Whatever

They're as real as any band. Probably more real than half of the bands from the 80's and 90's for that matter.

Based on the overall impact on popular culture, they at least deserve consideration for the Hall of Fame.

They count as real. It can be boiled down to an amateur/professional divide. The fiction might pose a problem, but all celebrities are fictional on some level. Do people who write under a pen name count as real writers? Of course. It's the same as Ringo Starr.

The are every bit as real as their sometimes warm-up act, The Folk Men. Aside from touring a bit, they have even been on The Simpsons, which is something of a stamp of reality in pop culture.

I vote no. Because of the meta-irony, Spinal Tap fails a key requirement of being a rock-and-roll band, which is self-importance. Not that I haven't loved everything that they've done, but if your primary gig is recursive mockery of rock-and-roll seems like it should move you out of the category. Same for Tenacious D, if it comes to it.

(Even if they were in-category, I'd still downcheck them for Hall of Fame based on quantity and impact of work, but that's beside the point).

I believe that one of the criteria for consideration to the RRHOF is that the artist have had an impact on the world of Rock and Roll music.
Every rock band interview I've ever read lists This Is Spinal Tap as one of their favorite movies; a kind of "what not to do" guide to going on tour.
It's also very funny.
I saw them in concert in Seattle in 1992, promoting the "Break Like The Wind" album, and they were one of the best acts I've ever seen.

Of course they're real. If they weren't, could Nigel have had this conversation?

Nigel Tufnel: [on what he would do if he couldn't be a rock star] Well, I suppose I could, uh, work in a shop of some kind, or... or do, uh, freelance, uh, selling of some sort of, uh, product. You know...
Marty DiBergi: A salesman?
Nigel Tufnel: A salesman, like maybe in a, uh, haberdasher, or maybe like a, uh, um... a chapeau shop or something. You know, like, "Would you... what size do you wear, sir?" And then you answer me.
Marty DiBergi: Uh... seven and a quarter.
Nigel Tufnel: "I think we have that." See, something like that I could do.
Marty DiBergi: Yeah... you think you'd be happy doing something like-...
Nigel Tufnel: "No; we're all out. Do you wear black?" See, that sort of thing I think I could probably... muster up.
Marty DiBergi: Do you think you'd be happy doing that?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, I don't know - wh-wh-... what're the hours?

They record and perform music, that makes them a real rock band. Much of their history, back story, musical catalog, and fan base are fictional, but the portion that's real is enough to qualify them as a band.

Every performer's public persona is fictional, it's the public projection of a person. In Spinal Tap the performer's public persona is the public projection of a character. That's an extra layer between real life and fiction, but not a huge difference.

I wouldn't support voting them into the R&R Hall of Fame, though. Their cultural contributions are in comedy and the system of documentaries and music journalism they satirize, not in music.

Is it just me, or is this page all messed up?

I agree with the points that a) they are a real band, b) not enough of a band to be in the Hall of Fame.

Also re: meta-irony and rock and roll, Spinal Tap is in a long tradition that includes Sgt. Pepper, Pink Floyd, and Ziggy Stardust. "Invented" personas are almost a sub-genre in and of themselves.

Weird -- now it's okay...

Anyway, I would say they are less real than The Monkees but more real than The Archies...

Did everyone forget what the movie was all about? It's kinda funny to consider the band for RRHOF when the movie tried to show how stupid the defenitios of these things are used in the R&R world...

I noticed in the RRHoF inductee list (http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/inductee-list/) that there are people inducted as "non-performers." People like Dick Clark, Alan Freed, Sam Phillips and Berry Gordy. There should be a way to induct "quasi-performers," like Spinal Tap.

K

Let's compromise, and induct them into a 1"=1' scale model of the Rock and Roll hall of fame.

I downloaded one of their songs for Guitar Hero II. They're definitely a real band.

Of course, on that same line of logic, so's Strongbad.

If the 'Spice Girls' and the 'Monkees,' and even 'Il Divo' can be considered "real," I gotta give it to Spinal Tap. The fact that 'Spinal Tap' was "manufactured" shouldn't be a barrier.

Culturally, Spinal Tap has been mighty influential. I mean, even Buffy referenced them ("[They] have the life-expectancy of a Spinal Tap drummer"). And the immortal lyrics "Big bottom, big bottom / Talk about mud flaps, my girl's got 'em!" ought to at least garner an honorable mention.

I would think the RRHoF could afford to be a little tongue-in-cheek now and then.

Also re: meta-irony and rock and roll, Spinal Tap is in a long tradition that includes Sgt. Pepper, Pink Floyd, and Ziggy Stardust. "Invented" personas are almost a sub-genre in and of themselves.

I would also add Alice Cooper and KISS to the list, but I'd subtract Pink Floyd. The band was named after two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, and was not originally meant to be a created persona. However the named seemed to confuse some people, which they lampooned in the song "Have A Cigar":

"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think,
Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"

They also used the character Pink for the movie version of "The Wall", but it wasn't intended as a stand in for the band as much so it was for Roger Waters himself.

Spinal Tap in the RRHoF would be hilarious. And, really, isn't the very concept of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the kind of pomposity that Spinal Tap was lampooning in the first place?

I most definitely think spinal tap should be in the hall, the scary thing is the sound track was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money at the musically influential age of ten. The band is as real as you get because the musicians playing its members are as equally talented and if not more so than any number of other inductees and future inductees, their influence on culture is undeniably strong.

They should be, but they won't be. The people who run the place don't have a sense of humor.

Plus, there's no way they could crank that museum up to eleven.

I have to vote for "real". A couple of years ago I stumbled upon an eBay auction for an original ticket for a concert held in order to shoot the movie. Real people were paying real money to get their hands on a real ticket to a real concert for a real mockumentary movie shoot. You can argue that the intent was the joke, but then you have to ask is Weird Al a real musician or not, too. And in both cases, you get that the answer is "real".

KISS was real when they hid behind makeup, too.

Besides, if they weren't real, I wouldn't be able to have a discussion in my Physics lectures on decibels, sound levels, artilleryman's ear (midrange hearing loss), bad acoustics in arenas and "taking it up to eleven, which is one more than ten."

Dr. Phil

If parody/satire excludes a band from being a "real" rock band, does that mean parodic/satiric authors aren't "real" authors? Are parodic/satiric films not "real" movies?

More importantly: despite being parody/satire, Spinal Tap's music is better than most other songs in that genre.

So, hell yes, Spinal Tap belongs in the RnRHoF. If only because the world deserves to hear their acceptance speech.

The best parodies are fully formed examples of the thing they are making fun of, but twisted. "Shaun of the Dead" worked so well as a paraody because it's a complete zombie movie it itself. Spinal Tap works because it's a real band. If you had no concept of humor you'd have no way of telling Spinal Tap apart from a lot of other heavy metal bands.

However, they are not as great as a lot of other bands out there. Hall of Fame? Well, OK, just as long as you don't cofuse Hall of Fame with Hall of Great. Now that I think about it, the people who are already in there ensure no one makes that mistake.

Definitely a real band, but I don't think they're RNRHF-worthy.

Another Ziggy Stardust/Billy Shears example would be U2 creations, The Fly, MacPhisto, and Mirror Ball Man...

Not that it matters much. The RNRHF and I aren't on speaking terms until they let Rush in.

I would totally support Strongbad for a RRHoF nomination in time as well.

The real question is, in 20 years will Gorillaz be eligible?

The funny thing about Tap's Live Earth appearance is that Nigel Tufnel was probably the only hereditary Peer to peform that day.

You have to love how Harry Shearer is wearing a grey wig.

I vote that they are a real band and that they deserve consideration for the RRHoF.

Well, they are real enough to have sold out and had one of their songs being used as the theme in a major corporations commercial.

Or hadn't anyone noticed "gimme some money" was being used by American Express...

...though they were "the thamesmen" then ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4fCbqjWiek

And hell, Harry Scherer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKeon can really sing and play quite well, together and onstage even. That's better than a hell of a lot of bands manage to do today.

The real coup for Spinal Tap would be if the induction and (I assume) display at the Hall used the fictitious history of the band.

That might even raise the R&RHOF's street cred.

I always thought that the funniest part of Spinal Tap has always been how much better they are than the genre they were mocking. Their lyrics, music, and persona in one fell swoop outdid all heavy metal hair bands, and rendered all the others as also-rans.

Yes, they are a real band.
Yes, they deserve nomination.

John, I hate to correct you on your own website, but Listen To The Flower People was originally released in 1967, making Tap more than eligible for inclusion in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I hear there were issues between Polymer and Polydor that have tied up the band's back catalog and led to the popular myth that Polydor's This Is Spinal Tap anthology soundtrack (the result of a sleazy side deal by "filmmaker" Marti diBergi) was the band's first offering. (BTW, Polymer would have won their lawsuit if Denis Eton-Hogg hadn't been forced to flee Britain after some shocking and false allegations were made by Polydor's attorneys about Eton-Hogg's selfless charity work for wayward boys. Polydor even stole the cover art for Smell The Glove in their attempt to mislead fans, leading many people to accidentally by the poorly-mastered reissue instead of STG, an album that pushed the boundaries of sonic architecture as one of the first metal records to be mixed in 87% Dolby.)

I hope you will consider correcting the mistakes in your post. Tap has gotten a raw deal from the suits over the course of their 30+ year career, and I hate to see you innocently repeating the lies surrounding the band. Next you'll be repeating the myth about their drummers, when it's well-established that (a) some former Tap drummers are missing, not dead, and (b) the number of actually dead ones is well within the margin of error.

Thank you for your consideration.

To An Eric: right on.
To answer the questions, yes and yes. Why? Because they are artists (and they really know how to....flips guitar to look at the words on the back....ROCK). True story. Spinal Tap did a publicity tour of Canada on Canada Day, by taking a plane across to the different venues at some of the major cities. Much Music covered the band with VJs accompanying them for most legs of the one day trip/tour (1992). One of the VJs that I thought was most likely to get it, didn't. During a post show wrap-up this VJ complained that it was fun at first, but that Spinal Tap let the joke run too long, it became tiring. In other words the band never broke out of character on the plane even when the cameras were off. Dedication to their art.

I think Spinal Tap would bring some much needed perspective to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Too much f*ing perspective.

And two more words that make it a slam dunk: "Hello, Cleveland!"

Did I just see James Hetfield playing bass? I think I did...

I see Keri beat me to my point, which is that Spinal Tap is in Guitar Hero. Having recently rocked the Spinal Tap, I feel we should answer with a resounding yes.

Besides, the Gorillaz are also somewhere in that camp as well. And possibly the Monkees.

Spinal Tap would never get in because Jann Wenner has as much of a sense of humor as a Baptist minister. Wenner and Dave Marsh pretty much have made the entries into the Hall reflect their personal tastes and prejudices. Hence the lack of any of the art/prog rock or hard rock bands of the 70s. Reportedly, Zeppelin and Sabbath only got in due to intense lobbying from their labels.

Now the ultimate Spinal Tap move would be to call a press conference on the night of the induction to protest their lack of inclusion, but hold it on the steps of the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

They're definitely a real band. They write and perform their own songs and always have -- I don't think they need anything more than that to qualify as a "real" band. They've even had a more consistent lineup overall than some of the bands already in the RRHoF.

I do think they should at least be considered for RRHoF induction because of their longevity and overall cultural impact, but I don't think they should get in, as they haven't done enough musically to warrant it. But if they do somehow make it in, no way would I miss watching their induction. (Who'd present them, I wonder?)