Styx and Foreigner Trade Real-Life ‘Spinal Tap’ Stories
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the world's most famous rock and roll "mockumentary," we asked the stars of Styx and Foreigner to tell us their funniest real-life 'Spinal Tap' moments.
As you can see from watching the video above, the tales from the two groups -- who, along with former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, will hit the road together for the 'Soundtrack of Summer' tour -- did not disappoint.
Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones goes first, explaining how a recurring series of stage malfunctions on the 'Head Games' tour often -- and rather ironically -- kept fans from seeing anything but the group's heads during their opening number. "Invariably, the lift would not work properly," he explains. "We'd be coming up, and it would stop right here (motions to neck level). And all the audience saw was six heads, and us clamoring out of this lift."
Singer Kelly Hansen is up next, revealing that his over-eagerness forced Foreigner to re-shoot the introduction to 'Juke Box Hero' on the band's 2010 'Rockin at the Ryman' concert video. "I'm thinking to myself, OK, we're filming this so I want to give a little bit extra... so I jumped a little bit higher than usual -- and completely went flat on my ass, and the microphone flew out of my hand and went out into the audience!" If you watch him tell the story, you'll find out how to spot the two different takes of the song next time you watch that DVD.
Jones may have had the best Beatles story the last time we talked to these rock legends, but Styx guitarist and singer Tommy Shaw takes the gold medal hands down this time. Or should we say pants down? Well, we don't want to spoil this one for you, but we will say it happened in Las Vegas, and a pregnant woman and gaffer's tape were involved.
Be sure to watch the whole video, you're going to want to hear all these stories told by the artists themselves. Be sure to check back -- we'll be sharing more real-life 'Spinal Tap' stories over the coming days and weeks.