"You should have seen the cover they *wanted* to do!" Seriously, though, the best bit is watching David St Hubbins stare at the Stonehenge monument descending from the rafters.
Any band that did take it personally, clearly deserved to, even ones that I like. I'm both a musician and live audio engineer, and this movie is just so "in the pocket".
They didn't "take it personally", they thought it was very accurate and funny. Some bands actually boasted that they were the main inspiration for the band/movie.
@@ryanjacobson2508 I didn't mean "take it as a personal affront" per se, just that every one I heard about thought the good bits were them and had an attribution to rivals for anything negative.
Seconding or thirding on A Mighty Wind, a much larger cast (including these three) and they all play their own instruments, demonstrating considerable musicianship at that (and impressive to those of us with folk-acoustic sensibilities). One of the songs from the film was Oscar nominated (justly so, IMO). The core songs were written by Annette O'Toole and Michael McKean, as they were forced to drive long distance across North America during the grounding of flights in the week following the 9/11 attacks.
That says a lot about how much love people have for this movie. To aid with the realism of the movie, Rob Reiner and the other actors created thanks for that backstories for their characters - where they were born, where they went to school, how they met each other, etc, etc, etc...
Almost as satisfying as watching the film is reading what real touring rock musicians think of it. Many rock stars watched this movie and said, "That's us! How'd they find out that happened to us?"
The band U2 legitimately got stuck in a giant lemon. What's sad is that it happened AFTER Spinal Tap came out, which means they didn't heed the warning.
Well both AC/DC and Metalica had "Black" albums, Black Sabbath had a Stonehenge set that was too big to fit in the venues., I've seen a televised Live Guns n Roses gig where Slash was on his back with his les Paul and had to be helped to his feet by the roadie, I believe bob Dylan had trouble finding the stage at a gig once, and although not quite the vomit choking thing, I had to jump off stage and run to the bar for a cloth after the guitarist I was teching for threw up on stage.And his band had a song called Lumbar Puncture which is the British name for what Americans call a Spinal Tap. This whole film is totally real. Especially as Spinal Tap have performed live, despite being an alleged "fake" band, while real touring artists mime on stage.(cough Madonna cough Kylie Minogue cough) .
This always makes me remember a plant science class I had in university where they talked about a certain type of plant that would just catch on fire for no reason and I leaned over to my friend and whispered, "Dozens of plants spontaneously combust each year, it's just not widely reported."
Fake documentary, fake band, but they did make a real album. So real that people didn't know it was fake. BTW, thank you for being the first channel I've seen react to this classic
They recorded 3 albums the last in 2009 and have done numerous tours & festivals, 2019 was the last time they played, Whilst the band was created for the Movie I wouldn't call them fake, Tenacious D is kind of the same created for comedy but a legit band.
They made two albums. The first is really the soundtrack for the movie, but it's got an all black cover. It's like, how much more black could it be? And the answer is... none. None more black. The second album is called "Break Like the Wind".
This movie's hysterical. I love how they had the time to write songs and teach Christopher Guest how to play piano (I think), but apparently couldn't give him 30 seconds of basic guitar tech talk. If you feel like looking for it there's actually an episode of The Simpsons where Bart has dreams of being a rock star after he goes to a Spinal Tap concert. I'm pretty sure everyone does their own voices too. Funny as hell.
Roger Ebert, the noted film critic, said of the film that it’s really two films going on at the same time. What the band thinks is happening and what is REALLY happening during the tour. The real film is happening around the edges of the frame or in the background and the filmmakers expect you to catch on to that.
Yes, the serious tone is in the background at the start, but the clues to their fall starts very early, at least as early as the opening party. Then there are statements like the Boston gig falling through but not to worry because "it isn't a big college town"; and a big note for us comes when Fran Drescher's character says that if the previous album had been a hit, then the controversy about the current album cover wouldn't matter. Little by little reality creeps further to the forefront. Janine's presence only exacerbates what's already happening.
I've actually met people who loved the music, went to concerts, but never saw the movie and had no context about the band being a parody. I've had fun showing these people the 'documentary'.
Years ago, I showed this movie to my bandmate, but didn't tell him it was a spoof. He was so sad he was nearly in tears. I relented and finally told him it was fictitious after about a week.
In Spinal Tap, almost all conversations were improvised with cameras rolling .. that's how they all wanted to work. And in so doing, Rob Reiner and the boys made an instant classic. Glad you liked it! Cheers 🍺
Then, the Christopher Guest mockumentaries followed suit (although I think that they may have developed some of their dialogue in rehearsal, without cameras necessarily rolling for every run-through). The actors can develop their own backstories. I imagine that for a given scene, the actors would know where they had to end up in terms of plot or exposition, then were given liberty to get there by their own paths.
I just watched a David Letterman interview with the band from 1984, and the cleared that up. While they did some improvising during the one-on-one interviews, the group interviews had material they loosely worked out in advance. Like the band's history of drummers, they all had to know the story before they filmed, including Reiner.
If, somehow, you ever get tired of this movie...on one of the DVD releases, there's a commentary track with the guys in character. It's hilarious as well....almost makes it a brand new movie.
Interesting fact, they made this film. The reaction was so great that the creators decided to officially become a band and play the characters on stage while making real albums. Sadly there was a lot of legal BS that kept the guys from constantly using the name, or from the chance of making a second movie. Finally after about 8 years of court fights, the creators got control of the music, the movie, and are properly being paid for it all again.
Look up "black sabbath stonehenge". Sabbath ordered a set piece of a stonehenge for their upcoming tour, as they had just released an album that had a song on it called Stonehenge - but the designers mistook the size written out as metres instead of feet, so it was huge - way too big to take on the road. They used it once and then just left it behind at the venue for the rest of the tour. This happened before this movie was released, but after the scene was filmed. What a weird coincidence.
6:15 the actor who played their tour manager died last week. 17:00 the Stonehenge bit was based in Black Sabbath folklore. They also had an idea of Stonehenge as a stage prop, however in that case, they were accidentally made too LARGE.
Christopher Guest followed this up with Waiting for Guffman about a town putting on a play about its history; Best in Show about a dog show; A Mighty Wind (folk music). These are the best three, but then he also did For Your Consideration about an awards show and then for Netflix he did Mascots about a mascot competition. These are all mockumentaries and star many of the same actors such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara (from Schitt's Creek), Harry Shearer, and Fred Williard who you saw in Spinal Tap just to name a few.
The best line for me (and I’ve seen this film over 30 times!) is “I’m sure I’d feel much worse if I wasn’t under such heavy sedation”. It still make me howl every time!!!!!
-I saw them live in 1992 promoting their new record: Break Like The Wind. Yep, they write and perform everything. -After coming home from a friend’s house during my last year of high school (1991) my mom left a rented VHS tape in the entryway with a note from her attached: “You need to watch this.” I have quoted it every day since then. My mom is cool. -When the director asks him why they don’t make 10 the highest and make THAT louder, it stumps Nigel so hard that he almost stopped chewing his gum.
Yeah, I've seen other reactors thinking he and Janine had an affair, but I think Nigel is actually into David. Also David says that Nigel and Janine at every similar, so maybe that's why David is with Janine.
It is incredibly awesome that they didn't actually write a script for 95% of what was going on in the movie. All those epic lines was those guys just improvising while doing interviews in character just like a pro wrestler would.
Glad you liked what is undoubtedly one of the greatest rockumentaries of all time. I love this film, mainly because it pays homage to (rips the piss out of) some of my favourite bands; Led Zeppelin & The Who (dead drummers), Led Zeppelin (violining a guitar), Deep Purple, Rainbow & Jimi Hendrix (foot playing a guitar) and Black Sabbath (everything else but mainly Stonehenge). My favourite Easter Egg is that Derek Smalls (bassist) wears a 1970s Shrewsbury Town shirt through most of the movie which ties in with Harry Shearer's use of a West Midlandsish accent. Total class. 🤣🤣🤣
There's a straight-to-video sequel to the movie that has Nigel demonstrating an "amplifier capo": he got tired of the capo getting in his way (not really knowing what it's for, of course), so he built a massive strap capo that goes on the amplifier instead.
@@neilpye6089 I can't think of an earlier one than the one you mention (Rutles) but there is Orson Welles' late film "F is for Fake", which is about a number of famous hoaxes in history.... and one of them is a fake hoax, made from whole cloth by the filmmakers. So not a mockumentary, but a fake segment in an actual documentary.
When the Grateful Dead were at Woodstock, the radio from the helicopters kept coming through their amplifiers. Also, every one of their keyboard players died horribly. They actually like this film.
Unlike Spinal Tap, I've been in several bands over the decades. Never got lost on the way to the stage, but everything in this movie rings true and funny. Best. Leo.
Blink 182, the lead singer ran backstage during an instrumental section to reappear somewhere else 8n the stadium for the rest of the song. Classic rock show move. However, he got lost and wound up at the shopping center next door. 🤣🤣🤣
This is one of the greatest mockumentaries of all time! This group did several other mockumentaries that are all just as good! You should react to Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show :)
One of the mimes was Billy Crystal. The other was Dana Carvey of SNL fame. The cab driver was the late Bruno Kirby, whom you might recognize from "Godfather II" and "When Harry Met Sally." The A&R person was Fran Drescher, of "UHF" and "The Nanny" fame.
The best bit of this film is that all of the songs were actually written and performed by McKeon, Guest, and Sheerer. They did the same thing for their film "A Mighty Wind" which is mockumentary about the 50's Folk Music scene.
The soundtrack for this movie had an all black cover. Tiny Hendra, who played the manager, passed away last month. I saw Spinal Tap in concert, the Stonehenge prop was too big for the stage, so we never saw it. Also, this film was completely adlibbed. There was twice as much footage shot as shown, all edited down to the length we see. The actors in the band were all musicians, also.
There was *much* more shot than 2x the length of the film. 2x footage vs. final cut never happens. Every production is different, but 20x is average for most. With Spinal Tap, you have over *seventy* times as much film shot vs. what's in the final cut. Reiner, the guys, and three editors had to weed through about 100 hours of footage to make it happen. Very big task.
9:16 An Iconic moment of this movie is when Nigel is so enamored of a guitar that he can't play it and can't allow it to be looked at. You glossed over it.
@@Yldcatz Have you watched the DVD with the commentary track? It's a double treat because the actors do the commentary in character. Turns out the band members vehemently dislike Marty Di Bergi.
The film is particularly amazing when you find out that nearly the entire film was improvised. They ad libbed it all. They had an outline of what the scenes were about and made it all up. Spinal Tap have toured several times for real, and they would frequently open for themselves as a folk band called The Folksmen. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xZORYHmN3uw.html
I've been getting into this whole reaction scene over the past few months and I've been pushing for people do get into the "Christopher Guest" universe. I've seen mentioned in the comments some of the other movies in this universe. In order they are "Waiting For Guffman", "Best In Show", "A Mighty Wind" and "For Your Consideration". Director Rob Reiner and Guest also teamed up on "The Princess Bride" where Guest plays the "six fingered man". 5+6....11
Later when they were older and grey, they performed acoustically as Spinal Tap in an Mtv Unplugged spoof called Unwigged. You can find the videos on You Tube
The actor who plays Nigel Tufnel is Christopher Guest who is Brisith and holds a hereditary British peerage as the 5th Baron Haden-Guest. However, the two other band members are American - Michael McKean plays David St. Hubbins and Harry Shearer plays Derek Smalls. There are two other notable British actors in the cast - Tony Hendra plays band manager Ian Faith and Patrick Macnee plays Sir Denis Eton-Hogg. Macnee and Diana Rigg starred in the 1960s British television series "The Avengers".
My husband was a roadie for American rock bands in the '80s, and Ted Nugent's guitar tech at one time.. He did it for years, and I've seen this movie probably up to to 10 times. He said so many of the scenes were true to form.. on the girlfriend factor, the backstage food complaints, etc. And all of the rest, but a great movie and great to see younger people appreciate it to!
Actually, the actors who played Spinal Tap wrote and played the songs! They are actual musicians and went on a *_real_* tour (in character, of course) back in 2009. I think they called it, "Back from the Dead." 😂 I hope you guys listened to the secondary audio track where the actors, in character, reminisced about the 'documentary.' They're every bit as hilarious.
The cold sores are from a sub plot about the opening act which was dropped from the final version of the film. Before Spinal Tap, Nigel Tufnel was a member of Lenny and the Squigtones (Michael McKean was in that band too, but he was Lenny...)
You guys should do ´The Comic Strip - Bad News´. It´s a British rocumentary about an 80´s heavy metal band that was released 6 months before Spinal Tap. It´s brilliant.
"The problem may have been, there was a Stonehenge monument on stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. That tended to understate the hugeness of the object."
The guitarist Nigel Tufnel's look was based on Jeff Beck. Beck said "Maybe the look, but not the personality." Also see the 2 Beatles mockumentaries about The Rutles produced by Eric Idol and Lorne Michaels (SNL) - All You Need Is Cash, and Can't Buy Me Lunch. On the DVD of this movie, the audio commentary track is by the band in character.
They are not a fake band they do go on Tour and they play their own instruments.I can't wait for the next movie... This was one of my favorite soundtracks big bottom rocks
"Hello Cleveland" became a thing every band did in the 10 years after this was released. No matter where you were every band did a hello Cleveland during the show.
One time in a meeting at work that had a huge argument in it everyone was sitting awkwardly around in silence afterwards with no one knowing what to say and I said, “I’d like to raise a practical concern at this point… are we doing Stonehenge tonight?” And another dude who I didn’t even know very well screamed, “no we’re not doing f*cking Stonehenge!!!” About a third of the people there were howling with laughter and everyone else was confused af 😂
In the 60s there were a couple of folk groups who had issues with names. The Christy Minstrels and the New Christy Minstrels, The Seekers and The New Seekers. The Rolling Stones once got lost and missed a concert (not backstage though). Just a couple more real-life references.
There's so many facts about this movie I recently found and never knew for years, all the obvious guest spots, Howard Hessmen, Fran, Paul Shaffer, now I'm drawing blanks but limo driver and the Stonehenge designer are accomplished actors, and the mimes are Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey.
There's too many different things about this movie that make it so great. The actors playing the band are actually improvising some of their interview scenes, they composed the music and performed it themselves, or the fact that actual touring musicians didn't know it was a spoof because they so accurately depicted life on the road. The best parts are the stories about how each former Drummer died.
Christopher Guest is actually British (although he grew up mostly in America). He's also a Baron and was active in the House of Lords until it was reduced in 1999.
I love this movie. It’s a Line-O-Rama movie with so many memorable lines. I love all of the outside interviews. The album reviews, like of Shark Sandwich. “There was just a two word review: ‘Shit sandwich’”. The guitarist is like “you can’t print that!” So good! Also when they’re talking about touring and say they played the “Isles Of Lucy”. LOL! This movie is an all-time favorite.
@6:50 There is supposedly a cut scene where they all get herpies from the same girl and this would have been the scene that followed. Also, Metallica were so impressed by the "Black Album" that they decided to release one.
This is one of these movies I can always come back to and rewatch. Like you said it strikes the right balance of being funny and having serious moments that make you feel for the characters.
The story is told that Ozzie Osborne saw this movie and didn't realize it was a spoof because it was so realistic. And gotta love Chris Guest who went on to be in Princess Bride and could count to 11 on his fingers. And if you watch for it, Rob Reiner's hat is in the boy's bedroom in that movie.
No, man, they actually toured to promote their, Break Like the Wind, album. They play the instruments, compose and write the songs. And I believe Sir Christopher Guest (Nigel) is a British citizen, as well as being married to Jamie Lee Curtis -- which is as rock and roll as anything gets!
So this came out in 84, but had to have been in production for at least a couple of years previously. I can't help but think of this as a companion piece to "The Wall" from two years earlier. While this is a comedy, I can easily imagine the premise as played seriously: The "documentary" shows Pink as the destroyer of his own band. The label asks them to keep pushing into edgier territory, with him doing the Fascist Dark Lord persona and his bandmates are going "Whoa, slow down there!" owing to the implications.
9:51 "Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder........... Well these go to 11" Greatest F**kin' quote ever.
Favorite celeb cameos noticed this time 'round: Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinnati's DJ Johnny Fever) and Patrick MacNee (ITV's The Avenger's John Steed).
Nice job, guys. Enjoyed watching very much. Here’s another bit of Spinal Tap trivia for you: In the “Mime is money” scene where Billy Crystal is impatiently giving instructions to his subordinate, look very closely at the blonde fellow he’s addressing. That blonde guy is in fact a very young Dana Carvey, who would go on to become one of SNL’s greatest performers circa the late-80s/early-90s. (Most younger folks might possibly remember him for portraying Garth Algar in the “Wayne’s World” SNL sketch and film series.)
You might want to check out some of the other mockumentaries that these guys did. Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind are all well worth watching.
If you want more classic American comedies I'd suggest Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs) the Blues Brothers, and the Naked Gun. Rob Reiner also directed the Princess Bride which is very funny as well. Maybe even a Coen Brothers movie like Raising Arizona or the Big Lebowski
It's nice to see that you both comprehend the historical and cultural references and sarcastic biting humor as it relates to life and situations in general. This film is basically lost on the younger generation in America as they have no capacity and intelligence of the past but rather seem to be mired in an endless present.
Patrick Macnee was the older British gentleman in the cocktail party scene with Fran Drescher (!) who is also a legend. Patrick Macnee starred in a mid-sixties British spy thriller called the Avengers that ran for years. Patrick and his female partners changed Brit t.v. Diana Rigg, a legendary British actor (died quite recently) was one of his partners. Honor Blackman was another. Don't you know anybody over 40? Honor played the pilot in Goldfinger, a British film. Patrick Mcnee. Know yer elders.
First improvisational comedic piece by Rob Reiner and the cast. Once you realize the framework it becomes impossible not to appreciate. Same with Best in Show. Spinal Tap actually threatened many rock groups exposing them for the twits that they often are.
Funny you should say it could be an SNL skit, because after this movie, two of the leads, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer joined the cast of SNL for one season. They even had a film on SNL featuring The Folksmen (including Michael McKean aka David St. Hubbins), who would later feature in the mockumentary A MIGHTY WIND.
They actually went on tour and I got to see them and it was great. They put a lot of screw ups in the concert that were hilarious. For example they opened with them coming down on ropes and Nigel got stuck halfway down and their Stonehenge prop was so big it couldn't fit when they tried to lower it.
and in another case of 'life imitating art' - Jeff Porcaro (drummer in Toto and prolific session musician) died in 1992 in a bizarre gardening accident.
