This Is Spinal Tap: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For March 2nd, we are going to have a look at This Is Spinal Tap.
Okay, fine.
Some of the best fake bands (parodies included) are the ones that really make you question their existence. The Monkees still have songs that get played everywhere. Metalocalypse sold many albums, and even toured (not as the fictional band, but just as the brilliant musicians that put these funny — yet infectious — songs together). Then, there’s Spinal Tap, who are “big” enough to have been on The Simpsons (that Harry Shearer connection helps, of course), perform on Saturday Night Live (as guests, not as a skit), and were even invited to partake in the Live Earth event of 2007. For a band that’s meant to poke fun at the rock n’ roll lifestyle, whilst sharing actual concerns with being an active musician, Spinal Tap have had their legitimate rounds. If you didn’t know any better, they could be a real band (then that whole dying drummer problem wouldn’t sit so well with you).
It all began with Rob Reiner’s directorial debut This Is Spinal Tap, which is as much his picture as it is that of the band members themselves (Christopher Guest kept that mockumentary bug for his entire career, pretty much). All actors (Reiner included, who plays the on-screen director as well as the real one) contributed to the writing of this constant laugh fest; much of the film was actually improvised, showcasing the comedic capabilities of all involved. The rockstar impersonations are extremely loud, but not to the point of unbelievability (which is frankly astonishing, given how hyperbolic This Is Spinal Tap is even at its most neutral). There really isn’t much to say about Spinal Tap that hasn’t been discussed before. It’s a riot, no matter what your musical preferences are. The film doesn’t discriminate its viewers that aren’t headbangers (although loving rock does help with some of the humour). The joke isn’t the music, but the people and their circumstances. I can see this story being done well with any genre, and I’d be right because Fear of a Black Hat exists (basically the hip hop version).
The film takes its humour so seriously, that there is an actual connection to a band that doesn’t even exist.
Even though the actual story takes a bit of a backseat (the “conflict” happens just because, and is resolved rather tepidly), that’s not really why you’re meant to be watching This Is Spinal Tap. The story is there just so the film wouldn’t be complete anarchy. You’re meant to wonder why making the 10 option on an amplifier isn’t enough (going to 11 is just better); to discover why it takes an eternity for bands to make their set times (they get lost backstage… duh); to sit in on an album release that’s going disastrously wrong for so many preventable reasons. Sure, Spinal Tap pokes fun at documentaries and the music industry, but it’s also just a love letter to all of the ridiculousnesses of all sorts of entertainment mediums (music as a performance art, and film as a conveyance of footage). You won’t get anything poignant out of this, but you’ll leave with a ton of new quotable lines and sore stomach muscles from laughing so hard (maybe even an ear-worm or two; these songs aren’t too shabby!).
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.