Spinal Tap was formed in 1964 by
David St. Hubbins and
Nigel Tufnel. Prior to 1964, Nigel was in a band called "The Lovely Lads". David was in a band called "The Creatures". They met while
jamming outside a London subway station. They called their band "The Originals". However, they quickly discovered there was already a band on London's east end calling themsevles that. So they renamed their band "The New Originals". Shortly after changing their name, the original The Originals changed their name to The Regulars. The New Originals, unable to get signed, fell apart. Before David and Nigel could part ways, a band called the Johnny Goodshow Revue hired them to tour
English sea-side resorts. They toured as The Thamesmen. In 1965 they got a gig touring the
Benelux nations and changed their name to The Dutchmen. After the tour, they went on a name changing
orgy. They changed their band name to:
- Rave Breakers
- Hellcats
- Flamin' Daemons
- Shiners
- Mondos
- The Doppel Gang
- The Peoples
- Loose Lips
- Waffle
- Hot Waffles
- Silver Service
- Love Bisquits
- Bisquits
- The Mud Below
- The Tufnel-St. Hubbins Group
In December 1966 they settled on Spinal Tap, which they assumed was a misspelling of "Spynal Tap". It was fashionable in the mid-'60s to name bands with cute missepllings. For example The Bee(a)tles. However, only later did the band find out, according to
bass player
Derek Smalls "we spelled it right by mistake."
In the '70s, the band had to temporarliy change its name to Anthem and The Cadburys due to legal troubles with its
record label. In 1982, Nigel quit the band and Spinal Tap was forced to call themselves Spinal Tap Mark II. Nigel quitting allowed them to explore freeform jazz. Nigel had long prevented the band from experimenting with
jazz because a) jazz guitarists don't play loud b) he believed jazz was "just a series of mistakes without the 'oops.'".
Discography
1967 -
Spinal Tap Sings (Listen to the) Flower People and Other Favorites (included the songs "Flower People" and "Have a Nice Death")
1968 -
We Are All Flower People (included the songs "We Are All Flower People" and "The Incredible Flight of
Icarus P. Anybody")
1969 -
Silent But Deadly (a live concert album that included the songs "Breakfast of Evil" and "Silent But Deadly")
1970 -
Brainhammer (included the songs "
Big Bottom" and "Swallow My Love")
1971 -
Nerve Damage (song list unknown)
1972 -
Blood to Let (included the song "Blood to Let")
1974 -
Intravenus de Milo (included the songs "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" and "Saliva of the Fittest")
1975 -
The Sun Never Sweats (included the songs "The Sun Never Sweats" and "
Stonehenge")
1975 -
Jap Habit (a live triple album that included the songs "Nice 'N Stinky" and "Nocturnal Mission")
1976 -
Bent for the Rent (included the songs "When a Man Looks Like a Woman" and "Heavy Duty")
1976 -
Tap Dancing (song list unknown)
1977 -
Rock 'N Roll Creation aka
The Gospel According to Spinal Tap (included the songs "Young, Smug and Famous" and "Rock 'N Roll Creation")
1980 -
Shark Sandwich (included the songs "Throb Detector" and "
Sex Farm")
1982 -
Smell The Glove (included the song "Hell Hole") Note: originally this album featured a chained and bound woman being forced to smell a glove, however protest from retailers forced Spinal Tap to change the cover to pure black. It became known as "the black album". An idea later stolen by in real life by
Metallica.
1983 -
Heavy Metal Memories (a best of album)