{{short description|Popular culture idiom}} [[File:Spinal Tap - Up to Eleven.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The original "up to eleven" knobs in the 1984 film ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'']] {{Wiktionary}}

"'''Up to eleven'''", also phrased as "'''these go to eleven'''", is an [[idiom]] from popular culture describing something that is up to or beyond the maximum threshold, or to an extremely high or strong degree. The phrase originates from the 1984 film ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]],'' where guitarist [[Nigel Tufnel]] demonstrates a [[guitar amplifier]] whose volume knobs are marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten.

In 2002, the phrase entered the ''[[Shorter Oxford English Dictionary]]'' with the definition "up to maximum volume".<ref name="TimesOnline">{{cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0%2C%2C1-3564-427663%2C00.html |title=Tardis lands in dictionary of today |last=Hamilton |first=Alan |date=September 26, 2002 |website=[[Times Online]] |access-date=June 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060107004405/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0%2C%2C1-3564-427663%2C00.html |archive-date=January 7, 2006}}</ref>

==Original scene from ''This Is Spinal Tap''== The phrase was coined in a scene from the 1984 rock [[mockumentary]] ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' by the character [[Nigel Tufnel]], played by [[Christopher Guest]]. In this scene, Nigel gives the rockumentary's director, Marty DiBergi, played by [[Rob Reiner]], a tour of his stage equipment. While Nigel is showing Marty his [[Marshall Amplification|Marshall]] [[guitar amplifier]]s, he points out a selection whose control knobs all have a highest setting of eleven, unlike standard amplifiers whose volume settings are typically numbered from 0 to 10. Believing that this numbering increases the highest volume of the amp, he explains, "It's one louder, isn't it?" When Marty asks why not simply make the 10 setting louder, Nigel hesitates before responding: "''These'' go to eleven."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aes2.org/publications/par/num/ |title=Pro Audio Reference |at=11 |access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref><ref name="imdb quotes">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/quotes |title=Memorable Quotes from This Is Spinal Tap |website=IMDb.com}}</ref><ref name="script">{{cite web |url=http://corky.net/scripts/ThisIsSpinalTap.html |title=The Script to This is Spinal Tap, v3. |publisher=Corky.net |date=1 March 1995 |access-date=7 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904082203/http://corky.net/scripts/ThisIsSpinalTap.html |archive-date=4 September 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== Prior examples == [[File:Chesapeake and Ohio Railway steam turbine locomotive 500.JPG|thumb|C&O's {{Abbr|No.|number}}&nbsp;500 first went "up to 11" in 1947.]] The use of 11 as a maximum pre-dates ''This Is Spinal Tap'' by almost 40 years. In 1947, the [[Baldwin Locomotive Works]] and the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] introduced the [[Chesapeake and Ohio class M-1]] [[steam turbine locomotive]]. The locomotive's throttle included eleven settings, ranging from one (idling) to eleven (full speed). The locomotive's cruising speed was {{convert|70.|mph}}, at which point the throttle was on "seven". During a trial run with a reporter from ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'' aboard, a C&O engineer expressed his dissatisfaction with a local speed limit of {{convert|75|mph|kph}}, noting that he would "Sure like to be able to pull it back to eleven!"<ref name="railton">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA107 |title=Chessie Has That New Look |last=Railton |first=Arthur R. |magazine=[[Popular Mechanics]] |date=March 1948}}</ref>{{rp|110; 252}}

[[Gibson Guitar Corporation|Gibson]] [[Gibson Les Paul|Les Paul]] [[guitar]]s with low-[[Impedance matching|impedance]] [[pickup (music technology)|pickups]] were outfitted with special controls designed by [[Les Paul]] himself. Controls included a "Decade" switch that went up to 11.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/les-paul-the-recording-model-1113-2012.aspx |title=Les Paul's Favorite Les Paul – The Recording Model |last=Leonard |first=Michael |date=20 June 2014 |website=Gibson Lifestyle |access-date=2 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180322111619/http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/les-paul-the-recording-model-1113-2012.aspx |archive-date= 22 March 2018}}</ref>

== Subsequent examples == As a consequence of the film, real bands and musicians started buying equipment whose knobs went up to 11, or even higher, with [[Eddie Van Halen]] reputedly being the first to do so.<ref name="French" /> [[Marshall Amplification|Marshall]], the company that provided amplifiers for the film that the custom-marked knobs were applied to, now sells amplifiers such as its JCM900 (first sold in 1990) whose knobs are marked from 0 to 20.<ref name="French">{{cite news |title=The A-Z of Spinal Tap |first=Karl |last=French |date=22 September 2000 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/sep/22/film.film}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00160.HTM |website=Spinal Tap A to Zed |title=Eleven}}</ref> The QSC 3500 and 3800 amplifiers made for the professional sound company Sound Image in the 1990s went to 11, as do amps from [[Soldano Custom Amplification|Soldano]] and [[Friedman Amplification|Friedman]].

Other controls with a maximum of 11 include SSL mixing consoles, Amazon Alexa, the [[BBC]]'s [[iPlayer]] on demand video player,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://rxdxt.tumblr.com/post/560540392/why-the-bbcs-iplayer-volume-control-go-to-11 |author=rxdxt |title=Why the BBC's iPlayer volume control go to 11 |website=Tumblr.com |date=30 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425045511/http://rxdxt.tumblr.com/post/560540392/why-the-bbcs-iplayer-volume-control-go-to-11 |archive-date=25 April 2012}}</ref> the headphone volume control on the PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL, the volume control on the Apogee Mini-DAC,<ref name="script2">{{cite web |url=http://www.apogeedigital.com/pdf/minidac_usersguide.pdf |title=Apogee Mini-DAC User's Guide |website=ApogeeDigital.com |date=June 2003 |access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref> the [[IRIX]] audio panel (when invoked with the undocumented ''-spinaltap'' option), and the [[Tesla Model S]]'s volume control.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/automobiles/autoreviews/one-big-step-for-tesla-one-giant-leap-for-evs.html |title=One Big Step for Tesla, One Giant Leap for E.V.'s |first=Bradley |last=Berman |date=28 September 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> The [[tachometer]] on a [[Singer Vehicle Design]] modified [[Porsche 911]] goes up to 11, representing 11,000 [[RPM]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/singer-911-porsche-top-gear-drive-2012-02-02 |title=Top Gear drives the mighty Singer 911 |website=TopGear.com |date=2 February 2012 |access-date=2013-07-29 |archive-date=2013-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705203050/http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/singer-911-porsche-top-gear-drive-2012-02-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''Top Gear'' Series 20 Episode 5</ref> The "Drive" knob of the [[Elektron_(company)|Elektron]] [[Elektron_Syntakt|Syntakt]] drum computer and synthesizer goes from 0 to 11 with 1 in the middle, using 0—1 for normal clean audio levels followed by 10 additional steps of distorted range.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.www.elektron.se/media/downloads/syntakt/Syntakt_User_Manual_ENG_OS1.20_221123.pdf |title=Syntakt User Manual |website=Elektron.se |date=24 November 2022 |access-date=24 November 2022 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123163506/https://cdn.www.elektron.se/media/downloads/syntakt/Syntakt_User_Manual_ENG_OS1.20_221123.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On its primary page for ''This Is Spinal Tap'', the [[IMDb]] website and mobile app display the user rating for the film out of 11 stars (e.g., 7.9/11) instead of the standard scale of one to ten.<ref name ="slashfilm">{{cite web |url=http://www.slashfilm.com/trivia-this-spinal-tap-imdb-rating-eleven/ |title=Trivia: 'This Is Spinal Tap' IMDb Rating Goes to Eleven |website=[[/Film]] |date=December 2, 2010 |first=Germain |last=Lussier |access-date=October 10, 2016}}</ref><ref name="imdb11"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/trivia/?item=tr6612652 |title=Trivia for 'This Is Spinal Tap' |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108005441/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/trivia?item=tr3524294 |archive-date=2020-11-08 |website=IMDb |quote=The only movie on IMDb that is rated out of 11 stars. |access-date=October 10, 2016 }}</ref> Users can only rate the film on a scale of one to ten, and other IMDb pages display the rating on a ten-point scale.<ref name="imdb11">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207145532/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/ |archive-date=7 December 2010 |url-status=dead |title=This Is Spinal Tap (1984) |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=October 10, 2016 }}</ref>

The volume controls for video playback on the [[BBC News]] website and [[BBC iPlayer]] go up to 11.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2012996/people-only-just-realising-why-BBC-iplayer-11 |title=People only just realising why BBC iPlayer volume goes up to 11 instead of 10 |website=[[Daily Express|Express]] |access-date=March 22, 2026 }}</ref>

The influence of the phrase "up to eleven" is such that it has been used outside of music; in 2016, for example, astronomer [[Krzysztof Stanek]] described the then brightest-known object in the universe, [[ASASSN-15lh]], as being "as if nature took everything we know about magnetars and turned it up to 11".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kennell |first=Joanne |url=http://thescienceexplorer.com/universe/mysterious-object-570-billion-times-brighter-sun |title=Mysterious Object is 570 Billion Times Brighter than the Sun |date=19 January 2016 |website=The Science Explorer |access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> <!--Please do not add incidental or unremarkable examples. -->

==See also== *[[Loudest band]] (list) *{{anli|Loudness war}} *[[Spaceballs#Impact|Plaid Speed]]{{snd}} In the film ''[[Spaceballs]]'', the consequence of exceeding the red line of Ludicrous Speed *{{anli|Red line (phrase)}}, "a limit past which safety can no longer be guaranteed"

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Spinal Tap}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Up To Eleven}} [[Category:1984 quotations]] [[Category:Comedy catchphrases]] [[Category:English-language idioms]] [[Category:Quotations from film]] [[Category:Spinal Tap (band)]] [[Category:Internet memes]] [[Category:Film and television memes]]