This List Goes to 11!: Eleven Trends Predicted by 'This is Spinal Tap'
From multiple Black Albums to a real amplifier that goes "one louder," we find the facts that came from the fiction
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Three decades ago this week, the movie This Is Spinal Tap hit theaters, parodying hard rock bands and heavy metal culture so well that phrases like "none more black" now verge on becoming clichés. The mockumentary followed the exploits of a trio of headbangers – comedians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as vocalist-guitarists Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins and bassist Derek Smalls, respectively – and filmmaker Marty Di Bergi (played by the movie's real director, Rob Reiner), as the group toured and promoted an album called Smell the Glove.
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But while it all looked like fun and Stonehenges, it all seemed very real to some people. A 1984 Rolling Stone feature on the movie recalls people at a rare L.A. club gig for Spinal Tap exclaiming "Nigel's here!" as though they didn't know the guitarist was really a "Christopher." "The closer we dared to get to the real thing, the closer the real thing dared to get to us," Shearer said in the article. "It's like reality is calling our bluff at every step along the way." As it happens, the rock and roll satire managed to predict several very real music trends and events that have come into focus over the past 30 years. Rather than listing 10, Rolling Stone goes one louder: Here are 11 things This Is Spinal Tap anticipated. By Kory Grow