In desperate need of finding a singer for the school’s big music show just a couple of days away, three Japanese teenagers recruit a Korean exchange student to front their newly formed cover band. With a stillness and pacing alien to any American movie about high school kids, 2007’s Linda, Linda, Linda is a near perfect slice of teenage life. As they set about practicing, and practicing and practicing, the girls bond around the common purpose and modest goal of having a good show. They work themselves to the bone, get a pep talk from the Ramones in the Budokan, and nearly blow it all when the rains come. It’s awkward and sweet and an amazingly honest account of what it’s like being in a garage band.

In this the final scene of Linda Linda Linda, the girls get their moment of glory at the big show. It’s so heroically good you’ll get goose bumps.

Join The Profesionals. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981)
“we don’t put out.”
Cult film Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains stars a 16 year old Diane Lane and a 13 year old Laura Dern as would be punk icons out on a rain soaked tour. Also staring Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols and Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the film gets enough right in it’s portrait of underground bands to overlook the dated bits. The Shags-like sound of the stains seems an indie phenomenon some 20 years ahead of its time. Filmed with a dirty loose feel that goes well with a cynical and sarcastic anti-establishment view of the ‘biz’, this ultra-cool film was once abandoned to late night tv and the midnight movie circuit but has just been released on DVD. Rumor has it this is the film that gave the White Stripes‘ their name.

LEAVE IT TO THE AMATEURS. BOYS AND GIRLS, THE LESS THAN ADEQUATE SHAGGS. (1969)
BLESS.