ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL SOUND TRACK (Sire)

by Gregg Turner

Bactine Bag: "n. Bactine, a liquid antiseptic, put into a plastic bag and inhaled. It can cause death due to suffocation from the plastic bag. It is commonly used by 8th, 9th and 10th graders, sometimes thought of as a high school recreation. Bactine can be very dangerous when inhaled directly from the aerosol can because the chemical in the can freezes the larynx."*

You might recall actor Dick Miller as the vacuum-cleaner salesman in Not Of This Earth (Paul Birch, Beverly Garland), the flower-eating inspector in Little Shop Of Horrors (Mel Welles, Jackie Joseph), or the beatnik-busboy/homicidal-sculptor in his greatest role—that of Bucket Of Blood's Walter Paisley (lotsa heptalk consistently throughout— "art is, everything else is not...").

Dick Miller plays Police Chief Klein, nqt to be confused with San Francisco's Howard Klein, in Roger Corman's newest of New World Pictures' Rock 'n' Roll High School. Featuring the Ramones, it's the Story of a "young female Ramones fan (P.J. Soles, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Carrie, Halloween) and her attempts to bring rock 'n' roll and the band to Vinfce Lombardi High School, a Southern California Institution ruled by a tyrannical anti-Ramones principal"

(can happen).

Miller is not to be found on Sire's soundtrack of the movie (anonymity a problem for much of his career); however, one does find previously-unreleased (NEW) Ramones-trax of which title-cut (singles-pic) "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and "I Want You Around" are included; not failing to mention a medley of "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Teenage Lobotomy," "California Sun," "Pinhead" and "She's The One" rec'd ALIVE at L.A.'s ROXY(!) plus (+) high school-pertinent rock 'n' roll sides of oldster-familiarity by pencil-necked geeks th' likes of Chuck Berry ("School Days"), Brownsville Station ("Smoking In The Boys Room"), Alice Cooper ("School's Out"), E-N-O ("Energy Fools The Magician;" honors program!), Devo ("Come Back Jonee;" detention!), Nick Lowe ("So It Goes;" remedial!), Eddie and the. Hot Rods ("Teenage Depression;" social adjustment) and The Paley Cretins ("C'mon Let's Go;" summer vacation...)...

furburger: "n. Female's pubic area. Comes from fur, referring to the

hair, and burger, because one 'eats' it (engages in oral-genital activity). See BUSH; EAT; EAT OUT; ORAL COPULATION."*

brown boy: "n. One who obtains sexual gratification by ingesting fecal matter (medically known as coprophilia). Aka fecal freak. See DINGllE BERRY."*

Casting the Ramones as Rock W Roll High School's rock 'n' roll band spells out the Corman genius in stark definition, paralleling the no-doubt meticulous selection of radioactive crabs for Attack Of The Crab Monsters. That the newly unveiled "Rock 'n' Roll-High School" and "I Want You Around" pale ostensibly (the former, a weak synthesis of "Rockaway Beach" and "Sheena," and the latter a some-

what timid ballad not measuring up to past standards) really is insignif. This flick's conglomerate juxtaposition of cliches (high school/teenage vs. authoritarian/convalescence) demands the ultimate musical metaphor or redundaht stoopidity; hence, the Ramones! Every downstroked barre-chord here evokes lucid visions of grades 12 and below.

dingle berry: "n. 1. Lint and fecal matter that gathers and hangs from the pubic hair that surrounds the anus. 2. Dumb person. 3. One who ingests dingle berries during sexual play."*

Something t'do also with Spector, Philsy re-mixed "R 'n' R H S" and "I Want You Around," but who cares ariyway?

On a caring level, here's a synopsis: As a soundtrack compiling new w/old, R 'n' R HS offers five live (all excellent) and three studio sides of Ramones not before available (incl. an outtake of the title cut w/feminine-lead Riff [P.J. Soles] punkrockin'-out the vocals over the Ramones' backing track!). The balance of contributing filler can be found elsewhere (in the annals—and anals —of orig-release vinyl) so maybe you wanna shell out the cash for what you already don't have—and maybe you wanna tape the Ramones tunes onna cassette from a friend's copy. The choice is clearly yours.

whipped Cream: "n. Whipped 'cream may be used in sexual activity for variety—put on another's body and licked off, as illustrated on the album cover of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's recording entitled Whipped Cream and Other Delights."*

*from the Underground Dictionary, Eugene E. Landy, Ph. D., Simon and Schuster, New York 1971, found on the playground of Santa Monica High School 5th period 5/9/79 by Jamie Kaufman.