This Mockumentary-Rockumentary May Be Guest's Best Effort Poking Fun at Heavy Metal Rock Music Culture

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2017)

"This is Spinal Tap" was Christopher Guest's first foray into so-called "mockumentary", a comedic genre in which satire and farce are presented in the form of a documentary film focusing on a fictional subject. One of the first of the genre was "Take the Money and Run" written, directed and starring Woody Allen. Spinal Tap is a fictional heavy metal rock band originating from Britain, a cross between "The Who", "Alice Cooper", "Black Sabbath", and "Def Leppard". The font used for the name on film posters and other media paraphernalia are similar to those used by many heavy metal bands popular during the late 1970's and 1980's, often of a neo-medieval/Gothic style. Rob Reiner, who directs, plays a fictional documentary/commercial filmmaker who presents a behind-the-scenes exposé of a rock band whose loudness and punctuality are of legendary status.
"This is Spinal Tap" pokes fun at some of the "rockumentaries" which were in vogue in the 1980's, giving audiences and fans glimpses into the behind-the-scenes world of famous rock bands. This mockumentary-rockumentary lampoons such documentaries such as VH1's "Behind the Music" with a satirical harpoon large enough to catch the likes of Ozzie Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Joe Elliot and a host of other heavy metal musicians in one swoop. Marty Di Bergi, the fictional documentary filmmaker played by Rob Reiner gives a short introduction to the film dedicated to the band he first saw at a place called "The Electric Banana" in Greenwich Village during the 1960's, which, he explains doesn't exist any more. (If he didn't say that, you know some heavy metal groupies would be looking for it.)
The film is a series of bits including interviews with groupies, fans, promoters, producers, and of course the band members. On-stage chicanery and behind-the-scenes mayhem become the cornerstone from which "This is Spinal Tap" emerges. Christopher Guest plays the lead guitarist Nigel "Tuffy" Tufnel, a Birmingham, England bloke with a heavy working-class cockney accent sporting a hairstyle like late Beatles and The Who. His character is a cross between Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and the late Randy Rhoades of Ozzy. David St. Hubbins played by Michael McKean, is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the band. His character seems to be based on David Lee Roth when he was lead singer for Van Halen and Steve Clark, rhythm guitarist of Def Leppard. A short clip of the band's "early years" in black and white out-of-focus video with the band in bland suits and jackets with the trademark elevated drummer sets the stage for much of the silliness which follows. Only two bands which continued from the 1960's and into the 1980's which could have looked like that and play the kind of heavy metal in vogue in the 1980's would be The Who and maybe The Rolling Stones. The bands they lampoon largely came into existence during the 1970's.
Many of the bits are actually not as over-the-top as you might believe because of the chaos which haunts heavy metal musicians, both in terms of off-stage buffoonery and on-stage antics. In one memorable bit, the band is singing their newly-composed hit "Stonehenge" and a replica of one of the stones is lowered onstage--but it's not quite as dramatic as it should be! Another is when Guest shows Reiner his collection of guitars and amps. All amps in the industry go up to a maximum of 10 in terms of volume, but Spinal Tap's amps go up to 11! "That's '1' louder!" proclaims Guest.
If you know anything about the heavy metal and pop music scene and would like a no-holds-barred satire about that Alice-in-Wonderland world, this is definitely for you. By the mid-to-late 1970's heavy metal rock bands, spear-headed by the likes of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath garnered huge followings in Europe and North America. They became so-called "super-groups" and were the voices of late Boomers and early Generation X'ers who enjoyed wearing black and other non-conformist clothing, riding motorcycles and taking recreational drugs. They were in a sense the next evolution in rebellious youth making the hippies of a half-generation earlier seem tame by comparison. "This is Spinal Tap" pokes fun at this world but not in a disparaging way. However, if you believe these people should be placed on pedestals and worshipped like Gods, "This is Spinal Tap" might bring you up from your knees. In a real-life story, Ozzy Osbourne was once asked about his house burning down. He replied he wanted to know if beer was flammable! And yes it is! This could have been a scene in "This is Spinal Tap" but actually it wasn't!