It’s hard reviewing A Fine Line Between Clever & Stupid: The Story of Spinal Tap now. It is devastating to know that its co-author, the acclaimed director Rob Reiner is no longer with us. Vale Rob!
If there’s any consolation, it is knowing that now – more than ever – the world needs to be able to have a laugh… and this book certainly does deliver on that.
This book is written by Reiner along with his Spinal Tap co-writers: Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean. It describes how the group of heavy metal Britons, who would eventually play Wembley Stadium and Glastonbury, first originated in a TV comedy sketch in 1979. The 1984 cult classic mockumentary would follow, but only after a hard slog convincing humourless movie execs that the project was a viable one.
This is the first time that the band’s history has been reported in the written form. It is a reading-must for Tap fans, giving fascinating insight into the film’s creation process. Can you believe it started life as gags on a series of cards and the four actors would engage in a kind of improv that was christened “Schnadling” by Guest? I’m not kidding.
There is also another part of this book, the flipside almost, which sees the quartet firmly in character as Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Marty DeBergi having a chat. This is schnadling gold in action and it does touch on some elements of the film’s sequel, which was released last year. Another absolute gem in this book is the forward by none other than David Byrne of Talking Heads’ fame.
There are some interesting anecdotes here from other musicians as they share their own Spinal Tap moments from on their past tours. Inevitably things go wrong and breakdown, and just as in the cult film, they can provide fodder for endless hours of amusement. That is for most… One exception was Ozzy Osbourne who found the mockumentary ‘Too real’ to be funny, in much the same vein that some public servants shudder rather than laugh at shows like Utopia.
A Fine Line Between Clever & Stupid is all about celebrating gloriously silly comedy. It is fun to read and a pure joy, even if at times it isn’t as funny as those gags from the original film (side note: test audiences actually found the first screenings quite unfunny). This band of comedians who can actually play their instruments prove there that they can also write a mean book too. It is like the antithesis of that Frank Zappa quote: “Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.”
These Tap guys prove that they can write, play and perform, all the while taking things up a notch to eleven. Good stuff!
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
A Fine Line Between Clever and Stupid: The Story of Spinal Tap by Rob Reiner with Charles Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean is available from Simon & Schuster. Grab yourself a copy online and support your local bookstore HERE.
