SPINAL TAP

Heavy Metal • United Kingdom
MetalMusicArchives.com — the ultimate metal music online community, from the creators of progarchives.com
SPINAL TAP picture
Spin¨al Tap is the name of a fictional hard rock / 80s heavy metal band, created for the 1984 rockumentary film This Is Spin¨al Tap. However, due to the success of the film, the band went on to record and release three albums.

The band is a strong satire of the 80s heavy metal genre and scene, and their music reflects that, with blaring guitars, high vocals, and ridiculous lyrical themes, all of which take the stereotypes of the genre and exaggerate them to comedic extremes.

The first album of the band was a collection of songs made for the film, many of which were featured in the film itself. Their second album (Break Like the Wind) followed many years later, but was greeted with less enthusiasm, partially because people simply weren't interested in the band beyond their characters in the film, and partially because the heavy metal
read more...
Thanks to NJCat_11, Stooge for the updates

SPINAL TAP Online Videos

No SPINAL TAP online videos available. Search and add one now.

Buy SPINAL TAP music

More places to buy metal & SPINAL TAP music

SPINAL TAP Discography

SPINAL TAP albums / top albums

SPINAL TAP This is Spinal Tap album cover 4.83 | 3 ratings
This is Spinal Tap
Heavy Metal 1984
SPINAL TAP Break Like the Wind album cover 4.00 | 3 ratings
Break Like the Wind
Heavy Metal 1992
SPINAL TAP Back From the Dead album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Back From the Dead
Heavy Metal 2009

SPINAL TAP EPs & splits

SPINAL TAP live albums

SPINAL TAP demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

SPINAL TAP re-issues & compilations

SPINAL TAP singles (2)

.. Album Cover
0.00 | 0 ratings
Bitch School
Heavy Metal 1992
.. Album Cover
0.00 | 0 ratings
The Majesty of Rock
Heavy Metal 1992

SPINAL TAP movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

.. Album Cover
5.00 | 6 ratings
This Is Spinal Tap
Heavy Metal 1984

SPINAL TAP Reviews

No SPINAL TAP music reviews posted yet.

SPINAL TAP Movies Reviews

SPINAL TAP This Is Spinal Tap

Movie · 1984 · Heavy Metal
Cover art Buy this album from MMA partners
Stooge
A five star rating for a parody of hard rock and metal? Definitely!!

There’s a small minority of rock and metal fans that feel this movie is making fun of the music and thus don’t like the movie because of it. If they truly disliked the music, then why would they continue to perform the material and dress up in character almost 30 years after the movie’s release? Comedy is as big a passion for me as music is, and this is an excellent example of bringing the two together.

The main plot of the film centers on Spinal Tap, an aging British heavy rock band, as they struggle with their dwindling popularity in the midst of a US tour. The band deals with strange offstage moments, even some on-stage blunders, and this is where the movie gets much of its replay value. Discussions of their endless list of deceased drummers, complaining about the “tiny bread” with the catering, performing at an air force base, becoming an opening act to a puppet show, getting lost backstage, …. Endless classic moments!

Many rock and metal bands claim they thought this was a true documentary when it first was released. I can honestly see why some bands claim to have thought this film was a genuine documentary, even when you ignore the behind-the-scenes mayhem. When listening to the music, they have constructed songs that have the same energy and musicianship that you could find on many 70s/early 80s hard rock albums. And, yes, the lyrics to the songs are laced with either sexual innuendo (“Sex Farm”, “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You”, “Big Bottom”) or ridiculous fantasy themes (“Rock n Roll Creation”, “Stonehenge”), but they aren’t that far off what Ted Nugent or Kiss would sing about when fantasizing about school girls or some larger than life stage shows and lyrical concepts of prog rockers. A bit exaggerated, true, but sometimes a bit close to home. That’s what’s so great about the concert footage! Plus the visual quality of the film is highly reminiscent of concert documentaries of the time.

You don’t even have to be a big heavy metal fan to appreciate this movie. It was the first DVD I ever purchased, and it’s one of the first things I think of when I think of well-done musical parody and mockumentaries.

SPINAL TAP Shouts

Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us