5. Dazed And Confused (1993)
During the 70s disco and rock divided a lot of people, you're either disco or heavy rock. Fans tended to be loyal to one and despise the other ("Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park in 1979). Set in 1976, disco was a few years away froms its death, but rock kept rolling for decades. Hard rock was the rage. Not John Denver or The Eagles. Though Nazareth's "Love Hurts" makes an appearance. As does Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone." But the United States of America's 200th birthday is celebrated in Richard Linklater's opus. KISS would "Rock and Roll All Nite" and party every day. Or if you don't have enough energy or the time, you could still rock and roll all night and part of every day. That's what this movie showed. Incoming freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and super seniors. Hazing was, and still is, a rite of passage that some freshman go through at the enjoyment of the seniors. Luckily these freshman (boys) were only paddled. But the girls had to go through a car wash, be humiliated and degraded in front of older boys, and doused in ketchup and mustard. Today there's the misfortune of binge drinking and sexual acts that (sometimes) have led to rape and/or even death. Mitch Kramer (Tim Lincecum in the making) eventually accepted the inevitable and got paddled hard by a few seniors after they knew he would be pitching that night. O'Bannion probably loves it more than anyone. Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" accompanied the memorable hazing scene that has been parodied since. Cooper's "School's Out" signaled the official beginning of summer break with the seniors waiting in the parking lot.
Excellent guitar riffs make appearances. One being arguably the best by Ted Nugent in his song "Stranglehold." Keeping in mind it's not Nugent on lead vocals, but Derek St. Holmes. Also Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride" and ZZ Top's "Tush." Other great rock anthems include Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," Foghat's "Slow Ride," and Steve Miller Band's "Living in the USA." That's just to name a few. "Dazed and Confused" had two soundtracks (released separately), the second one titled "Even More Dazed and Confused."