‘The Real Spinal Tap’

It's less clear how much Lips and Robb Reiner are in on the joke. At a "meet the band" event in a Manhattan bar, Robb Reiner seems slightly put out by questions about Anvil's similarity to Spinal Tap. "Look, we were around before the movie," he says. Lips seems less bothered by the comparisons, simply referring to Anvil as "the real Spinal Tap." Both men hope the film will jump-start the band's popularity and are touring alongside the movie as well as planning a new album. Coincidentally, the real "real Spinal Tap"—McKean, Guest and Shearer—are hitting the road for the "Unwigged" tour, during which they'll play Spinal Tap songs, as well as songs from their mockumentaries "A Mighty Wind" and "Waiting for Guffman." They're also putting out a new Spinal Tap album this summer. The difference is, Spinal Tap has no illusions of musical greatness—their goal is not to make us rock, but make us laugh.

Watching Lips and Robb Reiner choke up in the film talking about their enduring passion for the band is touching, but also slightly unsettling, like many reality TV shows where it's unclear how much the participants are playing a part, and how much those tears during the final rose ceremony are real. "It's a vague, if nonexistent line between satire and reality," says the director Reiner, acknowledging that "Spinal Tap" played a significant role in that erasure. "Now you've got art imitating life imitating art. Now somebody has to do a satire of Anvil. It's like, let's all fly up our own asses." In a way, it makes you hope Lips and Robb Reiner really have been perpetuating an elaborate, multidecade hoax, and are laughing their heads off right now.

© 2009