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This Is Spinal Tap - 35 Years Old

Started by DrGreggles, April 14, 2019, 12:25:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

DrGreggles

Released on 14th April 1984.

The greatest comedy film ever made?
It's certainly up there for me.

Anyway, let's have a nice pleasant thread about Spinal Tap where we all talk about our favourite bits and that.

McChesney Duntz

Pretty close to perfect, I would say. So much so that the periodic in-character resurfacings that have ensued in the years since (I haven't been able to bring myself to check out Derek Smalls' recent "solo" album) haven't tarnished the brilliance of the original one whit. (This was also the subject of the closest I've ever gotten to a classic CaB bloodmatch/throwdown, and even those risen hackles won't obscure its undying light.)

Much, much more to be said, of course, but there are no words when it comes to the likes of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJL942hg0uM

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I just love the idea that one of their previous drummers exploded.

a duncandisorderly

some of my favourite bits were missed out of the theatrical release because it was too long, & as regrettable though this is, the movie works very well without them. the stuff about the support band ('dose'), whose female singer gives them cold-sores. derek screaming at his lawyer "she's not getting the lamborghini!". the stuff with bruno kirby in the hotel room. the full 'rainbow trout' fight. there were things on the laser-disc release, which I borrowed & copied to VHS, that were missed off the later DVD, & I must dig the tapes out to supplement this latter. I bought the edition with a little marshall amp in the DVD case.

magnificent flick.

kalowski

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on April 14, 2019, 12:59:41 AM
Much, much more to be said, of course, but there are no words when it comes to the likes of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJL942hg0uM
That genius touch when he tunes the violin!

Tony Tony Tony

#5
Quote from: Elderly Sumo Prophecy on April 14, 2019, 05:35:16 AM
I just love the idea that one of their previous drummers exploded.

And one of them choked on vomit... but it wasn't his own!

Tony Tony Tony

Nigel Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I'm working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why.

Marty: It's very nice.

Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like - I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's sort of...

Marty: What do you call this?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump

kalowski

"We are such fans of your music, and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally but the whole genre of the rock and roll."
https://youtu.be/d1q-zeqh3AI

greenman

I'd say actually quite similar to Ghostbusters the same year in that both really explore the concept to the full not leaving much room for any kind of sequel.

Quote from: Tony Tony Tony on April 14, 2019, 08:37:38 AM
Nigel Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I'm working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why.

Marty: It's very nice.

Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like - I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's sort of...

Marty: What do you call this?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump"

The real life version released on Led Zeppelin's recent remasters series...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg3TKuTFwDs

ersatz99

There's a character they run into in the hotel lobby whose name is funnier now than they could have expected back in '84.

Terry Ladd

Along with Withnail and I it must be the most quoted and quotable movie of the last 40 years, but somehow it's never overstayed its welcome or become stale. The longevity of this movie and how it still manages to be one of the funniest, insightful and sharpest ever made is incredible. Every single line of dialogue and scene is a work of art.

"You're too young, and I'm too well hung"


Tony Tony Tony

Quote from: ersatz99 on April 14, 2019, 09:54:31 AM
There's a character they run into in the hotel lobby whose name is funnier now than they could have expected back in '84.

Terry Ladd

From the A to Zed of Spinal Tap

QuoteLadd, Terry: Manager of well-known rocker Duke Fame at time of DiBergi's documentary, when Tap runs into Duke in a Memphis hotel lobby. Ladd, who remembers Ian as "Liam," might have been more prominent in film but for the fact that he and Duke had to "sit down in the lobby and wait for the limo." David: "He should have been our manager." Ladd later became the head of Smegma Records, based in Denver, Colorado. (DV) See also Fame, Duke.

QuoteFame, Duke: Lead singer of Duke Fame and the Fame Throwers, a band that once opened for Spinal Tap but did not impress the boys. David: "We had to apologize for him with our set. It's all hype." After a chance meeting with Tap in the lobby of a Memphis hotel before Fame's sold-out show to support his 1982 album "Ow" and hit single "Cancer Dance" (b/w "I'm Your Puppet"), Fame was assessed by the band as a "wanker" and "total no-talent sod." The encounter was captured on film by Marty DiBergi for "This is Spinal Tap." Discussion of cover of Duke's album, which featured a photo of the singer tied to a table and surrounded by naked women holding bull whips, prompted protests from Tap to Ian. The manager took pains to explain that the album was not offensive because Fame was depicted as the victim. Nigel: "He did a twist on it!," which prompted the classic exchange between David and Derek that there's "such a fine line between stupid and...clever." See also Ladd, Terry.

Even the back stories of minor characters are genius.

kalowski

Is there a better moment than "shit sandwich"?

kalowski

Quote from: Tony Tony Tony on April 14, 2019, 10:37:12 AM
From the A to Zed of Spinal Tap

Even the back stories of minor characters are genius.
See Derek Small's previous reggae influenced band, Skaface.


MortSahlFan

Quote from: kalowski on April 14, 2019, 07:48:17 AM
That genius touch when he tunes the violin!
That's the subtle humor I love.

dallasman

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on April 14, 2019, 12:59:41 AM
Pretty close to perfect, I would say. So much so that the periodic in-character resurfacings that have ensued in the years since (I haven't been able to bring myself to check out Derek Smalls' recent "solo" album) haven't tarnished the brilliance of the original one whit. (This was also the subject of the closest I've ever gotten to a classic CaB bloodmatch/throwdown, and even those risen hackles won't obscure its undying light.)

Think I'll steer clear of the Smalls album, too, but I remember them doing some press and stuff around the time I first saw the movie, and some of that was pretty damn funny. They did a big feature in Q, with all sorts of additional lore that seemed to be improvised on the spot. They played the Freddie Mercury memorial, and Nigel had that bitchin' guitar with the speedometer, which was almost as neat as this:

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on April 14, 2019, 12:59:41 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJL942hg0uM

I well remember seeing that scene for the first time, thinking "take that, Jimmy Page", and the genius touch of tuning the violin was one of the biggest laughs ever. I saw Spinal Tap the way it was meant to be seen: Taped off the telly, with subtitles in the wrong language. I was about 15, and definitely in a band, and it's quite obvious why all rock bands used to have this on their tour bus. What's not to love? It would be a comedy classic for its skewering of Big Rock alone, but the way it draws you into their world and makes you root for them - that's ART. The rest of the cast is also uniformly wonderful, so many memorable characters in small roles.

Some favourite bits:

"I believe virtually everything I read"
"I'm only as God made me, Sir"
"Artie Fufkin, Polymer Records"
"Home For Pale Young Boys"
"One of Britain's loudest bands"
"People were still booing him when we went on"
Bruno Kirby
...and when both Nigel and David are credited with "lead guitar" in the captions. A whole little story right there. But I think it might have been taken out in later versions? I remember rewatching it, and that gag not coming up when I expected it to.

Also, some of the songs are pretty good. "Stonehenge" wouldn't need much alteration to become a genuine prog anthem. "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" would fit comfortably on one of the better Kiss albums. And so on.

I have the double disc DVD with all the outtakes, and you can watch those almost as an alternative cut. I believe there are fan edits out there that have stitched the outtakes into the movie proper, but I don't think I ever watched one, so that would be my question to the forum: Is there such a cut, and is it worth tracking down?

DrGreggles

Quote from: dallasman on April 14, 2019, 12:37:44 PM
"Artie Fufkin, Polymer Records"

I think that's the best timed caption gag off all time.

alan nagsworth

Speaking of subsequent appearances and whatnot after the film, I love every bit of their scenes in The Simpsons ("The Otto Show", season 3, episode 22), especially this one. The perfect merging of two worlds of absolute behemoth-level comedy.

"This is a rock concert, not a bleedin'... splish splash show."

From the same episode, there's a guy outside the gig selling bootleg shirts of the band booting Muammar Gaddafi in the arse, and I'm proud to say I own that shirt IRL.


shiftwork2

If we're just doing favourite bits then the joy of Cups & Cakes by The Thamesmen on the radio, 'currently residing in the 'where are they now?' file'. 

kalowski

From the scene by Elvis's grave

"Watch the language. You're paying homage to the King!"

And
"It really puts perspective on things, though, doesn't it?"
"Too much. There's too much fucking perspective ."

Shit Good Nose

Obligatory mention of the hugely under rated Return of Spinal Tap.  Saniphone, failed property investments and Christian death metal group Lambsblood, a stipend at the soccer school for pale young boys, Marty DiBergi's office in the corridor with access to the public payphone (next to the lavs), Nigel's inventing shed and the foldable wine glass, support courtesy of The Folksmen.  Nice.

kalowski

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on April 14, 2019, 05:25:56 PM
Obligatory mention of the hugely under rated Return of Spinal Tap.  Saniphone, failed property investments and Christian death metal group Lambsblood, a stipend at the soccer school for pale young boys, Marty DiBergi's office in the corridor with access to the public payphone (next to the lavs), Nigel's inventing shed and the foldable wine glass, support courtesy of The Folksmen.  Nice.
What the...?
Why have I never heard of this before!?!

magval

Quote from: alan nagsworth on April 14, 2019, 01:57:02 PM
Speaking of subsequent appearances and whatnot after the film, I love every bit of their scenes in The Simpsons ("The Otto Show", season 3, episode 22), especially this one. The perfect merging of two worlds of absolute behemoth-level comedy.

"This is a rock concert, not a bleedin'... splish splash show."

From the same episode, there's a guy outside the gig selling bootleg shirts of the band booting Muammar Gaddafi in the arse, and I'm proud to say I own that shirt IRL.



I love that Nigel says "my vision" when he gets shot in the eyes by the laser. Not "sight". So much funnier.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

I've not seen The Otto Show in years and I never noticed before, but frustratingly, Nigel is animated speaking a line of David's in that Bill & Marty Simpson's clip.

a duncandisorderly

"it says 'sausages' up there..."

lest we forget.


Hillbert

Both this and Airplane are under 90 minutes. It's concentrated comedy heaven.

So much to love, a favourite small bit is Derek Smalls triumphant arm raise after getting trapped back in the pod.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Hillbert on April 14, 2019, 08:21:01 PM
So much to love, a favourite small bit is Derek Smalls triumphant arm raise after getting trapped back in the pod.

there are as many claims to having been the inspiration for the band &/or the events of the movie as there are guitars in nigel's collection. the pod is probably rightfully claimed by bill nelson & be bop deluxe; the remains of the last surviving pod they had made for stage use is on the sleeve art for 'sunburst finish', on one side with a naked lass in it, holding a burning guitar aloft, & on the other with them all stuck in it.


Sebastian Cobb

It's great but I kind of admire Best in Show more as they manage to make gold built around an event that's quite mundane.

magval

I'm trying to confirm a theory - in the liner notes for the Herbie Hancock album Man-Child, it mentions a dismissive review of the later 1983 album Future Shock referred to it as "Future Shit".

I'm wondering if the review JUST said "Future Shit" and that's where "Shit Sandwich" came from. The review would only have been a year old when the film came out.

It's funny anyway, but I'd love to be right. Just don't know how to find the interview.