Bitch School

The Zoo Crew, those groovy hippie DJs at THE ZOO radio station, are spinning the wild track "Bitch School" by Spinal Tap from their 1992 album Break Like The Wind for all the Zoo Freaks out there. This song, a glam metal anthem with a tongue-in-cheek edge, stirred up some buzz when it dropped. Critics noted its similarity to Spinal Tap’s earlier hit "Hell Hole," but the band faced heat from feminists over its seemingly misogynistic lyrics. Nigel Tufnel, portrayed by Christopher Guest, clapped back in an interview, insisting it’s about dogs: “It’s a song about dogs and our love for dogs and the disciplining of those little creatures—‘You’re fetching when you’re down on all fours.’ Well, dogs walk on all fours and they fetch, obviously. End of discussion.” David St. Hubbins, played by Michael McKean, added that a cut verse mentioning kibble would’ve cleared things up, claiming the whole album was a celebration of womanhood. Fans on Spinal Tap’s Facebook still chuckle about the dog defense, with some joking it’s the band’s most “pawsome” controversy.

Another tidbit comes from a 2017 X post by Michael McKean, who shared a quirky story about Steely Dan’s Walter Becker. When Spinal Tap asked Becker to pen liner notes for Break Like The Wind, he delivered a technical rant about the Crosley Phase Linear Ionic Induction Voice Processor System, completely ignoring the band and music. It’s classic Spinal Tap—always leaning into the absurd. The "Bitch School" single itself was a hit, charting at #35 in the UK, and its digipak CD featured an exclusive “Talk With Tap” interview with Richard Skinner. The music video, directed by Mark Rezyka, got heavy MTV airplay, with Mariah O’Brien gracing the single’s cover in a chained-up, graduation-cap getup, later appearing on Alice in Chains’ Dirt cover. Fans on the Spinal Tap Fan site love debating whether the song’s riff rips off Queen’s “It’s Late,” as some claim.

Spinal Tap started as a fictional band in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, directed by Rob Reiner. Actors Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) played the hapless heavy metal trio, poking fun at rock clichés like Led Zeppelin’s excess and Aerosmith’s drama. The film was a modest hit, but its soundtrack, with the band actually playing their instruments, became a cult classic. Fans bought into the joke, thinking Spinal Tap was real. The “band” formed in the story when St. Hubbins and Tufnel, two Brits with shared musical tastes, teamed up in 1964 as The Originals, later morphing into The Thamesmen with bassist Ronnie Pudding and drummer John “Stumpy” Pepys. After minor hits like “Gimme Some Money” and “Cups and Cakes,” they became Spinal Tap, dropping “(Listen to The) Flower People” in 1967. The film’s 1982 tour storyline, with its canceled gigs and a botched Stonehenge prop, cemented their legacy as rock’s funniest screw-ups.

By 1992, when Break Like The Wind dropped, Spinal Tap had become a real touring act, complete with new drummer Ric Shrimpton and keyboardist C.J. Vanston. They played the MTV Music Awards and toured, even opening for themselves as The Folksmen, later featured in 2003’s A Mighty Wind. You can catch up with them on their official site, www.spinaltap.com, or follow their antics on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Fans gather at Spinal Tap Fan, a treasure trove of discography and trivia, and the Spinal Tap Fan Club on Facebook, where Zoo Freaks might fit right in, swapping stories about amps that go to eleven and the band’s epic “dog training” saga.