By Erin Free
As the 1984 cult classic This Is Spinal Tap roars back into cinemas for its hard-rocking 41st anniversary, we get up on stage with some of the best fictional movie rock bands of all time.
Rock music has always had a role to play in cinema, ever since Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around The Clock” blared out during the opening of the JD classic The Blackboard Jungle. Rock music, however, has not just provided the soundtrack, but has also taken cinematic centre stage, with seminal concert flicks like Gimme Shelter and The Song Remains The Same, and music biopics (Walk The Line, Ray, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, The Runaways) by the bucketload. Rock stars have also become actors (Elvis Presley, Sting, David Bowie and many, many more), and have played themselves in their own cinematic projects (The Beatles, The Foo Fighters and others).
There have also been a number of great (and not so great) fictional bands in films, and in honour of the 41st anniversary re-release of This Is Spinal Tap – featuring quite possibly the most seminal of all on-screen fictional rock bands – we are going to strap on our guitar and step up to the mic to name-check some of the best. Importantly, because this is a celebration of This Is Spinal Tap, we are going to limit our discussion solely to rock bands, so apologies to the great cinematic fictional solo singers (Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine in A Star Is Born, Ricky Gervais’s David Brent in David Brent: Life On The Road), country music performers (Rip Torn’s Maury Dann in Payday, Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake in Crazy Heart), pop stars (Connor4Real in Pop Star: Never Stop Stopping), rappers (Eminem’s Jimmy Smith in 8 Mile, the title crew in CB4), and those who took to the stage on television (Cotton Candy, Daisy Jones And The Six, the various bands in Vinyl), who deserve a feature all of their own.
Okay, here we go. Testing, 1-2, testing 1-2…check, check, check…
SPINAL TAP…FROM THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984)
“Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?” If you’ve seen This Is Spinal Tap – Rob Reiner’s 1984 mockumentary masterpiece – you’ll know that the answer to that question is eleven. And you’ll also know that the fictional band at the centre of this all-too-real-seeming mockumentary is one of the greatest rock outfits of all time. With thundering, epic songs like “Hell Hole”, “Sex Farm” and “Big Bottom”, these British poseurs mix every cock-rock cliche into one big, steaming, comedic cauldron and stir it with vigour before strutting the stage with wild abandon to their ever-dwindling and less adoring fans. As created and performed by comic actors and talented musicians Michael McKean (as primping singer/guitarist David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as egocentric, slow-on-the-uptake guitarist Nigel Tufnel) and Harry Shearer (as thoughtful bassist Derek Smalls), Spinal Tap ingeniously make a mockery of the majesty of rock, but still succeed in standing tall as a highly listenable and loveable rock band in their very own, hilariously non-self-aware right. All hail The Tap!
EDDIE & THE CRUISERS…FROM EDDIE & THE CRUISERS (1983)
1983’s Eddie And The Cruisers plays brilliantly into the “no, he’s still alive” conspiracy cults that have long sprung up around dead rock stars like Elvis Presley and Jim Morrison. Writer/director Martin Davidson creates his own (via P.F Kluge’s novel) in the form of Eddie Wilson (played with staggering, volcanic charisma by Michael Pare), a rock star on the verge of superstardom with a Brian Wilson-like masterpiece album awaiting release who apparently dies in a car crash just as he’s about to make it big. As a journalist (Ellen Barkin) and Eddie’s former bandmate (Tom Berenger) investigate the swaggering singer’s death many years later, it becomes clear that Eddie is almost certainly still alive…which is wholly proven in the rather disappointing 1989 sequel Eddie And The Cruisers II: Eddie Lives. Though the slinky, super-cool, always-clad-in-black Michael Pare is every inch the rock star, he actually didn’t do his own singing. Wanting Eddie & The Cruisers to sound like a mix of Dion And The Belmonts, The Doors and Bruce Springsteen, Martin Davidson found his sound-alike band in the form of John Cafferty And The Beaver Brown Band from Providence, Rhode Island, who ended up writing and performing all of the film’s songs, resulting in a hit soundtrack.
THE BARBUSTERS…FROM LIGHT OF DAY (1987)
Though now largely forgotten amongst the strong, stylish works of writer/director Paul Schrader (Hardcore, Light Sleeper, Mishima, First Reformed), 1987’s tough little drama Light Of Day is actually a profoundly compelling work that effectively mixes a gritty family drama with a music tale. This is very much a working-class story, with brother and sister Joe and Patti Rasnick (the unlikely but surprisingly effective pairing of Michael J. Fox and rock star Joan Jett) struggling to keep their band The Barbusters together in the face of financial pressures and everything else that life throws at them. With Joan Jett’s raw, raunchy vocals and their punchy, bluesy, guitar-powered roadhouse sound, Paul Schrader had initially intended for Bruce Springsteen to front The Barbusters, but the iconic singer declined the offer to make his acting debut. The Boss did, however, write the film’s title tune, which he has performed occasionally during his own concerts since the release of the film. According to now pretty-much-confirmed rumour, Springsteen donated the song to Schrader as a returned favour for his having appropriated Schrader’s working title for the film, which was, yes, “Born In The USA.” Keen-eyed viewers may also notice a young, pre-Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor in the film, who appears in another fictional band, The Problems.
STILLWATER…FROM ALMOST FAMOUS (2000)
Still the finest hour of rock journalist (he famously wrote for Rolling Stone Magazine when he was still just a teenager) turned screenwriter (Fast Times At Ridgemont High) turned director (…Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire) Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous is the largely autobiographical story of fifteen-year-old high schooler William Miller (the superb Patrick Fugit), who sneaks his way into doing journalistic duties for the aforementioned Rolling Stone Magazine by travelling with a rock band who are about to make it big in the mid-seventies. That band is the fictional powerhouse rock outfit Stillwater, who are a little bit Led Zeppelin, a little bit Lynyrd Skynyrd, a little bit Faces, a little bit Eagles and a little bit Rolling Stones…you know, all the good stuff! Billy Crudup and Jason Lee put in stellar performances as, respectively, Russell Hammond, the band’s super-cool lead guitarist, and Jeff Bebe, its egotistical frontman. They look and feel every bit the rock band, both on stage and off. With his long history of writing about rock music and hanging out with rock stars (Russell Hammond is based heavily on late Eagles legend Glenn Frey), Cameron Crowe is perhaps more qualified than anyone else when it comes to fictional movie rock bands, and with Stillwater, he created one of the most authentic and unforgettable.
CITIZEN DICK…FROM SINGLES (1992)
While Cameron Crowe’s glorious Almost Famous was pretty much the film that he wanted it to be, his 1992 effort Singles suffered considerably more at the hands of producers and backers who had different ideas on the film than those of its writer/director. “It was meant to be Manhattan, a movie I loved, set in Seattle,” Cameron Crowe told Spin in 2001. “It stayed in the can for a year until the studio released it on the heels of the so-called ‘grunge explosion.’ The success of the so-called ‘Seattle sound’ got it released. Warner Bros. said, ‘If you can get Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam to play the MTV party that we can use to publicize the movie, we’ll put it out.” Though ostensibly a charming romantic comedy, Singles got its grunge cache courtesy of a few rock star cameos, but principally through its fictional on-screen band Citizen Dick, which is made up of frontman Cliff Poncier (played by an utterly brilliant, scene-stealing Matt Dillon) and Pearl Jam members Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. In one of the film’s many highlights, Citizen Dick memorably perform their song “Touch Me I’m Dick,” which is a very funny re-take on the Mudhoney song “Touch Me I’m Sick.”
THE STAINS…FROM LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (1982)
Though it languished for many years as a lost curio, 1982’s Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (directed by music industry veteran, Lou Adler, whose only other effort was the Cheech & Chong vehicle, Up In Smoke) is now a bona fide on-screen punk rock essential. With a sassy swagger and sultry surliness, Diane Lane (who was still in her mid-teens when the film was shot) comes on deliriously strong as Corinne Burns, a teenage suburban brat with no future who teams up with her sister (Marin Kanter) and cousin (Laura Dern) to form The Stains, a primitive/punk/New Wave band who sound like an even more detached version of Liz Phair. Hitting the road with a cock-rock has-been (The Tubes’ Fee Waybill) and the angry young punk group The Looters, led by the tough but vulnerable Billy Faith (a trim and fresh-faced Ray Winstone, playing out front of The Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Paul Cook, and The Clash’s Paul Simonon!), The Stains quickly become a youth phenomenon. Sullenly spitting out their song, “Waste Of Time”, and stridently hurling their catch cry, “Don’t put out!”, the trio inspire an army of proto-feminist teenage look-a-likes and a subsequent media frenzy. Appropriately enough, the raggedly authentic Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is now something of a cinematic playbook for aspiring young riot grrrls.
ELLEN AIM & THE ATTACKERS…FROM STREETS OF FIRE (1984)
A few short years after Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Diane Lane was back on stage fronting another fictional movie rock band…but one that existed in a whole other world. Walter Hill’s wonderful 1984 action/musical/romance/adventure Streets Of Fire was memorably billed as a “rock’n’roll fable” upon its release, and there could be no more apt description for this beloved cult classic. Set in a retro-futuristic nowhere land that seamlessly blends elements of the fifties through to the eighties, Streets Of Fire plays out like a comic book come to vivid, colourful life, as Michael Pare’s former soldier is called back to his old hometown to rescue his ex-girlfriend, who has been kidnapped by a vicious biker gang led by Willem Dafoe. Importantly, that ex-girlfriend happens to be rock star Ellen Aim, leader of The Attackers, who Diane Lane conjures into a staggeringly sexy and impressively tough creation. In a sultry black-and-red dress, and sliding across the stage like she was born there, Lane is truly magnetic. Lane’s voice was blended with those of principal singers Laurie Sargent and Holly Sherwood, while Ellen Aim’s catchy, punchy songs (“Nowhere Fast”, “Never Be You”, “Sorcerer”, “Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young”) were largely written by Meat Loaf mastermind Jim Steinman, resulting in pure rock movie bliss.
WE’RE NOT A BAND…FROM HEARTS BEAT LOUD (2018)
There aren’t too many father-daughter rock bands out there (are there actually any at all?), and there are likely even far fewer fictional father-daughter rock bands in movies…the only one we know of is the cheekily named We’re Not A Band from Unsung Auteur Brett Haley’s utterly charming 2018 comedy drama Hearts Beat Loud. A heartfelt love letter to family connection and the joys of listening to, curating and creating music, this feel-good winner follows music obsessive and committed record store owner Frank Fisher (the great Nick Offerman in one of his best and most layered performances), who cajoles his teenage daughter Sam (the delightful Kiersey Clemons) into making some music together. Sam (very) reluctantly agrees and We’re Not A Band (the band name concisely indicates Sam’s lack of commitment) is formed. With a sweet, indie pop-rock sound, the duo becomes an unlikely success story, prompting both father and daughter to reassess their lives in very major ways. Criminally under-rated, this wholly accessible and beautifully made film should have been a big hit. With Kiersey Clemons’ sweet voice and a selection of hook-laden tunes written by Keegan DeWitt (frontman for the indie band Wild Lemon and the score composer for Brett Haley’s prior film The Hero), We’re Not A Band are a mighty cool on-screen outfit too.
THE DALEKS….FROM HEAD SOUTH (2024)
A sweet-and-sour tale of post-punk yearning, family dysfunction, teenage angst and quiet suburban desperation, Head South is pure coming-of-age gold. Long-haired, lost and adrift in 1979, New Zealand high schooler Angus (the excellent Ed Oxenbould) puts his life on pivot when he tumbles awkwardly and accidentally into the burgeoning Kiwi post-punk scene of the late seventies. When Angus meets smart chemist-shop clerk Kirsten (Kiwi musician and actress Stella Bennett aka Benee, who has star quality, screen presence, charisma and talent to burn) and forms a band called The Daleks, named after the alien robot nemesis on the popular British sci-fi show Doctor Who, they take to the stage in a real rites-of-passage moment, and the pressure is well and truly on. The young band is shambolic and far from polished, but there’s definitely something there, and they really do light up the screen. The raw, chaotic, primitive but decidedly catchy songs played by The Daleks are all written by the film’s writer/director Jonathan Ogilvie (who based the film on his own experiences as a young rocker), including the ear-worm “Boxed In”. “That was actually probably the first song I ever wrote on a bass guitar,” the director told FilmInk. “What can I do on a bass guitar?”
SCHOOL OF ROCK…FROM SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003)
Though now a household name both as a mainstream Hollywood comedic superstar and as one-half of (the currently on hiatus) comic rock duo Tenacious D, the great Jack Black was just on the verge of that stardom when he starred in director Richard Linklater’s 2003 fist-pumping crowd-pleaser School Of Rock. This surprise hit was written specifically for Black by actor/writer (and friend) Mike White (The White Lotus), and the film gives the actor free rein to showcase his considerably diverse talents as Dewey Finn, a hell raising guitarist who worships at the altar of rock and roll and, after a series of bizarre events, finds himself teaching a bunch of ten-year-olds all about it. The raucous good guy also forms his young charges into the titular rock band, climaxing with a sensational on-stage performance. “I wanted to make sure this movie was kick ass,” Jack Black told FilmInk. “If the music was shitty, well, it could be a bummer.” School Of Rock is no bummer, with its young cast of actor/musicians an absolute knockout. “Most of them had never acted before, let alone played rock music,” Black told FilmInk. “Rick Linklater’s main goal was to get kids who played, because he likes things to be authentic. You can tell when someone’s playing or when someone’s air playing – there’s a big difference.”
SUSANNA’S BAND…FROM WHAT MAISIE KNEW (2012)
You wouldn’t expect to find a fictional movie rock band in a contemporised update of Henry James’1897 novella What Maisie Knew, but they’re one of the many delightful surprises in this deeply affecting drama, which centres on six-year-old Maisie (Onata Aprile). Maisie’s divorced parents – Susanna (Julianne Moore) and Beale (Steve Coogan) – are fabulously well-off, and fabulously distant and emotionally unavailable. The venomous former couple’s custody battle is complicated by two other players – Maisie’s nanny (Joanna Vanderham) and a new man in Susanna’s life played by Alexander Skarsgård – with the largely abandoned Maisie caught up in the middle. In a very cool touch, Susanna is the lead singer in a fading but still popular (unnamed in the film) rock band, and Julianne Moore plays her with a stunning grasp of the louche, sexily bedraggled quality that has defined so many rock stars. Moore prepared for the role by meeting with music producer Peter Nashel, singer Elaine Caswell, and Alison Mosshart, the cool AF lead singer of indie rock band The Kills, two of whose songs (“Night Train” and “Hook And Line”) Moore brilliantly performs in the film. Julianne Moore is an extraordinary actress, but her impressive rock star moves (she goes off on stage) in What Maisie Knew almost make you think that she’s missed her calling.
MAX FROST & THE TROOPERS…FROM WILD IN THE STREETS (1968)
Director Barry Shear’s 1968 head-jamming cult classic Wild In The Streets is one of the most deliriously strange, sweetly disturbing, pointedly satirical, and absolutely unforgettable films of the late 1960s…and that’s really saying something. A feat of truly tripped out imagination, this heady slice of dystopian mayhem stars the enigmatic and profoundly charismatic Christopher Jones (read much more about this fascinating Hollywood casualty right here) as the Machiavellian Max Frost, a rock star who joins with Hal Holbrook’s duplicitous politician in working to lower America’s voting age to fourteen. With the kids taking over the polling booths, superstar Max is soon sworn in as President…and one of his first actions is to have everyone over thirty rounded up, thrown into concentration camps, and force-fed LSD! Yep, Wild In The Streets is one crazy fucking film indeed, but the rock band at its centre – Max Frost & The Troopers (Larry Bishop, Diane Varsi, Kevin Coughlin and Richard Pryor, yes, Richard Pryor, kill it as Max’s amusingly eccentric bandmates – is wholly, utterly authentic, even taking their swirling, trippy, psych-rock song “Shape Of Things to Come” (written by songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil) to No. 22 on the Billboard chart.
This Is Spinal Tap 41st Anniversary 4K Restoration is released in selected cinemas on August 7.
Don’t storm the stage if we’ve missed an essential on-screen fictional rock band! This is just the first set! Look out for “Let There Be Rock…On Screen! Part II” upon the release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues on September 25.
