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Spinal Tap > Spinal Tap > Reviews > marktheviktor
Spinal Tap - Spinal Tap

The Glove Smells Good, Thanks - 70%

marktheviktor, March 9th, 2009

I saw the film of this soundtrack when I was 13 years old and thought it was the funniest movie ever. To be honest, I find very few movies today funny as I am not much of a comedy loving person. This Is Spinal Tap is of course a rockumentary parody. Being a prepubescent kid at the time, I thought it was actually about a real band and that was one of the things that made it so funny. Alas, I actually enjoyed the music as well! I went out and bought the soundtrack.

Christopher Guest and Co. really knew their target for parody when they laid down these tracks and since they seemed to have had some musical experience they do it well. There really is some spirit of heavy metal to these tracks and most importantly, they are great fun. There are some non-metal songs included on here from the film that aren't really worth mentioning for their own sake except for Cups and Cakes. I don't know why I get such a kick out of that little diddy of a song but I do. It was another reason why I bought this album because it was only featured very shortly in the movie. It's just a spoof of flowery 60's rock but I liked it in a silly stoner type of way.

Big Bottom brings back memories. Nigel's bass guitar drives this whole tune. His little passages on the bass are very catchy. Heavy Duty is a bluesy piece of thunder cheese that will bring out the duty in your heavy metal soul.There's a funny guitar chord of that classical musical piece by Mozart or something I can't remember what it's called. Hell Hole was the first song I remember hearing from the flick. When I was a small child, heavy metal always seemed to sound like this. There are a few places where it sounds a little like George Thorogood. That chorus verse is a hoot!

Probably the most well known song from the soundtrack is Stonehenge. This song just flat out rocks. Those synthesizers really give it metalness. Any metalhead who was around in the eighties has to love this song. How can anyone not get a howl from that "meeooow!" before the transition to the slower part? This song will always remind you of that scene with the little model Stonehenge being lowered down to the stage.

Ok, let's get down to easily the most metal song on here: Rock & Roll Creation. Just some little background information; Christopher Guest enlisted the help from a couple of guys from the NWOBHM scene (most notably the guitarist from Iron Savior) to help with some ideas for this song. Whoever was onboard with some inspiration must have slipped in a Venom song for the guys to hear because that first riff sounds(and the little solo from the minute and a half mark)very much like something that band would come up with. But I would say this song has a pure 80's power metal spirit. My favorite song though on this album is Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You. Yes, this track is so fucking fun! David St. Hubbins'(Michael McKeon) really comes out strong with those vocals in a great and glorious way. The guitar work is pretty clever metal riffing. I love how the solo towards the end gives off to the drum roll for St. Hubbins to scream "...meeeeee!" at the finale.

There is a fictional discography of Spinal Tap. I've seen it and is cool that such a thing was put together to list. Some of these fictitious albums from their 70's era are called Brainhammer, Nerve Damage, Blood To Let, The Sun Never Sweats and of course my favorite: Shark Sandwich! Those album titles sound like a metalhead's dream! Some of the songs on this album are supposed to be from alot of those albums in the Spinal Tap backstory. This album makes me wish they would have actually recorded some of them. Probably most metal listeners have heard some of these songs but I suggest you give it a spin for shits and giggles and great celebration of why exactly the metal genre is so great looking back.