This Is Spinal Tap

Synopsis

British rock band Spinal Tap embarks on an American tour. The popularity of “the loudest English band” (as its members call themselves) is clearly declining. Some concerts will not take place at all due to low ticket sales. However, director Martin Di Bergi also goes on a journey with the musicians. He wants to shoot a documentary masterpiece about Spinal Tap.

The film seems to be a documentary, but this is just a trick: Spinal Tap was created to parody numerous rock bands and satirically speak about the music industry.

Interesting Facts

• This Is Spinal Tap was released on March 2, 1984 and did not immediately gain great popularity. Part of the reason was that the viewers believed that it was a real story and were not eager to watch a documentary about an unknown rock band. However, over time, the film acquired the status of an icon.
• The image of the group was first presented to the public five years before the release of the film. In 1979 a band called Spinal Tap appeared in a television sketch, which was also shot by Rob Reiner. Then the band started to live its own life, appearing on many TV-shows and even in the animated series The Simpsons. By the way, on the 25th anniversary of the film, the members of Spinal Tap recorded a new album Back from the Dead.
• The role of Martin Di Bergi, who is filming a documentary about a rock band, was played by the real director of the film, Rob Reiner. After This Is Spinal Tap, Reiner directed several essential films of the eighties and nineties, such as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Reiner is filming in a lot of TV-series now.
• Interestingly, according to a legend, Rob Rainer was the one, who created the term ‘mockumentary’ — that is how we call the genre of popular films and TV-series now. The point of it is to imitate real events.

Information

This is an American mockumentary film.

The world premiere of This Is Spinal Tap took place on March 2, 1984.

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• A Mighty Wind
• When Harry Met Sally
• Almost Famous

Tags: music, comedy, rock, parody, mockumentary