| This Is Spinal Tap | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rob Reiner |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | Karen Murphy |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Peter Smokler |
| Edited by |
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| Music by |
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Production company | Spinal Tap Productions |
| Distributed by | Embassy Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million[1] |
| Box office | $5.8 million (North America)[2] |
This Is Spinal Tap[a] is a 1984 Americanmockumentarycomedy film directed byRob Reiner in his feature directorial debut.
Christopher Guest,Michael McKean, andHarry Shearer play members of the fictionalheavy metal bandSpinal Tap.[3][4] Reiner plays Martin "Marty" Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker following the band's American tour. The filmsatirizes the behavior and musical pretensions of rock bands and thehagiographic tendencies ofrock documentaries such asThe Song Remains the Same (1976) andThe Last Waltz (1978), similarly to whatAll You Need Is Cash (1978) bythe Rutles did forthe Beatles.[5] Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer wrote the screenplay, though most of the dialogue was improvised and dozens of hours were filmed.
This Is Spinal Tap was released tocritical acclaim, but found only modest commercial success in theaters. Its laterVHS release brought greater success and acult following. Credited with "effectively" launching the mockumentary genre,[4] it is also notable as the origin of the phrase "up to eleven". Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by theLibrary of Congress, it was selected for preservation in theNational Film Registry in 2002. Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer reprised their roles for the 2025 sequelSpinal Tap II: The End Continues and the 2026 concert filmSpinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale.
Filmmaker Martin "Marty" Di Bergi is filming a documentary about English rock bandSpinal Tap's 1982 United Statesconcert tour to promote their new album,Smell the Glove. The band comprises childhood friends David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel on vocals and guitar along with bassist Derek Smalls, keyboardist Viv Savage, and drummer Mick Shrimpton.
The documentary shows Spinal Tap's early days as theskiffle group The Originals; they renamed themselves the New Originals when it was discovered another band was already called The Originals, only to change it back when the original Originals changed their name to The Regulars. They later had a hit as the Thamesmen, "Gimme Some Money," before changing their name to Spinal Tap and achieving a significant hit with theflower power anthem "Listen to the Flower People"; they subsequently began performingheavy metal music. Several of the band's previous drummers died under strange circumstances: John "Stumpy" Pepys died in a "bizarre gardening accident" that police said was better left unsolved, Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs died choking on someone else's vomit, and Peter "James" Bondexploded on stage. Nigel shows Marty his extensive guitar collection (including one that is so valuable it cannot even be looked at or even pointed at, much less played), as well as a custom-madeamplifier that has volume knobs that goup to eleven; Nigel believes this makes the amplifier "one louder" than most other amplifiers, which have "ten" as the highest volume setting.
Tensions rise between the band and their manager, Ian Faith, as several shows are canceled due to low ticket sales, and major retailers refuse to sellSmell the Glove because of its sexist cover art. David's girlfriend Jeanine, ayoga andastrology devotee, joins the group on tour and participates in band meetings. Nigel and Ian dislike Jeanine's ideas for Spinal Tap's costumes and stage presentation. Without consulting Spinal Tap, the band's record label releasesSmell the Glove with an entirely black album cover. Despite Ian's assertion that it could have a similar appeal tothe Beatles'White Album,Smell the Glove fails to sell.
Nigel suggests staging a lavish, Druid-themedglam rock show and asks Ian to order aStonehengetrilithon. However, Nigel mislabels its dimensions, and the resulting prop is only 18 inches (46 cm) high rather than 18 feet (5.5 m), making the group a laughing stock. The group blames Ian, and when David suggests Jeanine should co-manage the group, Ian quits. The tour continues, rescheduled for much smaller venues, and Jeanine and David increasingly marginalize Nigel. At a gig at aUnited States Air Force base, Nigel is upset by an equipment malfunction and quits mid-performance. At their next gig, in an amphitheater at an amusement park where the band is billed below a puppet show, the band finds their repertoire is severely limited without Nigel. At Derek's suggestion, the band improvises an experimental "Jazz Odyssey", which is poorly received.
On the last day of the tour, David and Derek consider ending Spinal Tap and exploring other projects, such as a musical aboutJack the Ripper calledSaucy Jack. Before they go on stage, Nigel arrives and tells them that Spinal Tap's song "Sex Farm" has becomea major hit in Japan and that Ian wants to arrange a tour there. David bitterly refuses, but later, as Nigel watches the band performing from the wings, David relents and invites Nigel to join the band onstage, delighting the crowd but infuriating Jeanine. During the performance, Mick explodes on stage. Ian is rehired as the group's manager, and Spinal Tap (now with Joe "Mama" Besser as their drummer) performs a series of sold-out shows in Japan.
Michael McKean and Christopher Guest met while in college in New York City in the late 1960s, and they played music together. They worked with Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner on a TV pilot in 1978 for a sketch comedy show calledThe TV Show, which featured a parody rock band called Spinal Tap. During production of that sketch (while being burned with oil from an on-stage effect) McKean and Guest began to improvise, inventing characters that became David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel.[6][7]
Guest had previously played guitar under the name "Nigel Tufnel" on Michael McKean andDavid Lander's albumLenny and the Squigtones.[8]
The entire film was shot in Los Angeles over a period of about five weeks on handheld 16mm cameras. The visit toElvis Presley's grave was filmed in a park inAltadena, with a mock-up of the grave site. The band sings "Heartbreak Hotel" because that was the only Elvis song for which producer Karen Murphy could obtain rights.[6]
Rob Reiner procured $60,000 from Marble Arch Productions to write a screenplay with McKean, Guest and Shearer, based on the Spinal Tap characters. They realized after a few days of writing that no script could capture the kind of movie they wanted to make, so they decided instead to shoot a short demo of the proposed film. They shopped the demo around to various studios but had no takers, until television writer-producerNorman Lear decided to back the project, providing them with a budget of $2 million.[9][10]
Virtually all dialogue in the film is improvised. Actors were given outlines indicating where scenes would begin and end and character information necessary to avoid contradictions, but everything else came from the actors. As often as possible, the first take was used in the film, to capture natural reactions.[6] Reiner wanted to list the entire cast as writers on the film to acknowledge their contributions, but the Writers' Guild objected, and so only he, Guest, McKean, and Shearer received writing credit.[9]
Veteran documentary cameraman Peter Smokler worked as cinematographer on the film. Smokler had great instincts for camera placement on set, according to Reiner, and is responsible for the film's handheldcinéma vérité style[9]—although the cinematographer did not understand what was supposed to be funny about the movie.[6] With Smokler behind the camera, the film was shot not as a feature film, but as a documentary, without a script or traditional shooting schedule. So much footage was filmed (over 100 hours) that it eventually required three editors to complete the film.[6]
Inspirations for the film included the documentariesDont Look Back (1967), which was made aboutBob Dylan, andThe Last Waltz (1978), which was aboutThe Band.[9] The scene where Spinal Tap becomes lost backstage was inspired by a video ofTom Petty at a venue in Germany, walking through a series of doors trying to find the stage, but ending up on an indoor tennis court.[11] Rob Reiner also went to see the English heavy metal bandJudas Priest in concert as part of his preparation for the film. He later said, "It physically hurt my chest. The reverberation in the hall was so strong that I couldn't stay there any longer."[12] According to Harry Shearer in the Criterion edition DVD commentary, keyboard playerJohn Sinclair had just returned from touring withUriah Heep when principal photography was about to begin, and told them how they had been booked to play an Air Force base. They subsequently used the story in the film.
In post-production, Christopher Guest was very concerned with the verisimilitude of the finger positions on the band's instruments during the concert scenes, and even re-shot some footage after the movie was edited to ensure their hands appeared in sync with the music.[6]
The character of Jeanine, David's disruptive girlfriend, was added during the production to provide a storyline to the material—in part to mollify studio executives who worried the movie would be plotless. ActressVictoria Tennant was briefly considered for the role, butJune Chadwick won the part, thanks to her chemistry with the cast and her improvisation skills.[6][9]
Robert Bauer played the same character, Moke, in another Reiner movie,The Sure Thing (1985).
At the time of its release,Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four and wrote "This Is Spinal Tap is one of the funniest, most intelligent, most original films of the year. The satire has a deft, wicked touch. Spinal Tap is not that much worse than, not that much different from, some successful rock bands."[13] Ebert later placed the film on his ten best list of 1984 and would later include it in his Great Movies list in 2001 where he called it "one of the funniest movies ever made".[14][15]Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune also awarded four out of four, writing, "It is so well done, in fact, that unless you are clued in beforehand, it might take you a while to realize that the rock group under dissection inThis Is Spinal Tap does not really exist."[16]Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times praised it as "a witty, mischievous satire, and it's obviously a labor of love."[17]
Critics praised the film not only for its satire of the rollercoaster lifestyles of rock stars but also for its take on the non-fiction film genre. David Ansen fromNewsweek called the film "a satire of the documentary form itself, complete with perfectly faded clips from old TV shows of the band in its mod and flower-child incarnations".[18]
Even with cameos fromAnjelica Huston,Billy Crystal andPatrick Macnee,Spinal Tap still managed to trick many of its moviegoers into believing the band existed. Reiner observed that "whenSpinal Tap initially came out, everybody thought it was a real band... the reason it did go over everybody's head was that it was very close to home".[19]
Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[20]
This Is Spinal Tap is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1984.[21][22][23] The film holds a 98% approval rating on the review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes based on 174 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smartly directed, brilliantly acted, and packed with endlessly quotable moments,This Is Spinal Tap is an all-time comedy classic."[24]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[25]
In 2002,This Is Spinal Tap was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by theLibrary of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry.[26]
In 2000, theAmerican Film Institute placed the film at number 29 in its100 Years…100 Laughs list.[27]In 2008,Empire magazine rankedThis Is Spinal Tap #48 on its list ofThe 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[28]The New York Times placed the film on their list ofThe Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.[29] In January 2010,Total Film placedThis Is Spinal Tap on its list ofThe 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[30] WhenEntertainment Weekly compiled their list ofThe 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, the publication included the film as "just too beloved to ignore".[31] In 2011,Time Out London named it the best comedy film of all time.[32] In November 2015, the film was ranked the 11th funniest screenplay by theWriters Guild of America in its list of101 Funniest Screenplays.[33]Stephen Sondheim,[34]Rowan Atkinson,[35]Dan Stevens,[36]Michael Apted,[37]Chris Parnell,[38]John Bradley[39] andSacha Gervasi[40] listed it among their favorite films of all time.
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The film resonated with many musicians.Jimmy Page,Robert Plant,Jerry Cantrell,Dee Snider andOzzy Osbourne all reported that, like Spinal Tap, they had become lost in confusing arena backstage hallways trying to make their way to the stage.[41][42][43] WhenDokken'sGeorge Lynch saw the film he is said to have exclaimed, "That's us! How'd they make a movie about us?"[44]Glenn Danzig had a similar reaction when comparing Spinal Tap to his former bandthe Misfits saying, "When I first saw Spinal Tap, I was like, 'Hey, this is my old band.'"[45]
Lars Ulrich told a press conference crowd that the 1992Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour seemed "so Spinal Tap." This tour was in support ofMetallica's own "black album". Shortly after the tour started, Metallica'sJames Hetfield suffered third-degree burns on his arms after he stood too close to a pyrotechnic device. Earlier in that tour, backstage atThe Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Metallica met with Spinal Tap and discussed how their "black album" was a homage to Spinal Tap'sSmell the Glove. This was captured on the Metallica DVDA Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.
In a 1992 interview,Nirvana explained declining an offer to be part of the filmSingles.Kurt Cobain goes on to say, "There's never really been a good documentary on rock and roll bands."Dave Grohl then cuts in saying, "Except forSpinal Tap, [that] was the only rock movie worth watching," which Cobain agreed with, as well as mentioningDont Look Back, by D.A. Pennebaker.
According to a 1997 interview inSpin magazine withAerosmith rhythm guitaristBrad Whitford, "The first timeSteven [Tyler] saw it he didn't see any humor in it." When the film was released, Aerosmith's then-latest album,Rock in a Hard Place, depicted Stonehenge prominently on the cover.
U2 guitaristThe Edge said in the documentaryIt Might Get Loud that when he first sawSpinal Tap, "I didn't laugh: I wept," because it summed up what a brainless swamp big-label rock music had become.[46]
In a 2023 interviewChris Frantz ofTalking Heads said "we watchedSpinal Tap and I thought, ohh, I can never take myself seriously again."[47]
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It became a common insult for a pretentious band to be told they were funnier than Spinal Tap. AsGeorge Lynch put it, the more seriously a band took themselves, the more they resembled Spinal Tap.[44] After seeing a 1986 performance by metal bandVenom, singerHenry Rollins compared them to Spinal Tap.[48] In their respectiveBehind the Music episodes,Quiet Riot'sRudy Sarzo andRatt'sRobbin Crosby compared their own bands to Spinal Tap to some extent. For example, as a parallel to the "Shit Sandwich" incident, Quiet Riot's fourth albumCondition Critical was given the two-word review of "Prognosis: Terminal" byJ. D. Considine inMusician magazine. His review of the short-lived bandGTR's eponymousdebut LP in the same magazine was "SHT".R.E.M.'sMike Mills described the band's early tours as "very Spinal Tap", citing, among other things, they had played at a United States Air Force base.
Judas Priest, the heavy metal band that Rob Reiner saw in preparation for the film, has had many drummers in its career (eight in total), which the websiteUltimate Classic Rock described as "positively Spinal Tap-worthy".[49]Marillion guitaristSteve Rothery later described the run of five drummers in a year between his band's first two albums as "like Spinal Tap".[50] In thePearl Jam documentaryPearl Jam Twenty, the members jokingly refer to the fact that while the core lineup of the group has remained unchanged (singerEddie Vedder, guitaristsMike McCready andStone Gossard, and bassistJeff Ament), the band has had five drummers. They describe this as "very Spinal Tap of us". In the documentary, a mock silent film calledThe Drummer Story is shown explaining what happened to their previous drummers. In it, one of them is almost eaten by a sea monster, only to be rescued by Vedder, playing a lifeguard.
The Canadian heavy metal bandAnvil, whose drummer is named Robb Reiner, have been called "the real Spinal Tap" based on the misadventures depicted in their documentaryAnvil! The Story of Anvil.[51]
It is the origin of the colloquial phrase "Turn it up to 11", equivalent to "Go for broke".
On October 17, 2016, actorHarry Shearer filed a $125 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against bothStudioCanal, who owns the film's rights, andVivendi, which owns the studio. Shearer claimed that he and the other co-stars of the film received only $179 for sales of merchandise and music over the prior three decades. Shearer's lawsuit was specifically directed at StudioCanal by ordering the studio to terminate the copyright toThis Is Spinal Tap.[52] In February 2017, Shearer's co-starsChristopher Guest andMichael McKean, as well as the film's directorRob Reiner, joined the lawsuit against StudioCanal and Vivendi, seeking $400 million in damages.[53] In the same month, Vivendi made an attempt to move the court to dismiss the case.[54][failed verification] In September 2017, a judge dismissed Shearer, Reiner and McKean from the case.[55] In October 2017, Spinal Tap revised their case by addingUniversal Music Group (UMG, another division of Vivendi, whosePolydor label released the film's soundtrack) as a defendant, as well as the right to reclaim their copyrights to the film, its songs and characters.[56]
In August 2018, another judge ruled that Guest, Reiner, McKean and Shearer could pursue the fraud claim against Vivendi.[57]
The case related to sales of the soundtrack was settled out of court by November 2019, with UMG retaining the distribution rights but with the music rights eventually returning to Shearer, Guest, and McKean in the future.[58] A settlement between Vivendi, StudioCanal, and the cast on the merchandising aspect was reached in September 2020 with final details to be resolved in the following months.[59]
This Is Spinal Tap was first released onVHS in 1984 by Embassy Home Entertainment, and in 1994 as part of theCriterion Collection onLaserDisc under the titleThis Is Spinal Tap: Special Edition. It has also been released twice onDVD.
The first DVD release was a 1998Criterion edition in letterbox format which used supplemental material from the 1994 CriterionLaserDisc release. It is the onlydouble sided DVD in their catalogue, and it is nowout of print.[60] It included anaudio commentary track with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer; a second audio commentary track with Rob Reiner, Karen Murphy, Robert Leighton and Kent Beyda; 79 minutes of deleted scenes;Spinal Tap: The Final Tour, the original twenty-minute short they shot to pitch the film; two trailers that feature Rob Reiner showing a film about cheese rolling (because "Spinal Tap" itself was still in the editing room); a TV promo,Heavy Metal Memories; and amusic video for "Hell Hole". Sales of this edition were discontinued after only two years and the DVD has become a valuable collector's item. Much of this material had appeared on a 1994CD-ROM byThe Voyager Company that included the entire film inQuickTime format.
In 2000,MGM Home Entertainment released a special edition with more or less the same extras from the Criterion edition, plus a new audio commentary track with Guest, McKean and Shearer performing in character throughout, commenting on the film entirely in their fictional alter-egos, and often disapproving of how the film presents them; 70 minutes of deleted scenes (some of which were not on the Criterion DVD); a newshort,Catching Up with Marty Di Bergi (where it is revealed that the members of Spinal Tap were very disappointed in Di Bergi for making a "hatchet job" of their film); theHeavy Metal Memories promo and six additional TV promos; music videos for "Gimme Some Money", "Listen to the Flower People" and "Big Bottom"; and segments of Spinal Tap appearing onThe Joe Franklin Show. The special features were produced byAutomat Pictures. However, this version of the film was missing the subtitles that appear throughout the film (for example, introducing band members, other personnel, and location names) and did not include the commentaries from the Criterion edition. The MGM DVD is missing the subtitles burned into the film; they have been replaced with player generated subtitles.
Sometime in the 2000s, a workprint version of the film was uploaded online. This version is 270 minutes long. It includes many scenes never released in any home media release.[61]
A 25th anniversaryBlu-ray was released on July 28, 2009. It includes all bonus features from the MGM DVD, plus an interview with Nigel about Stonehenge, as well as the performance of "Stonehenge" from the band's Live Earth performance. It does not include the commentaries from the Criterion Collection DVD, even though MGM had stated that they would be included in the earliest press release for the Blu-ray version (most likely due to legal issues), and does not feature a "create your own avatars" element teased in publicity. However, this version does restore the subtitles that introduce band members/locales/events/etc. that were missing from MGM's DVD. The alternative, Region B, UK edition of this version additionally features a new hour-long documentary featuring famous fans, the "Bitch School" promo, the EPK for the "Back From The Dead" album, an interview with the late Reg Presley discussing the influence of the Troggs tapes on the film, and the first hour (ending with an abrupt edit) ofThe Return Of Spinal Tap. It does however lose the Di Bergi short and the Joe Franklin clip.
The Criterion Collection, under exclusive license fromMGM, released the film onUltra HD Blu-ray and a remastered Blu-ray on September 15, 2025, based on a 4K restoration of the film. This is the first release of the film since Criterion's DVD release to include the two crew commentary tracks; these never appeared on any non-Criterion release of the movie.[62]
Concurrent with the announcement ofSpinal Tap II, the sequel's distributorBleecker Street would acquire all domestic distribution rights for the first film fromCastle Rock Entertainment andCAA Media Finance in March 2025, with the company hosting all distribution going forward, including home media.[63]Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions picked up all media rights for rest of world including Canada for the 41st anniversary re-release of the film.[1]
Harry Shearer, who playedDerek Smalls, went on to become one of the main voice artists onThe Simpsons, providing voices forPrincipal Skinner,Mr. Burns,Waylon Smithers,Ned Flanders and many others. The members of Spinal Tap reprised their roles in "The Otto Show", first playing on a concert attended by Bart and Milhouse which escalates into a riot after the band's early exit, then having their tour bus run off the road by Otto in the school bus.[64]
TheInternet Movie Database normally allows users to rate films only up to ten stars, but specifically forSpinal Tap, the site allows users to rate the film eleven stars, referring to the "Up to eleven" scene.[65] OnIGN,This Is Spinal Tap was the only DVD—and seemingly the only thing reviewed on IGN—to get 11 out of 10.[66] This scene was also used in some news reports on the death ofJames Charles "Jim" Marshall, founder of the famous amplifier company whose equipment is featured in the scene.[citation needed] Richard D. Titus, UX&D Controller for the BBC, adopted aSpinal Tap-inspired suggestion from a colleague that the BBC iPlayer should have a volume control that goes to eleven.[67] The term has entered the vernacular, as with anautistic's description of sensory overloadvis-à-vis aneurotypical's routine filtering.[68]
Fran Drescher reprised the role of Bobbi Flekman during thefifth season of her hit television sitcomThe Nanny; it was the season's third episode, titled "The Bobbi Flekman Story". In the episode, Flekman is now a record label producer forThe Brian Setzer Orchestra, and an ex-business partner of character Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Drescher's regular character Fran Fine believes Flekman is attempting to seduce Sheffield, and impersonates her to stop it.[69]
Outside the world of music,J. K. Rowling citedSpinal Tap's series of drummers as an inspiration for theHarry Potter series, in which something bad happens to every teacher of Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts, causing them to leave the job without completing a full school year or returning for any subsequent years.[70]
A biographical comic book was released in 2018,That Was Spinal Tap, telling both the fictional story of the band and the real-life tale of the actors and others who created the characters and music. It was scripted byRock 'N' Roll Comics co-creatorJay Allen Sanford.
A sequel,The Return of Spinal Tap, was broadcast and released on video in 1992 to promoteBreak Like the Wind. It consisted mostly of footage from an actual Spinal Tap concert at theRoyal Albert Hall. In it, the "Stonehenge" joke from the original movie is referenced, as the new, large prop is too big to get into the venue. The piece also included interview footage with band members, who discussed their lives between the times of filmingThis Is Spinal Tap andThe Return of Spinal Tap. The band had broken up and gone their separate ways, before reuniting for the Albert Hall gig. David was living in California with Janine, where they operated a new age boutique (one of their customers beingGraham Nash), and David also volunteered for the parks department. Derek had joined the Christian rock band Lambsblood for a few years, but was now working with his father's telephone sanitizing business in England. Nigel also lived in England and tinkered as an inventor; his then-current project (as yet unperfected) was a folding wine glass. McKean, Shearer, and Guest were also briefly seen playing their 1960s folk-spoof bandThe Folksmen in this sequel.
In May 2022, directorRob Reiner announced that he was working on a sequel to the film, which will include him returning to play DiBergi, and McKean, Shearer, and Guest as the members of Spinal Tap. Cameos will includeElton John,Paul McCartney,Garth Brooks,Questlove andTrisha Yearwood.[71]
The film will be Castle Rock Entertainment's first film following its revival in 2021.[72][73][74] Filming started in February 2024, withBleecker Street acquiring distribution rights in March 2025 and setting a September theatrical release for the film. Bleecker Street, having also acquired the original film's distribution rights, would also immediately set a "41st Anniversary" theatrical re-release for that July as a promotional campaign for the sequel.[75][76][77]
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