This one goes to 11
There are many reasons why the 1984 satirical "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap is possibly the greatest comedy film of all time, and certainly too many to list here. I'm sure that many readers of this blog will agree with me, and if you need an excuse to dig it out again then this is as good as any. You already know that it is the repeated views which really do pay dividends to a film such as this, so richly and cleverly layered with the largely ad-libbed script clambering for space and every minute chock full of classic lines.
The reason why I mention it here, however, is not to revel in the unadulterated joy of its creation, but rather because I recently sat through the new DVD release of the Led Zeppelin 1976 concert film The Song Remains The Same. And this film portrays the real-life fantasy that Zeppelin found themselves swimming in through the mid-1970s as their fame, and indulgence of that fame, grew to ridiculous heights. And this is, in part, the life of stadium rockers that Tap parodies so brilliantly. However it is something of a myth that the Tap movie is based largely on Led Zeppelin excesses, despite numerous claims to the contrary. In fact Tap is an amalgam of many rock myths and true stories, but watching The Song Remains The Same, it is easy to see why the mistake might be made. It is an astonishing movie in many ways, and the story behind it has echoes of the recent clamour for tickets at the Zep's pre-Christmas one-off reunion show in London.
The film was originally made to give fans access to the band playing "live", those fans who could not get tickets to the real thing, despite the band playing shows at massive US arenas and having recently broken the Beatles' Shea Stadium live attendance record. So it arguably catches them at their live peak, although the featured show at Madison Square Garden is by no means their greatest musical moment. It does give glimpses of why their overblown power-rock did reach such heights but if you are a fan, or even a curious bystander, there are other ways to get your kicks. What are more interesting, and this is where the Tap comparisons may just come about, are the bizarre fantasy sequences intersected into the concert clips.
Robert Plant plays an Arthurian legend, John Paul Jones a spooky evil Scarecrow, John Bonham a split-personality rock star and family man, and Jimmy Page a Warlock. Menacing band manager Peter Grant even gets in on the scene as a machine-gun wielding gangster. Heaven knows what the out-takes look like! It is hilarious and is a prime example of what happens when ego meets adulation meets unprecedented success meets the decade that arguably defined excess meets a gargantuan drug intake.
However, the film is also a fascinating study of the growth of a band whose many-decibelled blues-based riffs, at one point, really did take over the world. It also stands as the capturing of an interesting moment in time, on the cusp of punk's reaction against the very stuff that the film portrays. Led Zeppelin are far too good to be sidelined in musical history by what followed them, or by an overblown ego project, but if you are in need of a lesson in humility watch this, and the do the exact opposite.
The reason why I mention it here, however, is not to revel in the unadulterated joy of its creation, but rather because I recently sat through the new DVD release of the Led Zeppelin 1976 concert film The Song Remains The Same. And this film portrays the real-life fantasy that Zeppelin found themselves swimming in through the mid-1970s as their fame, and indulgence of that fame, grew to ridiculous heights. And this is, in part, the life of stadium rockers that Tap parodies so brilliantly. However it is something of a myth that the Tap movie is based largely on Led Zeppelin excesses, despite numerous claims to the contrary. In fact Tap is an amalgam of many rock myths and true stories, but watching The Song Remains The Same, it is easy to see why the mistake might be made. It is an astonishing movie in many ways, and the story behind it has echoes of the recent clamour for tickets at the Zep's pre-Christmas one-off reunion show in London.
The film was originally made to give fans access to the band playing "live", those fans who could not get tickets to the real thing, despite the band playing shows at massive US arenas and having recently broken the Beatles' Shea Stadium live attendance record. So it arguably catches them at their live peak, although the featured show at Madison Square Garden is by no means their greatest musical moment. It does give glimpses of why their overblown power-rock did reach such heights but if you are a fan, or even a curious bystander, there are other ways to get your kicks. What are more interesting, and this is where the Tap comparisons may just come about, are the bizarre fantasy sequences intersected into the concert clips.
Robert Plant plays an Arthurian legend, John Paul Jones a spooky evil Scarecrow, John Bonham a split-personality rock star and family man, and Jimmy Page a Warlock. Menacing band manager Peter Grant even gets in on the scene as a machine-gun wielding gangster. Heaven knows what the out-takes look like! It is hilarious and is a prime example of what happens when ego meets adulation meets unprecedented success meets the decade that arguably defined excess meets a gargantuan drug intake.
However, the film is also a fascinating study of the growth of a band whose many-decibelled blues-based riffs, at one point, really did take over the world. It also stands as the capturing of an interesting moment in time, on the cusp of punk's reaction against the very stuff that the film portrays. Led Zeppelin are far too good to be sidelined in musical history by what followed them, or by an overblown ego project, but if you are in need of a lesson in humility watch this, and the do the exact opposite.
posted by Twelve Bar at 8:35 AM
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