1967-David St. HubbinsVocals, guitar
Nigel TufnelGuitar, vocals
Derek SmallsBass, vocals
Viv SavageKeyboards
Ronnie PuddingKeyboards1967-1971
33 various membersDrums1975-mid '80's
Known for stage mishaps and an unusual degree of infighting, Spinal Tap were the subject of the legendary 1984 cult rockumentary This is Spinal Tap, which the band immediately denounced after its release.
A lot of tension in the band stemmed from lead singer David St. Hubbins' relationship with his girlfriend, Jeanine Pettibone, who got under the skin of Nigel Tufnel. St. Hubbins married Pettibone in 1986, but they divorced on good terms in 2000.
St. Hubbins flunked his US citizenship test after referring to the two Houses of Congress as the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
Keyboard player Viv Savage was killed by a natural gas explosion at the grave of late Tap drummer Mick Shrimpton (Savage was originally a drummer before joining Tap).
After the band broke up, Tufnel took some odd jobs, including one at a cheese shop. He would sometimes sit in with a traditional Irish band, where his electric guitar offered a sharp counterpoint to the traditional instruments like tin whistle and bodhrán.
The group has a bad history with drummers. All of their drummers seem to die, whether through mysterious gardening accidents, choking on vomit, or spontaneously combusting.
Nigel Tufnel owns over 100 different guitars.
The band had Marshall create special amps just for them that went to "11" so they could play louder than everyone else. Asked why they didn't just make "10" louder, Tufnel replied, "This one goes to 11."
After losing the name "The Thamesmen," Spinal Tap became "The Originals," which, ironically, was already taken. The band then changed their name to "The New Originals."
David St. Hubbins contends that the origin of his surname, St. Hubbins, was the patron saint of quality footwear.
Michael McKean plays David St. Hubbins, Christopher Guest plays Nigel Tufnel, and Harry Shearer plays Derek Smalls in the 1984 mockumentary
This Is Spinal Tap. The movie was shot in five weeks and became a cult classic. The portrayal was so convincing that some viewers thought Spinal Tap was a real band. In a
Songfacts interview with Harry Shearer, he said: "I'm given to understand by press reports that Liam Gallagher of Oasis sort of was in that same position of not quite apprehending that it wasn't a real band. And we hear about that from time to time. And we feel badly for those people."
Harry Shearer and Michael McKean had been in the same comedy troupe (the Credibility Gap) in the '70s. Shearer and Christopher Guest were both in the Saturday Night Live cast in the mid-'80s; McKean was in the cast in the mid-'90s.
Michael McKean played Lenny in the TV series Laverne & Shirley, and Chuck McGill on Better Call Saul.
Guest and McKean were schoolmates at New York University.
Shearer, Guest and McKean went on to do more mockumentaries, including Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind (where they formed a folk band called The Folksmen).
Guest wrote for the humor magazine National Lampoon. He also won an Emmy for writing a Lily Tomlin TV special.
Spinal Tap first performed in 1979 on the ABC comedy special The TV Show, where they performed "Rock & Roll Nightmare."
Guest is married to the actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Their wedding was in 1984.
Spinal Tap got back together for a tour in 1992 that included a performance at a Freddie Mercury tribute concert in Wembley Stadium, where they shared a bill with George Michael, David Bowie and Elton John.
Spinal Tap opened a show for Iron Butterfly in Los Angeles after the movie came out.
Harry Shearer does many of the voices on The Simpsons, including Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and Mr. Burns. Spinal Tap was a big part of a season 3 episode called "The Otto Show," where the band plays a show in Springfield and has all kinds of problems, including a malfunction of their inflatable Satan.
Spinal Tap reunited in 2025 for a concert at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, where they were joined by Elton John on "
Stonehenge." The reunion is documented in the film
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
