FilmDailies.com - A filmmaker’s blog

This isn’t a review of “This is Spinal Tap” documentary. This is a tribute to one of the loudest UK bands in Rock ‘n’ Roll history that goes by the same name. The band was not loved by music critics. An average review of the now classic album “Intravenus de Milo” went a bit like this: “The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.”

The band did the right thing by ignoring the critics and focusing on producing some of the best heavy metal tracks in recorded history. I’m still humming their hit song, “Big Bottom,” as I’m writing this.

Call me naïve but I love the mockumentary style – pioneered in 1984 by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. I just saw the movie again and it hasn’t dated at all. Like with any good wine (check out Sideways), the last 20 years have added depth to an already impressive bouquet.

The movie starts with Spinal Tap’s arrival at Kennedy Airport for the start of their US tour. It doesn’t get any better than this – they’ve come to conquer this country for Rock ‘n’ Roll (and heavy metal).

Once they get to their Big Bottom song, however, you start feeling that this is their apogee. They have nowhere to go but down. Here’s a naughty bit from this rock classic:

The bigger the cushion, the sweater the pushin’.
That’s what I said.
The looser the wasteband, the deeper the quicksand.
Or so I have read.
My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo, I wanna sink her with my pink torpedo.

Chorus:
Big bottom, big bottom,
Talking about bum cakes, my girl’s got’em!
Big bottom, drive me out of my mind.
How could I leave this behind?

As the movie progresses, the songs get better and better: Heavy Duty, Hellhole, Stonehenge, and of course, the sophisticated Sex Farm. We also get to listen to Nigel playing the piano, working on his new ballad in D minor: Lick my Love Pump.

Overall, this is an extremely funny movie… if you’re into spoofs. I can’t recommend it enough. If you like it, make sure you get the Special Edition DVD for the This is Spinal Tap Deleted scenes.