons ).
This movie is hilarious. I watched it in a theater with a friend of mine 12 years ago. It made me laugh so hard... up to 11!
One of the greatest movies of all time, about the greatest rock group of all time...
Seriously! I saw them live at Glastonbury festival and they're shockingly talented musicians
Mr Burns (Harry Shearer) on bass being a highlight (!)
The Stonehenge scene is based on real events of Black Sabbath's 1983 US tour
That makes it even funnier in the 'you couldn't make it up' ludicrousness of it. Tiny Stonehenge lol. The joke has been reused many times as well in movies and sitcoms.
Love Spinal Tap but not as much as my friend David who, for about 15 years, held an annual "Spinal Tap" viewing party in his den. To be invited, you first had to answer 10 "Spinal Tap" trivia questions. Everybody remembered "Hello Cleveland," but lots of people stumbled trying to remember that the puppet show took top billing over the band at the amusement park.
Have you guys seen Better Call Saul? Lead singer in this band plays Saul's brother. Amazingly talented and versatile actor!
and Mr Burns is in the band as well, Im sure everyone knows that already but its really funny
Nigel's amp goes to 11 and count rugan from princess Bride has 11 fingers
Coincidence? I think not!
You’ll find yourself using many quotes from this movie in every day conversation. Haha!
That’s how I gage who’s cool and who gets my sense of humor.
This mocumentary is a true comedy classic!
Some great cameos:
The mimes at the party is Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey (Garth from Wayne’s World) , Fran Dresser (The Nanny), Fred Willard .
The band, and a few of the others were on SNL.
This movie is a riot! 😂
There’s a bunch of real rock stars who hate the movie because it’s too real to them. Hahaha!
There's a movie called "Fear of a Black Hat" thats a 90's Hip Hop version of this film. Absolutely hilarious and went under the radar. Check it out!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
It's great to see you kids still going back to watch the classics that were huge when I was a kid.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
The entire film was ad-libbed. They actually filmed something like eight hours of video and selected the best parts for the movie. There are videos on UA-cam showing some of the out-takes. The bass player, Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), you might recognize as many voices from 'The Simpsons'. Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) was also the six-fingered man in 'The Princess Bride'. David St Hubbins (Michael McKean) was Mr Green in 'Clue'.
For another Christopher Guest movie watch Best in Show. Just for the fact it has Eugene Levy in it. The humor is definitely more subtle, but if you guys are dog lovers, please watch. The other one I want to recommend, I don’t know why, is Strictly Ballroom. It’s a shocker of a movie where an ambitious young man dares to dance his own steps in a highly controlled ballroom competition. The characters are just as silly as these guys. Thank you for watching This is Spinal Tap!
So many bands have to watch this and say, hmm, is he talking about us? Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Rush, the list is endless.
Many thanks to Cameron & Isaiah! 👨🎤 Rob Reiner's directing/writing prowess is notable... a pretty good human being, as well. Also cool to be reminded that Fran Drescher had a small role as 'Bobbi' in this. She's been all over the news in the last 100 days, as she's the current president of SAG-AFTRA.
good improvised mockumentaries: Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show. good music mockumentary: Fear of a Black Hat
What FLOORS me is that Iron Maiden looked EXACTLY like this band in the mid 80s!!😂
I don't know. What are the hours?
An absolute classic, and the films with the same group of actors are also excelletn: Best in Show, Waiting for Huffman a Mighty Wind etc.
You'll have seen these actors in a whole host of other things. As well as heard them in shows like the Simpsons.
This is, without a doubt, the best reaction of this movie. This reminds me of watching it when I was 12 with my friends in the late 80's.
The tiny stonehenge bit is a reference to Black Sabbath who accidentally commissioned their stage set in metric and ended up having a monument so large they could barely fit at the very front of the stage. There's a couple pictures of it and it's almost as ridiculous as 18 inch stonehenge.
You have to watch "Best In Show" next. It's hilarious.
The movie Walk Hard with John C. Reilly is kinda a mockumentary too. You'd recognize a lot of bands or artists they're parody-ing there
Spinal Tap 2 (March 2024)... the entire original cast is back! Now put THAT on your amp and crank it up to 11
Yes I heard it to "It's gonna ROCK"😁🤘
@@williamgmeniano no updates, but am so excited I could spontaneously combust!
Did you recognize Nigel as The Six-Fingered Man from "The Princess Bride"?! ♡
Lol, I just commented this too. 💚
His fingers went to 11.
@@0okamino THAT was brilliant! 🤣👏
The only rating this movie deserves is an 11!
IMDb gave it 7.9 out of 11.😢
This movie mocked the Beatles (Yoko Ono), Led Zeppelin, (Nigel playing his guitar with a violin mocking Jimmy Page's playing his guitar with a violin bow) and Black Sabbath (Stonehenge being underbuilt as opposed to Black Sabbath's Stonehenge was built way too big, true story). Even the drummers dying when bands go through drummers like toilet paper.
Seen this a thousand times and it never gets old.
I used to roadie for a few bands back in the 80's and much of this stuff happens. (Except drummers spontaneously combusting.) The girlfriends interfering with band matters especially happened a lot.
The BEST mockumentary ever made.
Good reaction.
The short hairy bass player is Harry Shearer. He voices The Simpson's characters Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Julius Hibbert, Kang, Lenny Leonard, Otto, Principal Skinner, Smithers and more.
Its mocks the ROCKUMENTARY derps. Thus its a MOCKUMENTARY, the first true MOCKUMENTARY. This led to THE RUTLES (BEATLES SPOOF). This same group of actors did a whole slew of other mockumentaries, one on folk music, one on dog shows (Best in Show), one spoofing actors in an Oscar race, etc etc. There were tons of cameos in this too and you missed every one of them.
I come for the reactions but stay for Cam’s laugh!
All-time classic. The subsequent Christopher Guest movies are all pretty great. Since you started with Spinal Tap, I suggest you go chronologically and start with Waiting For Guffman, which is arguably one of the best in the "series."
I think the best Christopher Guest mockumentary is Best In Show. He also did Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind.
OMG!!! This is a classic!! Loved your reaction to it. I still crack up with the tiny Stonehenge 😂
Fred Willard is great in this, Best in Show is another good mocumentary with him, eugene levy, all kinds of funny people
The bands that are most often cited as being parodied are Britian's 'Status Quo' and 'Deep Purple', both of which started out as psychedelia and went through multiple genre and personnel changes. Deep Purple was literally named "The World's Loudest Band" in 1972 by the Guinness Book of World Records when one of their concerts topped 117 decibels..
The lead in guy "let's boogie" Is the incomparable Rob Reiner (who played Mike "meathead" on All in the Family)
And also directed this film, The Princess Bride, and Stand By Me.
A show in the same vein "Bad News" by the some of the members of "the Young Ones " is fecking hilarious.
The wrong sized Stonehenge story was based on a then recent story that happened to Black Sabbath. On their 1983 album Born Again, there was a Song called Stonehenge. The bassist , Terry "Geezer" Butler sent in an order for a Stonehenge mock up that was too large to fit into any Rock Theater.
Our local venue had Ozzy Osbourne performing there to promote The Ultimate Sin. A huge monster was supposed to descend from the rafters and open it's arms to reveal Ozzy sitting on a throne. The venue couldn't fit the monster. I was at that show and I didn't care about the monster not being there. I was riding high from seeing his opening act that I wanted to see since 1983 and in 1986, I finally saw Metallica with their bassist, Cliff Burton, who would be killed 5 months later in a tour bus accident in Sweden.
It wasn't based on that. The Stonehenge bit was in the short, promotional version of This Is Spinal Tap that was shot in 1981.
They even played at a music festival & came out with a couple of albums. " These Go To 11 ".
Derek Smalls is Harry Shearer, the voice of Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Dr. Hibbert , Kang, Lenny, Otto Mann, Skinner, Smithers and Rainier Wolfcastle. Did you notice who is the audience in every show?
If you liked this, check out Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.
this is basically the first mockumentary. its what all of those other shows and movies based their style on. everyone of a certain age knows this movie and its groundbreaking nature.
Felt bad for Ian cause he is trying to manage a band on the downhill slope of a career and they just havent realized it yet. He has, but is trying to keep it afloat as long as he can
They absolutely nailed the English rock bands of the 70's and 80's and their accents were spot on. Bladdy brilliant!
get the dvd and watch the commentary... the actors do it in character and it's even funnier - also check out the 3 of them in 'The Mighty Wind', 'Best in Show' and a lot of the same actors in 'Waiting for Guffman'
there are TWO commentaries... this one is the ACTORS talking about the making of the movie: ua-cam.com/video/nebyxpVbeAk/v-deo.html
this one is the CHARACTERS talking about the movie (HYSTERICAL!!!) ua-cam.com/video/y81-VDiptQA/v-deo.html
"she's brutally frank"...wow, the first time I ever caught that
That's Saul Goodsmans' brother right there.
Such a great iconic movie. When Ozzy saw it, he couldn’t understand why people were laughing because he thought it was true. As mentioned other rockers say it’s so accurate. The back stage food bit is connected to Van Halen having a clause in their contract with promoters that there be MnM’s with all the blue or whatever color it was be removed.
I don’t think the problem was that the band was feeling down I think it could be because Stonehenge was in danger of being squashed by a dwarf
Harry Shearer (Derek) would go on to become a voice actor. He was hired to do voice work on The Simpsons, he's the voice of Principle Skinner and Ned Flanders (among others).
In season 3, they did an episode where Bart goes to his first rock concert. The band was Spinal Tap and all three band members did the vocal for the show, including Shearer reprising the role of Derek.
To promote the movie, the magazine "Rolling Stone" had the group on the cover. Jamie Lee Curtis thought Christopher Guest (Nigel) was cute and got his phone number. They hit it off and married at the end of the year (months after they met).
That was in 1984, they're still married to this day.
I saw Spinal Tap play at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival in 1984, where they were billed as the hot new metal band from England. It was great! Later that night, the film had a sneak preview. The horned skull prop disappeared after this Seattle show. Years later at Bumbershoot, I saw Soundgarden play. For their encore, they played the Tap’s “Big Bottoms”. And for the finale, the same horned skull dropped down behind the band. Apparently, Soundgarden had found the prop hidden in the basement of the Seattle Center Colosseum.
If you want more from them, A mighty wind mockumentury. Best in show mockumentury..and waiting for guffman.
It's the end of the tour as we know it, and I feel fine.
As a matter of fact, they did do another musical mockumentary like this. It was called "A Mighty Wind", and it covered folk music. In it, they had three musical groups, instead of just one. In that film, the actors played a group similar to a quartet, except it had three members - a trio, in other words. In addition, there was a non-musical mockumentary that covered dog shows. It was called "Best in Show". One noteworthy aspect about the film is that everyone learned and mastered their instruments, so all the music is real. For the interviews, they would do long takes of about 15 minutes or more, and they would ad-lib. This gave the interviews a very natural feel to them.
Now, that you have seen this film, it is VERY likely that you are going to start noticing references. In certain circles, it has greatly influenced pop culture. For instance, you should eventually notice someone talking about turning something up to 11. In conclusion, for more mocumentaries, I'd suggest checking out "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show". For something a little different, but still musically related, you might also like "Rock of Ages". It's an odd film. It's like a tribute to 70's musicals, but modernized. I still think you guys will like it.
The Stonehenge bit has some basis in fact - Black Sabbath had a big Stonehenge monument built for their shows on one tour, but instead of being comically undersized it ended up being too big and cumbersome to install in half the venues and it was just a logistical headache to travel with.
One of the funniest movies of all time. Much of the dialog was improvised. The interviewer/director was Rob Reiner. He became famous for his role in the 70s sitcom All in the Family. Now he's a successful director, directing films like The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men. Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) voices Mr. Burns, Smithers, and many other characters on The Simpsons. Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) played Count Rugen in The Princess Bride. The mime waiters were played by Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey.