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(Cracked)   This Is Spinal Tap: 16 behind-the-scenes facts that walk the fine line between stupid and clever   (cracked.com) divider line
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2943 clicks; posted to Entertainment » on 03 Mar 2021 at 7:42 PM (7 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Ghastly [TotalFark]
2021-03-03 5:50:27 PM  
Thomas Dolby uses Spinal Tap jokes to break the ice when he's working with musicians he doesn't know well since musicians almost universally love the movie and this backfired when he used it on Eddie Van Halen who hated the movie because he thought they were mocking him.
 
GlamrLama
2021-03-03 7:47:34 PM  

Ghastly: Thomas Dolby uses Spinal Tap jokes to break the ice when he's working with musicians he doesn't know well since musicians almost universally love the movie and this backfired when he used it on Eddie Van Halen who hated the movie because he thought they were mocking him.


Thread over.

/CSB
 
Jack Sabbath [TotalFark]
2021-03-03 7:47:48 PM  

Ghastly: Thomas DOBLY uses Spinal Tap jokes to break the ice when he's working with musicians he doesn't know well since musicians almost universally love the movie and this backfired when he used it on Eddie Van Halen who hated the movie because he thought they were mocking him.


FTFY
 
Snapper Carr
2021-03-03 7:48:44 PM  
My favorite Spinal Tap story concerns the origin of Spinal Tap.

Supposedly Christopher Guest was staying in a hotel in LA that a lot of rock bands patronized when they played LA.  He overheard a conversation where the bassist of an unnamed band was talking to their manager about forgetting his bass guitar on the flight from the last tour stop.  This overheard conversation apparently sparked the idea that would lead to Spinal Tap.

Based on some preliminary research I've done, the bassist in question is either Lemmy (who was still with Hawkwind) or Gary Thain from Uriah Heep.

I like to think it was Lemmy as it just adds to his legend.
 
calufrax
2021-03-03 7:48:56 PM  
Far better than Spinal Tap...

img.discogs.comView Full Size
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2021-03-03 8:00:57 PM  
There's a great line that I missed and only realised years later. "The Boston gig has been cancelled. Don't worry, it's not a big college town."

As a young Brit I just didn't twig at the time that you can't throw a stick in Boston without hitting a university.

/Guest is a real life Lord, and sat in the British House Of Lords.
 
Birnone
2021-03-03 8:04:36 PM  
The marketing in Norway makes sense to me. If you're the sort who liked Airplane then This is Spinal Tap will strike a chord with you.
 
phedex
2021-03-03 8:05:26 PM  
The movie has universal appeal, wether you're a rock/metalhead or not.
 
BeatrixK
2021-03-03 8:11:31 PM  
In a list about Spinal Tap - it's really a crime against nature and all that the Universe cherishes that they didn't keep this list to 11 facts.
 
FarkaDark
2021-03-03 8:14:37 PM  
Watched Spinal Tap last night.
Getting a kick out of this
 
G-Ride [TotalFark]
2021-03-03 8:22:53 PM  
We watched it multiple times in college and my German roommate was one of those folks that thought it was a real documentary and we certainly did nothing to dissuade him of that belief.

It's been something like 30 years and he is still upset about that.
 
Spice Must Flow
2021-03-03 8:23:12 PM  
Speaking of hilarious mockumentaries...
The Rutles - Get Up And Go
Youtube amiBTezWKqQ
Meet the Rutles is an amazing movie, based in a true life story of Marty Python.

My dad thought that Marty Python guy was hilarious. I did too...
 
someonelse
2021-03-03 8:25:06 PM  
The cold sores bit is so much funnier left unexplained.
 
Jack Sabbath [TotalFark]
2021-03-03 8:36:49 PM  

Snapper Carr: My favorite Spinal Tap story concerns the origin of Spinal Tap.

Supposedly Christopher Guest was staying in a hotel in LA that a lot of rock bands patronized when they played LA.  He overheard a conversation where the bassist of an unnamed band was talking to their manager about forgetting his bass guitar on the flight from the last tour stop.  This overheard conversation apparently sparked the idea that would lead to Spinal Tap.

Based on some preliminary research I've done, the bassist in question is either Lemmy (who was still with Hawkwind) or Gary Thain from Uriah Heep.

I like to think it was Lemmy as it just adds to his legend.


Here he is telling the story to Ricky Gervais.

Christopher Guest - "Where's Your Bass?"
Youtube VqNFPB3bNpw
 
henryhill
2021-03-03 8:56:17 PM  
17. The only film in my 55 years that I went to see in the theatre two nights in a row.
 
2fardownthread
2021-03-03 9:11:14 PM  
I own the movie on CD.

Yes. CD. It is the Quicktime 2.0 version of This is Spinal Tap. A time capsule in a time capsule in a time capsule.
 
Crewmannumber6
2021-03-03 9:12:42 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: /Guest is a real life Lord, and sat in the British House Of Lords.


AND he's married to Jamie Lee Curtis!

Some guys have all the luck
 
bobbifleckman [OhFark]
2021-03-03 10:08:25 PM  
I wholeheartedly approve this posting. ;)
 
mcmnky
2021-03-03 11:05:45 PM  
Some other Tap tidbits...

Harry Shearer did some time as a roadie to prepare for the part.
The interview segments with Debergi are also improv, and the laughs are real when Reiner delivers the 2 word review "shiat sandwich."
The voices making announcements at the airport and the radio dj putting Tap in the "where are they now" file are voices of members of Spinal Tap.
Michael McKean's previous fictional band, Lenny and the Squigtones, had an English guitarist named Nigel Tufnel.
Duke Fame, Tap's one time opening act, is played by Paul Shortino, member of Quiet Riot.

Last, but not least, there's a podcast that covered This is Spinal Tap one minute at a time
http://spinaltapminute.com/
 
GlamrLama
2021-03-03 11:27:16 PM  

mcmnky: Some other Tap tidbits...

Harry Shearer did some time as a roadie to prepare for the part.
The interview segments with Debergi are also improv, and the laughs are real when Reiner delivers the 2 word review "shiat sandwich."
The voices making announcements at the airport and the radio dj putting Tap in the "where are they now" file are voices of members of Spinal Tap.
Michael McKean's previous fictional band, Lenny and the Squigtones, had an English guitarist named Nigel Tufnel.
Duke Fame, Tap's one time opening act, is played by Paul Shortino, member of Quiet Riot.

Last, but not least, there's a podcast that covered This is Spinal Tap one minute at a time
http://spinaltapminute.com/


Lenny and the Squigtones are not fictional.  I have their album. Night after Night is awesome.
Lenny and the Squigtones - Night after Night
Youtube HLTx5ZwJiS0
 
mcmnky
2021-03-03 11:34:08 PM  
I prefer King of the Cars
Lenny and The Squigtones - American Bandstand, 1979!
Youtube mS5qlEcttEw
 
Joey Jo Jo Jr Shabadu
2021-03-03 11:34:31 PM  

mcmnky: the laughs are real when Reiner delivers the 2 word review "shiat sandwich."


That part still gets an extra laugh out of me because you can tell it's a genuine reaction.
 
spiralscratch
2021-03-03 11:51:45 PM  

2fardownthread: I own the movie on CD.

Yes. CD. It is the Quicktime 2.0 version of This is Spinal Tap. A time capsule in a time capsule in a time capsule.


Yep, I have that too.. somewhere around here...

If I ever find it again, hopefully something will actually be able to play it. I don't recall if my copy was Mac-only (System 7 at the time IIRC) or also supported Windows.
 
Thank You Black Jesus! [BareFark]
2021-03-04 12:10:20 AM  
fran drescher was ridiculously hot in that movie
 
calufrax
2021-03-04 12:52:44 AM  
A Mighty Wind is worth seeing, especially for this band:

pbs.twimg.comView Full Size
 
SoberCannibal
2021-03-04 1:12:22 AM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: There's a great line that I missed and only realised years later. "The Boston gig has been cancelled. Don't worry, it's not a big college town."

As a young Brit I just didn't twig at the time that you can't throw a stick in Boston without hitting a university.

/Guest is a real life Lord, and sat in the British House Of Lords.


I heard a podcast interview with JLC where she related a story about how, as Baron and Baroness Haden-Guest, they attended the ceremonial opening of the House of Lords one year.  After the pomp and circumstance she asked an usher for directions to the gift shop. She came out loaded with bags of stuff and the usher said something along the lines of,  "I hope milady found the gift shop to her satisfaction" at which point she pulled out a house of lords thong and waved it in his face and said "absolutely!"
 
Gordon Bennett [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-03-04 3:01:21 AM  

mcmnky: Michael McKean's previous fictional band, Lenny and the Squigtones, had an English guitarist named Nigel Tufnel.


The name Nigel Tufnell is a leftfield reference to Eric Clapton. The link is dull name + station on the London Underground.
 
El Rich-o
2021-03-04 3:04:39 AM  
Marty DiBergi was clearly based on Scorcese in 'The Last Waltz' which doesn't often seem to get mentioned.
 
saturn badger [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-03-04 3:09:04 AM  

henryhill: 17. The only film in my 55 years that I went to see in the theatre two nights in a row.


I saw Blue Man Group and Spamalot back to back. Both were excellent.
 
54n71460
2021-03-04 6:53:44 AM  

Birnone: The marketing in Norway makes sense to me. If you're the sort who liked Airplane then This is Spinal Tap will strike a chord with you.


In Mexico the Airplane films where called "Y donde está el piloto?" (Where's the pilot?), after that a lot of parodie movies continued with the trend, most remarkably "Y donde está el Policía?" (Naked Gun). It's still going on.
 
Skarekrough
2021-03-04 7:27:45 AM  
One you might not know....Nigel Tufnel's guitar collection came from Norm's Rare Guitars in Hollywood.  The Flying V in natural finish he plays in a few scenes is actually pretty rare and is owned by Joe Bonamassa.  Epiphone did a reissue of this specific model named "Amos."
 
Abe Vigoda's Ghost [TotalFark]
2021-03-04 8:32:36 AM  

calufrax: A Mighty Wind is worth seeing, especially for this band:

[pbs.twimg.com image 526x547]


Re-watched that a few nights ago.
So much talent in one movie.
 
dittybopper [recently expired TotalFark]
2021-03-04 8:45:51 AM  
Here's one I didn't know, and is not in TFA:

Vicki Blue, the bassist who replaced Jackie Fox in "The Runaways", played Cindy in Spinal Tap.
 
Rev. Skarekroe
2021-03-04 9:14:54 AM  

G-Ride: We watched it multiple times in college and my German roommate was one of those folks that thought it was a real documentary and we certainly did nothing to dissuade him of that belief.

It's been something like 30 years and he is still upset about that.


I watched 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould in college and was shocked to discover, when the credits rolled, that Glenn Gould is a real person and that the film WASN'T some sort of classical music version of Spinal Tap.
 
DecemberNitro
2021-03-04 9:44:17 AM  

Snapper Carr: My favorite Spinal Tap story concerns the origin of Spinal Tap.

Supposedly Christopher Guest was staying in a hotel in LA that a lot of rock bands patronized when they played LA.  He overheard a conversation where the bassist of an unnamed band was talking to their manager about forgetting his bass guitar on the flight from the last tour stop.  This overheard conversation apparently sparked the idea that would lead to Spinal Tap.

Based on some preliminary research I've done, the bassist in question is either Lemmy (who was still with Hawkwind) or Gary Thain from Uriah Heep.

I like to think it was Lemmy as it just adds to his legend.


God would never forget His bass.
 
JamesSirBensonMum
2021-03-04 9:44:56 AM  

Birnone: The marketing in Norway makes sense to me. If you're the sort who liked Airplane then This is Spinal Tap will strike a chord with you.


Are you writing tag lines now?
 
JamesSirBensonMum
2021-03-04 9:55:38 AM  
I saw Ian Anderson on his "rubbing elbows" tour in LA.  He'd hook up with a local DJ to do Q&A between songs, and had a local celeb come in to hang out.  Harry Shearer was the celeb the night I was there, and yes, they talked Tap.
Apparently almost every rock band thinks they were mocking them because they all had similar experiences (like getting lost on the way to the stage).

Ian related the story of seeing Tap in London, and worrying that some songs might not be appropriate his 13yo daughter.  He said he turned around and she was gone; he found her in front of the stage, rocking out to Big Bottom.

/ DJ was Jim Ladd
// I dislike Jim Ladd
/// He should've stayed with KTWV
 
Snatch Bandergrip
2021-03-04 10:10:07 AM  

G-Ride: We watched it multiple times in college and my German roommate was one of those folks that thought it was a real documentary and we certainly did nothing to dissuade him of that belief.

It's been something like 30 years and he is still upset about that.



Well, Germans are pretty good at holding grudges
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2021-03-04 10:26:43 AM  
I remember when Tap guested on The Simpsons, and they only credited Guest and McKean, not Shearer. Took me a minute to remember that Shearer is a regular on the show anyway...

I also remember being impressed with the "1960s" footage of the band, songs like Give Me Some Money. They were very convincing.
 
SoberCannibal
2021-03-04 10:54:26 AM  

Rev. Skarekroe: G-Ride: We watched it multiple times in college and my German roommate was one of those folks that thought it was a real documentary and we certainly did nothing to dissuade him of that belief.

It's been something like 30 years and he is still upset about that.

I watched 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould in college and was shocked to discover, when the credits rolled, that Glenn Gould is a real person and that the film WASN'T some sort of classical music version of Spinal Tap.


Gould was a real eccentric, though he was very hip to the value of presenting a character for public consumption, in his case that of a monkish recluse.  Decades after his death I learned that he had actually taken up with the wife of a colleague, and led a fairly normal family life for a while.  He eventually slid off the end of the spectrum.
 
Skarekrough
2021-03-04 11:37:01 AM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: There's a great line that I missed and only realised years later. "The Boston gig has been cancelled. Don't worry, it's not a big college town."

As a young Brit I just didn't twig at the time that you can't throw a stick in Boston without hitting a university.

/Guest is a real life Lord, and sat in the British House Of Lords.


As a musician in Boston this line gets hauled out regularly.
 
madgonad [OhFark]
2021-03-04 1:45:42 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: There's a great line that I missed and only realised years later. "The Boston gig has been cancelled. Don't worry, it's not a big college town."

As a young Brit I just didn't twig at the time that you can't throw a stick in Boston without hitting a university.

/Guest is a real life Lord, and sat in the British House Of Lords.


He is a baron, but he lost his seat in 1999 with the reformation of the house of Lords.

Oddly, the title will pass to his brother's line after his death because apparently adopted children can't receive titles or something in the UK.
 
Group W Bench
2021-03-04 4:37:57 PM  

mcmnky: Some other Tap tidbits...

Harry Shearer did some time as a roadie to prepare for the part.
The interview segments with Debergi are also improv, and the laughs are real when Reiner delivers the 2 word review "shiat sandwich."
The voices making announcements at the airport and the radio dj putting Tap in the "where are they now" file are voices of members of Spinal Tap.
Michael McKean's previous fictional band, Lenny and the Squigtones, had an English guitarist named Nigel Tufnel.
Duke Fame, Tap's one time opening act, is played by Paul Shortino, member of Quiet Riot.

Last, but not least, there's a podcast that covered This is Spinal Tap one minute at a time
http://spinaltapminute.com/


The keyboard player is from a great band called Rare Bird, David Kaffinetti.
 
mcmnky
2021-03-04 5:05:53 PM  

Group W Bench: mcmnky: Some other Tap tidbits...

Harry Shearer did some time as a roadie to prepare for the part.
The interview segments with Debergi are also improv, and the laughs are real when Reiner delivers the 2 word review "shiat sandwich."
The voices making announcements at the airport and the radio dj putting Tap in the "where are they now" file are voices of members of Spinal Tap.
Michael McKean's previous fictional band, Lenny and the Squigtones, had an English guitarist named Nigel Tufnel.
Duke Fame, Tap's one time opening act, is played by Paul Shortino, member of Quiet Riot.

Last, but not least, there's a podcast that covered This is Spinal Tap one minute at a time
http://spinaltapminute.com/

The keyboard player is from a great band called Rare Bird, David Kaffinetti.


David Kaff is a great guy. Also plays with Mutual of Alameda.

More trivia, Kaff sat in with Chuck Berry for the recording of the live portion of The London Sessions.
 
Ivo Shandor [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-03-04 10:38:36 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: I remember when Tap guested on The Simpsons, and they only credited Guest and McKean, not Shearer. Took me a minute to remember that Shearer is a regular on the show anyway...


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