Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
The March 1984 premiere of the now legendary rock music “mockumentary” film “This Is Spinal Tap” was initially a mere blip on the cinematic radar. The whiff I caught about it impelled me to see the movie on its opening night in a Manhattan theater along with a slim audience of around a dozen or so others.
Over time it burgeoned into a classic, beloved by legions of rock fans. And even more so by almost anyone who, like me, has worked in the music business. Its iconic stature generated a sequel, “Spinal Tap: The End Continues,” which recently hit theaters.
Early on in the original film, it was obvious to me that it was a work of comedic genius. I laughed uproariously throughout, as much if not more as any humorous movie I’d ever seen. And coincidentally, it felt like my life at time was flashing in front of me on the silver screen.
About two months earlier, I’d started doing publicity for heavy metal rock star Ozzy Osbourne. The parallels between its imagined band and the reality I was living were as uncanny as anything I’ve ever experienced.
First, Spinal Tap’s guitarist/singer Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest) bore a significant facial resemblance to Ozzy. Also much like Osbourne, he and his Tap bandmates were slightly addled English blokes. One of the film’s bits was malfunctioning stage effects; at an Ozzy arena show in January, I watched roadies scramble to fix one.
Another strong resemblance was the parody band’s manager and my boss at the PR firm. He was fired, and then replaced by the flaky girlfriend of Tap’s David St. Hubbins. Osbourne was managed by his wife Sharon (a marketing genius, as I see it, and firm but fair to work with).
Perspicacious film and music critic Janet Maslin noted in The New York Times that “Spinal Tap” is “so wickedly close to the subject that it is very nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.” While I watched the movie with my equally amused friend Caroline (who’d also worked in the music business), about eight rows ahead of us were two young metal guys who kept turning around and looking at us quizzically, as if to say, “What’s so funny?” We could only conclude that the came to the film thinking it was about an actual band. That’s how damn good it was.
I wish I could say much the same for “Spinal Tap II.” It feels like critics are bending over backwards to be nice to “The End Continues,” in which the band reunites for a final farewell concert. Alas, it’s more a chuckler than a howler, riding in a slipstream of affection for the original. Its marquee cameos, Sirs Paul McCartney and Elton John, aren’t to much effect, yet neither are they groaners.
The superstar appearances do reflect how a film that opened soft burgeoned over time into a cult favorite and then further to become a well-loved element of the rock music canon. It’s also gratifying proof that the rock music idiom, which can take itself a bit too seriously, can laugh at and appreciate its pretensions, excesses and occasionally silliness.
Since by now the joke at the fake documentary’s heart is well known, there’s not much to drive hilarity in the sequel. It’s a lovable aging rocker uncle of a movie, just as easily enjoyed when it hits streaming as on the big screen.
What I think might might have made a far better film would have been a real life documentary about how “This Is Spinal Tap” was born from the minds of then-first-time director Rob Reiner, along with Guest, McKean and Harry Shearer, and grew into something of its own rock music phenomenon.
No matter…. That the Tap is back proves how rock abides, even at an ebb point in its contemporary popularity. As the song by The Who declares: “Rock is dead, they say. Long live rock.”
Populist Picks
TV Series: “The Studio” – Parody still lives in this Apple TV show about a newly-promoted film studio mogul and his wacky team trying to compete within today’s almost absurd movie marketplace, and among one another. It can get a wee bit antic and over the top, but its jabs and slices have comic bite.
TV Series: “The Morning Show” – Apple TV also scores with this drama that’s more of a streaming higher-class of soap opera. The struggles and stumbles of a television network and its AM talk show are knitted into recent history, with A-listers Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as its stars.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas.
Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.
