Spinal Tap (band) - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• The name of the band is rendered with an umlaut over the "n" and a dotless I, as a parody of the heavy metal umlaut. Although an "n̈" is not found in languages such as German, it does exist in the Jacaltec language of Guatemala and the Malagasy tongue, where it represents a velar nasal consonant.

• The Monks' Black Monk Time, The Damned's Black Album, Metallica's Metallica, Utopia's Oblivion, AC/DC's Back in Black, King Crimson's Earthbound, Jay-Z's The Black Album, Prince's The Black Album, The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat and Status Quo's Hello! are examples of (almost) all-black album covers. The parody in the film was probably a take on The Beatles "White Album."

• Ozzy Osbourne said he thought the band was real at first because the happenings in the film have occurred on some real tours.

• A number of Spinal Tap's songs cover identical subjects to renowned songs by other bands. For example, "Gimme Some Money" is a parodic rewrite of The Animals' cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" (and Spinal Tap's performance of it in This Is Spinal Tap parodies television appearances by not only the Animals but also various other British Invasion acts including the Beatles and Herman's Hermits) and "Big Bottom" is similar to Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." The subtext is that Spinal Tap is so unoriginal they do not just imitate other bands' sounds, but their subject matter as well. "Big Bottom" features three bass guitars.

• In the video game Brütal Legend, the opening scene features a Stonehenge look alike that the main character, Eddie Riggs, has built. The lead singer and manager of the fictional band, Kabbage Boy, disapproves of the stage and wants Eddie to build a new one.

• In Guitar Hero 2 the song "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" is featured as the encore in the first PS2 set and second Xbox 360 set, the drummer also "explodes", and turns into a green goo after encores as a reference to the band's drummer turning into a stain on his drum throne.

• The entire Back from the Dead album is available as downloadable content in Rock Band and Rock Band 2. In Addition, Spinal Tap appears as Lego figures in Lego Rock Band playing "Short and Sweet".

• There are a number of references to Spinal Tap in the television series Supernatural. In the episode "Asylum" Dean Winchester introduces himself to another character as Nigel Tufnel. The song "Stonehenge" is also featured in the episode "Simon Said".

• In 2009, "Stonehenge" was parodied by The Fringemunks to recap Fringe episode 1.18, "Midnight."

• In the novel Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez the good fortune god Lucky says "The path to enlightenment is found in the lyrics of Spinal Tap."

• In The Simpsons Episode 322 "The Otto Show"

• The improvisational troupe Insert Foot Theater parodies a "ridiculously cliched rock duo" at what is billed as "Treefort music festivals (sic) very own Spinal Tap!" in Boise, Idaho.