"This Is Spinal Tap," the cult-classic mockumentary that tracks a heavy metal band's efforts to turn their lives "up to 11," is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Fans of movie know that "Tap" co-creators Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer (pictured above, left to right) also teamed up for more musical shenanigans on the folkie satire, "A Mighty Wind." It all came together earlier this year when the trio treated those same devotees to a tour. (The shows resulted in a CD/DVD called "Unwigged and Unplugged," which lands stores this week.)

We reached out to Spinal Tap's awesomely-mustached bassist, Derek Smalls (aka Harry Shearer), to learn more about the group's insights on the art of making funny music. Shearer -- whose voice you've also heard countless times on "The Simpsons" and on his weekly radio program "Le Show" -- was kind enough to give us the goods.

Excess Is Ripe for the Picking
So what was it about heavy metal that made it such an easy target in "Spinal Tap"? "The over-the-topness of it -- it was louder, the hair was bigger, the wardrobe was more extreme," says Shearer. "Had there been a meeting of the people who run rock n' roll at that point -- it was like, let's turn it up in every possible way. It was about music that was just devoted -- probably to the exclusion of almost anything else -- to just more and more of whatever it was: more hair, more leather, more volume. The only thing there wasn't more of was chords."
Study Your Target
While he claims an affection for certain AC/DC tracks, Shearer admits that he's far from a closet metalhead. During the research phase of "Spinal Tap," he and his co-stars went to experience the metal scene. "I wouldn't say that the people who showed up to the Judas Priest concert at Long Beach arena were necessarily in on the joke," he says. "They seemed to be plugged right into the energy and the experience. I think we were probably the only ones who were thinking about anything while we were watching that. Everybody else was just totally into having their heads blown off."

Spinal Tap Is Not Song Parody
Harry Shearer might use music to bring the lulz, but don't confuse him with Mr. Yankovic. "Song parody, strictly speaking, is what Weird Al does: take an existing song and write new lyrics to it, change the attitude. What we're doing is [writing] original music, as well as lyrics, that tend to make fun of a particular style of music."

Come On, Feel the Ridiculous
After metal, the most recent musical genre to inspire Shearer's ridicule was the boy band movement. (On his radio show, he has a skit involving an ex-member of the band Boys 'R Us and his attempts to go solo.) While commercial hip-hop seems ripe for satire, Shearer's not interested. (And he's also, you know, pretty white.) "The hip-hop thing at this point seems to be more about marketing than music, anyway. How many names of products can you mention in your track?"



I Read the News Today, Oh Boy ...
Shearer's upcoming song project focuses on the economic crisis. (The first track, "Little GM," will be released digitally next Tuesday. Visit Shearer's Web site for more.) "I tend to get triggered a lot by words and phrases that stand out. 'God, they actually said this?' When the original thing was going on, they were talking about 'toxic assets' in the banks. Then suddenly that phrase changed, and they started talking about 'troubled assets.' That made me laugh -- they were being talked about now as if they were teens with learning disabilities."

That led to a song, as did another utterance by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: "He kept using the phrase 'glimmers of hope.' It sounded like a bad, white gospel song, so I wrote that."

Walk a Mile in Someone's (Stupid) Shoes
Shearer enjoys traditional musicians who have a sense of humor, like Fountains of Wayne and They Might Be Giants. He also cites Stan Freberg and Tom Lehrer, as well as Randy Newman. "Randy teaches everybody this particular lesson: Try to get into the head of the person you're making fun of. Try to write it from that person's point of view. You'll find something funnier and slyer and more interesting by doing it that way. It's sort of terminally adolescent to just say, 'I hate war and so I'm going to write a song about how bad war is!' Standing in the position of the denunciator is not a very funny position, and it's not very interesting as a performer.

"If you can, as an imaginative leap, think about the person you really despise and find worthy of making fun of ... and try to imagine what their view of the world is." This is a lesson that Shearer took to heart with his last collection of satire, "Songs of the Bushmen" -- each song is written from the perspective of a different member of the last administration. "Rather than say, 'I hate Condi, I hate Colin!' which would be profoundly boring, just try to get into their heads."

Don't Forget to Look for a Lack of Talent
And, of course, there's something inherently hilarious about untalented people getting on stage to parade their songs for all to hear. "I think this is more true in this country than in the U.K., because of our 'you can do it' ethos: The number of people who have the balls to get up onstage and ask people to give them money for playing music far exceeds the number of people with musical talent. That makes for some fun."