The 66.6 Most Metal Movie Scenes of All Time: #1!!!
Yesterday, June 9th, independent heavy metal book publisher Bazillion Points released Heavy Metal Movies, the ultimate guidebook to the complete molten musical cinema experience that features lavish illustrations and more than 666 of the most metallic movie moments of all time.
To celebrate, we’ve partnered with the book’s author, Mike “McBeardo” McPadden, to count down the 66.6 most metal movie scenes of all time right here on MetalSucks! Every other day through the book’s release on June 9th we’ve been revealing Mike’s picks along with brief write-ups penned by the author himself.
The list concludes today with the #1 pick! And the most metal movie scene of all time is…
1. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
• Nigel Tufnel cranks up his custom amp: “This one goes to eleven!”
When it comes to heavy metal riffs, there is Iron Man by Black Sabbath. When it comes to classic rock radio countdowns, there is “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. And when it comes to Heavy Metal Movies, there is This Is Spinal Tap, the simultaneous Stonehenge and the Hellhole of headbanger cinema, the art form’s universally beloved pinnacle that scales its heights by plumbing the depths of rock-and-roll madness and mortification with hyper-muscular mirth.
Spinal Tap’s high notes actually soar to such peaks that the film’s most metal scene—the most metal scene in all films, in fact—acknowledges its own hugeness by introducing a stacked Marhsall amplifier that kicks the known limits of volume and intensity up a notch—by going past the standard one-to-ten scale, up to “eleven”.
At once puffing a cigarette and chomping a wad of gum, Spinal Tap axe-master Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) exposes filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) to his sonic artillery, explaining how if the band needs “that extra push over the cliff”, his custom amp can deliver the bombast by going “one more”—to eleven. DiBergi replies, “Why not just make ten louder, and have that be the loudest?” Tufnel, equal parts clueless and cocksure, pauses one hilariously pregnant second and reiterates, “This goes to ELEVEN!”
And in that moment the very essence of “heavy” and “metal” alike very uproariously laid bare. Everything louder than everything else!
Catch up on the rest of the countdown here:
#66.6 through #60
#59 through #50
#49 through #40
#39 through #30
#29 through #20
#19 through #15
#14 through #10
#9 through #5
#4 through #2
