Derek Albion Smalls is a fictional character played by Harry Shearer in the spoof rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap . He is the bassist for mock British heavy metal group Spinal Tap, playing alongside guitarists Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), as well as with a plethora of drummers and keyboardists.
Derek grew up in Nilford-on-Null in the West Midlands, England, where his father, Donald "Duff" Smalls, ran a telephone sanitisation business, "Sani-Fone". [1] He joined Spın̈al Tap in 1967 after the departure of bassist Ronnie Pudding. [2]
Derek has described bandmates David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel as "distinct types of visionaries ... like fire and ice", saying that he considered his role in the band to be "in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water". [3] A pipe-smoker, he has been known to enhance his appearance by placing a foil-wrapped courgette in his trousers, which resulted in an embarrassing incident passing through a metal detector at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during 1982's "Tap Into America" tour. [4]
Smalls played killer #1 in Marco Zamboni's Roma '79, [5] and is the star of a series of comical Belgian television commercials for the snack food Floop. He is also a prize-winning gardener, having developed and patented a totally black rose, the Death by Midnight. He released a solo album, It's a Smalls World, in the mid 1970s, [1] and also played in the Christian rock band Lambsblood in the late 1980s before rejoining Spinal Tap for their reunion tour in 1992. [6] During this period, he also worked briefly for his father's business. [1] After the band broke up in 1992, Derek became employed as a "floater" in an elementary school, with such duties as a crossing guard and straightening library books. According to the 2007 short film Spinal Tap, it is revealed that Derek checked into rehab to be treated for an addiction to the internet.
A solo album, Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing), was announced in early 2018, including collaborations from many prominent rock musicians. [7]
Smalls has expressed a desire to collaborate with Mozart. He said: "I think we'd have a lot to share. I know chords he's never used." [8]
The character appears in part to be a satire of Lemmy from Motörhead, who wore a similar mutton chop beard. However, his onstage mannerisms resemble those of fellow bass player Steve Dawson from the band Saxon, with whom Shearer went on the road before filming This Is Spinal Tap. [9] "Harry Shearer came on tour with us in '82", confirmed singer Biff Byford. "The guy he based his character on was our old bass player Steve Dawson – the moustache, the pointing to the audience." [10]
In the film, Smalls can be seen wearing both a Shrewsbury Town football shirt and a West Ham baseball cap. [11]
Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson has claimed that the name was derived from "Derek Small", which appears in the liner notes of the band's albums Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play . Asked by Anderson about the origin of the name, Shearer responded "I don't know—it just came out of my head." Anderson recalls then asking, "I don't suppose, Harry, you happen to have a copy of Thick as a Brick in your record collection at home?" to which he concluded (from Shearer's reaction): "And he knew I'd got him then." [12] [13] Another inspiration for the name may have been the infamous police informer Derek "Bertie" Smalls (1935-2008). Smalls was an English career criminal who in the mid 1970s sensationally betrayed dozens of his former associates in exchange for immunity from prosecution, leading to him being dubbed in the British media ‘the Supergrass’.[ citation needed ]
Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk music, hard rock and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group's lead vocalist, bandleader, founder, principal composer and only constant member is Ian Anderson, who also plays flute and acoustic guitar. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre ; bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg and Jonathan Noyce; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese and Andrew Giddings.
This Is Spinal Tap is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner. The film stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap, who are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands". Reiner plays Martin "Marty" Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker who follows them on their American tour. The film satirizes the behavior and musical pretensions of rock bands and the perceived hagiographic tendencies of rock documentaries such as The Song Remains the Same (1976) and The Last Waltz (1978), and follows the similar All You Need Is Cash (1978) by the Rutles. Most of its dialogue was improvised and dozens of hours were filmed.
A is the 13th studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on 29 August 1980 in the UK and 1 September of the same year in the United States.
Stand Up is the second studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1969. It was the first Jethro Tull album to feature guitarist Martin Barre, who would go on to become the band's longtime guitarist until its initial dissolution in 2012. Before recording sessions for the album began, the band's original guitarist Mick Abrahams departed the band as a result of musical differences with frontman and primary songwriter Ian Anderson; Abrahams wanted to stay with the blues rock sound of their 1968 debut, This Was, while Anderson wished to add other musical influences such as folk rock.
Saxon are an English heavy metal band formed in Barnsley in 1975. As leaders of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), they had eight UK Top 40 albums during the 1980s including four UK Top 10 albums and two Top 5 albums. They had numerous hit singles on the UK Singles Chart and experienced success all over Europe and Japan, as well as in the United States.
Stormwatch is the twelfth studio album by progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in September 1979. The album is often considered the last in a trio of folk rock albums released by the band at the end of the 1970s, alongside Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). The album's themes deal mostly with the environment, climate and seaside living, and were heavily inspired by the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where frontman Ian Anderson had recently purchased property.
Break Like the Wind is a 1992 album by the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. The songs include a range of genres, from the glam metal anthem "Bitch School" down to the skiffle satire of "All the Way Home". The title, and the album's title track, is a double entendre that combines and confuses the idiom "make like the wind" with "break wind", a euphemism for flatulence.
Spinal Tap is a fictional English heavy metal band created by the American comedians and musicians of The T.V. Show who wrote and performed original songs as the band: Michael McKean, as the lead singer and guitarist David St. Hubbins; Christopher Guest, as the guitarist Nigel Tufnel; and Harry Shearer, as the bassist Derek Smalls. They are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands".
This Is Spinal Tap is the soundtrack to the film This Is Spinal Tap, released in 1984. It was re-released in 2000 with lyrics and two versions of "Christmas with the Devil" as bonus tracks. The cover art is identical to that of the fictional album Smell the Glove featured in the film.
Rock the Nations is the eighth studio album by English heavy metal band Saxon, released in August 1986.
"The Otto Show" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 23, 1992. In the episode, Bart wants to become a rock star after attending a Spinal Tap concert, so Homer and Marge buy him a guitar. He shows the guitar to Otto, who plays it and makes the children late for school. While racing to Springfield Elementary, Otto crashes the school bus and is suspended until he earns a driver's license. Unable to pay his rent, Otto moves in with the Simpsons.
David Ivor St. Hubbins is a fictional character in the mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap (1984). In the film, he is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the mock rock band Spinal Tap. David is played by actor Michael McKean, who improvised the role through the whole film. McKean writes in his introduction to This Is Spinal Tap: The Official Guide, "When I am called upon to generate copy about the mostly fictional entity called Spinal Tap, I usually do so in the mostly fictional character of David St. Hubbins."
Graham Oliver is an English guitarist who was born in Mexborough, South Yorkshire. He was a founding member in the heavy metal band Saxon from 1976 to 1995.
Nigel Tufnel is a fictional character in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. In the film, he is the lead guitarist of the rock band Spinal Tap. He was played by actor Christopher Guest.
John Glascock was a British musician. He was the bassist and occasional lead vocalist of the rock band Carmen from 1972 to 1975; and the bass guitarist for progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1976 until his death in 1979. Glascock died at the age of 28 as a result of a congenital heart valve defect, which was worsened by an infection caused by an abscessed tooth.
Steven "Dobby" Dawson is an English bass guitarist and a founder of the heavy metal band Saxon.
Lenny and the Squigtones is a fictional musical group headed in character by Michael McKean and David Lander, the two actors who played Lenny and Squiggy on the U.S. television series Laverne & Shirley, which is set primarily in the 1950s. The group's album, Lenny & Squiggy Present Lenny and the Squigtones, was released on the Casablanca label in 1979. Recorded live at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, they perform parodies of 1950s rock ballads. In between, there a tracks of schtick and banter.
Back from the Dead is an album by the heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Released on June 16, 2009, it is the first release under the Spinal Tap name since 1992's Break Like the Wind.
David Goodier is an English musician. He has been the bassist for the rock band Jethro Tull from 2007 until the band went on a hiatus in 2012, and again from 2017 when Ian Anderson started to tour again using the Jethro Tull name, with Goodier and keyboardist John O'Hara the only former Jethro Tull members to join Anderson. Jethro Tull's 2022 album The Zealot Gene, their first in 19 years, marked Goodier's first appearance on a Jethro Tull studio recording.
| Albums | |
|---|---|
| Film | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
