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The English Spinal Tap for all us posers!!!!!

MortensOrchid | Cleveland, OH | 08/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There was a great debate about this movie in 83 when it first came out. Apparently they and the creators of Spinal Tap conceived this idea completely independently, had no contact with the other, and created both movies simultaniously. Spinal Tap, while much funnier (although the older I get the more depressing it is!) overshadowed this movie project in the US and Europe, but remains a hidden gem.



As this is British comedy, the humor is far more subtle but still a scream! The Young Ones take on new personas as a go no where heavy metal band touring in England. They've got everything from the scanky, unwashed denim jackets to the red spandex pants to the mullet wigs! And Rik is there too, who moonshadows as a white collar banker by day, then when the documentary crew comes calling he charges in, puts on his wig and metal T shirt while still wearing his suit pants, black socks and wingtips! I laughed so hard I cried! I'm just a poser too!



And they even made a hilarious comment, when the hip chick rock journalist asks what they think of a-ha. They make vomitting noises (I LOVE a-ha, thank you very much!). The Monsters of Rock concert was a real scream, as they had comments from other English metal luminaries like Ozzy and Lemmie - but they were probably so high they didn't know what they were talking about! Like all great bands, they lack the discipline, maturity, and sobirety to go on, so they split up right on the verge of success. A band is a marriage, and most are bound for divorce court. For those about to rock, we salute you..."

Forget Spinal Tap...

Richard Richard | KORORA, AUSTRALIA | 06/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, Spinal Tap was a great movie but in all honesty, this is every bit as good, if not funnier.

Not only is the humour incredible, but the music is fantastic, a mixture of classic british hard rock & the comic strip gang's trademark humour, (Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Nigel Planer & Peter Richardson).

Don't miss it!!!"

Don't play it again...or i'll break your guitar

radio atlantis | tha north of ireland | 05/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"i had vague recollections (only vague, it was 20something years ago ffs) of bad news' cover of 'bohemian rhapsody', mainly the 'vocals' and the line 'fat b@stards, i've just playe the wrong chord'. so while nostalgia can sometimes be a real eye opener in that you realise that things back then were 'cr@p, no matter what the lookback bores say' (mes), this and the comic strip (from which bad news was spawned) boxset is quite a nifty investment.

the premise is simple enough, an aspiring metal band are shown first on a rockumentary in their search to make it big, and then reforming after the acrimonious (and public) split. the cd features some of their 'tunes' (let's just call it 'pub rock, shall we, although the 'ghengis khan' solo and incomprehensible war cries always has me in stitches, as does the intro to 'bad news') and some hysterical studio 'banter'. as always with comedy it's the timing and reactions that make or break it - witness for example colin's reaction to the 'ugly woman' jibe.

despite the fact that they were apparently unaware of each other's existance you can't help but draw comparisons with 'this is spinal tap'. music, especially rock, is ripe for parody. in its favour bad news has a distinctly english flavour to it, helped no doubt by the presence of three of the young ones. indeed, its got a similar type of anarchistic/ toilet humour with plenty of profanity and you can see flashes of 'bottom' in the interaction between vim and colin. i also feel it stole a march on spinal tap - compare the 'cashing in on xmas (dub)' with the admittedly hysterical tap dvd commentary and you'll see what i mean.

another accolade is that i get the feeling bubonique ripped off 'ghengis' for 'truck turner'. high praise indeed.

"oh go and fetch the paper from the newsagent, daisy!""