YouTube Clip of the Month: Spinal Tap, The Final Tour

In a relatively short time, YouTube has become the repository of the entire recorded history of the human race. Its sheer gargantuan size means that millions of videos lurk out there beyond the Trending lists, just waiting to be discovered by the discerning time-waster, if only they knew the right keywords to enter. Damn the luck! Fortunately, Popwell is here with a monthly tidbit that you can enjoy right this very minute, in the privacy of your own home, yard, vehicle and/or workspace.

As all sentient beings know, This is Spinal Tap is one of the greatest films ever made. The 1984 film pretty much created the genre of the mock-documentary while delivering some of the most memorable and hilarious characters and set-pieces in movie history. It’s jam-packed with classic bits and lines, from “This one goes to 11” to “Stonehenge.” As a matter of fact, Popwell’s own motto is a modified version of the Tap line “It’s a fine line between stupid and clever.”
Spinal Tap‘s place in film history wasn’t so certain when director Rob Reiner and co-stars/writers Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer were trying to get the film financed. In fact, they had a very hard time even explaining what it was they were trying to do. There wasn’t a lot of studio interest in an improvisational fake documentary about a band that never existed. Even explaining the concept of a mock-doc proved to be pretty daunting, since no one had ever really attempted to make one.
In order to show skeptical studio heads what they were talking about, Reiner and the cast shot a 20-minute “demo” version of the movie. It contained the shell of what would become the feature-length film, with many of the now-legendary bits already in place. Armed with their demo film, the guys returned to the studios to pitch the project anew–and once again got blank stares from just about everybody. Thankfully, This is Spinal Tap did eventually get financing, to the lasting joy of “Big Bottom” lovers everywhere.
For years, the Spinal Tap demo reel circulated in underground circles. It recently surfaced on YouTube, and it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a Tap fan. It’s a strange alternate Spinal Tap, where David St. Hubbins’ hair is straight and Derek Smalls keeps coins in his pants instead of cucumbers, but it’s recognizably a rough version of the film we’ve all come to know and love. It’s been broken into two parts on YouTube, so I’ll link to both halves below. But enough of my yakkin’! Let’s boogie!