A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap delves into the history of the deathlessly dense mock rockers.
Not only are we getting a sequel, we’re getting a book. The follow up to This is Spinal Tap, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, is due in September. The book, A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, arrives at the same time. Fans of satire that struggles with Poe’s Law couldn’t be happier.
Spinal Tap, of course, are the brainchild of director Rob Reiner and comedian and actor Michael McKean. The fictional metal band, comprised of McKean as David St. Hubbins, Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls, and a rotating and short-lived roster of drummers, were first unleashed in 1979, but achieved immortality with the 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. A merciless send up of pretention-rich and talent-poor rock bands, the film has remained a tour bus perennial ever since.
It has baffled more than one viewer along the way, though. The response “Why would you make a movie about a band that no one has heard of?” is possibly apocryphal. But Liam Gallagher apparently took the comedy at face value and was bitterly disappointed to learn the truth.
Whether the upcoming sequel will be any good is anyone’s guess – Rob Reiner’s been off the boil for a while now, but Christopher Guest perfected the original movie’s improvisational, deadpan style in films like Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. Meanwhile Michael McKean has won plaudits for serious turns in stuff like Better Call Saul, and Harry Shearer is a constant presence on The Simpsons. We should be getting a trailer soonish, though, which will allow us to adjust our expectations accordingly. In the meantime, have a teaser.
The book, however, is a whole ‘nother thing. Published by Simon & Shuster in Australia and penned by Reiner, McKean, Guest, and Shearer, A Fine Line… is the real story of the band’s origin, charting the property’s journey from indie in-joke to revered cultural institution (the original film is now in the US Library of Congress, for one thing). For the fictional tale, check out the 1993’s Inside Spinal Tap or 2017’s Spinal Tap: the Big Black Book.
However, this upcoming volume does boast some metatextual fun, with the inclusion of a memoir by Marti di Bergi, the director played by Reiner in the film. Jump over to the Simon & Shuster website for ordering info.
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