10 Greatest Rock Documentaries Ever Made
8. This Is Spinal Tap - Spinal Tap
The art of the rock documentary has been beaten into the ground more times than most people can keep count. We know this story...a nobody becomes famous...they screw it up...they redeem themselves...roll credits, right? Well...how's about we take that tired trope that you know and love and use it as a satire against itself?
Being one of the greatest mockumentaries ever conceived, This is Spinal Tap is not all that different from the kind of stuff that your average rock bands go through every single day when on tour. Though they are obviously exaggerated for comic relief, Christopher Guest's vision for this fictional band takes all of the larger than life aspects of rock and roll and boils them down to a science, from the idea of an amp that goes up to 11 to the insistence on the key of D Minor being the saddest of all known keys.
Comic relief aside, most of the rockers that have come and gone in the industry have talked about how this documentary tends to hit a little too close to home for them, seeing how everything from getting lost underneath the stage to forgetting the name of the town you're in aren't that uncommon of an occurrence anymore. Then again, sometimes the best comedy is funny just because it hits so close to home.