Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.
MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Fast Times at Ridgemont High used the song “Kashmir” even though it did not fit into the script.
Led Zeppelin has had a strong history in their career with the protection of their songs as far as allowing them to be licensed for films and stuff like that.
This is a policy that has been wasted away a bit over the years as:
A. The large sums of money available to them for licensing plus
B. The large amount of other respected artists who have licensed their songs
have led to Zeppelin being a bit more willing to allow their songs to be used. That is why you can now hear, say, “Rock and Roll” being used to sell cars or “Kashmir” being used to sell phones.
However, in 1983, that was not the case – they were practically Fort Knox when it came to using their songs in ANY sort of context.
This is where Cameron Crowe fits in.
Cameron Crowe was a rock journalist for Rolling Stone while still a teenager. While working for Rolling Stone, he did articles on Led Zeppelin and came to be quite friendly with the band (years later they would choose Crowe to do the liner notes for their career-spanning Box Set).
In the early 1980s, the 22-year-old Crowe went undercover as a high school student to write a book.
That book was called Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The book was optioned for a movie, and Crowe was hired to write the screenplay.
Directed by Amy Heckerling, Fast Times was very much about music. The soundtrack was very important (and led to at least one hit song, Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby”). Amusingly enough, as you can tell from the soundtrack, there were very divergent tastes involved in making the soundtrack.
Here’s the track listing…
1. “Somebody’s Baby” (Jackson Browne) – 4:05
2. “Waffle Stomp” (Joe Walsh) – 3:40
3. “Love Rules” (Don Henley) – 4:05
4. “Uptown Boys” (Louise Goffin) – 2:45
5. “So Much in Love” (Timothy B. Schmit) – 2:25
6. “Raised on the Radio” (The Ravyns) – 3:43
7. “The Look in Your Eyes” (Gerard McMahon) – 4:00
8. “Speeding” (The Go-Go’s) – 2:11
9. “Don’t Be Lonely” (Quarterflash) – 3:18
10. “Never Surrender” (Don Felder) – 4:15
11. “Fast Times (The Best Years of Our Lives)” (Billy Squier) – 3:41
12. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (Sammy Hagar) – 3:36
13. “I Don’t Know (Spicoli’s Theme)” (Jimmy Buffett) – 3:00
14. “Love Is the Reason” (Graham Nash) – 3:31
15. “I’ll Leave It up to You” (Poco) – 2:55
16. “Highway Runner” (Donna Summer) – 3:18
17. “Sleeping Angel” (Stevie Nicks) – 3:55
18. “She’s My Baby (And She’s Outta Control)” (Jost/Palmer) – 2:53
19. “Goodbye, Goodbye” (Oingo Boingo) – 4:34
As you can see, there’s a mixture of younger artists popular among the teen set, as well as a bunch of Southern California soft rock artists. This was because Heckerling wanted the former group of songs on the album, while producer Irving Azoff felt that artists like the Eagles would be best for the movie. That Azoff was the manager of the Eagles I’m sure had absolutely no impact on what he felt made for a good soundtrack.
Anyhow, one of the neatest things about having Crowe write the movie was that presumably he could use his connections with famous rock artists to get good songs for the soundtrack. Specifically, it was felt that Crowe would be able to deliver what few (I think literally ONE other film had done this at this point, and it was a minor French art film) others could – a Zeppelin song for use in the film!
In fact, Crowe actually wrote a scene in the film specifically ABOUT Led Zeppelin’s music.
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