But the best part was being able to watch great movies over and over again. I got to see a lot of movies that I missed in the theaters and I got to see a lot of movies that I had never even heard of. Nowadays, in the Walter household, we only have the basic cable service. No HBO (That would cost extra) or Skin-a-max. I suppose it’s just as well. I don’t want my sons to grow up as depraved and warped as I did! Besides, that’s what I hear the internet is for these days.
Long before cable and VCRs and DVDs and TiVo, it was a big deal when movies like The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music or even the Ten Commandments were on TV. It was an event that would bring the family together for an evening to watch TV and then, eventually complain about how many commercials there were. I don’t even want to get started about Christmas Specials, but there’s one story that I’ll never be able to live down in my family. My sister was, and still is a big Winnie-the Pooh fan. She loves her Pooh-bear! Well, one Sunday night, ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney was showing one of the Pooh specials and I sat and watched it - knowing full well that my sister was still upstairs in her room waiting for it to come on and was missing it. Did I call her to tell her it was on? Of course not. Thus was enshrined forever the time I cheated my sister out of her Winnie the Pooh Special. But hey, what’s a brother for anyway?
I remember hearing the music from musicals like Annie, or The Sound of Music over and over from my sister’s room. There’s something different about a soundtrack album. The music instantly evokes memories and the emotions of the movie. It can remind you of great times with your family, or that first date. And, often, soundtracks were double albums - you had to be dedicated to want to add it to your collection.
Star Wars, Summer 1977
I already talked about the release of the first, original, unaltered Star Wars Movie. This was also the first soundtrack album I owned. A hefty double album set, it included all of John Williams sweeping score as well as the Cantina theme - a calypso inspired little ditty. I listened to this one quite a few times back in the day, but not much since. Along with the official Star Wars soundtrack, I also had the Electronic Moog Orchestra version of the soundtrack as well as the Meco disco version. Later on that year I would also pick up the Close Encounters soundtrack. In that movie, music was a more integral element, with a mysterious 5 note phrase continually recurring throughout the movie, culminating in a musical “conversation” between the mother ship and the humans. I always liked the scene when the aliens blew out the glass windows with their bass notes! I would listen to this one track from the album over and over. To round out my Sci-Fi nerdery, I also had the soundtrack from the first Star Trek Movie, as well.
Saturday Night Fever, December 1977
There was simply no escaping the phenomenon that was disco, as captured by the movie Saturday Night Fever. The first side of the first album was really the core of this soundtrack, starting off with Staying Alive, then on to How Deep is Your Love, Night Fever, More Than a Woman and finally ending with Yvonne Elliman’s great If I can’t Have You (One of the few disco songs I’m still able to listen to). So, yes I admit I had this album and not only that, I listened to it quite a bit. When I went to visit my brother Ted in Louisville the summer of 1978, I either brought my copy or he had one, because I remember playing the first side whenever I wasn’t playing Darkness on the Edge of Town. Quite the bizarre dichotomy, I realize, but there it was. Once I finally escaped the clutches of the devil that was disco, SNF served as my sacrificial lamb as I smashed it to pieces in a cathartic frenzy.
American Hot Wax, March 1978
This one I owe to Cable. I didn’t even realize this movie existed until I saw it on PRISM. I’m not sure how I ended up with this soundtrack, though. I think my Dad had brought it home along with a stack of other albums he scored as freebies at the car dealership. For anyone who has forgotten this movie, it focuses on a few days in the life of Cleveland DJ Alan Freed, who was famous for being one of the first DJs to play Rock and Roll. He is also credited with popularizing, if not actually creating the term “Rock and ROll” to describe the new genre of music. Alan is putting on a rock concert that will feature CHuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Screaming Jay Hawkins. Along the way, he helps a fledging doo-wop band, fights off morally uptight citizens and gives Jay Leno and Fran Drescher their first movie roles! The music was straight outta the 50’s and early sixties. The movie also features a young Buddy Holly Fan Club president mourning the loss of the young rocker - so the movie takes place after Holly’s death. The soundtrack was a great primer for early rock and roll and included Buddy Holly, Berry, Lewis and several songs by a confabulated band called The Planotones who were supposed to stand in for a wider variety of rock and roll acts like Danny & the Juniors and the Belmonts.
Grease, June 1978
Another spin on the early days of rock and roll. Of course this movie cemented Travolta as a movie star and featured some great music. In addition to the character songs from the movie like Summer Nights and You’re the One That I Want, side 3 of this double set featured all the songs performed by Sha-Na-Na from the “American Bandstand” part of the movie. I think my favorite was Greased Lightning. When I was alone and no one was watching, I used to try to match the dance moves from this scene in the movie. We used to watch Sha-Na-Na at our house all the time, too. That Bowser!
The Buddy Holly Story, November 1978
The Buddy Holly story was one of my favorites from the late 1970s. Gary Busey turned in an inspired performance, but it was the music that really grabbed my attention. Later, I would find out that the movie played a little loose with some of the facts but at the time it was a great look into the early days of rock and roll. Holly’s phenomenal career only lasted a few years, from 1957 to 1959, but in that short time, he created a legacy that would be influential for decades. Although I didn’t actually have this soundtrack, I was inspired to buy several Buddy Holly greatest hits collections. With it’s seemingly non-stop showing on cable, I think watched this movie more often than I listened to some of the soundtrack albums I did own. Holly’s rollicking, if historically inaccurate, performance at the Apollo and his later subsequent innovations in the studio left me wondering what Pop music might have been like had he lived. His death was a touchstone event for a generation, and maybe Don McLean was a bit hyperbolic by calling it the Day the Music Died, but not by much. Holly would lead the vanguard for young rockers (and movie stars!) dying before their time, but the movie does a good job putting his music and his life in context.
Rock and Roll High School, August 1979
Okay - This is the movie I really wanted to talk about, anyway. This was another PRISM classic, with (what seemed like) nearly round the clock showings. PJ Soles never looked cuter, the Ramones never looked cooler and High School was never more fun! I mean, who didn’t want to hang out with Riff Randall and blow up their own High School? As for the soundtrack, I loved the way the Ramones slung their guitars around their knees and just drove the music. I think my guitar teacher would cringe at Johnny’s technique, but man he was fast and it was all wrist. I tried playing like that a few times and got muscle cramps all up my shoulder and down my back! Of course, since the movie featured the Ramones and included a bit of a Ramones concert, there was a lot of great Punk rock in the film, including the great Pinhead with its timeless chant “Gabba Gabba We Accept You One of Us!” and Teenage Lobotomy. The movie had everything you could ask for in a cult classic - from standing up to oppressive authority to exploding lab mice! This is definitely one I’ll be sharing with my kids, as soon as Netflix sends it to me!
Jesus Christ Superstar, 1973, 1979/80
This might seem out of place with all the other Rock and Roll, but without a doubt, this soundtrack has spent more time on my turntable and CD player than all the other soundtracks combined. It starts back in high school, sophomore year to be exact. Father Jack showed Jesus Christ Superstar as part of out theology class. The experience has stuck with me all this time and the soundtrack has easily become one of my favorites, pertly because it recalls memories from my high school days. JCS was originally conceived of as a Rock Opera by 25 year old musical wonder Andrew Llyod Weber and lyricist Tim Rice. It was released as a double album first before it was translated into a theatrical musical. Any staging of the passion of Christ will invariably cause controversy, and JCS was no exception. JCS was notable for two changes from the traditional story. First, the focus of the story is shifted to Judas with exposition revealing the motivation for his character. Second, the human nature of Christ is emphasized to the exclusion of his divinity. Both changes drive the power and emotion of the music, from Judas’ great opening number Too Much Heaven on Their Minds to Jesus’ powerful Gethsemane (I Only Want to Know) to the finale itself Superstar. It is there in the story’s final number that the question is laid bare for the listener:
Jesus Christ, Superstar,
Do you think you’re what they say you are?
I’m sure you all remember my comments about how great art always ends with a question - Well, here is that concept revisited. Jesus, man or God? Tim Rice’s lyrics put the question front and center for the audience, asking us to re-evaluate our perspective on Christ and our notions on religion and the value of sacrifice.
Musically, JCS reflects the times it was created in. The style brings together elements found in the blues, classic rock and the psychedelic and prog-rock movements and combines them with the traditional elements of theatrical musicals. The movie version adds a new song Can We Start Again and additional, pointed lyrics to Hosannah and The Trial Before Pilate. The production was even updated for the 1990’s, though only the staging was changed and updated. The music, from Weber’s original concept, has remained steadfastly unchanged. Although I have listened to all the versions, my favorite is the original recording with Deep Purple’s, Ian Gillian as Jesus and Murray Head as Judas. It’s usually in my car, or on my iPod from Ash Wednesday to Easter every year and we make a point of watching the movie sometime during Lent every year as well. It’s truly ironic that, while my own ideas on religion have “evolved” significantly over the years, I still recall the experience of watching JCS in high school quite fondly.
I’ll put the brakes on for now, but there are more Movie and Soundtrack memories to come, especially from the 1980’s!
NEXT: Who Knows?
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