Nov

3 Kom.

"This Is Spinal Tap"
- 25th Anniversary of a Legendary Musicfilm

Superficially, ‘This is Spinal Tap’, Rob Reiner's movie from 1984, is the story of a British Heavy Rock band, Spinal Tap, touring the United States in a bid to promote their latest album. The tour opens to packed stadia, great reviews, a record deal, fame, respect and everything a band could want. By the time the tour ends Spinal Tap are playing second to a children's puppet show at an amusement park, the manager has walked out, the band has split up and what members that are left have turned their backs on heavy metal in favour of freeform jazz.

On a deeper level 'This is Spinal Tap' is about the band's failure to identify the difference between their personal expectations and their reality, in other words: delusion. The band members: David Saint Hubbins, Nigel Tuffnel and Derek Smalls, all played magnificently by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer respectively, fail to see the effect their actions have upon each other.

Their complete lack of self awareness and the constant denial of their actual situation is what provides the endless comedy here as the audience is all too aware of the former and latter.

The humour of 'This is Spinal Tap' is endless, no matter how many times you watch it. Something new always comes up, some nuance here that was missed the first time round, some slight suggestion there that works on many levels.

Then there are the songs, would you buy them today? Probably not. Will they make you laugh? Definitely! The lyrics and subject matter fit perfectly into the genre of heavy metal. Again the band's deterioration as the film progresses is mirrored by their musical and lyrical output.

The film starts with the perfectly acceptable 'Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight’. But the rot sets in with 'Sex Farm', sung with the gusto and seriousness of the true political statement the band meant it to be.

'Stonehenge' is a tribute to the anally retentive movement that was 'Progressive Rock.' It's disastrous performance spurring the band’s ultimate demise. 'Big Bottom' with the lyrics of an adolescent: 'My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo, I want to sink her with my pink torpedo.'

Considering 'This is Spinal Tap' is a film about a Rock Band the music plays only a minor role. The backbone ultimately is the music industry as a whole. The myriad of deluded characters within this masterpiece seems unreal, but insiders will assure you that these characters are very real.

From the beautiful Polymer Records exec Bobbi Fleckman, played effortlessly and unforgettably by Fran Drescher to Paul Shaffer's equally superb portrayal of Spinal Tap's Midwest promotions rep Artie Fufkin, each character is as real as the writing on this page. To an outsider these people appear grotesque but to each other they are normal human beings. This is where the genius lies in this film: the frailty of these people, their fear of becoming adults propels them into parodies of themselves.

They all need each other yet they can not escape from each other; they are trapped in the monster that is their band Spinal Tap, it's name bigger than each one of them. While leaving means the fear of walking the path of obscurity and nothingness it is also the path to progression in their lives.

Yet to stay means the certainty of recognition, fame, money, good times, parody and ultimately stagnation. But none of them see this, they only see the here and the now because they all stopped growing as persons when the band formed. For the band Spinal Tap this is their tragedy, but for the viewer this is what makes the story a comedy.

A masterpiece. A must-see legendary musicfilm.

Thanks to our guest author Mark Pierro for this post.