Spinal Tap

Infobox Musical artist
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Origin = In fiction, England; in reality, the United States.
Genre = Heavy metal
Psychedelic rock
Hard rock
Pop rock
Years_active = 1982-1984, 1992
Label = Megaphone, Polymer (MCA Records)
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Current_members = David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean)
Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest)
Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer)
"Caucasian" Jeffery Vanston (C. J. Vanston)
Past_members = See: Former members

Unicode|Spnal Tap is a semi-fictional heavy metal band, the subject of the 1984 rockumentary/mockumentary film "This Is Unicode|Spnal Tap". The band members are portrayed by Michael McKean (as David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnel) and Harry Shearer (as Derek Smalls). They first appeared in a 1978 ABC comedy special, "The TV Show". The same trio of actors would be reunited as the American folk music revival band The Folksmen in the 2003 mockumentary "A Mighty Wind".

The film was accompanied by a soundtrack album of the same name. In the years since the film was made the actors who portrayed the band members have played concerts and released music under the Spinal Tap name.

Background

Fans of Spinal Tap have assembled the "mostly fictional" details about the band based on the film, albums, concerts and related promotional material. This includes a list of the band's former members and a discography.

Spinal Tap has had a succession of drummers, all of whom they claim have died under odd circumstances: one in a "bizarre gardening accident"; another "choked on vomit," (although it was never determined whose vomit it was, as "you can't really dust for vomit"), and a third from apparent spontaneous human combustion onstage, leaving only a small green "globule" on his drum throne.

Reunited

Spinal Tap "reunited" in 1992 for "Break Like the Wind", an album produced in part by T-Bone Burnett, an accomplished musician and record producer. The album was accompanied by a promotional audition for a new drummer attended by Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, Gina Schock of The Go-Go's, and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, who auditioned in a fireproof suit. A promotional concert tour followed, which included an appearance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, where they performed "The Majesty of Rock", a song they dedicated to Mercury and released as a single. The band also released the single "Bitch School."

On July 1, 1992, Tap crossed 5 time zones for three performances in St. John's, Newfoundland, Barrie, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia for Much Music and Molson's Great Canadian Party. For each performance of "Stonehenge", the miniature monument prop was delivered on stage in a courier envelope.

In 2000 the band launched a web site named "Tapster" where their song "Back from the Dead" was made available for download. Tapster was a parody of Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing network. [http://www.macobserver.com/article/2000/08/01.8.shtml] [http://web.archive.org/web/20001018130327/http://www.tapster.com/]

In 2001, the band "reunited" for the nine-city "Back from the Dead Tour" that began on June 1 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. The tour included a show at Carnegie Hall in New York City and ended in Montreal in mid-July at the Just for Laughs festival. The opening act for some of these shows were The Folksmen, the folk trio seen in the film "A Mighty Wind", and also performed by Guest, McKean and Shearer.

In 2007, Tap reunited again, this time to help combat global warming. "They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming." said Marty DeBergi. "Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing – that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler." This reunion also included the release of a new song called "Warmer Than Hell". The band played on the London leg of the SOS/Live Earth concert series, and Rob Reiner has directed a short film (entitled "Spinal Tap") which was released on the Live Earth website on 27 April. [ [http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/this-is-climate-change/2007/04/26/1177459821738.html Spinal Tap reunite] , "The Age", 26 April 2007.] The film reveals that Nigel Tufnel is now working as a farm hand looking after miniature horses. He plans to race them. David St Hubbins is currently working as a Hip-Hop producer and Derek Smalls is in rehab for being addicted to the Internet.

Other appearances

The band appeared as the musical guests on an episode of Saturday Night Live in the Spring of 1984. Barry Bostwick was the host. At this time producer Dick Ebersol approached Shearer, Guest and McKean to join the cast. Shearer and Guest accepted. (Mckean would not join until ten years later, by which time original producer Lorne Michaels was back at the show's helm.) Shearer's stint on SNL the following season--his second, the first having been the 1979-80 season--was to be short-lived, following creative disputes with the show's management. Shearer has said that when Ebersol made the offer during the Spinal Tap guest appearance "I didn't realize that guests were treated better than cast members."

In 1985, at the invitation of Ronnie James Dio, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer took part in the heavy metal benefit project Hear 'n Aid, to raise money for Ethiopian refugees. McKean and Shearer met dozens of real life metal stars, many of whom were huge fans of Spinal Tap. The musicians greatly enjoyed meeting McKean and Shearer and sharing their own stories of disastrous gigs and malfunctioning special effects.

As part of the promotion surrounding "Break Like the Wind", Spinal Tap was portrayed in "The Otto Show" episode of the animated series "The Simpsons", a television show in which Shearer is one of the principal voice actors. In "The Simpsons" they are as comically inept as in the film. "The Simpsons" follows the approach of the original film by presenting the group as if they were a real group. After a lacklustre onstage performance (during which a riot breaks out), Spinal Tap are shown apparently killed in a tour bus accident, caused by Otto's erratic driving. In 1993 "Nigel Tufnel" appeared in the rockumentary "Joe Satriani: The Satch Tapes".

In 1994, "The Return of Spinal Tap" was released on video; most of this was live material from a 1992 performance at the Royal Albert Hall, but it also included some interviews and follow-up on the band members.

In 2000, while promoting Tapster.com, Spinal Tap appeared and performed on the short-lived series VH1 The List and appeared on the Late Show.

A minor character in the 2004 film "Sons of Provo", a mockumentary about a fictitious Mormon boy-band, is named "N. Tufnel" in a hardly obscure tribute to Spinal Tap.

In 2006, "Nigel Tufnel" appeared in a Volkswagen TV commercial highlighting their offer of a free, exclusive First Act guitar with the purchase of qualifying automobiles. The guitar features knobs and inlays with the Volkswagen logo and pre-amps that allow it to be played through the car's stereo system.

Also in 2006, their song "Gimme Some Money" was used in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLYk0CgxQbM TV commercial] for OPEN from American Express.

Also in 2006, their song "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" appeared in Harmonix's video game "Guitar Hero 2".

Also in 2006, their song "Christmas with the Devil" appeared in BBC One promo spots for the network's Christmas programmes.

In 2007, while accepting an award from the BBC Two program The Culture Show, Christopher Guest broke into Nigel Tufnel, and considered what his wife and kids would make of the Mark Kermode shaped award. This sequence of the show has been added to [http://youtube.com/watch?v=30HE1Kf9px8 YouTube] .

On July 7, 2007 Spinal Tap played at Wembley Stadium in London [http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2120288,00.html] along with many major bands and groups as part of Live Earth, a Climate Change awareness concert. Their set included a new song written for the occasion, "Warmer Than Hell". During their final number, the song "Big Bottom", St. Hubbins and Tufnel both picked up basses. Spinal Tap was also joined by "every bass player in the known universe", including Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters); Robert Trujillo, Kirk Hammett, and James Hetfield (Metallica); Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party); and Adam Yauch (a.k.a. MCA), of Beastie Boys. They were also joined on back-up vocals by Annette O'Toole, Michael McKean's wife.

In May 2008, Nigel Tufnel mysteriously cropped up in five viral videos found on YouTube, expounding his nonsensical theories about Stonehenge and who was responsible for building it. His claims to have invented "decoder" experiments capable of unveiling the true purpose of the monument are, as yet, unproven.

On an episode of MAD TV Shearer, Guest and McKean appeared as a folk band.

Band members

Current members

*David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) – rhythm & lead guitars, lead & backing vocals, acoustic guitar (1964–present)
*Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) – lead & rhythm guitars, backing & lead vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin, violin bow, harmonica, keyboards, piano (1964–1982, 1982–present)
*Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) – bass guitar, backing & lead vocals, acoustic bass guitar (1967–present)
*"Caucasian" Jeffery Vanston (C. J. Vanston) – keyboards, backing vocals (198?–present)

Former members

Guitars, backing vocals

*"Ricky from San Francisco" (1982)
*Rhyan Gordon (1992) also played baseball bat

Keyboards, backing vocals

*Jan van der Kvelk (1965)
*Tony Brixton (1965–1966)
*Nick Wax (1965–1966)
*Dicky Laine (1965–1966)
*Denny Upham (1966–1968)
*Ross MacLochness (1974–1975)
*Viv Savage (David Kaff) (1975–198?) also played keyboard bass
*John Sinclair (1982)
*Jon Carin (Amnesty International performance in 1991)

Bass guitar, backing vocals

*Ronnie Pudding (1964–1967)
*Danny Jarman (1967)
*David Gilmour (Amnesty International performance in 1991)
*Tim Renwick (Amnesty International performance in 1991)
*Pino Palladino (Amnesty International performance in 1991)
*Cody Wheaton

Drums, percussion

*John "Stumpy" Pepys (1964–1967) Died in a bizarre, unexplained gardening accident
*Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs (1967–1974) Choked on vomit of unknown origin
*Peter "James" Bond (1974–1977) Spontaneously combusted onstage
*Mick Shrimpton (R. J. "Ric" Parnell) (1977–1982) Onstage explosion
*Joe "Mama" Besser (1982) Quit the band, claiming he "couldn't take this 4/4 shit"; according to an MTV interview with Spinal Tap in November 1991, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances
*Gary Wallis (Amnesty International performance in 1991) (Wallis pretended to explode at the end of the performance)
*Jody Linscott (Amnesty International performance in 1991)
*Richard "Ric" Shrimpton (1982–1999) Allegedly sold his dialysis machine for drugs, presumed dead
*Mick Fleetwood (2000) The only one to survive unscathed
*Scott "Skippy" Scuffleton (2001–2007) Fate unknown
*Plus 14 other drummers at various times all of whom are dead

Tambourine

*Jeanine Pettibone (1982)

Harmonica

*Little Danny Schindler (1965–1966)

Horns

*Jimmy Adams (1965–1966)
*Geoff Clovington (1965–1966)

Backing vocals

*Lhasa Apso (1965–1966)
*Julie Scrubbs-Martin (1965–1966)

ession members

*Dweezil Zappa – guitar on "Diva Fever" (plays left-handed)
*Cher – vocals on "Just Begin Again"
*Slash – guitar on "Break Like the Wind"
*Steve Lukather – guitar on "Break Like the Wind"
*Joe Satriani – guitar on "Break Like the Wind"
*Jeff Beck – guitar on "Break Like the Wind"
*Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals on "Christmas with the Devil", "Cash on Delivery"

Discography

tudio albums

Fictional

*"Cups and Cakes", (as The Thamesmen) (1965) [http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00546.HTM]
*"Spinal Tap Sings "(Listen to the) Flower People" and Other Favourites" (1967)
*"Brainhammer" (1970)
*"Nerve Damage" (1971)
*"Blood to Let" (1972)
*"Intravenus de Milo" (1974)
*"The Sun Never Sweats" (1975)
*"Bent for the Rent" (1976)
*"Tap Dancing" (1976)
*"Rock 'n' Roll Creation" (1977)
*"Shark Sandwich" (1980)
*"Smell the Glove" (1982)

Actual

*"This Is Spın̈al Tap" (1984)
*"Break Like the Wind" (1992)

Live albums

*"Silent But Deadly" (1969)
*"Jap Habit" (1975)

Compilations

*"Heavy Metal Memories" (1983)

ingles

Fictional

*"(Cry) All the Way Home" (1964)
*"Gimme Some Money" (1965)
*"(Listen to the) Flower People" (1967)
*"Breakfast of Evil" (1969)
*"Silent But Deadly" (1969)
*"Big Bottom" (1970)
*"Swallow My Love" (1970)
*"Nerve Damage" (1971)
*"Blood to Let" (1972)
*"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" (1974)
*"Stonehenge" (1975)
*"Nice 'n' Stinky" (1975)
*"Heavy Duty" (1976)
*"Bent for the Rent" (1976)
*"Tap Dancing" (1976)
*"Rock 'n' Roll Creation" (1977)
*"Sex Farm" (1980)
*"No Place Like Nowhere" (1980)
*"Hell Hole" (1982)
*"Lick My Love Pump" (part one of an unreleased rock trilogy)
*"Christmas with the Devil" (1984)
*"The Majesty of Rock" (1992)
*"Bitch School" (1992)
*"Return of Spinal Tap" (unknown date)

Actual

*"Bitch School" / "Springtime" (1992)
*"Back from the Dead" (2000)
*"Warmer Than Hell" (2007)

Bootlegs

*"Top Hit for Nows" (1968)
*"Audible Death" (1969)
*"Live at Budokan" (1975)
*"Openfaced Mako" (1980)
*"Got Thamesmen on Tap" (unknown date)
*"Maximum Tap" (unknown date)
*"It's a Dub World" (unknown date)
*"Ultra Rare Tap" (unknown date)
*"None More Black" (unknown date)

Unreleased material

*"Here's More Tap"
*"Flak Packet"
*"Lusty Lorry"
*"SEXX! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)"
*"Hernia"
*"Break Like the Wind Mark II"

Unfinished/unknown

* Nigel Tufnel's "Trilogy in D-minor", including song with the working title "Lick My Love Pump"
*David St. Hubbins' / Derek Smalls' "Saucy Jack", a musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper
*Derek Smalls' "Jazz Odyssey"

olo releases

Nigel Tufnel

*"Nigel Tufnel's Clam Caravan" (1979)
*"Pyramid Blue" (unknown date)

Derek Smalls

*"It's a Smalls World" (1978)

Ross MacLochness

*"Doesn't Anybody Here Speak English?" (unknown date)

Trivia

*In September 2002, the "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" included the entry: "Up to eleven": up to maximum volume" a reference to Nigel's amplifier that had controls that went beyond the usual maximum setting of 10.
*The Homestar Runner website includes a reference to "Quite Exciting This Computer Magic!", a phrase used in a tour bus scene from "This Is Spinal Tap" where keyboard player Viv Savage is playing a video game; also, in the new toon [http://www.homestarrunner.com/weclomeback.html Weclome Back] {sic}, Homestar is seen wearing a green skeleton shirt similar to the one Nigel Tufnel wore throughout the film.
*The "n" with an Umlaut exists in the Jacaltec language of Guatemala and the Malagasy tongue, where it represents a velar nasal consonant. This mark and the dotless I that precedes it are included as a parody of the heavy metal umlaut.
*The Damned's "Black Album", Metallica's "Black Album", Utopia's "Oblivion", AC/DC's "Back in Black", King Crimson's "Earthbound", Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and Prince's "The Black Album" are examples of (almost) all-black album covers.
*A number of Spinal Tap's songs cover identical subjects to renowned songs by other bands. For example, "Gimme Some Money" is similar to the Beatles' "Money (That's What I Want)" (and its appearance in "This Is Spinal Tap" is a parody of the Beatles' famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show) and "Big Bottom" is similar to Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." The subtext is that Spinal Tap is so unoriginal they do not just imitate other bands' sounds, but their "subject matter" as well. "Big Bottom" features three bass guitars.
*In an episode of Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham says to Alexis Bledel, "That's like accepting the position as the drummer in Spinal Tap," in reference to Alexis going out on the patio at her grandmother's house.
*"Electric Banana" (mentioned in the film) is a pseudonym used by The Pretty Things in the late 1960s. It may also be a reference to Donovan's "Mellow Yellow", which contains the lyric "electrical banana."
*In an interview with "The Observer", Noel Gallagher said his brother Liam (both of British rock band, Oasis), "...had seen the film "This Is Spinal Tap", loved it and thought they were a real band."
*The British band Supergrass uses a line from "All The Way Home", the first song Nigel and David wrote together, in "Evening Of The Day". The original line is "If she's not on the five-nineteen, Then I'm gonna know what sorrow means." while in the Supergrass song it's "If she's not on that three fifteen, Then I'm gonna know what sorrow means." The Rialto song "Monday Morning 5:19" might also be a reference to this same song; the line there is "It's Monday Morning 5:19, and I'm still wondering where she's been."
*Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin was asked in an interview by Rolling Stone what scenes in Spinal Tap hit home. He replied: "Getting lost on the way to the stage. That was us, playing in Baltimore. It took twenty-five minutes to do the hundred yards from our Holiday Inn through the kitchen to the arena."
*On a concert in the late 80's, the members of Kiss got lost on their way to the stage, just like Spinal Tap did in the film "This Is Spinal Tap"
*Spinal Tap's "none more black" quote inspired the name of the punk band of the same name.
*The three "real" members of Spinal Tap are also the members of another mostly fake band, a folk trio called The Folksmen. The Folksmen originally appeared as the warmup band for some of Spinal Tap's live concerts, but eventually became the subject of their own mockumentary, "A Mighty Wind", directed by Christopher Guest.
*Nigel Tufnel is based upon Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, who were both members of The Yardbirds. Nigel's physical appearance resembles Beck, and his name ("Nigel Tufnel") is a reference to Clapton. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/trivia]

*In the computer game "Total Extreme Wrestling 2007", there are many references to Spinal Tap. The most notable ones are when certain workers get injured, it could be to a similar fashion as a lot of the drummers of the Spinal Tap such as a freak gardening accident. Adam Ryland, the creator of the game, has admitted this.
*Chicago-based band Umphrey's McGee has several Spinal Tap references in live shows. "Jazz Odyssey", a free-form jazz improvisation seen in the mockumentary is a live staple in their shows, where it is an improvisation piece. Furthermore, while not referencing Spinal Tap directly, another song is called "Tribute to Spinal Shaft". Another song in this vein is titled "Smell the Mitten", a take-off of Spinal Tap's album "Smell the Glove", although it does not emulate Spinal Tap's style. The classical piece "Boccherini" has been incorporated as a finale to "All in Time", much as in Spinal Tap's "Heavy Duty". At the end of some shows, lead singer Brendan Bayliss quotes Viv Savage's life philosophy of "Have a good time, all of the time."
*Harry Shearer toured with British band Saxon in 1981, and was told dozens of anecdotes about life on the road by lead guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve "Dobby" Dawson. Many of these anecdotes found their way into the film. Shearer copied Dawson's famous mannerisms in his characterization of Derek Smalls, such as playing his bass with one hand plucking the strings while the other one points to the crowd.
*In an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Sarah Michelle Gellar states that "Most magic shop owners in Sunnydale have the life expectancy of a Spinal Tap drummer".
*Track four on the 1987 album "Happy Accident", by Canadian band Doughboys, is titled "Intravenus de Milo".
*A scene from "This is Spinal Tap" was used in the documentary series "The History of Rock N' Roll".
*Black Label Society performed a "Freeform Jazz Odyssey" during their European tour, featured in the behind the scenes disc (disc 2) of the Doom Troopin' Live DVD.
*L95, a member of the Southern Resident killer whale community, has been given the adoption name "Nigel" in honour of Nigel Tufnel, thanks to persuasive staff members (and Spinal Tap fans) of the Center for Whale Research.
*On the Marillion video compilation release "Singles 1982-86" lead singer Fish refers to the period between drummers Mick Pointer and Ian Mosley as being a "Spinal Tap drummer situation".
*In the film, the initial pressing of the band's black-covered album is delivered to them during soundcheck at a venue that an onscreen caption refers to as "Shank Hall, Milwaukee, WI." At the time of the film, there was no such venue. However, in 1989, a Spinal Tap fan named Peter Jest opened a live music club on Milwaukee's east side, and named it "Shank Hall" as a tribute to the band. Jest had booked Spinal Tap for a college show while working for UW-Milwaukee in 1984, and promised them if he ever opened a club in Milwaukee it would be named Shank Hall. While the club's interior differs vastly in look and layout from the venue depicted in the film, the back wall of the stage is to this day decorated with a tiny polystyrene "Stonehenge" that measures exactly 18 by 18 inches. Ironically, Spinal Tap has never actually played at the venue. However, they did hold a press conference there in 1992.
*The 'audiopanel' program on Silicon Graphics IRIX operating system contains a '-spinaltap' Easter Egg; when used, the markings on the volume and other sliders go to 11, instead of the standard 10.
*One of the encore songs in Guitar Hero II is "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" from Spinal Tap. When you complete the song, the drummer spontaneously combusts. This is a reference to the mysterious deaths of Spinal Tap's drummers.
*The BBC iPlayer has a volume slider that goes from 0 to 11.
*Soldano guitar amps go to 11.

References

External links

* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0088258/ This is Spinal Tap] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.aaroncook.com/2007/05/spinal-tap-reunites-for-live-earth.html Spinal Tap Reunites] Video - Spinal Tap reunites for Live Earth concert.
* [http://tap-albums.s5.com The Ultimate Spinal Tap Discography] - an illustrated guide to Tap's albums (both real and imagined)
* [http://www.danielglass.com/PicsB.html Diary of a Spinal Tap "audition"] , from the website of the Royal Crown Revue drummer
* [http://www.spinaltapfan.com/ SpinalTapFan.com] , compiled by Taphead Chip Rowe
* [http://one.revver.com/watch/253060/flv/affiliate/77617/ Spinal Tap Reunites - Video]
* [http://www.sorryiatethebeans.com/item/BBVXMWQ6STHMJBRG Spinal Tap Reunites for Live Earth concert] - Marty DiBergi recruits Nigel, David, and Derek to reunite for Live Earth