Under the heading of “Time Flies…”, I realized last night that my ‘Falling For the First Time‘ series is almost a year old! In honour of this spin around the sun, and to enlighten any new readers I might have picked up, I thought it best to recaps the goal of the series.

Around this time last year, I was having a conversation with someone about the films of my youth (read: 80’s and 90’s). It was – and still is – my belief that some films I held dear and regard as pop culture classics haven’t aged all that well. On the flip side, I also believe that some of them have aged gracefully, and would do well if someone was to watch them now for the first time.

Somewhat surprisingly to me, titles like THE BREAKFAST CLUB, FERRIS BEULLER’S DAY OFF, and SCARFACE have all only mustered rantings of 7/10. One unfortunate flick – FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH didn’t even warrant a passing grade!

So in search of a pop culture classic from time of yore that might clim to new peaks, I turned to the loudest band in the world and sent them as an offering to Allison the Nerd Vampire. Let’s see what she thought…

RM: I was intrigued when you suggested this film, as it was one that I’d never really considered for this series. What did you think?

ANV: I liked the tone of the movie a lot and I appreciate it automatically for all of the cultural influences and references.  All of the band’s clashing egos and personal drama are the best, along with the 37th or 38th drummer they’ve gone through (or they’re on a grand total of 38 members, but you KNOW the drummer is going to die).

RM: Ah yes, the tragic gardening accident, and the moment of self-combustion. That conversation is still one of the funniest parts of the film…for me at least. What about you? Any moments in particular jump out you as especially good?

ANV: I love seeing anything North Carolinian on film, so the segment that takes place in Chapel Hill was automatically a charmer, even though it’s entirety was complaining about the food plate and Nigel showing off his guitars.  If I were to give a less-biased answer, definitely the entirety of the Stonehenge arc, from doodling it on a napkin up to its stage appearance.

RM: Wow, talk about a hometown bias! Jokes aside, I’ve always loved the entire Stonehenge debacle, from the doodle to the ridiculous post-show argument it causes (“Are we not doing Stonehenge tonight?…”). How about the music in the film? Strange that despite the band supposedly being past its prime, the music is actually still a lot of fun, no?

ANV: Yeah, I was actually surprised that Spinal Tap is supposed to be on the downgrade when their music sounds very good for 80s hair metal.  It’s only the lyrics that indicate their songs are parodies, but even now we’ve got metal bands that reference druids and vikings.  I guess that’s something that’ll never change.

RM: A-a-a-a-n-d now I have “Gimme Some Money” stuck in my head. Coming into the film, did you know much about it or have any particular expectations?

ANV: I expected it to be a little more laugh out loud funny.  There were definitely moments of that, but a lot of the jokes seemed more clever than hilarious.  That probably has to do with aging more than anything else, plus all of the references it gets in pop culture.  For instance, it’s hard to go into Spinal Tap blind without already knowing about the “11” joke.

RM: Interesting. Now, a hinge to this film would be the four Christopher Guest mockumentaries (WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION)

When you saw those, did you find them to be laugh-out-loud? And I you have seen them, how well do you find TAP fits within them?
 
ANV: Actually, the only other Christopher Guest mockumentary I’ve seen is FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, which fits pretty neatly with SPINAL TAP after the actors hear their Oscar buzz.  They become such over the top “cool” actors when they appear on TV, and they look so much sadder when they go back to teaching acting classes.  Spinal Tap seems like they’re being just as ridiculous with their operatic metal act, but at least they get revived in Tokyo.
 
RM: Ah! Well in that case you’re in for a treat when you do get around to watching them. I do suggest that you bump A MIGHTY WIND up the cue since it compliments TAP beautifully. Admittedly though, BEST and GUFFMAN are widely considered his best.
Was there much about the film that hasn’t held up, or made it feel especially dated?
 
ANV: The whole Stadium Band experience is lost to me.  The music culture in and around Chapel Hill is more about intimate clubs and venues, maybe with a max at a few hundred seats, so when they’re quoting the smaller venues at 3,000 it seems like they’re still plenty popular, if not as successful as they had been. 

It doesn’t seem “modern” anymore in that sense, but it still seems relevant for how bands go through drama and shenanigans.

RM: Funny, because the first thing I noticed is talk of cover art and airplay. (Talk about problems musicians don’t face as much anymore).

ANV: ANV: I was thinking when it appeared that a black album would probably sell very well nowadays.

RM: No kidding – certainly didn’t hurt Metallica or Jay-Z! I get what you’re saying about concert crowds though. Here in Toronto we have a stadium that holds more than 50,000 and next to nobody plays it because next to nobody can fill it. The biggest house bands pull in in this town on a regular basis is 20,000 at the basketball arena.

Anything about the film that flat-out didn’t work for you? I ask because on the whole it’s seeming like you really enjoyed the film (not that that’s a bad thing)
 
ANV: It didn’t not work for me, but I kind of rolled my eyes at the disruptive girlfriend plot line.  It’s too much of a trope not to include it in Spinal Tap and it made Stonehenge possible, so I’ve gotta give it props.
 
RM: Well sure, but she shoulda been fired after not getting them top billing over the puppet show. 
 
ANV:  Y’know, thinking back on it, it would have been nice to see a rendition of “Tiny Dancer” on the Spinal Tap tour bus. I have a question for you: Do you remember how you felt after the first time you saw it? 
 
RM: I shudder to think what song the posse assembled on the Tap tour bus would break out into. Possibly “Beth” by KISS?Oddly enough, the first time I’d heard of the band was back around 1991 when they released an album called “Break Like the Wind”. At the time I hadn’t the first clue that they were the subject of a comedy…and sadly, I had no savvy film-going friends to bring me from the darkness to the light. The first time I finally saw the film would have been ten years ago or so, and I too hadn’t seen a Guest mockumentary yet.I actually laughed out loud several times through the course of the film – there’s a fine line between clever and stupid, raggae barbershop, the zuchinni – but that said, it’s not very hard to make me laugh.So it’s time to see if the prevailing trend continues in this series – what would you score THIS IS SPINAL TAP on a scale of 1 to 10

ANV: I’m going to give it an 8.5

RM: Our highest ranking so far! Thanks Allison.

I’m always looking for new entries in this series. If there’s a pop culture staple from the 80’s or 90’s you’ve never seen and you’d like to watch it for this series. Drop me an email and let me know!

11 Replies to “Talkin’ SPINAL TAP with Allison the Nerd Vampire”

  1. As a fellow Carolinian I must say I’m rather happy Allison liked this one because I’ve had a hell of a time trying to get others to board the bandwagon. Most of the people I’ve shown this to give me a look that says “thanks for trying but not even close” and that includes some of my more music fanatic friends who crave anything from the ’80s era.

    1. On the one hand I can see how some of the humor in TAP would be too dry for mass appeal…but I’m always hopeful.

      Don’t stop suggesting it to people – it could turn into your own little litmus test:

      “Pardon me, do you like THIS IS SPINAL TAP?”
      “Why yes, yes I do.”
      “Good. Wanna go for drinks some time?”

  2. The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’. That’s what I said. The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand. Or so I read. My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo. I’d like to sink her with my pink torpedo.

    Oh man, I love this film. “Big Bottom” is my favorite song by Spinal Tap for how subtle it is.

  3. SPINAL TAP is one of precious few films that gets funnier for me every time I watch it, the only other I can think of being Dr. Strangelove. It especially gets funnier the more I learn about the hard rock/metal scene. The accents are so good that some Brits have said they were fooled, and the jokes so dry that it’s hard to tell where they start and where they seamlessly fade into the next gag. Every now and then I watch it when I’ve seen another old or new metal documentary (seriously, as affecting as it was, Anvil! sent me and a lot of other people back here), and I laugh even harder than I did the first time.

    1. Prior to watching it for this piece it had probably been a good five or six years since I last watched it, so certain jokes landed a bit harder than they had in the past (“Lick My Love Pump”)

      I really think I missed an opportunity by not immediately following TAP with our copy of A MIGHTY WIND…

    1. Actually no, because not everything Lady Hatter pushes are films I think hold up. There’s a lot of stuff she loves dearly that has not aged well.

      There’s a lot of stuff i love dearly that I don’t think has aged well either.

  5. Yay, hi Allison! Awesome interview! I’m a fan of this movie but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. I need to revisit it so I can make a Spinal Tap gig poster.

    1. Huzzah! Can’t wait to see that poster…although couldn’t you put one out there that was completely black and call it a day?

      I just realized you haven’t done one of these with me. Are there any 80’s/90’s pop culture classics you’d like to tackle?

      1. Yeah I know it’d be fun to do one of these but I’m not sure what movie! I’m sure there are several I haven’t seen.. SCREAM, ANIMAL HOUSE, RISKY BUSINESS (or most of the big Tom Cruise movies, really, incl. JERRY MAGUIRE), AIRPLANE! (I’ve seen about half of this one on tv when I was a kid, doesn’t really count)… Do any of those work? Have you done those already, I don’t remember all of them.

        And yes an all-black Spinal Tap poster would be easy enough, and hell it’d probably sell haha.

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