There's a Fine Line Between Clever and Stupid

Looks like we've found the first contestant for our Drunk Or Retarded? game show, as Oasis knobhead Liam Gallagher is under the impression that This is Spinal Tap is a fookin' documentary.

Brother Noel tells the Guardian: "Yeah, he thought they were real people. We went to see them play in Carnegie Hall. Before they played, they came on as three folk singers from the film A Mighty Wind. We were laughing and he said: 'This is shit.' We said: 'No, those three are in Spinal Tap. You do know they are American actors?' 'They're not even a real band?' 'They're not even English! One of them is married to Jamie Lee Curtis.' 'I'm not fuckin' 'avin that,' he says, and walks off right up the middle of Carnegie Hall. He's never watched Spinal Tap since. He'd seen the film and loved it and thought they were a real band."

Jesus. This explains why Blur so handily won the feud a decade ago. That, and the fact that Damon Albarn & Co. never released a song called “Magic Pie.” Plus, for all their preoccupation with class, Blur were just a lot more fun … and funnier. In the road doc Starshaped, released for the first time here in America, guitarist Graham Coxson has this to say about Stonehenge:

"It's a bit like going to see Morrissey. Not quite as big as you thought, know what I mean?"

The band is full of these sorts of observations, perhaps because unlike their Manc rivals, Blur have actually cracked open a book or two. Also in their favor: The louche Alex James, who's a veritable Bartlett's Book of Quotations, should that reference work's editors ever decide to jettison all subject matter other than booze, cheese and getting tossed out of The Groucho:

"Drunk and ridiculous - that's how I wanted to spend my 20s. But it's not so elegant when you get older and start looking like a potato."

More Jamesian musings can be found here.