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.

For some reason I was looking up Ric Parnell, who played the drummer in the movie.

His other claim to 80s fame was playing drums on Toni Basil's "Mickey." From wiki:

At one time, Steve Perry offered him a spot in Journey, but Parnell declined

Trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxkZ7krBzA8

looks like this will be 75% bad modern references "ai! tiktok! justin beiber! trump!", 25% maybe actual dumb genuine lols.

In unrelated news: would you believe the guy who played Duke Fame in the original film is an actual hard rock singer, is still going in Vegas *and* played Fame again in an utterly unrelated webisode for the band Sin City Sinners?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Shortino

If my name was Shortino I’d have a stage name too.

Someone told me once that Rough Cutt were by far the worst band they'd ever seen, I can believe it

Zero laughs in the trailer

My vent on that trailer, C/Ping from FB: you know what my problem with the new Spinal Tap sequel trailer really is? (Aside from my continuing belief that the actual sequel as such, which is really good, consists of all the interstitial bits from The Return of Spinal Tap concert video thirty years back, with all kinds of 'where are they now' -- appropriately enough -- moments from a lot of the characters from the original.) It's putting Elton John in there, or even just anyone playing themselves. Now the whole 'rando celebrities in cameo roles in much later sequels to goose up interest in something that falls flat' thing is rather well established/bad enough (cf that new Happy Gilmore film I guess) but the beauty of the original Tap lies in the fact that it's not an alternate world but one where all the performing roles are self-contained. The 'world of rock' or whatever is backdrop for Ver Tap, reference points and commonalities, but the closest they get to other bands and musicians are similarly creations for the story. In the actual film the only other musician we encounter is Duke Fame on his way to the Enormodome; in the ton of material filmed for it but not in the final cut, you get an opening band whose singer has it off with Nigel and Derek, you get a young hot-shot player to replace Nigel briefly, stuff like that. The lack of exact specificity and anchors makes it all more universal and also underscores that these guys are just stumbling their way through on the lower rungs.

Yep i decried the news of "all-star cameos" upthread and that is exactly why. The original film didn't do that which is a part of what makes it so great.

I get the impulse but the *real celebrity cameo talks about the fake band* is the absolutely worst part of all content like this, whether it’s Chef Aid or Pop Star Never Stop Never Stopping (the new Spinal Tap). Just unfunny every time.*

*The exception being the Butthole Surfers in CB4

secondary exception; Jewel yodelling with ODB and serious Eddie Vedder bit at end of Walk Hard

Walk Hard did so much shit you're not supposed to do but it got away with everything, truly magical writing in that film

I’ll allow for Paul Simon and Mick Jagger in _The Rutles_ because the veil was intentionally thin so all their comments pretty much read as about the Beatles. “Do you think they’ll get back together?” “I hope not.”

I've commented on this elsewhere, too, but this promo photo really pisses me off.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:lc2wlnvvy4glpigwako5zoty/bafkreigyrowiihgfjg5zd75lwzcashwdfs4z4mukirhjsb2sqvaa55kxoq@jpeg

"Are you 75 years old? Here's an image that'll make you chuckle affectionately!" Aren't they supposed to be a METAL band? Why does a Crosby, Stills & Nash reference make any fucking sense at all?

Because they're peers! Clearly you've forgotten their 1967 hit "Listen to the Flower People."

...and "Cups and Cakes" was a twee-era Hollies/Bee Gees cash-in.

a friend wanted to see this, i went along and tried my best to just enjoy it. god what a piece of shit this was

I knew it was gonna be irredeemable garbage when Matt Zoller Seitz, a critic who likes everything, only gave it 2 1/2 stars.

There already is much more Tap out there aside from the actual film; the extra hour of outtakes on the DVD, various interviews and gigs and funny 'bits' from here and there, all over YouTube.

Did anyone ever see this?

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71CM3OSazoL._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

Haven't seen it, but I had my doubts (beyond the obvious reasons) when I saw the celebrity cameos.

i saw that, i have a very distinct memory of Robin Williams' cameo -- reminiscing about Spinal Tap and getting really depressed and the segment ending with him floating facedown in a hot tub.

I was thinking of the new one, lol. With Sir Elton, Sir Paul, Sir Questlove, etc. If too many real stars want in on the joke, it implies there are no jokes.

Did anyone ever see this?

🖼

I talk about it in my big post on the trailer back in July!

By some miracle, Dave Grohl does not appear

Return of Spinal Tap was fine. The accompanying tour was great, I hear. It fell during exams and I was too much of a swot to go, but a less conscientious friend of mine did and had a great time.

That first film succeeds not just because of the core trio, but the supporting rules are all spot on, and they are not celebrity cameo ringers who want to be in on the joke. It’s a bunch of character actors playing their roles and taking them seriously, and that only serves to make it funnier. Fran Drescher, for example. Totally incredible in that part.

Feeling a lot lately like recent reboots and so forth are clearly 10-15 years late… because the guys in charge of fox or whatever are like oh damn king of the hill still seems pretty popular I guess we should have rebooted this awhile ago…

in 2009 I bet they could have pulled this off, is what I mean

The reviews are mostly "there's very little that's actually funny." Disappointing but it's that kind of year.

The original is so deadpan and close to the truth that there have been times I've watched it over the years and not found it funny despite knowing for a fact and from long time experience that it is in fact, funny. And indeed subsequent viewings after that were funny again.

Seems like the Rutles was the only time bringing actual Rock Stars into a Mockumentary worked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDY8VErLhcY

Quite right. (I mutter that somewhere upthread.)

My expectations were pretty low but to say they weren't even half way met is an understatement...I don't think even Guest, Mckean and Shearer could hide their lack of enthusiasm...felt sorry for Elton and McCartney getting roped into it...Shit Sandwich for sure

The original is so deadpan and close to the truth that there have been times I've watched it over the years and not found it funny despite knowing for a fact and from long time experience that it is in fact, funny. And indeed subsequent viewings after that were funny again.

I watched the original recently for the first time in forever and yeah a lot of stuff was "too real" to be funny 'natch

I don't think even Guest, Mckean and Shearer could hide their lack of enthusiasm

they're doing tons on promo for it too and they don't seem super stoked or inspired in any of that, either.

I've gone from "maybe I'll see this at some point" to "probably won't bother"

Reiner was on Ted Danson's podcast the other day and he was saying they saw hardly any $$$ from the OG movie, then Shearer won the rights to Spinal Tap back and they decided to make the movie then. I guess this is their one swing to make some cash from the franchise.

Yeah basically they had to keep making irregular appearances as Tap over the moons just to have a toehold on some rights when things were still in question.

So we should count ourselves lucky that we got this and not some horrifying Warren Beatty/Dick Tracy situation.

It sounds like maybe I don’t need to see this.

Reiner was on Ted Danson's podcast the other day and he was saying they saw hardly any $$$ from the OG movie, then Shearer won the rights to Spinal Tap back and they decided to make the movie then. I guess this is their one swing to make some cash from the franchise.

― conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Monday, September 15, 2025 3:21 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's absolutely insane if "making some cash" is his reasoning behind this because Harry Shearer has been making somewhere between $250k and $500k an EPISODE to be on zombie Simpsons for the last 20 years.

Well, we don’t know about the others. Guest has his lordship or whatever, not sure if McKean and Reiner are equally flush.

Reiner is loaded, dunno about McKean

Ok so now we need a Galaxy Quest style behind-the-scenes thing where McKean keeps pushing them to do more in-character appearances because he needs the money, while Guest, Reiner, and Shearer roll their eyes and grudgingly go along with it for the sake of camaraderie.

But then when they discover how truly adored they are, they develop a newfound appreciation for dragging this tired old act one more time.

xpost Guest has been married to Jamie Lee Curtis for like 40 years, so they probably do alright with their combined incomes

Reiner is loaded, dunno about McKean

The “North” residuals just keep rolling in

It's absolutely insane if "making some cash" is his reasoning behind this because Harry Shearer has been making somewhere between $250k and $500k an EPISODE to be on zombie Simpsons for the last 20 years.

Or maybe they did it because they love Spinal Tap and wanted to do one more movie. But that's not the vibe I'm getting.

Also, it's Hollywood. You could always do with one more ivory backscratcher.

Ignoring the fact that rich people always want more money.

McKean’s done loads of stuff. He won’t have done three seasons of Better Call Saul for chump change.