Spinal Tap A to Zed

Shrimpton, Mick (1948-1982): A former house drummer for the Eurovision Song Contest, he joined Tap as it regrouped on the strength of "Nice ’N Stinky," its late bloomer hit from "Jap Habit." Replaced Peter "James" Bond, who had spontaneously combusted. Ironically, Shrimpton himself would be killed in a mysterious on-stage explosion five years later during the one performance of Tap’s 1982 Japanese tour—his death caught on film by DiBergi for "This is Spinal Tap." Keyboardist Viv Savage was later killed during a swamp gas explosion while visiting Shrimpton’s Hampstead grave. Many fans, unable to believe Mick was gone, spread rumors that he had become a high-ranking executive at the Matsushita Corp., parent company of MCA, which released Tap’s 1992 album "Break Like the Wind." (ME) Derek: "Mick was like, when your dog makes a mess, and you want to hit him, and you want to love him, and you want to clean it up, all at once." (IST) A substance abuser who was chronically late, Shrimpton told DiBergi during "This is Spinal Tap" that "as long as I have sex and drugs, I can do without rock ’n roll." Shrimpton was also a major league baseball fan, and during an early morning appearance by the band at a Cleveland FM station, he answered a caller’s question about the exact number of shut-outs Ferguson Jenkins had pitched during his career with the Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox.