MovieChat Forums > Rock 'n' Roll High School (1981) Discussion > It's the little things that bother me

It's the little things that bother me


During the concert sequence none of the amps are turned on. I know that this is nitpicking, but still...

reply

They were obviously turned on because we all heard them.

Only possible answer is that you are stupid.

peace
--Big Gus

reply

Hello, Gus.

While I suspect at times that I am indeed stupid, I would like to think that those accusing me of such meet me on a level playing field. I own an assortment of Marshall amplifiers spanning the past four decades and I can assure you that the power switches on late 70's Marshalls will glow red when engaged. Such was not the case. If your comment was made with the sole purpose of baiting me to reply, then congratulations Sir, you have won. The only other possible context is that you know nothing about live music performance versus filming a band miming a track for a movie. It was a minor gripe on my behalf, but they could have powered up the amps and turned the volume down to zero to complete the illusion. The stupid volley is now in your court.

reply

That is kind of odd, though, because most, if not all, of the concert footage IS really concerts. They gave away tickets for a few different filmings of the concert and used the footage in the movie. So they should have been on.
I know nothing about amps so I can't say one way or another, but I do know the concerts scenes were mostly live footage.

The Dream Police, they live inside of my head

reply

Yeah, on the dvd commentary the director explains that it was in fact a series of live performances in front of an audience which included, among other LA punks, Darby Crash and Pat Smear from the Germs. You can actually spot them in the crowd.

reply

As it happens, I have looked at several guitar amplifiers and noticed that most of them had little red lights that lit when powered up. I've also seen some movies where the visual showed musicians miming to an audio track they obviously weren't playing for real. My comment was intended as a joke, as you are clearly possessed of a ruggedly formidable intellect, and joke or no joke, I apologize for having hurt your feelings by suggesting otherwise.

(BTW it's also possible the little lightbulbs on their amps burned out, a fairly common occurrence with older amps in heavy regular use, and they were too cool to bother replacing them.)

--peace
Big Gus

reply

Now this is getting spooky.

I had just finished watching that movie again right about the time you made that post. Not kidding. It's weird, man. I got's the heebee-geebees. No need for apologies, you can't hurt the feelings of someone who has none.

See, that's the whole problem with this internet thing. The last sentence of the previous paragraph was also a joke. I guess I could have tagged it with a "JK", but that's like handing a kid a balloon and then explaining that helium has less molecular mass than air. It's much more fun to hand a kid a balloon, pop it with a lit cigarette and walk away after telling the child that they didn't deserve the magic inside.

I'm sorry. Where was I?

reply

it's also possible that the lights lit up but just didn't show up that way on the film.

i'd think the movie lights would be brighter and wash out the amp lights unless they made special efforts to get them to show up (which they wouldn't do for this film - they blew their budget on exploding mice)

reply

Exactly what I was going to say. The cameras probably just didn't pick up the little bitty Marshall power switch lights because they were completely over powered by the stage lights.

EDIT: I re-watched the concert scene last night. The power switch lights are very clearly lit up. OP is clueless.

reply

agreement on imdb? is that legal??? ;)

(the ignore list: intracoastalcruiser, jsstyger, uglytheclown)

reply

the thing that bothers me is when they were driving up the the theater and did a little sidewalk concert for the fans. I didn't see any little red lights on the amps then. I didn't even see any amps. But I heard them, so they must have been there, I don't want to be accused of being stupid.

reply

At first, the lack of any amps when they did the sidewalk concert bothered me too, but I figured I'd allow it and just chalk it up to the whole movie getting increasingly farcical. I didn't notice the lights being off on the amps at the concert at the end, but I figure that makes less sense than there being no amps at the sidewalk concert, since the latter is clearly more goofy and less tethered to reality, while the former is more realistic (exploding high school and all).

So, if there was a point to be made here, I'll assume I made it, and just accuse Morris Idiotbrain of being stupid, since I don't think anyone here is. But that Morris Idiotbrain, I'm telling you ... he told me the only way he remembers his shoe size is that it's the same number as his IQ. Boy, lemme tell ya...

Oh, and blackiecarter ... you are clearly way cool and un-stupid. Good on you. This paragraph has been independently verified to be sarcasm-free.



"Stwike him, Centuwion ... vewy Wuffwy!"

reply

I am surprised that no one has picked up the fact that the Name Biggusdickus is a joke name. Obviously have not watched Life of Brian!

reply

Who the hell is this Brian person you speak of?

If you suspect my name is a joke, you might take this matter up with my paternal grandfather after whom I was named, Mr. Biggergus Dickus III -- though tread carefully, friend, cuz that old man can still split yer nuts off the side of yer face so quick you won't even notice how all your teeth wound up on the sidewalk.

peace
--Big Gus

reply

I watched the Blu-ray the other night an it actually has the real audio recordings from the show at the Roxy they used for the movie. They actually overdubbed the whole thing for the movie later.

reply

Why nitpick at all? It is a great but silly movie. How many kids have an office in the boys room stall? How many giant mice do you see walking around? Just enjoy the film for what it is. It's a movie!!

reply