Bad News Tour
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Product details
Actor: Bad NewsEdition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 84 minutes
Release Date: 1992-05-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Rhino / Wea
Studio: Rhino / Wea
VHS Movie Reviews of Bad News Tour
Movie Review: Reiner didn't actually steal from Bad News
Summary: 5 Stars
Bad News is fantastic, and deserves a proper DVD release.
It is unfair to suggest that Spinal Tap simply ripped off Bad News. If Bad News was released in 1983 and Tap in 1984, then Reiner and Co, would have to have worked amazingly fast to get their stolen idea into theatres so quickly. In truth, Tap was several years in the making. Check out the extras on the OOP Criterion edition of Spinal Tap to see the history of the film's development. The initial short verion of the film, shot in 16mm (and used to secure additional funding so that the film proper could be made), pre-dates Bad News. The one scrap of that film which made it into the final cut is the long-haired blonde woman who exclaims, "It's like you become one with the band."
And, of course, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) pre-dates BOTH of those films--having its origin as a Saturday Night Live sketch.
Movie Review: Bad News predates Spinal Tap by a year, actually - also, it's better
Summary: 5 Stars
"Bad News Tour" first aired on Channel 4 (England) in January 1983. It was the fourth show of the first season of the brilliant series "The Comic Strip Presents". Tap came out in 1984.
If only more Americans had actually seen Bad News, Rob Reiner wouldn't get so much credit for stealing someone else's ideas. His stuff, post-Tap, has been mediocre at best. Harry Shearer's lame assertions of links to prior sketches aside, the proof of the REAL genius is in the air/release dates and the comedy therein.
More important than any of that, Bad News is much funnier than Spinal Tap! The writing makes more sense, the performers are better, the music is funnier, etc. If you like this sort of parody, do yourself a favor and see these guys at work. I definitely think "The Comic Strip Presents" is by far the best television show ever made - starring and written by Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and sometimes Robbie Coltrane, Alexi Sayle, Keith Allen, and Kathy Burke. WHEN OH WHEN WILL THEY PUT THE FULL "COMIC STRIP PRESENTS" DVD SET OUT IN AMERICA??? Until they finally do, see this tape, which includes two full episodes: "Bad News Tour" and its 1988 sequel "More Bad News".
This is one of the few Comic Strip episodes written by Ade Edmondson, better known for the shows "Bottom" and "The Young Ones" (Ade played Vyvian). It's well directed by Bob Spiers (of Fawlty Towers and AbFab fame). The boys play their own instruments, for better or (mostly) worse.
Also of interest to Bad News fans is the Bad News cd - full of hysterically bad music and tons of (largely improvised) comedy by the group. Your life will never be quite the same after hearing Bad News do "Pretty Woman" or "Bohemian Rhapsody"!
Movie Review: Predates Spinal Tap, for me at least
Summary: 4 Stars
For me, it doesn't really matter which one was released first, both Bad News Tour and This is Spinal Tap are great.
And to correct an error in an earlier review, it wasn't Reading, it was Monsters of Rock at Donnington that the band played. I know, because I was there! And the scene at the end where the crowd storm the stage and attack the band? Almost happened! I don't know how much the band knew about it, but from where I was standing I could see about 10,000 people and only 3 were laughing! (I was one.) The rest of the people around me were booing and saying stuff like "I'm going to F**king kill him!". That's pretty much when I realised that I was over Metal. When you can't laugh at yourself, it's all over! And the band about three places up the bill? Scorpions! I can't watch Spinal Tap without seeing Scorpions all over it (if the album Smell the Glove isn't Animal Magnetism I'll eat my hat!), but Scorpions were dead serious!
Movie Review: Apologies for correcting but it had to be done
Summary: 5 Stars
Bad news as an idea was formed in 1983 as part of the "Comic Strip Presents" TV series. Spinal was actually released in 1984, so therefore bad news actually do pre-date spinal tap.Movie Review: Bad News Tour
Summary: 5 Stars
Contrary to the statement made by a previous reviewer, the first "Bad News Tour" does not pre-date Spinal Tap. The Spinal Tap movie was released in 1982, "Bad News Tour" was first aired in 1984, and it looks fairly obvious that Adrian Edmondson was influenced by the Spinal Tap movie in writing this.
However, "Bad News Tour" is not a straight copy of Spinal Tap, and the portrayal of the clearly awful (although confident that they will still become massive) heavy metal band is full of excellent observational comedy lampooning the UK "heavy metal" scene of the early 1980s.
The follow up "More Bad News" doesn't work so well (for me, anyway). It is too much flogging of the same formula, and the idea that such a crap band would ever get signed to a record label, let alone get to play at Reading Festival, just isn't believable enough to make it funny. If truth be told, the only reason the Reading storyline was used was that Ade Edmondson and company DID play Reading Festival as a novelty item as "Bad News" due to the TV success of "Bad News Tour" and it probably seemed like a good opportunity to use some of the footage!
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