ABSTRACT
This chapter asks why metalheads would like, let alone adore, This Is Spin̈al Tap (1984), a movie that ridicules and maligns the very genre with which they identify. The biographical essay probes into the reasons why fans so strongly enjoy a movie that presents so gleefully the very clichés usually brought up by those who contemptuously sneer at heavy metal. The essay specifically addresses various forms of postmodern mockery that are used in the movie, mainly parody and scorn. In her conclusion, Weinstein discusses the film’s changing reception and its steady increase in popularity.
