30 Facts About ‘This Is Spinal Tap’

(via 80’s Kids) by Matt M

This Is Spinal Tap is one of the most well-known examples of the “Mockumentary” genre and pretty much started that genre all by itself. The film has gone down in history as a cult classic and is often quoted, especially when anyone wants to crack something up to 11! Let’s take a look back at this classic film with some facts that you may not have known…

30. The Stonehenge scene predates a similar incident involving Black Sabbath

For years, This Is Spinal Tap has been hailed as one of the funniest films ever thanks to its hilarious portrayal of the rock star lifestyle.

What makes the film all the more amusing is the fact that many of its most absurd moments are based on real incidents – although in one notable scene, the film uncannily predicts a rock’n’roll blunder which had yet to occur.

This includes the unforgettable Stonehenge sequence, in which a set designer (Anjelica Huston) builds a replica of the legendary monument based on a sketch from the band.

Unfortunately, the sketch provided gave the proportions in inches rather than feet, hence the band end up playing alongside a miniature Stonehenge on stage.

This scene was originally shot in 1982 for a short film which helped the filmmakers get a green light for the feature – but a year later, a bizarrely similar thing happened in real life to Black Sabbath.

The British rockers commissioned a replica of Stonehenge for their set on their 1983 tour – but as in This Is Spinal Tap, it wound up the wrong size due to an administrative error.

In Black Sabbath’s case, rather than having a model a fraction of the size of the real Stonehenge, theirs was more than twice as big as the real monument…

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