Spinal Tap (stylized as Spın̈al Tap) are a parody English heavy metal band created by the American comedians and musicians Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. McKean plays the singer and rhythm guitarist David St. Hubbins, Guest plays the lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and Shearer plays the bassist Derek Smalls. They are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands".
Spinal Tap first appeared on the 1979 ABC television sketch comedy pilot The T.V. Show, starring Rob Reiner. The sketch, actually a mock promotional video for the song "Rock and Roll Nightmare", was written by Reiner and the band, and included the songwriter-performer Loudon Wainwright III on keyboards. The band starred in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap and its 2025 sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. They have released four albums: This Is Spinal Tap (1984), the soundtrack of the original film; Break Like the Wind (1992); Back from the Dead (2009); and The End Continues (2025), the soundtrack of the sequel film.
The actors have performed in character at concerts and released music under the Spinal Tap name. They toured in the United States in and performed as Spinal Tap in a "One Night Only World Tour" on June 30, 2009, at Wembley Arena in London, three days after playing the Glastonbury Festival.
The trio also portray the fictional American folk music revival band the Folksmen; some Spinal Tap concert appearances have featured Guest, McKean and Shearer opening for Spinal Tap as the Folksmen.
History Fictional history
Fans of Spinal Tap have assembled details about the band based on fictional film, albums, concerts and related promotional material, including a discography and a list of the band's former members. Within the context of the band's fictional history, Spinal Tap began as a beat group called the Thamesmen in 1964 and released one single, "Gimmie Some Money" with "Cups and Cakes" on the B-side, in 1965. They changed their name to Spinal Tap in 1966 and became a psychedelic pop band, before reinventing themselves as a heavy metal band in the early 1970s, the style for which they are best known. Over the years the band has also performed progressive rock, jazz fusion, funk and reggae. They have also been classified as hard rock, glam metal and rock and roll.
Spinal Tap's fictional history documents a succession of drummers, all of whom are said to have died in strange circumstances: one in a "bizarre gardening accident"; another who "choked on vomit", but possibly not his own vomit; and two from "spontaneous human combustion" onstage. Additionally, it is claimed that police described the "bizarre gardening accident" as a mystery "best left unsolved".
Real history McKean and Shearer had previously been members of the Credibility Gap, a comedy troupe that did both spoken word and musical comedy, and had released a mini rock opera and at least one musical 7-inch single.
In 1979, Guest and McKean were members of Lenny and the Squigtones, a band that was fronted by characters from the hit television series Laverne & Shirley. Guest, on guitar and clarinet, was credited as "Nigel Tufnel", the name he would eventually use as a member of Spinal Tap. He also used this name when the band appeared on American Bandstand.
Spinal Tap themselves first appeared in a video that aired as part of a 1979 sketch comedy special called The T.V. Show, a project spearheaded by Rob Reiner. The video is for the song "Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare" in a sequence that is a spoof of The Midnight Special. Michael McKean (as David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnel), Harry Shearer (as Derek Smalls), Loudon Wainwright III, and Russ Kunkel appear in the video. The segment is introduced by Reiner in character as Wolfman Jack.
The appearance on The T.V. Show eventually led to the creation of a film, Spinal Tap: The Final Tour, tracing a disastrous tour undertaken by the aging British metal band Spinal Tap. Reiner appears as filmmaker Marty DiBergi, while Guest, McKean and Shearer returned as their characters, having further developed their Spinal Tap personas, whose names appear on-screen for the first time. Also added to the group were David Kaff (as keyboard player Viv Savage) and R.J. Parnell (as drummer Mick Shrimpton). Parnell had previously been in the band Atomic Rooster, while Kaff had been a member of Rare Bird. The quintet played their own instruments throughout the film.
The band played three live performances in October 1982 in preparation for making This Is Spinal Tap, at Gazzarri's (as the support act for Iron Butterfly) and The Central in West Hollywood, and the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach.
The band Spinal Tap became a going concern, with the group (in character) playing gigs and appearing on a 1984 episode of Saturday Night Live to promote the film. The character of Mick Shrimpton having died in the film, Parnell played his twin brother drummer Ric Shrimpton for these and later appearances. Kaff dropped out shortly after the Saturday Night Live appearance.
In 1984, the band (Guest, McKean, Shearer and Parnell) issued the single "Christmas with the Devil".
In 1985, McKean and Shearer (in character and credited as David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls) participated in the all-star charity recording "Stars" by Hear 'n Aid. They both sing on the record, and are seen in character in the behind-the-scenes "Making of" video.
Reunion and recent history The group reformed on January 18, 1991, for a performance at the Disneyland Hotel that included new material. This featured on the 1992 release, Break Like the Wind, an album produced in part by T Bone Burnett.
Several publicity stunts were staged surrounding the new album. An advertisement was placed in Music Connection, HITS and The Hollywood Reporter saying "DRUMMER DIED, need new one. Must have no immediate family. Auditions October 31 at LA Coliseum with David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, Derek Smalls."
The "auditions" for a new drummer were held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 31, 1991. They were attended by a few hundred real aspirants, and by Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, Gina Schock of the Go-Go's, Debbi Peterson of the Bangles, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, who auditioned in a fireproof suit. Parnell was retained as "Ric Shrimpton" and remained the band's drummer. Kaff did not return, and consequently the "reunited" band consisted of Guest, McKean, Shearer and Parnell (all in character) and new keyboardist C. J. Vanston (under his own name). A promotional concert tour followed, which included an appearance at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, where they performed "The Majesty of Rock", a song they dedicated to Mercury.
The band also released the single "Bitch School," which became a genuine chart single in the UK, as did follow-up single "The Majesty of Rock".
The band also appeared on The Simpsons in the episode "The Otto Show", which aired in the United States on April 23, 1992. The episode was written by Jeff Martin and directed by Wes Archer. Harry Shearer, who is a regular Simpsons cast member, reprised his role as Derek Smalls.
On July 1, 1992, Spinal Tap crossed five time zones for three performances in St. John's, Newfoundland; Barrie, Ontario; and Vancouver, British Columbia, for MuchMusic and Molson's Great Canadian Party. For each performance of "Stonehenge", the miniature monument prop was delivered on stage in a courier envelope.
Parnell dropped out of the group in the 1990s, leaving Spinal Tap to use session-drummers.
In 2000, the band launched a web site named "Tapster", where their song "Back from the Dead" was made available for download. Tapster was a parody of Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing network.
In 2001, the band "reunited" for the nine-city "Back from the Dead Tour" that began on June 1, 2001, at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The tour included a show at Carnegie Hall in New York City and ended in Montreal in mid-July at the Just for Laughs festival. The opening act for some of these shows were the Folksmen, the folk trio seen in the film A Mighty Wind, and also performed by Guest, McKean, and Shearer.
In 2007, Tap reunited again, this time to help combat global warming. "They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming," said Marty DeBergi (portrayed by Reiner). "Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothingthat if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler." This reunion also included the release of a new song called "Warmer Than Hell". The band played on the London leg of the SOS/Live Earth concert series, and Rob Reiner has directed a short film (entitled Spinal Tap) which was released on the Live Earth website on April 27. The film reveals that Nigel Tufnel is now working as a farmhand looking after miniature horses. He plans to race them. David St. Hubbins is currently working as a hip-hop producer, and Derek Smalls is in rehab for being addicted to the Internet.
A new album, Back from the Dead, was released on June 16, 2009. The album consists mostly of re-recordings of songs from the original film's soundtrack, along with some new, previously unrecorded numbers. The album was nominated for Best Comedy Album and Best Recording Package at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.
On April 6, 2009, the band announced a one-date "world tour," performing at London's Wembley Arena on June 30, 2009. Support on this night came from the Folksmen. The band unexpectedly also self-confirmed for Glastonbury Festival 2009 during an online interview on May 8, 2009, in the Philadelphia Daily News following a "Unwigged and Unplugged" show in the city.
In 2018, Shearer released an album in the persona of Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls. The single "It Don't Get Old" was, as per the credits, co-written by David St. Hubbins. On 27 April 2019, the band reunited at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival for the 35th anniversary of the film. In May 2022, it was announced that the principal cast and director of the original movie were reuniting for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, a sequel planned for release by Castle Rock Entertainment on September 11, 2025. Filming began in New Orleans in March 2024. Kaff died in July 2025.
A third and final Spinal Tap film, titled Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale, was planned to be released in 2026. The film was set to use concert footage which was shot at Stonehenge in August 2025, with Bleecker Street acquiring the rights to release the planned concert film in the United States in October 2025. However, as a result of the murder of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle in December 2025, plans to release the film have been put on pause.
Other appearances
The band appeared as the musical guests on an episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the spring of 1984. Barry Bostwick was the host. At this time, producer Dick Ebersol approached Shearer, Guest and McKean to join the cast. Shearer and Guest accepted (McKean would not join until ten years later, by which time original producer Lorne Michaels was back at the show's helm). Shearer's stint on SNL the following season—his second, the first having been the 1979–80 season—was to be short-lived, following creative disputes with the show's management.