“It’s a tie”: the two albums Harry Shearer cites as the greatest ever written
Prior to being cast in This Is Spinal Tap, Harry Shearer was already a popular figure thanks to his appearances on Saturday Night Live. Although his career would go on to involve many notable projects beyond This Is Spinal Tap, his role as Derek Smalls provided an affectionate satirisation of mainstream rock figures, poking fun at the absurdities of the rock world beyond its hard-as-nails exterior.
This Is Spinal Tap was a great success for many reasons, but its seamless blend of reality and fiction led many to believe that the band was actually real. Shearer, alongside David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, penned many of the movie’s hit songs, including ‘Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight’ and ‘Big Bottom’.
Although it takes a foundation of inherent talent to make such popular tracks, Shearer cites many influences that helped him apply his musical hat and step into a role of such high praise. As he once put it, “My ear goes more to songs and songwriting than to instrumental brilliance. I’ve stolen stuff from anybody good that I’ve heard.”
In fact, Shearer’s list of favourites includes a wide range of artists, including all of “the classic American songbook writers” like Cole Porter, Lieber and Stoller, Fountains of Wayne, and others. However, when it comes to all-time favourites, Shearer’s choice is a lot more obvious, for good reason. When he was once asked to weigh in on the greatest album ever, he responded: “It’s a tie between The Beatles’ Revolver and Apple Venus by XTC.”
Revolver was undeniably The Beatles at their most experimental. Not only did they utilise studio technology more than ever, but the album became a staple of psychedelic rock and a cultural touchstone of the wider counterculture movement. Although Shearer didn’t elaborate on his choices, it’s easy to see why such an album would sit at the top of his list, particularly as someone who adopted many of the band’s techniques to create the music in This Is Spinal Tap.
Shearer, Hubbins, and Tufnel adopted a Beatles-esque approach when writing the music for the movie, mostly by collaborating on each element to ensure that each track had the right dose of comedy. As Shearer once recalled: “We would individually come in with songs, and then the rest of the guys made suggestions and improvements and stuff. So it’s collaborative, but it’s less thoroughly collaborative from start to finish than the original movie songs were.”
Apple Venus was also an experimental work of art, as the band applied a set of orchestral arrangements and a more lush, sophisticated sound compared to their earlier, new wave-inspired music. Shearer has been a longtime fan of XTC, praising works for their “gorgeous songwriting and gorgeous record making.” He also finds it odd that more people don’t openly praise the rock band, but sometimes, those types of bands make for the most exciting listener experiences.
Interestingly, Shearer’s top two albums make complete sense when you realise Apple Venus has been described as an amalgamation between The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and The Beatles. Some say that XTC’s music is more accessible than the Liverpool quartet’s, but in Shearer’s view, making the call on which exceeds the other is impossible.