For simplicity’s sake I’m omitting Viv, Mick, and all the earlier ill-fated drummers from the contest.
Bachelor #1 (twice divorced): David St. Hubbins, lead guitar. Leo. The most intellectual member of the group, relatively speaking. A devoted partner, with a tendency towards codependency. Likes: Books on tape, Eastern mysticism. Dislikes: Death.
Bachelor #2 (never married): Nigel Tufnel, lead guitar. Capricorn. The most talented member of the group, relatively speaking. Generally good-natured, but prone to fits of temper. Can’t tell feet from inches. Likes: Gumby, fish, surgery. Dislikes: Small bread.
Bachelor #3 (once divorced): Derek Smalls, bass. Cancer. The most reasonable member of the group, relatively speaking. Plays peacemaker. Likes: Pipes, women who like facial hair. Dislikes: Being caught with a cucumber in his trousers.
Gotta go with the innocence & obliviousness of Nigel:
Lick My Love Pump
You can’t really dust for vomit.
These go to eleven.
We’ve got Armadillos in our trousers. It’s really quite frightening.
The catering disaster
Marty DiBergi: “This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.”
Nigel Tufnel: That’s just nitpicking, isn’t it?
I have to go with Mr. Smalls. Anyone who describes his role in the band as being between fire and ice “kind of like lukewarm water” has a permanent place in my heart.
Since Nigel is flamingly, ragingly, overtly gay for Derek, and Derek has too many shrieking shrewish women attached to him…looks like it’s Mr. Smalls for me.
Gotta be the drummer who died in a “bizarre gardening accident”, if only for the fact that in 1992 Jeff Porcaro, the drummer for Toto, actually did die in a bizarre gardening accident: he was fatally allergic to the pesticide he was using. Result!
I used to play in a band called St. Hubbins, but as great as David was, I think I’m going to have to say Nigel, just because we were always talking about “going to eleven”.
Nigel’s pretentious idiocy makes him the funniest of the three. But I’d kill him if I had to spend any real length of time around him. David is smarter but still deep in denial and has that blonde albatross hanging around his neck. I’d have to go for hanging around with Derek. Besides, he’s also principal Skinner which is too cool.
If you’ve seen the deleted scenes on the DVD, you know who was gay for whom. The Spinal Tap DVD is one of the best I ever bought. The commentary track is hilarious and the opening menu dialog justifies the purchase price.
I think you mean David, not Derek, but yeah. Poor Nigel. I don’t think David ever even realized, although Jeanine had clearly figured things out.
Derek Smalls seems the sensible choice, and probably the only one suitable for a long-term relationship. He’s even-tempered and can handle a crisis without flaking out. He even likes kids.
However, I find both Nigel’s perpetual gormlessness and his faithful but unrequited love for David oddly touching. And while he can be a primadonna (or at least a regular donna), it’s not like he’s really high-maintenance – he just wants large bread! He’s a simple man with simple needs. Yet at the same time he recognizes that sometimes he must put extra effort into satisfying others, and in those cases he’s willing to take it to eleven.
I also rather like his yellow trousers. So Nigel it is for me.
Ya know, obviously it’s gotta be Nigel “listen to that sustain” Tufnel, but if I was Mrs. David St. Hubbins, I, too, would be named for the patron saint of quality footwear and it doesn’t get any better than that!
As I’ve admitted at least once on these Boards, I have a thing for Ed Begley Jr. (drummer). But since he’s not in the competition, I’ll go with Nigel. He has a deeply spiritual side that isn’t obvious to everyone. Also, if the rock and roll thing doesn’t work out, I know he could still support our family with a career in haberdashery.
Actually… I think you’ll find it was Derek’s creed. Viv Savage was into Drugs and Rock and Roll (though so long as the drugs were there you could keep the Rock and Roll)
He was just a boyhood friend who didn’t like the fact that David’s girl was changing him and turning him into something he wasn’t.
How many guys have been in the same situation where your best bud starts to become distant and weird as soon as he’s in a relationship with some controllong shrew. Not just any woman but that one type who isn’t happy until her boyfriend is remoulded into exactly what she wants.
You know a Saturn Sweater wearing, yogi tounge excersising, thin larynxed, no computer playing, advocating her as band co manager eunich.
No, Cardinal is right. Keyboardist Viv Savage (heavyset, curly hair) believed that one should have a good time all the time. Drummer Mick Shrimpton (skinny, big sunglasses, wears showercap in the tub) was devoted to the idea of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, but could live without the rock & roll.
The question of whether Nigel has any romantic feelings for David is something the film (wisely) never directly addresses. The question of whether or not he was Sweet on David is a matter of interpretation. (As is the question of how much influence David’s glam phase had on Sweet.)
However, I think it is clear that Nigel does not see David as “just a boyhood friend”. They are, in his own words, closer than brothers, and their 30-year friendship/musical partnership seems to be the most significant relationship in Nigel’s life even if it is strictly platonic.
*I just wanted to express my admiration for this reference. You are awesome.
