Spinal Tap On Progarchives

An the gorillas can talk but they can`t swear.

mrcozdude wrote: Vibrationbaby wrote: I`ve had the opportunity to have written 3 band bios for this great web-site ( Larry Coryell, Guru Guru and Octobre ) and have proposed the addition of rock spoof band Spinal Tap where I would write a silly bio following their fictional career based on the three movies, actual albums,archival material plus outakes ( unused material ) from the first film This Is Spinal Tap.   three movies?  I only know the first or does the recent documentry count but that still leaves two!Someone explain

The three Spinal Tap movies I was referring to were the Original "This Is Spinal Tap" which most people are familiar with. The one Easy Livin pointed out " The Return Of Spinal Tap" which was made for TV, and the almost 5 hour bootleg version which includes everything that was filmed before it was edited down. I believe it is now available legally. There`s also a DVD of the original " This Is Spinal Tap " which contains about an hour of unused material plus commentary from Spinal Tap in Character often saying what a botched job DiBergi did in his portrayal of the band. For example: Nigel says that sometimes they could find the stage but " Did he use that......". There`s also a few short promo  films : Catching Up With Marty DiBergi, Cheese Rolling and Spinal Tap: The Final Tour.  Also they also made about 5 or 6 actual videos. The ones I have seen are : Hell Hole, Majesty of Rock, Big Bottom, Listen To The Flower People, and Gimme Some Money ( as THe Thamesmen ). Plus their more recent appearance at Live Earth. Plus numerous TV appearances.

Once again, I`ll repeat myself, they are a satire of rock music in all forms from REM to Van Halen ( Eddie van Halen once said that everything in the bloody film bloody well happened to him! ) to Yes, even Tom bloody Waits thought it was close to reality.

I just think their impact on the whole rock world has been too huge to be ignored and don`t think it would tarnish the reputation of this site to include them in some form. I think it could lighten things up a bit. " Seriously ".

There's a DVD called "The return of Spinal tap" which is mainly a live performance but has some funnies in between the songs.

Vibrationbaby wrote: Well, these are the  Tap albums I actually have:-Break Like The Wind  ( LP ) ( I believe it was re-mastered in CD form in `00 )-Spinal Tap : The Original Sountrack Recording From The Motion Picture -Bitch School ( EP )-Christmas With The Devil ( single )- Majesty Of Rock ( EP )So they are a freakin`real band or I`ll be a monkey`s uncle.They`ve appeared on Letterman as well as numerous other shows. My point is that they poke fun at all rock `n roll in general from glam-rock to prog-rock and they using their "real " songs focusing more on the seventies. I don`t know, I took a look at some of the entries in the various genres section and I end up scratching my head. I mean Peter & The Wolf?????? Tarzan????? In fact, listening to some of  Tap`s music ( which they play themselves ), I find some of it is actually great stuff, and is better than some weaker stuff by Tull, Yes & ELP. I mean they`ve been on Letterman, The Simpsons and other shows in the US &UK. Hell, they even do a duet with Cher ( Just Begin Again ) on Break Like The Wind. So I don`t know.

Yeah, and Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes have done cameos as Jay and Silent Bob. That doesn't mean they are real people. They are characters those guys play. Spinal Tap is parody. Even if it was an actual band, it's not prog.

Here`s one reference to artists. I think that the Nigel`s guitar collection scene was almost certainly  influenced by Steve Howe and John Entwistle who were fanatical guitar collectors. I could think of tons more.
Marty De Bergi : Do you play all these?
Nigel : I play them and I cherish them.


Edited by Vibrationbaby - October 24 2007 at 11:35

There is another discussion about them with those EM.

Easy Money wrote: Whether or not they belong on the site doesn't change the fact that they made a great movie, maybe the only movie that does a funny parody of mid 70s psuedo progressive rock and other excessive 70s rock styles. The movie has a lot of clever references to various 70s bands. In one scene the bassist steps up to the mic and screams, and the whole shot is done like Waters doing Careful with that axe at Pompeii. When the band changes their lineup they refer to the new lineup as MK II ala Deep Purple. I have heard in an interview that Iron Maiden was the overall blue print for Spinal Tap. I have seen Maiden videos where they have a very similar color scheme to Tap in their presentation, but to me the keyboard player is based on Ian Stewart of the Stones.

I think it got to a point where just about every semi successful classic rock band was claiming to have lived through a Spinal Tap moment or two. I even read that when the movie first came out, that the Scorpions were rather offended by it because they thought that most jokes were based on them (????). Most other acts just laughed it off as being a day in the life.
P.S. No to the question. I wonder if VB is just getting back for the assaults suffered in the Stuck in the Seventies thread. What's next -the Rutles in Proto-Prog ? Nigel Kennedy in Symphonic prog ? Dogs & Cats living in peace ? where will it all end ? WIth Metallica in PA ? With PA declaring AC/DC the ultimate non-prog act ? With my noticing my new tagline & wondering if I see the irony in it ?


Edited by debrewguy - October 23 2007 at 18:22

Easy Livin wrote: Sean Trane wrote: clarke2001 wrote: I voted for "absurd idea"...but I love absurd ideas. I'm not sure are they suitable for prog-related on PA though. Maybe.   To be clear, I also voted this, because to me this option is a clear: yes, include them.   Which is exactly the whole point, let's be fun and unpredictable,n let's be absurd.   I think that's the point Hugues. It would be funny for a short while, perhaps as an April Fool ruse, but on an ongoing basis my personal opinion is it would be absurd.   They are simply not a real band, they are actors. They have a fictitious catalogue, and a real one which is made up of the soundtrack to the film. We would end up with review after review which tried to be funny but failed miserably.   The film is brilliantly funny, but I really could not support their addition. I'd perhaps be persuadable to a various artists addition for the film.   (This is a personal view, it does not mean they have been rejected by the admin team)

Edited by Sean Trane - October 23 2007 at 05:16

At the end of the day -- parody band or not -- they are quite simply not prog.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: RaphaelT wrote: Definitely - Bill Bruford said that there was a lot of "Spinal Tap" in Yes' history - they could make a genre of their own - after all, they are special and unique band   Please, don't people get that they don't exist?   They are like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy...Please we can't add them.   Iván

  Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy don`t exist? What about the Great Pumpkin Don`t tell me he doesn`t exist as well.