Just for fun, I showed my 18-20 year-old college students this Spinal Tap clip. After some chuckles, a few (sincerely) asked: "Is that a real band?"Well, no. Not exactly.
Rob Reiner directed 1984's quintessential rock n roll satire This Is Spinal Tap, which pokes fun at the excessive, pompous, and downright silly world of popular music. Spinal Tap represents a composite of hard rock bands: part Kiss, part Led Zeppelin, part Judas Priest, part Rolling Stones, part Who, part Who-ever. The film explores a number of rock n roll clichés, like the death of drummers (one spontaneously explodes in the film); the band getting lost at an arena trying to find the audience; pretentious faux-art stage sets; and, of course, turning their Marshall amps up to "11."
In reality, Spinal Tap - consisting of actors Michael McKean (as guitarist David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as guitarist Nigel Tufnel), and Harry Shearer (as bassist Derek Smalls) - actually wrote songs and toured. Spinal Tap mocks real songs by real bands with titles like: "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," "Sex Farm," "Christmas With the Devil," and "Break Like the Wind."
So, with that in mind, I've put together a little quiz. Each question contains a set of lyrics, followed by a choice of three bands that possibly composed them - one of which is Spinal Tap. See if you can spot the "sincere" lyrics from the phony ones.
~Stephen Tow
10-13: Congratulations, rock n roll genius! Your amp does in fact go to "11."
8-10: Not bad. You may have trouble finding the stage in Cleveland, but eventually you get there.
5-7: Ahhh, sorry. You hold a release party for your new record. Unfortunately, no one shows up.
0-5: Look out. Your drummer just died in a bizarre gardening accident.
Further Reading: The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal Tap
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