Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap (officially spelled "", with a "heavy metal umlaut" over the letter n—n-diaeresis—and a dotless letter i) is a Grammy-nominated parody fictional heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner. The sketch, actually a mock promotional video for the song "Rock and Roll Nightmare", was written by Reiner and the band, and included songwriter/performer Loudon Wainwright III on keyboards. Later the band became the fictional subject of the 1984 rockumentary/mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap (although a similar short film had already been released a year earlier on British televisions' Channel 4 in the form of Bad News). The band members are portrayed by Michael McKean (as David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnel) and Harry Shearer (as Derek Smalls).