The world’s first rockumentary by director/actor Rob Reiner This Is Spinal Tap took the wittier and dryer audiences of the world by storm in 1984. Cutting edge for its time, many audiences of the day hadn’t seen a satire quite so grounded, convincing, and confusing. The film followed the American tour of an ’80s hairband, rocking it out nightly in their cheetah print, skin-tight leather pants, and eyeliner as they slip further down the charts, testosterone-charged appeal waning right along with the times.
As the band navigates the slow ebb of their musical careers, they must contend first with a Yoko Ono type of situation when the band’s lead singer, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), invites his girlfriend along on tour, then an increasingly overworked and underappreciated manager whose patience is finally wearing thin, and finally, the newer, hotter singer Duke quickly eclipsing their star power.
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At the end of the film, St. Hubbins, guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) reconcile and reunite for an epic, sold-out tour across Japan after their song “Sex Farm” cleans up the charts. Their beloved manager Ian (played by the late Tony Hendra) returns to his post, and St. Hubbins’ girlfriend continues to tour with them but no longer interferes in their image or trajectory.
In real life, the actors Guest, McKean, and Shearer toured as the band Spinal Tap throughout the years to great success, and though without Spinal Tap’s director Rob Reiner at the helm, they reunited several times to produce mockumentaries conceived by Christopher Guest, including the cult classics Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman and the critically praised A Mighty Wind. Guest’s group also consisted of the often romantic due and comedic powerhouses Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, who would later go on to win Emmys as the matriarch and patriarch of the global sensation Schitt’s Creek, Parker Posie of Lost in Space, and the unparalleled Jennifer Coolidge playing various, unforgettable roles in each film.
The real Spinal Tap players have remained friends and creative collaborators for decades, though facing some fall-outs and quarrels similar to those in the movie. The fact that they are all coming together behind Reiner for a follow-up to the film that started it all, 38 years later, is the best news Spinal Tap groupies could ever receive.
Here’s everything we know about and hope to see in the sequel!
What is Spinal Tap 2 Going to be About?
Embassy Pictures
According to Reiner, the film picks up after the death of the band’s manager Ian, who in we sadly lost in real life. Reiner stated that all parties involved waited until the right story came clearly into view to do the long sought-for sequel. The Spinal Tap band will discover that Ian’s widow will be holding them to their contractually obligated final show, and Reiner’s director character Marti DeBerg decides to catch up, track and record the band during this presumably last adventure.
This is an excellent premise for many reasons. Firstly, it assumes that the band has settled comfortably into different careers, musical or otherwise, or even retirement, and has been dragged out into the spotlight against their will to avoid serious legal complications. We will probably have to see the band struggle once again to get pumped about playing ’80s rock music and conflict with each other.
There are various opportunities to make use of old gags, such as Spinal Tap’s drummers systematically and inexplicably spontaneously combusting throughout the band’s history. Who could reprise the role of exploding drummer, or drummers, in the movie’s sequel? There is also a significant cultural opportunity. Of all the trends that have reemerged in the past few years, ’80s hairbands are not one of them. Yet. With generation Xers finally taking control of entertainment production, creating productions like The Mandalorian, and Spinal Tap 2 could do some exciting work in popular culture, making the more appealing ’80s trends en vogue again.
This Is Spinal Tap always made fun of the toxic masculinity embedded in many ’80s rock groups and will undoubtedly do so again, but there was a lot of triumph and glory inherent in that musical genre that we could really use right now. Music is reflective of the times, eventually shifting to a representation of the times to come, which in our case are hopefully filled with a lot more, well, triumph and glory, in a much more inclusive, peaceable, and compassionate sense.
Who is Coming Back for the Sequel?
We will see a tribute to the lovely Tony Hendra, whose legacy as the band’s besotted manager will live on for many more decades. We can definitely expect some really great cameos since This Is Spinal Tap has influenced countless musicians and bands through the years in so many ways.
It’s also worth speculating whether Guest will draw from the troupe of players he has utilized in his own, similarly styled mockumentaries, such as Levy, O’Hara, Posie, or, dare we even hope, Jennifer Coolidge. For now, we know that McKean, Guest, and Shearer will be back on stage.
When Can We Expect to See Spinal Tap 2?
Sadly, it’s going to be a wait as the movie will drop on March 18th, 2024, the 40th anniversary of the original movie’s release. Though we certainly don’t want to wait that long, this timeline gives the team plenty of wiggle room to produce the best work possible and, more importantly, hype it up and get the population excited to see this Spinal Tap resurgence!
We can’t wait to update you as we get more information, especially once we know who 2024’s most unfortunate drummer will be.
