Rockabye Baby Movie Night: This Is Spinal Tap

Posted by 34 on December 12, 2014

It’s hard to believe we’ve gone through this many movie nights at Rockabye Headquarters without “tapping” the 1984 rock mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. But, hey, as they say, better late than never! Tonight we’re gonna rock you! This parody follows the once-famous British heavy metal band Spinal Tap (played by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) on tour through the United States while being documented by fan and filmmaker, Marty DiBergi, played by Rob Reiner. The film was directed by Reiner and was also written (although most of the film was ad-libbed) by he and the three “bandmates.” The first time I ever saw This is Spinal Tap I was 16 on a trip to Washington with my best friends (my parents let me drive across the country unsupervised because they were nuts . . . and weirdly trusting). The friends we were staying with insisted that we watch the movie and that we watch it with the commentary on. So my first ever viewing of the film was with Guest, McKean and Shearer commentating over the movie acting as the members of Spinal Tap. I didn’t know what the hell was going on but I was laughing my ASS off. Some highlights to look forward to: Stonehenge set mix-up, getting lost backstage, bizarre drummer death stories—and much more. This movie (even while primarily listening to the commentary) is damn genius and not to mention endlessly quotable. It’s almost gotten to a point where I’m pretty sure every other sentence I say in real life is a line from this film. So in honor of this daft, lovable movie, here are some of my favorite lines and moments from This Is Spinal Tap. Note: Out of context a lot of these quotes won’t make all that much sense but that’s all the more reason to finally watch! If you have seen it, this’ll be a great reminder to watch it again immediately. So here we go . . . and yes, this list goes to 11.