Twenty-five years ago, America discovered "one of England’s loudest bands," courtesy of documentarian Marty DiBergi and his film, "This Is Spinal Tap." It was all parody — DiBergi was director Rob Reiner, and cohorts Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer played the heavy-metal musicians in Spinal Tap — but for a fictional band, Spinal Tap has had a long afterlife. The film gave birth to several catchphrases, including one — “up to 11” — that’s made it into the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. There are Web sites devoted to the Tap, including at least one, http://tap-albums.s5.com/, that offers a complete discography of the fictional band’s nonexistent albums.
