Still funny - but real life bands have surpassed this parody

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2002)

Back in 1984, there was no VH-1, hence no "Where Are They Now", or "Behind The Music". Also in 1984, we hadn't yet heard of Winger, Skid Row, Slaughter, Poison, or any of the other "hair bands" that we hate to love.

Hence, "This Is Spinal Tap" was a blistering parody of British heavy metal rock that was just really coming into stride around that time in '84. The scenes involving the Stonehenge set, the fight between the band's manager and lead singer's girlfriend (obviously a nod to Yoko Ono), any of the absolutely ridiculous "videos" and "concert performances" (Sex Farm, Bitch School, Big Bottom) are all still quite funny and well done - except maybe a little sobering now, especially when you realize that the real bands "the Tap" are spoofing (those that came out in the late 80s "hair metal" boom) were often as silly, clueless and destined for obscurity as this fictional group of guys is...
It's also fun to play "spot the cameo"... many are obvious, some not so obvious, but we have folks like Howard Hessman, Fran Drescher, Paul Schaffer, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, and others popping their faces into a scene here and there.
"This is Spinal Tap" is still a funny movie, it's just that the antics of real life musicians (Tommy Lee's sex tape, anybody?) have severely lessened this movie's satirical impact.