Turning it up to ’11

Cover of This is Spinal Tap (Special Edition)

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve put a few comments on Twitter about 2011 and how I hope to use it as an excuse to mention Nigel Tufnel.  Who the heck is Nigel Tufnel you are wondering?  Well, for those of us of a certain age, as in over 40, remember him as the lead guitarist for the band Spinal Tap in the mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap“.

The reference? Nige has a lovely scene where he talks about his guitar and the mega volume he can get because he’s turned his amp up to 11.  Here’s the dialogue:

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don’t know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

There are some other hilarious bits, tongues get planted firmly in cheeks (the band hails from Squatney!) and it spoofs metal rockers to a “T”.

Now, I’ll try to make a very tenuous link to learning.

Well, there’s the scene where they draw the plans for a stonehenge stage show, which when erected is substantially smaller than anticipated because they use inches instead of feet in their measurements.  They could have paid closer attention in school, I suppose.

Oh, who am I kidding?  There is no link.  I just wanted to have fun with it.

I, for one, will be channelling my inner Nigel and will do my best to turn things up to 11 next year, when I need it.

Rock On!