The wigs are being dusted off, the spandex jumpsuits laundered and the amps turned up, not to 11 but to infinity. Rock legends Spinal Tap, one of the world’s loudest bands, are back with a sequel to their seminal 1984 mockumentary, to be released on 12 September. But can Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues possibly live up to the nearly flawless original, or are we about to witness an act of cultural sacrilege?
Happily, nearly all the original cast will be in the sequel, and we are promised some big-name cameos from Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks. Apparently, we will catch up with the band’s recent activities: lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel has been running a cheese and guitar shop in Tyneside and playing penny whistle in a pub folk band; singer David St. Hubbins has been writing music for a true crime podcast (The Trouble With Murder); and bassist Derek Smalls runs the Glue Museum in London and is working on a musical about the Devil wearing a wig (Hell Toupee). The three will reunite for a contractually obligated final concert. It all sounds fun.
But it will need to be. Merciless comparisons with the first film are inevitable. Spinal Tap is much more than just another comedy – it is regarded as akin to a holy artefact by its fans. It has more quotable lines than Hamlet and was so well-crafted and cut so close to the bone that rumours abounded of certain rock luminaries who took it for a real documentary – and were not happy about it. The music is actually great – Spinal Tap became a real band and even played Glastonbury.
What sets Spinal Tap apart, though, is that it is not just hilarious, but warm and even touching in parts. It has as much to say about male friendship as the vacuousness and pomposity of heavy rock and the inanity of fandom. It also virtually invented the mockumentary format, which has since become ubiquitous. Spinal Tap was selected for the National Film Registry in 2002 (a list of ‘historically or aesthetically significant films’). There is a case to be made for resting on well-earned laurels and letting the first film stand alone.
There is, after all, a fine line between stupid and clever, and for fanatics, Tap 2 can surely only disappoint – perhaps gravely. The original seemed to be a case of the mysterious alchemy that can result from throwing together a group of highly talented people and just seeing what emerged. I’d bet even the principals couldn’t quite identify exactly why it worked so well. And even if they can match the quality of the first, that film is now enveloped in an aura of comforting nostalgia – for the era, for the memory of the first time we saw it, for our younger selves. None of that can be replicated.
And does the comedic space that Spinal Tap so perfectly filled in 1984 even still exist? Perhaps the kind of comedy Spinal Tap perfected has vanished, like the Electric Banana – the fictional bar where Marty DiBergi first saw the band and was impressed not just by their ‘exuberance’ and ‘raw power’, but their ‘punctuality’. As DiBergi warned of the Electric Banana, the same could be said of that kind of comedy: ‘Don’t look for it; it’s not there anymore’. Spinal Tap has just one significant female role (Jeanine Pettibone) and she’s intensely annoying, while the record company manager Denis Eton-Hogg (played by Patrick Macnee) is described as a ‘twisted old fruit’.
Woke, we are told, is in retreat. The timing may be ripe to revisit comedy in the spirit of the 1980s original
Then again, woke, we are told, is in retreat. The timing may be ripe to revisit comedy in the spirit of the 1980s original (Top Gun Maverick suggests a huge audience is out there for 1980s-style blockbusters) – films that recall the days when entertaining (‘have a good time all the time’) rather than re-educating the audience was the priority. Tap 2 might be far more in tune with the times than Snow White.
And aren’t we just a bit precious about classic films anyway? Was The Blues Brothers degraded by the disappointing second instalment? Did Die Hard 4 and 5 detract from the first three taut actioners? Is anyone bothered by Speed 2, Grease 2, Basic Instinct 2? Does anyone even remember Scarlett (the Gone With the Wind follow-up)? In general, disappointing sequels just… disappoint, and then disappear, leaving neither much of an impression nor doing much damage to the reputation of the original. They only have lasting impact if they are spectacularly awful (Jaws: The Revenge) or actually better than their reputation (The Godfather Part III).
The ultimate proof of that is that there is already a, sort of, sequel to Spinal Tap – 1992’s The Return – which was based around the band’s comeback concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It’s… OK, with some amusing moments, but little of the magic of the first film. It’s the B-side of a killer single, a curiosity, worth a play now and again. But it did no harm. Few are aware it even exists.
So, I’ll be queuing up for Tap take two, with excitement but realistic expectations. And even if, like one of the band’s drummers, it has a short run and dies a death, I’m pretty sure I’ll still enjoy it. Anyway… enough of my yakking.
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