[bomp] Re: Spinal Tap

[Sknoof@xxxxxxx]

<< The basic story seems to be
definitely based on the Quo, but I'd guess some other
clichis were taken from other bands too. >>

Back when the film first came out (and we spent our entire entertainment 
budget for 1984 going to the theater again and again to see it, figuring it would 
never come out on video -- ha ha) Harry Shearer did an interview somewhere, 
wherein he claimed the original nugget of inspiration was his.  He said the idea 
came to him while sitting in an airport, listening to the idle conversation a 
"semi-famous band" was having, across the way.  He never named the band, 
though the interviewer pressed him for it.  I don't think he ever has.  But both 
McKean and Guest have mentioned Status Quo as providing some inspiration.  
They're very careful to not name the people their characters are based on.

McKean has obviously studied Jagger very carefully, though -- but I imagine 
David St. Hubbins to be a Jagger wannabe rather than a Jagger imitation -- in 
other words, in the fictional Spinal Tap World there IS a Jagger, and David 
just wishes he were Jagger.

His interview segments are pretty much all based on that one famous Jagger 
interview ("sexually, VERY satisfied.")

And in the soundcheck scene -- although he doesn't sing like Jagger anywhere 
else in the film -- he's clearly doing Mick there: "You know what I n-n-n-eed, 
awww maybe you dowwwwwn't.")

As for Nigel -- Beck, yeah, but has anyone seen "200 Motels" lately?  Nigel 
is a dead ringer for Martin Lickert.  Lest you think that too farfetched, that 
film was a huge "underground phenomenon" right around the time that 
Christopher Guest was first appearing on the radar and getting his comedy chops 
together...

I don't see Derek Smalls as Entwistle, though, know -- except given the 
cliche of the bass player as The Quiet One.  I see Uriah Heep, Sabbath, Groundhogs. 
 I think that character was made up more out of whole-cloth than the others.

Anyway, the idea of the band being based on Status Quo isn't "official" nor 
is it really correct.  Elements of that, yes, but a lot of stuff was taken from 
elsewhere or just made-up altogether.  The Stonehenge thing is a legendary 
part of Black Sabbath lore, and then there's that "America" scene straight out 
of The Trogg Tapes -- and also the scene at Elvis' grave is very familiar but I 
can't place it.

Does everybody know, BTW, that David Kaff (the keyboard player in the film) 
was in Curved Air?

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