A FINE LINE BETWEEN STUPID AND CLEVER

’Twas the creation of a classic film.

Spinal Tap—“England’s loudest band”—has been quiet of late. With good reason. It turns out that the not-so-clever musicians “documented” in the cult spoof This Is Spinal Tap (1984) have had it out for Marty DiBergi (the film-within-a-film’s director, played by Reiner). “You seemed to only focus on the negative stuff, the mishaps,” says lead singer David St. Hubbins (McKean) in the in-character oral history portion of this hilarious book, whose publication coincides with the release of a movie sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Referring to the group getting lost backstage before a concert—“Hello, Cleveland!”—bass player Derek Smalls (Shearer) adds: “There were dozens of gigs where we found the stage straightaway. We didn’t see that reflected.” There’s another reason for the band’s low profile: Smalls was in rehab for addiction—internet addiction. Guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Guest) says, “I remember when I heard about this. I wrote him an email. But he didn’t answer.” Smalls replies: “I wasn’t allowed. It’s terrible. It gets ahold of you, and before you know it, you’re looking at cats waterskiing.” Any fan of the film will savor these exchanges. Tufnel once rented a castle in Lichtenstein that was surrounded by emus (“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, they’re going to kill me.’ But emus, they’re quite nice.”), his dad and granddad sewed “top-line” windsocks for airports, and St. Hubbins got his “waxing done” during Tufnel’s hourslong solos. In the book’s first section, Reiner recounts the making of his initially misunderstood movie. Gems abound: Backstage at an AC/DC concert, the actors noticed that a “huge wall” of amps was for show (none were plugged in). Guest included a musical quote from Luigi Boccherini in Tap’s song “Heavy Duty.” And you’ll just have to read the book to learn of the origins of that cucumber—actually, a zucchini—found in a pair of trousers.

This book doth rock.