Is there anyone who doesn't love This is Spinal Tap?

Huge classic, obviously.

I have the VHS version though.

Though that has a rough odor of urban legend.

Movie or not, can we still take Aerosmith out back?

Plot Outline: Three actors learn their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.

Not only that, there's another hour and a half "movie" made up of deleted scenes.

Spinal Tap is possibly my favorite movie (after Alien, of course). Its one of the few satirical treatments of metal that actually 'gets' the genre, and understands its place in the context of rock history. I love how the band is a perfect microcosm of all the most bloated aspects of rock trends from the British Invasion onwards. The film is really just a great satire of the rock and roll biz in general, and the human capacity for self-delusion in the face of failure. The songs are really convincingly well-done and hilarious, too.

There was supposed to be a 'hilarious' BJ scene that got cut or unfilmed, purely because it wouldn't have been included in a 'real' documentary.

OTM, the movie has a lot of little stuff like that. My favorite is after the manager Ian tells the band that their Boston show's been cancelled, then says it's nothing to worry about, "Boston's not a big college town."

Tony Hendra really does a great job playing the manager.

I think it was Kiss that didn't find it funny (or maybe both of them). Maiden's Bruce Dickinson's got a pretty good sense of humor, I'm surprised he didn't find it funny.

Seconded.

It wasn't Bruce, it was Blaze!

Tap is to Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind as the Beatles are to Wings, Lennon and Harrison solo. And the new film will be Back Off Boogaloo in comparison. (not that that's bad)

It's one of the best movies ever made, ever.

Hugely OTM.

SPINAL TAP
($75.00) (1984) here's the rare 4 hours 45 minute version you've heard about! ...with all the scenes "not fit" for even the the new extended 'uncut' legitimate release - there's nudity! drugs! bad attitudes! plus lots more! 3 tapes; But please take note -- this is a 'bootleg' tape and the quality is not up to our usual standard there are visual dropouts some missing audio spots... we would recommend it for rabid SPINAL TAP fans only -- where else will you see this stuff? ; {the visual quality of this print is rated as B-/C

almost every metal musician i've seen interviewed about spinal tap has been quite positive; inevitably the conversation leads to them describing how this or that bit from spinal tap actually happened to them.

as for kevin dubrow whining about it ... what HASN'T kevin dubrow whined about?

I don't understand what's so funny about this? I used to do the same thing, but only so that I could drink more beer onstage.

That's completely insane.

Tap is to Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind as the Beatles are to Wings, Lennon and Harrison solo. And the new film will be Back Off Boogaloo in comparison.

Good anology. Guest's other movies are great, as is a lot of Wings and Lennon's and Harrison's solo stuff. But the Beatles are the best band I've ever heard and Spinal Tap is the funniest movie I've ever seen.

my fave moment: dancing dwarfs around the tiny stonehenge

fave subtle line: the argument about going on AFTER the puppet show

speaking of...watch SNL in the 80s sunday night (no law and order!) and they showed a few moments of some classic clips from the season with Shearer and Guest, particularly the all-time classic synchronized swimming skit with Martin Short.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84aswimmers.phtml

Even the music itself makes me laugh - there's a great bit at the end of one of the songs where Nigel plays a souped-up Mozart guitar solo. Also when he's playing his piano "composition" and talking about how there are all these melodic lines interwoven when in fact he's just playing these really retarded-sounding blocky chords.

With ya there, that's a perfect moment of editing.

I watched the commentary and bonus features some time ago and you're absolutely right, it was like getting an entire other film and just as funny!

I have both the criterion and later DVDs and they have completely distinct commentary tracks! (though my partner doesn't like Spinal Tap so I haven't watched either for years)

Would love to rip them as MP3s somehow and listen to them like audiobooks while I'm cooking, etc

but the "somehow" is the operative word there, I wouldn't have a clue

There's a neat piece of software called Handbrake which I think will do that for you.

Ah thanks anagram, I might give that a try!

Sequel's coming:

The long-in-the-works Spinal Tap sequel is just about ready to rawk. The film, which is officially titled ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’, will be out in theaters on September 12. Like the original, it’s directed by Rob Reiner, who co-wrote the movie with original Tap trio Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls). Unlike the first one, though, there are a bevy of all-star cameos, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, and more.

The original ‘This is Spinal Tap’ is also getting a new theatrical run this summer before the new one is out.

I thought there was a sequel TV movie in 1992?

a bevy of all-star cameos

Ugh... as i was reading that paragraph i was thinking please don't let there be a bunch of celebrity guest appearances.

Maybe the cameos will all play the drummer

I thought there was a sequel TV movie in 1992?

There was a concert-film-plus-skits, cut down to a TV special. They have made various other skits and shorts and adverts over the decades; the Wikipedia appears inappropriately US-centric for such a significant English band, and doesn’t even mention their iconic series of mid-90s ads for frozen pizza rolls. or “Rock & Rolls,” if you will.

What was Break like the Wind? Just an album?

Ugh... as i was reading that paragraph i was thinking please don't let there be a bunch of celebrity guest appearances.

― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, March 12, 2025 4:45 PM (two hours ago)

Fran Drescher
Dana Carvey
Billy Crystal
Howard Hesseman
Paul Shaffer
Anjelica Huston
Fred Willard
Bruno Kirby
Ed Begley Jr.

I bunch of those weren't quite celebrities at the time.

*a bunch

Howard Hesseman

"Yeah, listen, we'd love to stand around and chat, but we've gotta sit down in the lobby and wait for the limo."

“This is our monthly at-ease weekend…”

My expectations for this couldn’t be lower

it'll be good I bet, not that that'll stop people from being the simpsons comic book guy about it

The difference with the cameos from the original film is that those people are all actors, unlike the star of Give My Regards to Broad Street and the pinball guy from Tommy. Well not Paul Shaffer maybe, but still.

What if it's Chris Gaines though.

Paul and Elton have turned in funny guest appearances, especially when they have good comics writing their lines (see The Simpsons), but I guess that also means Shearer, Guest and McKean really have to deliver.

I would say "why does this need to exist", but we've literally got Paul & Elton out there still insisting that they are rock stars despite being so elderly they can barely sing or play. Good chance for some satire imo, I'm optimistic

The difference with the cameos from the original film is that those people are all actors

Yep everyone on that list was an actor playing a role... that's not what is implied by "all-star cameos".

Yeah, like Popstar is one of my favorite comedies of all time and just every time there's a musician cameo it's execrable

Maybe the cameos will all play the drummer

Criterion 4K incoming!

https://www.criterion.com/films/317-this-is-spinal-tap

Among other things, this looks like it includes those out-of-character commentaries on their original and now very out of print DVD.

Also a new conversation between Patton Oswalt and Rob Reiner

it's ok i'll still buy it

on their original and now very out of print DVD.

Laserdisc.

Also on the Criterion DVD

yes but originally on laserdisc

It can be all these things, and more.

Let me be the first person to confess in this thread that I have never watched Spinal Tap

So you are not aware that Boston is not a big college town?

Or that Walmart has refused to carry the new album simply because of its cover?

Can I ask a practical question

Do you think you’d be happy doing that?

I mean... when you've loved and lost the way Frank has, then you know what life's about.

best leave it...unsolved

So that's, what, 50 hours? 120 hours?

I’m getting a little shaggy myself…I shouldn’t stand too close to you, they might think I’m part of the band…I’m joking of course

We don't have that mentality any more, Ian!

He was the patron saint of quality footwear.

Look - In here there’s no one, and in here there’s a little guy! It’s a complete catastrophe

You're in the band, ain'tcha?

“No we’re all out. Do you wear black?” See, that sort of thing I could muster up.

what are the hours?

Apropos of nothing, and I apologise for breaking the chain of quotes from the film, but the official Youtube channel of The Nanny has some clips of Fran Drescher's snazzy black outfits, and the first clip is, yes, a cameo of her as Bobbi Flekman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ9xXuCkv9M

In that scene Fran Drescher plays a character, Fran Fine, who pretends to be Bobbi Flekman, which is postmodern as all heck, but then again it was the 1990s.

And of course, there's a thread for that: tv shows within tv shows: an ocd thread for jaymc and nabisco