"What are the hours?"

Rating: 10/10 (8 August 1999)

To the unfortunate masses who have never spent a moment's time playing in a rock band let me assure you...this movie is NOT a satire. It is the revealed truth. Think I'm lying? Go out and buy a Stratocaster, learn the opening bars to "Stairway to Heaven" and go play it with your band in front of an assembly of 16 year-old drug-addled geeks at your friendly local bar. Then come back and we'll talk. That aside, any metalhead Beavis can tell you that "Tap" is one of the top ten funniest movies ever committed to celluloid. What's even funnier is that I happened to be watching "The Joe Franklin Show" shortly after the movie came out, and it seems that nobody on Joe's staff told him that the band was a goof. Joe proceeded to interview them as if they were the real deal. Proof positive, once again, that truth is not only stranger, but a whole lot more ridiculous than fiction. (By the way, if anyone has a copy of that particular show lying around some roach-infested corner of his/her attic, I would be forever in your debt for just a peek.) And I'm still waiting for the inevitable "1001 Strings" cover of "Lick My Love Pump". It's such a poignant melody.