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10[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spinal_tap_cover_art.jpg]]
11[[caption-width-right:350:[[DamnedByFaintPraise One of England's loudest bands]].[[note]]Left to right: Derek Smalls, David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel.[[/note]]]]
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13->'''Marty [=DiBergi=]:''' ''(quoting a review)'' "This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."\
14'''Nigel Tufnel:''' Well, that's... That's nitpicking, isn't it?
15
16[[Creator/RobReiner Marty [=DiBergi=]'s]] ''This is Spın̈al Tap'' (1984) is one of the greatest [[{{Rockumentary}} rockumentaries]] of all time. It may not be about one of the legendary bands, but it's a more intimate portrait than would have been allowed if it were about a more well-known band. It really gets inside the head of these rockers, and has more heart than any of those other rock films which consist mostly of filler between the concert scenes.
17
18Not even Creator/TennesseeWilliams could have written a better character study.
19
20For those of you who don't know Spın̈al Tap, they're a HardRock band that's been making some of the loudest heavy metal music around for years. Charismatic frontman David St. Hubbins, mesmerizing guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and rock-solid bassist Derek Smalls, not to mention a long line of drummers and keyboardists, are musical geniuses. You may not know the band, but you've certainly heard their big hits, like "Big Bottom" and "Stonehenge".
21
22The movie chronicles what may have been their darkest time -- their infamous U.S. tour in the early 1980s. They nearly broke up, but they proved that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and they came back strong, despite all the mishaps and mismanagement.
23
24For those of you who truly believe in ThePowerOfRock, this will affirm it like nothing else.[[note]]Alright, so it's actually a {{Mockumentary}} spoofing the egos and mishaps of other rock stars, starring Creator/MichaelMcKean, Creator/ChristopherGuest, Creator/HarryShearer, and Creator/RobReiner, who also directed. It's become a cult classic, with the actors making appearances elsewhere in character, and three real-world in-character albums by the band. Creator/BillyCrystal has a very very brief cameo as a mime. Creator/AnjelicaHuston, right at the beginning of her film career, appears in one scene as the woman who built the Stonehenge set in accordance with some careless directions drawn on a napkin. Creator/FranDrescher, almost a full decade before ''Series/TheNanny'', appears as Bobbi Fleckman, a record company exec who criticizes the original cover of one of their albums.[[/note]]
25
26Spın̈al Tap's back catalogue includes (but is certainly not limited to):
27* ''Spın̈al Tap Sings '(Listen To The) Flower People' and Other Favorites'' (1967)
28* ''We Are All Flower People'' (1968)
29* ''The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody'' (1969) [[note]]A budget re-issue of ''We Are All Flower People'' without its title track.[[/note]]
30* ''Silent But Deadly'' (live - 1969)
31* ''Brainhammer'' (1970)
32* ''Nerve Damage'' (1971)
33* ''Blood To Let'' (1972)
34* ''Intravenus de Milo'' (1974)
35* ''The Sun Never Sweats'' (1975)
36* ''Jap Habit'' (live - 1975)
37* ''Bent For The Rent'' (1976)
38* ''Tap Dancing'' (1976)
39* ''Rock 'n' Roll Creation'' (1977) [[note]]Also known as ''The Gospel According to Spın̈al Tap''.[[/note]]
40* ''Shark Sandwich'' (1980)
41* ''Smell The Glove'' (1982)
42* ''Heavy Metal Memories'' (compilation - 1983)
43* ''This Is Spın̈al Tap'' (soundtrack - 1984)
44* ''Break Like The Wind'' (1992)
45* ''Back From The Dead'' (2008)
46
47All [[{{Defictionalization}} but the final three]] are *cough* [[HandWave "out of print"]].
48
49Also see ''Film/AMightyWind'', another music documentary which features performances from various folk acts, including the Folksmen, who were frequently an opening act for Spın̈al Tap in the Eighties.[[note]]Ok, so the Folksmen are ''another'' FakeBand played by Guest, [=McKean=] and Shearer, and [[YouLookFamiliar the joke was that they would simply change costumes]].[[/note]]
50
51----
52!! "These tropes go all the way to eleven":
53
54* AccentuateTheNegative: The band's complaint of the film itself in the MGM Commentary, claiming [=Marty DiBergi=] edited the film to make them seem worse, saying, "Show the plane landing". They do have a point; for instance, the signing was depicted as no one showing up, but a DeletedScene did have one fan showing up, though that only made it worse when the band's autographs can't be seen on the all black cover. David snarks that Marty could have cut the radio interruption of the climax right out of the film, but didn't. [[invoked]]
55* AchillesInHisTent: Due to worsening circumstances on the tour, and increasing personality conflict with David's girlfriend Jeanine, Nigel leaves the band in the middle of the show; only to return during the band's final performance to reunite them for a [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff tour of Japan]].
56* AffectionateParody: As ridiculous as the movie makes rock music in general and heavy metal in particular look, Guest, [=McKean=] and Shearer do themselves enjoy it, which is reflected in the obvious effort they put into writing the soundtrack. It's pretty harsh, however, since they didn't mind skewering glam rock, especially when compared to the affection they show for folk music in ''Film/AMightyWind'', which is kinder and gentler to its subject.
57* AllThereInTheManual / WorldBuilding: The creators put together an extensive backstory for the band before filming, which is a big reason why they were so easy to [[{{Defictionalization}} Defictionalize]]. For example, one of the stage hands is named Moke, but you wouldn't know that without knowledge of expanded materials (such as the DVDCommentary).
58* AmbiguouslyBi: Nigel clearly enjoys the attention he gets from fangirls and has been shown with women in the movie, but there are numerous hints he may also harbor feelings for David.
59* AmbiguouslyGay:
60** The hotel manager that Ian calls "a twisted old fruit".
61--->'''Manager:''' I'm just as God made me, sir.
62** Sir Denis Eton-Hogg. During the end credits, Ian reveals Sir Denis was knighted for Hoggwood, a summer camp for pale young boys. The band described it as "a pervert's paradise" in ''The Spinal Tap Reunion''. In the DVD Commentary, Derek insisted Sir Denis was dead:
63--->'''David:''' I heard he was semi-retired.\
64'''Derek:''' ''(scoffing)'' Semi-retired in a hole.\
65'''Nigel:''' ''(chuckling)'' Someone ''else's'' hole.
66* AMFMCharacterization: The band's limo driver Tommy is a Music/FrankSinatra fan. The band don't share his enthusiasm.
67* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
68** PlayedForLaughs (obviously) in the "Stonehenge" musical number. In his introduction to the song, Nigel refers to the Druids as "a very strange race of people", describing them as if they were early inhabitants of the British Isles. The '''Celts''' were early inhabitants of the British Isles; the Druids were just the educated priest class in Celtic society (they were a social and professional caste, not a culture). The monument predates their presence in England by ''millennia''. He is right, however, that "no one knows who they were, or what they were doin'": we know ''very'' little about the Ancient Celts or the druids (the only written records are Roman, and many of them are unreliable propaganda), and we know even less about the actual builders of Stonehenge.
69** Nigel also refers to Stonehenge as "hewn into the living rock", which isn't accurate either, even if it sounds cool. Stonehenge is made from discrete pieces of rock that were quarried elsewhere and assembled where they currently sit, whereas architecture "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-cut_architecture hewn into the living rock]]" is carved directly into existing rock formations.
70* AskAStupidQuestion: After Ian leaves after the disastrous Stonehenge set.
71-->'''Derek:''' Can I raise a practical question at this point? Are we gonna do Stonehenge tomorrow?\
72'''David: NO, WE'RE NOT GOING [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] DO STONEHENGE!'''
73* {{Astrologer}}: Played for laughs on Jeanine. She knits a garish Saturn shirt for David, then suggests a Zodiac-themed concert with each band member wearing animal masks based on their sign.
74* TheBandMinusTheFace: InUniverse: "Spinal Tap Mark II", performing mostly long jazz-blues jams, after Nigel leaves.
75* BarbershopQuartetsAreFunny: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] when David said that he didn't like how their singing at Music/ElvisPresley's grave sounds like "[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] barbershop, [[GenreMashup barbershop]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga raga]]." They just can't sing "Heartbreak Hotel" that well.
76* BatterUp: Ian keeps a cricket bat around for use during "management disputes".
77** In a deleted scene, Ian uses the cricket bat to strangle a geeky, irritating concert promoter - which is shown briefly in the final film's "cricket bat" montage.
78** At the end of the film, Ian is palming his cricket bat, staring menacingly down at Jeanine.
79* BiggerIsBetter: In a DeletedScene, Nigel and David privately tell Derek he doesn't have enough "presence" in his tights on stage, leading to the GagPenis incident below.
80* BittersweetEnding: Tap is still popular in Japan! But once again they have to put all their plans for the future on hold.
81* BlandNameProduct: Polymer Records = Polydor Records.
82* BrickJoke:
83** Early in the film, it's revealed that Spın̈al Tap's drummers die in mysterious ways, including once by SpontaneousHumanCombustion. In the epilogue, the drummer explodes.[[note]]In the MGM commentary, the band admits they're glad Marty captured it on film for the insurance people.[[/note]]
84** Also early on, Nigel shows off a wireless guitar of his to [=DiBergi=]. It makes another appearance later on when Nigel plays it during a crappy gig on an Airforce base and it suddenly starts picking up military radio chatter mid-concert. Needless to say the already pissed-off Nigel doesn't take it well. It happens during the climax; on the MGM Commentary, a defeated David says they should have gone hard-wire.
85** The infamous Stonehenge episode receives a call back nearly eight years later; In ''The Return of Spın̈al Tap'', a DVD covering their touring of new album Break Like The Wind, they get a ''properly sized'' Stonehenge prop... which is naturally ''too big'' for them to get inside the venue.
86* BrilliantButLazy: Spın̈al Tap has genuine talent, but their work is incredibly generic, and their music style is whatever is popular at the moment. Moreover, they waste their talent on petty squabbles, chase for popularity and other low-minded minutia.
87* BritishRockStar: The band is made up of lads from England, with [[Music/TheRollingStones Jagger/Richards]]-esque Kentish/South East London accents, questionable fashion sense, and a love of fun. Nigel Tufnel, in addition to bearing a physical resemblance to Music/JeffBeck, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYcJlEipmw also sounds a lot like him.]]
88* BrutalHonesty: The most hurtful thing ever addressed to the band is radio DJ Johnny Q playing one of their early songs ("Cups and Cakes") as The Thamesmen, then saying they became Spın̈al Tap -- and are in the "Where Are They Now?" file. [[note]]This happens in the same city they are playing a concert in that night.[[/note]]In the MGM DVD commentary, David sighs that that statement still hurts, while Derek dismissively notes Johnny Q is now doing weather reports.
89* TheCastShowOff: All of the music was written and performed by the cast members, all of whom are highly-competent musicians.
90* ChangedMyMindKid:
91-->'''David:''' NIGEL TUFNEL, LEAD GUITAAAR!
92* CityShoutOuts: Parodied - as the band gets lost behind the stage in Chicago, one of the band members yells "Hello, Cleveland!"
93* ComicallyMissingThePoint: After the Stonehenge debacle:
94-->'''David:''' We had a Stonehenge monument that was in danger of being ''crushed'' by a dwarf!\
95'''Derek:''' Why don't we fix the choreography? So the dwarfs no longer tread on it ...
96** And of course:
97--->'''Marty:''' Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?\
98'''Nigel:''' ''(long pause, gazing stupidly at Marty, then...) These'' go to eleven.
99* TheComicallySerious: The entire cast does this. The humor is derived from everyone playing the most ridiculous situations completely straight.
100* ConceptAlbum: Parodied multiple times, once with an album of "religious rock psalms" inspired by the Book of Genesis, and again with the band's ongoing work on a "rock opera inspired by the life of Jack the Ripper", ''Saucy Jack''.
101* ConcertFilm: Parts of the film are live concerts.
102* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: All of the band, but specifically in the order of David, Derek and finally Nigel, who is off with the fairies pretty much every waking moment. There's also Jeanine, who is an astrology freak.
103* DamnedByFaintPraise: Marty [=DiBergi=], at the introduction of the movie: "I remember being knocked out by their, their exuberance, their raw power... and their punctuality."
104* DeadEndJob: Drumming for the band, of course! It's a running gag that the band's drummers keep dying in improbable ways, to the point that when their keyboard player dies, they find out that [[spoiler:he used to be a drummer. Although was not a scene from the actual movie]].
105* DeadManWalking: Given the band's unfortunate history with drummers, Mick Shrimpton realizes he's likely one of these. [[spoiler:Late in the movie he [[SpontaneousHumanCombustion explodes on stage]] during a performance.]]
106** For ''Break Like the Wind'', the band auditioned a few RealLife rock drummers. One was dismissed for wearing protective gear, saying he had too much "fear".
107* DemotedToExtra: The limo driver had a lot of scenes cut, such as sharing a hot tub with the band.
108* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight".
109** On the "Back From The Dead" DVD, David explains that another band had done a song titled "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You," hence the necessity of an extra "Tonight".
110* DeusExMachina: The revelation that the band is still popular in Japan.
111* TheDitz: The whole band, but Nigel in particular, which even gets {{Lampshaded}}.
112-->'''Ian''': Nigel gave me a drawing that said 18 inches. Now, whether or not he knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem. I do what I'm told.\
113'''David''': But you're not as confused as him, are you? I mean, it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel is!
114* DoubleEntendre: "Big Bottom", about the singer's love of his girlfriend's large rear end, features ''many'' of these.
115--> How can I leave this ''behind''?
116* DontTouchItYouIdiot: Nigel's guitars. Don't even ''look'' too long at them.
117* EarlyBirdCameo: Fred Willard, from a meta-standpoint, as he'd have larger roles in Guest's subsequent mockumentaries.
118* ElectrifiedBathtub: Invoked in a scene in which Mick Shrimpton is interviewed while taking a bath ''[[TooDumbToLive with a plugged in toaster sitting on the lip of the tub]]''.
119* EpicFail: A truly humiliating attempt to harmonize on "Heartbreak Hotel" at Elvis's grave, especially as they are in different keys.
120* FakeBand: Spın̈al Tap was not an actual band at the time of the film's creation, though it has been Defictionalized.
121* FollowTheLeader:
122** [[invoked]]Throughout their history, Spın̈al Tap seem to be in the habit of jumping on the bandwagon for whatever the latest musical trends are, such as UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion, psychedelic folk-rock and, most recently, glam metal.
123** The film itself follows ''[[Music/TheRutles Meet the Rutles: All You Need Is Cash]]'', a {{Mockumentary}} about an {{Expy}} of Music/TheBeatles.
124* {{Foreshadowing}}: Bobbi argues that what's on an album cover has nothing to do with sales, namedropping Music/TheBeatles ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'' as an example. Then comes Tap's all-black album.
125* GagPenis: Subverted with Derek Smalls. In the MGM commentary, David is amused at the fact that Derek wrapped the zucchini in aluminum foil.
126* GeniusDitz: All of the band are capable of playing their instruments well and it's clear they possess musical talent. All of the band are also morons.
127* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: An InUniverse example, as Spın̈al Tap's latest album unexpectedly proves to be very successful in Japan, leading to a much more successful tour in that country (where metal is very popular in real life). This trope is actually sometimes called "Big in Japan" in the music industry, chiefly thanks to Music/CheapTrick.
128* GloryDays: As much as the band might try to convince themselves otherwise, these days have clearly passed for Spın̈al Tap [[spoiler: at least outside of Japan]]. The venues are getting smaller and are selling fewer tickets, only one person comes to get their new album autographed (with the clear implication that it's also not selling well), and overall the general vibe is that Spın̈al Tap are well past their prime.
129** Later works involving the band show they've made at least something of a comeback.
130* GoodNewsBadNews: Invoked in the DVDCommentary. Nigel complains that Ian never had any ''good'' news for the band. David states that Ian told him that they already had good news: they're rock 'n' roll stars. The bad news is everything else.
131* HeavyMeta: Parodied with the song "Heavy Duty (Rock And Roll)".
132* HeavyMetal: The band's current phase in the movie is a parody of then popular "NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal" bands like Music/IronMaiden.
133* [[HeavyMetalUmlaut Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut]]: Parodied: the umlaut goes over the ''N'', producing a letter that is only used in Jacaltec (a Mayan dialect), Malagasy, and Cape Verdean Creole. Inverted with the dotless "i", which occurs in Turkish.
134** For context, the letter N with an umlaut above it is pronounced as 'ng', indicating one should be grunting the band's name.
135* HeavyMithril: Parodied with "Stonehenge".
136* HighTurnoverRate: The band has gone through quite a number of drummers.
137-->'''David:''' ''[[RevolvingDoorBand 37 people]]'' have been in this band over the years!
138* HitMeDammit: After a poor showing at a record signing, Artie Fufkin demands this of the band. ("I'm not asking you, I'm telling you! Kick my ass!")
139* HostilityOnTheSet: InUniverse: The worse things get, the more the band quarrels with Ian, until Nigel leaves.
140* HypocriticalHumor: A montage example, at the beginning when teenaged fans at a Spın̈al Tap concert are being interviewed. An AmbiguouslyBrown male fan tells the interviewer that "Heavy metal's deep; you get stuff out of it." He is followed a few seconds later by a blonde girl who remarks that she likes "the way they dress, [[HellBentForLeather the leather]]."
141* INeedToGoIronMyDog: "We'd love to chat, but we gotta sit in the lobby and wait for the limo."
142* {{Improv}}: The vast majority of the dialogue in the movie was improvised. Basically, the cast were given extensive back-stories and character sketches, and turned loose in front of the camera. Reiner shot several hours of footage, and distilled the best parts down into the movie. A couple hours of additional footage were included on the DVD releases, while quite a bit more circulates on a bootleg three-VHS set. This basic set-up was used by Christopher Guest to make his own improvised mockumentaries, including ''Film/WaitingForGuffman'', ''Film/BestInShow'', ''Film/AMightyWind'' and ''Film/ForYourConsideration'' and used many of the original cast members.
143** As examples, the sequence when the band comments on reviews of previous albums (including the rather terse review of ''Shark Sandwich'') and the scene where David & Nigel are asked about the first song they ever wrote, [[spoiler: "All The Way Home"]], are improvised by Guest and [=McKean=], prompted by the questions coming from Reiner.
144* InformedAttribute: During the introductory performance of "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You", both David and Nigel are credited as playing "lead guitar", but aside from the brief period in which Nigel quits the band, David is only ever seen playing ''rhythm'' guitar. Oddly enough, the intro sequence itself underscores this: during David's credit, he's shown hacking away at power chords, whereas Nigel immediately begins soloing when the camera cuts to him for his moment in the spotlight.
145* InformedFlaw: Spın̈al Tap's music is supposed to be terrible, as evidenced by their reviews ("Shit sandwich"), but while they ''are'' incredibly generic and the lyrics ''are'' repressed and juvenile, the music itself is quite catchy. Of course, part of the problem is the misapplied skills, such as Nigel writing a classical piece and calling it "Lick My Love Pump".
146* IntercourseWithYou: "Sex Farm", "Big Bottom"... actually a lot of their songs count as this. But that's metal for you.
147* LyricalDissonance: All over the place, but the most prominent example is a delicate piano piece Nigel writes called "[[spoiler:Lick My Love Pump]]."
148* ManChild:
149** [=DiBergi=] and Ian call out the band members for living in an adolescent fantasy world despite pushing 40.
150** David remarks, "Can't take him anywhere," to Nigel's insistence on keeping his gum on his finger in a restaurant.
151* MandatoryUnretirement: A real-world example, as Guest, [=McKean=] and Shearer have to periodically bring out the Spın̈al Tap characters - either through a one-off concert appearance (such as their appearance at the 2009 Glastonbury festival), a full concert tour, a TV appearance (such as Nigel's interview on Stonehenge for the National Geographic Channel), a new video/DVD release, etc. - or the rights to the characters revert from them back to the film's holding company.
152* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Of a sort, at least. On stage, Derek Smalls very heavily plays up the bestial, savage metal rock star image, but off stage he's very quiet, calm and meek. His bandmates invert this, being less 'extreme' on stage than Derek but much more egotistical and tantrum-prone off stage.
153* MeaningfulName: A spinal tap is one of the most painful procedures any human can have. It's doubtful the band intended that to be a commentary on their own music.
154* MetalDetectorCheckpoint: A hilarious example when Derek Smalls sets off an airport metal detector because he has a foil-wrapped zucchini tucked in his pants.
155* {{Metaphorgotten}} / ComicallyMissingThePoint: Derek Small's main hat.
156-->'''Marty:''' ''(reacting to Derek)'' So... you think of yourself as a preserved moose?
157* MinimalisticCoverArt: The released cover of "Smell The Glove", a completely black record sleeve; the joke was later repeated for the film's soundtrack album.
158-->''"It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black."''
159* {{Mockumentary}}: The TropeCodifier. It spoofs concert films which normally gloss over things similar to the events in this film.
160* MoneySong: "Gimme Some Money" is a gold-digging little number, with lyrics like "Your face is OK / But your purse is too tight." It's an AffectionateParody of "Money (That's What I Want)", best known to modern audiences in its cover version by Music/TheBeatles, although it was originally a Creator/{{Motown}} number.
161** The 90s 'Break Like The Wind' album has a number called 'Cash On Delivery'.
162* {{Narm}}: {{Invoked}} in-universe with the Stonehenge scene. Jeanine even says that the audience broke down in laughter over it.
163-->'''David St. Hubbins:''' I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem *may* have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being ''crushed by a dwarf''. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
164-->'''Ian Faith:''' I really think you're just making much too big a thing out of it.\
165'''Derek Smalls:''' Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea.
166* NeverMyFault:
167** Ian. He never takes any blame for the band's steady decline and losing gigs and hotel rooms (such as Boston, which he quips "[[BlatantLies is not a big college town]]"[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke There are over twenty colleges and universities]] in Boston ''alone''. More if, like most people, you include Cambridge, which, among others, brings such famous institutions as Harvard and MIT into the mix. It's over thirty if you include the first couple of towns outside the city, within the "128 corridor". This is the "not a big college town"[[/note]]). He also refuses to admit he should have noticed that the napkin said 18" (inches) and not 18' (feet).
168** Nigel and David also have a bit of this in relation to the Stonehenge prop, since they were the ones who confused 'feet' and 'inches' to begin with.
169* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
170** The name "Marty [=DiBergi=]" is a {{Portmanteau}} of Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/BrianDePalma, Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/FedericoFellini. Reiner's portrayal of him is mainly a goof on Scorsese, who was a rather clueless interviewer in his 1978 {{Rockumentary}} about Music/TheBand, ''Film/TheLastWaltz''. But the USS OORAL SEA cap is a specific TakeThat to Spielberg, who had a conspicuous habit of wearing military or law enforcement ball caps on his movie sets.
171** Nigel Tufnel is a loose parody of Music/EricClapton, right down to his name. The writers arrived at the name "Nigel Tufnel" by combining a generic British first name ("Nigel" instead of "Eric") with the name of a posh London neighborhood ("Tufnell Park" instead of "Clapton Pond"), thus keeping the parallels relatively subtle.
172** Lookswise, Nigel Tufnel is almost a dead ringer for Music/JeffBeck.
173** David St. Hubbins sings lead vocal and plays rhythm guitar. Derek St. Holmes sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar for Music/TedNugent.
174** Guest and [=McKean=] note in the Criterion DVD commentary that much of the inspiration for Spın̈al Tap came from the archetype of the long-lived British band whose star power has faded, but yet continued to ride their fame and grind out tours year after year, calling out Status Quo in particular.
175** Spinal Tap is rather similar to Music/TheBeeGees. Both Spinal Tap and The Bee Gees started out with a sort of folk-rock sound (compare "Listen to the Flower People" to early Bee Gees tracks like "I Started a Joke"). Both Spinal Tap and The Bee Gees radically remade their sound in the 1970s, the difference being that Spinal Tap went into metal while The Bee Gees went into disco. None other than Barry Gibb himself [[http://www.mtv.com/news/1427167/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony/ made this connection]] when The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
176** The real life band Spinal Tap most closely resemble is Music/StatusQuo. Like Spinal Tap, Status Quo started out as something of a beat group, forming as The Scorpions in 1962. After a couple of name changes and a stint as a poppy psychedelia band they retooled to a hard rock direction with the album ''Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon'' in 1970.
177** Music/{{Faces}} also had some RealLife parallels to Spın̈al Tap. They likewise started out under a different name (Music/TheSmallFaces) doing [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion British Invasion pop]], then had a huge hit with a [[HippieIndex Flower Power]] anthem ("Itchycoo Park"), with a major personnel change leading to a new name and a shift into HardRock. Faces fit all the BritishRockstar stereotypes, and a headscratching management decision had them play an Air Force base for their first gig under their new name. Also, compare Spın̈al Tap's [[StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks "Big Bottom"]] to the Faces' [[FakeBoobs "Silicone Grown"]].
178** Derek Smalls' accent and penchant for nonsensical statements is similar to Music/RingoStarr. Some of his look and stage mannerisms are similar to Mike Levine, bass player for Canadian [[RockTrio power trio]], Triumph.
179** The record company, Polymer Records, is an obvious reference to Polydor. It has had a reputation of short-changing artists, but the word ''polymer'' itself is the chemical name for plastics, implying "a cheap plastic imitation".
180** Ian Faith has some parallels with Music/LedZeppelin manager Peter Grant, which can be seen in comparison with Film/TheSongRemainsTheSame, certainly in terms of his penchant for occasional violence and his berating of a hotel desk clerk, but in his generally upper-class, can-do manner he more resembles both Brian Epstein, the longest-serving manager of Music/TheBeatles, and Kit Lambert, one-time co-manager of Music/TheWho.
181* NoodleIncident:
182** One former drummer is said to have perished in "a bizarre gardening accident".
183--->'''Nigel Tufnel:''' Authorities said... best leave it... unsolved.
184** Another former drummer appears to have somehow choked on someone else's vomit.
185** Nigel and David are shown with matching cold sores early in the movie, without any explanation. A deleted scene reveals that Spın̈al Tap's opening band for the tour has a female singer with a cold sore.
186* ObliviousToLove: Nigel obviously has a bit of an obsession with David - whether it's just a case of serious bromance or an actual romantic crush - and is rather devastated when David's girlfriend comes to join the tour. However, David simply doesn't see it, and is mystified as to why Nigel is constantly giving her hate-filled glares and trying to make fun of her at every opportunity (although Jeanine does seem to have an inkling). Then again, considering how much chaos and trouble she causes on her own, Nigel's completely justified in not liking her regardless of how he feels about David.
187* OnlySaneMan:
188** Ian Faith, the manager/surrogate guardian who picks up the pieces and consistently puts up with the band's stupidity and egocentricity, he's pretty much the only reason Spın̈al Tap is able to function on their tour, even with his NeverMyFault personality. [[spoiler:When he finally quits, the band quickly falls apart. Indeed, the only reason the band gets back together is due to him taking notice of the band's success in Japan.]] He does have some bizarre affectations (such as his cricket bat) but given they are more idiosyncrasies associated with the rock scene, it's hard to blame him.
189** Bobbi Flekman to a degree. Every second when dealing with the band, she's barely repressing the urge to roll her eyes.
190** Marty [=DiBergi=] as well. He manages to stay detached and professional while dealing with people whom he clearly knows are almost completely detached from reality.
191** David is the only band member who has any brief flickers of self-awareness.
192** Derek comes off as this to a lesser degree, in part due to being quiet, stoic and humble compared to David and Nigel.
193* OohMeAccentsSlipping: To a British ear, Harry Shearer's most of the time. [=McKean's=] strays into Australian on occasion (listen to how he says "purpose") and slips into his own American accent when he pronounces "Wisconsin". Chris Guest's accent is pretty flawless -- he's British-American of course, and is actually a [[BlueBlood hereditary peer]] (The 5th Baron Haden-Guest) on his father's side.
194** Actually [[InvokedTrope invoked]] with Shearer, as he based the character of Derek Smalls on English rockers who travelled so frequently between the UK and US that they ended up with a mid-atlantic accent, such as [[{{Music/Yes}} Jon Anderson]] and [[{{Music/Whitesnake}} David]] [[Music/DeepPurple Coverdale]].
195* OverlyLongGag: Nigel's guitar solo. Not only is it horrible, but he even strums his guitar with a ''violin''. The gag is extended when he pauses to retune the violin.
196* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Quite a few of them. For one, [=DiBergi=] was impressed with the band's punctuality.
197-->'''[=DiBergi=]:''' They've earned a distinguished place in rock history as [[DamnedByFaintPraise one of England's loudest bands]].
198* PilotMovie: When they were given seed money to pitch the film, the cast (being unsure how to put the style of the movie across) instead of filming scenes or developing production concepts, shot a complete twenty-minute film, ''Spın̈al Tap: The Last Tour'', as their 'pitch' instead. Some sequences, such as the performance of "Gimme Some Money" are lifted from the original short film. It appears only on Criterion's long out-of-print pressing of the DVD, not on MGM's more recent pressing.
199* ProductDisplacement: Marty's cap in the film says "USS OORAL SEA". This is because the Navy would not allow the film to feature the USS Coral Sea's name. A quick adjustment to the cap and it was fixed. The MGM commentary makes fun of it, pondering where the USS Ooral Sea was located.
200* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Spın̈al Tap has the habit of interjecting classical music in their songs, such as Music/PachelbelsCanon and [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Eine Kleine Nacht Musik]]. On the MGM commentary, Nigel claims he was always worried they'd get sued for using Pachelbel's Canon, but had to be reminded that Pachelbel died a long, ''long'' time ago.
201* PunnyName: Joe "Mama" Besser, as in "[[YourMom Yo' mama]]".
202* TheQuietOne[=/=]TheStoic: Compared to Nigel and David's egotistical flouncing, Derek is incredibly humble, quiet and unflappable.
203* RandomEventsPlot: After [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives expressed concern]] about the story's episodic structure, Jeanine was added as a character specifically to give the film some sort of loose narrative arc.
204* RedOniBlueOni: David and Nigel. Derek describes their complementary but conflicting personalities and musical instincts as "fire and ice", with him being somewhere in the middle, "sort of like lukewarm water".
205* RefugeInAudacity: The group's main hat, usually out of desperation for attention. One of the songs on the film's soundtrack album is "Christmas With the Devil", and [[CrossesTheLineTwice it is as sacrilegious as it can possibly be]].
206* {{Retraux}}: The band's songs from TheSixties. On the soundtrack album, the drums on "Gimme Some Money" are [[GratuitousPanning panned all the way to the left]], similar to the extreme stereo separation of many recordings in the 1960s.
207* RewatchBonus: In the restaurant scene, seeing Nigel write ''18"'' on the napkin now that you know to look for it.
208* TheRoadie: When there is a goof on stage (prop failure, or a fancy move has GoneHorriblyWrong), the stage crew tries valiantly to fix it.
209* TheRockStar: Three of them, in fact, though more in their own heads than in reality.
210* RuleOfFunny: Why would a British band be confused by the 24 hour clock? Well, [[TitleDrop this]] ''[[TitleDrop is]]'' [[TitleDrop Spın̈al Tap]] we're talking about.
211* RunningGag:
212** The band playing before ever smaller crowds in ever lamer venues as the tour goes along. By the time they reach California, they're performing before only a couple dozen people at an amusement park[[note]]Supposedly in Stockton, but actually filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain[[/note]]. They're billed ''after'' a touring company of ''Theatre/TheWiz'' and a ''puppet show''. In the MGM commentary, David still has no idea what ''The Wiz'' is.
213** On the DVD commentary, every other scene is "the turning point". Also, them claiming every third person is now dead.
214* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After being pushed too far by David and [[YokoOhNo Janine]] following the disastrous Stonehenge performance, [[OnlySaneMan Ian]] tells her and the rest of the band to go fuck themselves and promptly quits.
215** [[spoiler: Nigel follows suit during the gig at the air force base after being frustrated by the sound interference and by extension the lousy gigs. Janine also seemed to have a hand in his irritation]]
216* SeriousBusiness: Nigel Tufnel vs. the too-small sandwich bread, which he proclaims a "complete catastrophe".
217* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll:
218** Mick Shrimpton says he literally lives for the three things and that if he gets kicked out of the band, sex and drugs will be enough for him to scrape by on.
219** Viv Savage (on his epitaph): Have a good time ''all'' the time.
220* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: A variation. David states Jeanine is not his ''wife''. According to David, they did get married, but divorced sometime in 2000 ("When the millenium changed, so did she.")
221* ShoutOut:
222** The band going through many drummers was possibly inspired by Music/TheGratefulDead's "curse" on keyboard players.
223** The band experiencing a revival of its fortunes in Japan is a Shout Out to Music/CheapTrick, whose 1979 live album ''Cheap Trick at Budokan'' was originally intended to be released only in Japan but which became their best-selling album by far.
224** The argument in the studio was also inspired by ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrXfK9Osmvs The Troggs Tapes]]'', a bootleg of StudioChatter by The Troggs arguing over a song, with plenty of profanity.
225** Nigel's use of a violin in his over-the-top guitar solo is a reference to Jimmy Page's use of a violin ''bow'' on the Music/LedZeppelin classic "Dazed and Confused". Nigel takes it to another level when he pauses to retune the violin.
226** The all-black cover of ''Smell the Glove'' is an obvious reference to Music/TheWhiteAlbum by Music/TheBeatles, although the latter did actually have the band's name embossed on the cover, as well as a unique serial number for every copy in the original print run.
227* SixthRanger: In the DVDCommentary, Tap claim Marty wanted to be "the sixth Tap". (It's actually a reference to a DeletedScene in which Marty did join Tap on stage.)
228* TheSixties:
229** Parodied with one of the band's previous hits, "(Listen to the) Flower People", which is done in the style of psychedelic pop bands of the time like Music/JeffersonAirplane, though their style is closer to Music/TheMoodyBlues.
230** Also, "Gimme Some Money", is a drop dead parody of Beatlesque pop and of The Beatles' ''Ed Sullivan Show'' appearance, right down to their bow at the end. (As mentioned above, the specific song most closely being parodied is "Money (That's What I Want)".)
231*** It's mentioned that David and Nigel started out in a skiffle group, before leaving to form Spinal Tap. This is a reference to The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul [=McCartney=], George Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe started out in a skiffle band before they changed styles and band names, becoming what we know as the Beatles.
232** Then there's "Cups and Cakes" in the style of Peter and Gordon’s "Sunday for Tea."
233* SpecialEffectFailure: Happens a few times InUniverse.
234** The Stonehenge monolith is 1/12 its intended size and in serious danger of being knocked over by a dwarf.[[invoked]]
235** The embryonic pod that freezes shut, trapping Derek Smalls during the band's performance of "Rock and Roll Creation". Then it ''finally'' opens, just as the song ends, and he rushes out, only to have to get back in the pod for the ending - whereupon it (predictably) closes on his arm just as he tries to get back inside.
236* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: The fate of three of the band's drummers--one of whom is said to have gone up in "a flash of green light," leaving "a little green globule" on his drum seat, and two more who explode on the band's tour of Japan. In the DVD commentary, the band is happy [=DiBergi=] caught it on film, for insurance money's sake.
237--> '''David St. Hubbins:''' You know, dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported.
238* StealthParody: Perhaps partially due to the fact that the {{Mockumentary}} was a little-known genre at the time, many people assumed that the film is a real documentary, apparently missing all the talk about SpontaneousHumanCombustion.
239* StealthPun: "Big Bottom" seems at first to be just another [[StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks Stuffy Old Song About the Buttocks]], but notice that the song features ''three'' bass players. In other words, it has a huge low end. To take this further, it also has the drummer pounding away on the low toms and the keys playing in the lower octaves.
240* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: "Big Bottom" is a parody of such songs.
241* StylisticSuck: The song lyrics are deliberately silly, though the songs themselves can be quite catchy.
242** Enforced hard with "Jazz Odyssey", which even to fans of 70s jazz-fusion is absolutely terrible, and only goes to shows why David isn't the lead guitarist. Or why Derek Smalls doesn't write songs.
243* TeamMom: Jeanine believes herself to be this. In reality she isn't terribly good at it, and tends to create as many (if not more) problems as she solves.
244* TechnologyMarchesOn: Since the invention of DNA profiling in the 90s, you in fact, can "dust for vomit" now.
245* TeenyWeenie: Derek's problem, according to Derek and Nigel in a DeletedScene, not having enough "presence" on stage, which leads to the security point incident.
246* TooAwesomeToUse: Nigel tells [=DiBergi=] that the most treasured guitar in his collection "can never be played" (or touched, or pointed to, or looked at), yet he brings it on tour. TruthInTelevision: [[spoiler:That particular instrument is a Fender VI, a six-string bass guitar, which was originally produced only between 1961 and 1975, original mint-condition models of which would indeed be Too Awesome to Use in real life. Moreover, Tufnel's bass guitar is one of only two instruments which exist in the Sea Foam Green colour. Fender and Squier have since reissued the VI, partly because of the sheer mystique of the original instrument.]] Also [[spoiler:Tufnel's '59 Gibson Les Paul, which costs slightly more today than an Amati violin.]]
247* TooDumbToLive: Granted, Tap's drummers tend to die at an incredible pace, but Mick is shown in one scene in a filled bathtub ''with a plugged in toaster'' on the side of the tub.
248* TragicHero: A depressing undertone of the movie is that Hubbins and Tufnel are genuinely talented composers and musicians, but squander their talents due to their immaturity and infatuation with the "rock star" life. One scene in particular has Nigel showing the director his latest piece, a beautiful piano instrumental, citing influence from a range of classical composers. He calls it "Lick My Love Pump."
249* TropeCodifier: This film was shot in 1982, one year before Music/QuietRiot released ''Metal Health'', the first best-selling album to be universally referred to as "metal." As a result, ''This Is Spın̈al Tap'' can be credited with popularizing a number of metal tropes, particularly HeavyMithril and RockMeAsmodeus
250* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: The released cover of "Smell The Glove" gets played up as this in a scene. David doesn't buy it.[[invoked]]
251** By the time of the 2000 DVD commentary, David had brought himself to agree that Ian's argument for the black cover 'looking like death' ("Death sells") was accurate.
252** According to the DVDCommentary, Joe "Mama" Besser (the drummer who replaces Mick after he explodes on stage in Japan) left the band because he couldn't stand "this 4/4 shit".[[invoked]]
253* TruthInTelevision: The film has a lot of this, but one of the more mind-spinning examples has to do with Nigel's piano piece, "Lick My Love Pump". Although Nigel's claims to be influenced by "[[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]] and [[Music/JohannSebastianBach Bach]]" aren't really borne out by the piece itself (which doesn't sound much like either of them), Mozart did write a three-part canon called ''Leck mich im Arsch'' (Ger., "Lick me in the arse".)[[note]]Actually, Mozart might not have written the music, but he definitely wrote the text.[[/note]]
254* TwoDecadesBehind: In-universe, Tap's style is best defined as "whatever was popular when we were writing this", usually a trend or two behind. They've managed to stay at least somewhat popular pretty much since Rock and Roll became a thing.
255* UnbuiltTrope: Some of the most memorable scenes have Spın̈al Tap performing songs that aren't strictly heavy metal but that owe their existence to subgenres of rock music that strongly influenced metal, including rockabilly ("Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight") and rhythm-and-blues ("Big Bottom").
256* UnitConfusion: Nigel draws a sketch of Stonehenge with measurements he wants for the model. Unfortunately, he writes it in inches instead of feet, leaving the band with a Stonehenge prop that is dwarfed by a pair of dwarfs.
257* ValuesDissonance: InUniverse. The [[http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00494.HTM original cover]] of "Smell The Glove".
258-->'''Bobbi Flekman:''' You put a ''greased naked woman'' on all fours with a dog collar around her neck, ''and'' a leash, and a man's arm extended out up to here, holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it. You don't find that offensive?\
259'''Ian Faith:''' No, I don't--\
260'''Bobbi Flekman:''' You don't find that sexist?\
261'''Ian Faith:''' This is ''1982,'' Bobbi, c'mon![[note]]In the MGM Commentary, the band reacted loudly to how much time has passed since the film was shot, the commentary being recorded in 2000.[[/note]]\
262'''Bobbi Flekman:''' That's ''right,'' it's 1982! Get out of the '60s. We don't have this mentality anymore.\
263'''Ian Faith:''' Well, you should have seen the cover they wanted to do! It wasn't a glove, believe me.[[note]]It was a condom. A "glove".[[/note]]
264* VisualInnuendo: Just watch the way Nigel [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything handles the neck]] of his guitar, [[HoYay particularly around David]].
265* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: Nigel's inability to remember how to write measurements in the imperial system results in a stage prop of Stonehenge smaller than the dwarfs they've hired to dance around it. (Specifically, he confuses the abbreviations for feet -- an apostrophe -- and inches -- two apostrophes.)
266* WhiteDwarfStarlet: The entire band is fading into this, until they tour in Japan.
267* YokoOhNo: Jeanine Pettibone has shades of both Music/YokoOno herself and [[Music/WingsBand Linda [=McCartney=]]]. She's inseparable with David to the point that she basically becomes his spokesperson in the band's affairs, which frustrates everyone else. Then after Ian Faith quits she takes over as manager and does such a piss-poor job that Nigel quits and the band is basically on life support as the tour hits its final leg. And she actually starts joining them onstage as well, playing tambourine and singing.

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