* AluminumChristmasTrees: You may be surprised to find out that the "Lick my Love Pump" gag is indeed based on real life- Mozart had a piece called "Leck Mich Im Arsch" (Lick Me In The Ass), which is the German equivalent of saying "Kiss my ass".
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Not only are some of the songs ("Stonehenge" particularly) fairly awesome, but when you remember that they were written ''as parodies'' of real rock songs, they become all the more so.
** Especially the case with "Big Bottom": the lyrics are inane (they are literally about women's arses) but the songs uses keyboards and ''triple bass guitars'' for crying out loud. Not many real bands could even pull that off trying to create serious music.
** It is telling that the songs still ''really'' work even though they're comical and mostly parody. The follow-up album, ''Break Like The Wind'', has this in spades too, and has a bunch of prominent musicians who got the joke (''and didn't take it too seriously'') guest-starring in the songs.
* CrossesTheLineTwice:
** The original cover for ''Smell The Glove'' (which the band can't understand why the label finds offensive).
--->'''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? You don't find that sexist?\\
'''Ian:''' [...] Well, you should have seen the cover they ''wanted'' to do! It wasn't a ''glove'', believe me.
** The pedophilia humor in "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight."
--->''You're sweet, but you're just four feet\\
And you still got your baby teeth\\
You're too young, and I'm too well hung\\
Tonight I'm gonna rock you''
* DirectorDisplacement: A semi-example. Since Creator/RobReiner is well-known and appears in the film, most viewers are aware that he directed, but since Creator/ChristopherGuest would go on to use the ''Spın̈al Tap'' template for his own series of [[{{Mockumentary}} Mockumentaries]], it's often thought of as a Guest film.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Bobbi Flekman. Her character was so popular that an episode of her actress Fran Drescher's series ''Series/TheNanny'' revolved around her, with Drescher ActingForTwo.
** Paul Shaffer brought back Artie Fufkin for a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTeT9TkC1r8 Funny or Die video]].
** Paul Benedict as the oddball desk clerk at the hotel in Memphis makes a strong impression in his short scene, coming up with two great one-liners in his verbal sparring with Ian Faith--"don't tempt me, sir" (in response to Ian asking how they're supposed to fit 14 people into one bed) and "I'm just as God made me, sir" (his indignant reply after Ian calls him a "twisted old fruit").
* FountainOfMemes:
** "These go to eleven."
** "Money talks and bullshit walks."
** '''"NO, WE'RE NOT GOING TO FUCKING DO STONEHENGE!"'''
** "There was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf."
** "You think of yourself as a preserved moose?"
** "Enormo-dome"
** "What's wrong with being sexy?" "Sex-''ist''. Sex-''ist''."
* FridgeBrilliance:
** The "Mach" piece. Nigel says it's a combination of Mozart and Bach, but it's also a mach piece (as in, say mach 5), something the band members would likely call their music, as well as a "mock" piece, because it's not a real song; finally, if you know your Mozart and your Bach, you know that to call this very pretty but not-at-all classical piece of music a 'combination of Mozart and Bach' is, well, a mockery. The title "Lick My Love Pump", the most obviously absurd part of the bit, actually ''is'' very similar to a few Mozart song titles.
** The song "Big Bottom" features 3 bassists instead of a guitarist. As in, a large low end.
* GeniusBonus:
** People knowledgeable about music history can tell that the band has spent their whole careers chasing the most popular music styles, but always getting there a bit too late.
** Towards the end of the film, Derek and David discuss a proposed musical about Jack the Ripper called "Saucy Jack." There actually ''was'' a 1976 Jack the Ripper musical, and one of its songs, "Ripper's Going to Get You," has a similar music hall style to "Saucy Jack."
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The song "Gimme Some Money", in light of [[https://www.gq.com/story/spinal-tap-vs-hollywood the 2017 lawsuit]] spearheaded by Creator/HarryShearer (which Guest, [=McKean=] and Reiner all joined later) against Vivendi over their UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting practices, which means the creators have seen hardly any royalties for the three-plus-decades of Spın̈al Tap projects.
** In 2020, Music/{{Queen|Band}} guitarist Brian May really did suffer [[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/08/brian-may-hospitalised-gardening-injury-tears-buttock-muscles a bizarre gardening accident]]. Fortunately, he survived it, likely because he's not a drummer.
* HoYay: Nigel seems to have a crush on David. At the launch party, both Nigel and David have venereal diseases on their lips (indicating if they weren't kissing each other, they were engaging in a three way.)[[note]]There were deleted scenes about Spın̈al Tap's support band. A still of the female lead singer (reprinted in a book about the movie) shows that she also had a herpes blister on her lip, the implication being that she went through half of Spın̈al Tap before she and the rest of her band decided that Tap's evident massive unpopularity meant that being Tap's ''support'' band was actively bad for their image, and bailed early on in the tour. They ended up being cut from the final film.[[/note]] As Creator/RogerEbert [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010121/REVIEWS08/101210301/1023 noted]] in his re-review of the film:
-->'''Ebert:''' When Nigel learns that David's girlfriend Jeanine Pettibone is flying over from England to join the tour, his heart sinks. His crush on David is obvious to everyone except, of course, David.
* MemeticMutation:
** "None more black"
** "Quite exciting this computer magic"
** "Bizarre gardening accident"
** Up to eleven was {{Defictionalized}} by its inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary, and the movie's [[EasterEgg IMDb page]]. Specifically the star rating. It also used to be the name of a since-removed Trope.
* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: The movie is popular among touring musicians of all stripes. As the LifeImitatesArt example on the trivia page attests, the events of the film hit very close to home for many musicians. Despite the potshots taken at HeavyMetal musicians and fans, metalheads and metal musicians alike are also big fans of the film.
* MisaimedFandom: "Up to Eleven" has entered the public consciousness as an example of something going above and beyond its initially perceived potential. In the film itself the phrase is a joke, as the amplifiers that supposedly go to eleven are obviously designed with the exact same audio spectrum, only with more units.
* ProductionPosse: Rob Reiner's usual stable of actors, including Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby (most notably for ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally''). The leads would have bit parts in his films, too.
* RetroactiveRecognition: In spades, many of the following actors and actresses would go on to become famous.
** [[Film/WhenHarryMetSally Billy Crystal]] and [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Dana Carvey]] as a pair of catering mimes.
--->'''Crystal-Mime:''' ''(bossy)'' Come on! Mime is money!
** The late [[Film/CitySlickers Bruno Kirby]] as a limousine driver. (His part was larger in the PilotMovie.)
** Creator/DavidLetterman's bandleader as the band's A& R rep.
** Creator/FranDrescher as Bobbi Fleckman, the record company exec who criticizes the original cover of ''Smell the Glove''.
** [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment Stan Sitwell]] as a previous drummer during their Beatles phase.
** Diana's rival from the original ''[[Series/{{V1983}} V]]'' as David St. Hubbins' girlfriend.
** Creator/FredWillard as a military commander at an airbase Tap performs at.
** Creator/AnjelicaHuston as the poor prop designer who is told to '[[spoiler:fuck the napkin!]]'[[note]]'''Derek:''' Well, you really can't fuck the napkin.[[/note]]
** B-movie scream queen Brinke Stevens as a groupie.
* SignatureLine: "These go to eleven".
* {{Squick}}: One drummer died choking on vomit. ''Someone else's'' vomit. [[note]] Whose is unknown, because, "You can't dust for vomit."[[/note]]
* ValuesDissonance: After 9/11, Derek's prank at the airport metal detector with the zucchini would ''not'' be taken so lightly, and to a modern audience it seems downright irresponsible.
* ValuesResonance: Bobbi Fleckman's criticism of the sexist proposed cover for ''Smell the Glove'' seems apt with the [=#MeToo=] movement's skepticism of sexualization in media, with the line, "We don't have this mentality anymore."
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