Alright, Alright, Alright

by Melissa Maerz

  Richard Linklater: Teenagers can’t express themselves very well, so music is their voice. Music expresses their emotions. That’s why it means so much to them. I wanted to transfer that to the screen somehow.

  The core of Dazed and Confused was this one night I spent driving around in my friend’s LeMans all night. I was in La Porte, Texas, down in South Houston. My dad lived near there, so I’d go down there on weekends. This was maybe my freshman year of high school. We were listening to Fandango! by ZZ Top, and just riding around all night. And I remember at the end of the night, we’d gone like 130 miles and we hadn’t even left the city.

  So that was my original idea for Dazed and Confused: Fandango! would be playing and you’d hear the click of the 8-track, and we’d just play the album in real time. We’ll never leave the car. But all this weird shit would be happening in and around the car. And the 8-track would go around a couple of times, so you would hear every song at least twice. That was the movie.

  Don Howard: You still hear a few ZZ Top songs in the movie, and there is still a shot of an 8-track tape of Fandango! going into a tape deck in the car. In my mind, they shot that as a specific homage to that the original idea.

  Richard Linklater: Once I opened that gate, I had too much else to cover. Last day of school, the hazing. It just opened up.

  Don Howard: When we were first starting to work on the movie, Rick gave us three cassette tapes that had all the ’70s songs he was thinking about using. So I’m driving around, listening to these things constantly and trying to figure out, “Okay, yeah, that’s a dumb song, but that would be great in this movie.” Or: “This one is a great song.” But some of those songs, it was hard to tell if Rick thought they were cool or not. He’s very canny that way. He’s able to play it both ways.

  Marissa Ribisi: When we got the part, Rick sent each of us a mixtape, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world! At the time, you couldn’t really look up, like, Captain & Tennille on the internet. I was really into Sinéad O’ Connor and Kate Bush. I didn’t know about that other stuff.

  Richard Linklater: There were slight variations between the characters’ mixtapes. I would say, “You would like Joni Mitchell, and you would like Jethro Tull.”

  Steven Hyden: I heard that Adam Goldberg didn’t love his tape because he was a huge Neil Young fan and there were all these Foghat songs on there, and he was wishing that his character had cooler taste. But I think that really speaks to how Linklater felt that music was a big part of these characters’ identities, as it is for a lot of teenagers. The kind of music you like as a teenager is a big part of your personality. If you fancy yourself an intellectual, you like smarter bands. If you picture yourself as more of a blue-collar athlete, you’re going to like more aggressive, visceral bands. Music is an instant personality kit to put on while you try to figure out who you are.

  Jason Reitman: You see a lot of movies where people are just generic, like they’ve been cut out of a bologna package, but Dazed has none of that. The characters are specifically identified from the very first moment by the music they like.

  Steven Hyden: Benny is one of the ringleaders of the bullying, and whenever you see him in his truck chasing these kids, there’s always hard rock and Southern rock playing. Like, you hear Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” and you hear “Jim Dandy” by Black Oak Arkansas. And I love that, because it seems very authentic to who that character is. That’s what jocks in Texas probably listened to! And McConaughey has said he listened to Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” when he was getting ready for his scenes, and Nugent influenced the way his character walked: crotch forward. Wooderson kind of has that arena-rock swagger.

  Richard Linklater: The movie is bigger than any one person’s tastes, though. I wanted to go for a kind of monoculture of what kids might be listening to in 1976, and I didn’t want to make the music retrospectively cooler, based on my adult taste. Like, I wasn’t gonna put Big Star on there, because I didn’t know who Big Star was when I was in high school. None of my friends did. This was 16- or 17-year-olds picking the music—that’s how I had to look at it.

  Steven Hyden: He’s smart because he knows these kids aren’t gonna be listening to deep cuts. Like, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” is in the movie, and that came out a few years before 1976, but they wouldn’t necessarily be listening to Sabotage, just because that was the newer Sabbath album at the time. They’re in high school. They’d probably be listening to some “greatest hits” album that had “Paranoid” on it. Kids don’t always listen to new songs. In fact, if Linklater made a movie about the mid-’90s, he could still probably use some of the same songs from Dazed and Confused.

  Sasha Jenson: When Rick gave us tapes of all of the music that was going to be in the movie, it was like, oh yeah, we listen to this kind of music all the time anyway. Because in the ’90s, it was Pearl Jam, it was Smashing Pumpkins. Our music still kind of tasted the same as ’70s rock.

  Ben Affleck: When I did Dazed, I was listening to Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, all these ’70s bands. That was what seemed authentic. It was kind of odd to revere your parents’ cultural choices, because usually you rebel, but where I grew up, we had the Grateful Dead, and we thought, like, “They don’t make good music like this anymore!”

  Richard Linklater: When I was young, we were tossing out previous generations. That’s what punk rock was about. “Get rid of that! That’s old!” I wasn’t, like, going to a Benny Goodman show with my parents and grandparents. But half the acts on the Dazed soundtrack were still on tour in ’92 and ’93. I wanted to show that this boomer culture was never going away.

  Brian Raftery: Aerosmith was still a big band in the ’90s. I think that’s why that opening scene in Dazed worked. “Sweet Emotion” was still a big song, and you’d drive around in the parking lot in a car playing it. That’s one of the greatest needle-drop opening-credits music cues of all time, because you are immediately sucked into the ’70s, but you were also like, this could be the present.

  Richard Linklater: From the very first day, I was like, “The music budget on this movie’s going to be big. I might need a million dollars.” “Sweet Emotion” cost $100,000. “Hurricane” cost $80,000. I mean, it’s expensive! But they kept cutting the music budget. When I’d object, they said they’d add it back in post. Yeah, right.

  Steven Hyden: My favorite musical sequence in the movie is when Wooderson, Pink, and Mitch walk into the Emporium and you hear Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” in the background. I always think of that song as being a comment on Wooderson. Most of the songs in the movie are sort of party music, kid music, but Bob Dylan is a very “adult” artist, and Wooderson is the one real adult in the room. When he walks in to that song, it’s so triumphant, but Linklater’s also sort of undercutting the triumph of that a little bit, because Dylan’s singing about this guy who “could have been the champion of the world.” It’s like he’s saying Wooderson could’ve been great, but now he’s kind of a loser. The music is kind of the Greek chorus in the movie, commenting on the characters and the action.

  Richard Linklater: I battled with the literalness of the songs sometimes. For instance, using Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” when school’s getting out—that’s so obvious. And then there’s the other Alice Cooper song, “No More Mister Nice Guy,” playing when Wiley’s getting pounced. And Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” during the junior high dance. Even in the editing room, we were like, “Are those too literal?” But when you’re in a genre, you’ve got to embrace the literal, and when you’re a teenager, you want music to be literal sometimes.

  Peter Millius: Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” was supposed to be playing during the last scene where they’re driving off to get Aerosmith tickets.

  Nicky Katt: We saw an advance screening of Dazed, and it had “Rock and Roll” at the end. Everyone was in tears, like, “Oh my god!” Because no one had seen a Zeppelin song in a movie besides Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

&nb
sp; Peter Millius: They even make a joke about it in Wayne’s World. They’re in the guitar shop where people are playing different songs, and one of the guys is about to play a “Stairway to Heaven” lick and someone stops them and points to a sign that says “No Stairway to Heaven.”

  Richard Linklater: We kind of bribed Jimmy Page. My music supervisor, Harry Garfield, heard through the grapevine that Page had a big laser disc collection, so we sent him 10 laser discs, stuff like The Godfather and whatever. Big films. I also recorded a personal plea, like, “Hi! I know you guys don’t ever give your songs to movies, but this song is integral to this movie.” I was so thrilled and honored when he said yes.

  But Jimmy and Rob weren’t getting along at that moment, so I was a little afraid. It was like, “Have we heard from Plant?” “No, nothing. Nothing. Nothing.”

  Kathy Nelson was the head of the soundtrack division at MCA, and she had been involved in the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack, which had a bunch of ’70s songs, and she said it didn’t sell well, so she was convinced no one would buy our album unless we had a modern band on it. She was like, “If we get a new band to cover a ’70s song, then MTV will get behind the movie!” Then this A&R guy comes in and wants to use the movie to promote one of his new bands. Not even a phone call to me. Just this unilateral move.

  Jesse James Dupree: My band, Jackyl, was on Geffen, and someone told us they might want to use one of our songs in the movie. So we went into the studio and recorded a cover of “We’re an American Band.”

  Richard Linklater: This was a band no one had ever heard of. They had chainsaws on stage, and the singer ran around half-naked. I was like, no way. I wrote about it in my diary.

  Excerpt from Richard Linklater’s “Dazed by Days” Diary

  Austin, June 1993

  They send me this band’s CD somewhere along the way, and it’s like they just stepped out of Spinal Tap. There’s actually a song on it called “She Loves My Cock” without a hint of irony. Ohmigod, this isn’t happening. I’m sending daily faxes explaining in a nice way just how bad a thing this would be for the film.

  Jim Jacks: The song was gonna run over the last half of the credits. I had a long conversation with Rick, where he said, “I don’t want to have this!” And I go, “But Rick, they’re gonna give you a lot of money for the record album, and this song is gonna run over the second half of the closing credits! It’s not like anybody’s gonna be waiting to make up their mind about the movie at this point—if they’re even in the theater.” Like, who cares? Who cares?!

  Excerpt from Richard Linklater’s “Dazed by Days” Diary

  Los Angeles, June 1993

  When I come out to California these days, I fly coach, have to rent my own car and beg for reimbursement for the next six weeks, and when I get to my hotel, I usually have a reservation but no method of payment. It’s a long way from my limo and Chateau Marmont days. I find out in a meeting that not only have [Jackyl] already gone into the recording studio and cut this song, but it’s a done deal, always has been. It was the terms of the album deal all along and our needed record advance is predicated on it.

  As Henry Hill narrates in Goodfellas, “This is the bad time.”

  So I’m trying to put this all together in my head. The people closest to me in this deal, acting in what they probably sincerely think is in their definition of the film’s best interests, have sold me down the river, big time, in the only way they could have. I’m numb, I have a meeting with Kathy Nelson. She feels she’s paid too high an advance for the soundtrack and wants this additional hook. It’s hopeless—the impenetrable corporation always wins out in the end. I used to think it was a photo finish, but now I’d have to say the music industry is at least 30% more slimy than the film industry. At least most film people at some point early on actually loved the film and wanted to do something good. This impulse is lost rather quickly, of course, as they soon give in to the ways of the corporate ogre they work for. I leave town with what I know are percolating stomach ulcers.

  Richard Linklater: Steven Soderbergh was directing King of the Hill, his third movie, at Universal at that time. It’s a beautiful art film, but it had a slightly bigger budget than me. And he had already seen Dazed, and he was on my side, telling them, “Have you seen this movie? There’s no place for a rerecorded modern song!”

  Steven Soderbergh: Of course there shouldn’t have been rerecorded songs in that movie.

  Excerpt from Richard Linklater’s Memo to Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel

  June 1993

  RE: Public embarrassment & professional stupidity

  DATE: Not too late

  Dear Jim and Sean,

  Lead singer (high-pitched, screechy): “She loves my cock”

  Rest of group (lower, but in agreement): “She loves my cock”

  Repeat over and over

  This is Jackyl.

  Being aligned with these guys is a huge mistake on multiple levels . . .

  DAZED AND CONFUSED will stand the test of time and can only be associated with like material. Jackyl will probably get dropped by Geffen within two years and disappear for all time. Twenty years from now, I will still cringe when the closing credits roll. In short, Jackyl doesn’t qualify, they’re not in the same ballpark, or anywhere near. They can still be “launched” by any number of the dumb movies Universal puts out. Not this one. How about Nirvana? Pearl Jam? Anyone who might have some actual sincere ’70s roots and not be embarrassing to be artistically aligned with. Jackyl has its roots in ’80s heavy metal—a horrible genre nowhere near DAZED . . .

  If others still insist upon this new band thing, find me a new band I can live with. Please get back with me.

  “She loves my cock”

  “She loves my cock”

  Repeat over and over

  Best,

  Richard Linklater

  Jim Jacks: Unbeknownst to me, Rick contacted the band.

  Richard Linklater: I sent a personal letter to Jackyl just saying, “Nothing personal, but the studio was doing all this against my wishes; it’s a period film, all period music, etc.”

  Jesse James Dupree: We understood where he was coming from. We didn’t want to force someone to use our music in the movie.

  Richard Linklater: They dropped out immediately, and I’ll always respect them and be very thankful to them for that. That’s why I’ve never bad-mouthed them. Well, I guess I have personally, but not professionally. Actually, their version of “American Band” was pretty good. It was just the principle of it.

  Jim Jacks: Tom Pollock called me, furious.

  Richard Linklater: We were having a meeting, and Nina said, “We’ve treated you better than anyone we’re working with!”

  I was like, “I was just hanging out with Steven Soderbergh. That’s not what I hear!”

  And she just got up and left the room.

  Nina Jacobson: I honestly don’t remember that. But I’m sure the studio was pissed that he contacted Jackyl and told them not to be on the soundtrack. That would’ve been pretty unusual. The studio’s expectation is that you’ll play ball. Lots of filmmakers don’t play ball, it’s just that they’re usually more established when they don’t.

  Jim Jacks: Rick’s screwup with Jackyl blew up the soundtrack deal with Geffen.

  Richard Linklater: Kathy Nelson dumped the album, convinced it wouldn’t sell. We had a $300,000 advance—significant money for a record! We needed the money to pay for all our music in the movie. So when the album goes away, we don’t get that $300,000. I go down in the books as the bad guy, but she’s the one who gave away a corporate asset that ended up making millions elsewhere.

  Excerpt from Richard Linklater’s “Dazed by Days” Diary

  Los Angeles, July 1993

  They give me a list of songs they think I should cut—they’re either too expensive (Dylan’s “Hurricane”) or are “background songs” (Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like We Do”).

  My lawyer and I sit there for two days trying
to get the studio to discuss alternatives to this proposed hatchet job on the film. No response other than either “pay for them yourself” or “cut them.” It’s obvious this is simply my punishment for the album deal . . . It’s a blinking contest and soon there is talk of my back-end participation ultimately covering these costs.

  I think they think if the film ever makes money, I’ll be paying for these music costs out of my share. I guess it’s enough for them to feel I’m going to receive some “deferred punishment.” The gist of my thinking is now maybe what they wanted all along: I’m saying fuck the money, I don’t care if I ever make a fucking dime off this movie, just don’t mess it up for all time. It’s like being robbed—take anything you want, just don’t hurt my family.

  Sandra Adair: In the cutting room, Rick was reading stuff about serial killers. I remember thinking, God, that’s weird.

  Richard Linklater: While I was staying at the Oakwood Apartments, there had been a shooting in L.A., and the guy who did it was also living at the Oakwood Apartments. I cut out the article with a picture of his face and gave it to a friend who put it up at Universal. The article had a line that said, “The universal question is: Why?” I highlighted “universal” and “Oakwood Apartments.” Like, See? All roads are leading here! I’m the next guy to walk in there and shoot!

  I actually did have a strategy. I was going to go into Tom Pollock’s office with a razor, and I was going to start cutting myself. I was going to start bleeding on his carpet until he gave me the music for my movie. And just as I was about to do that, Jim and Sean came back with this offer, like, “Okay! You can have the music.”

  You get desperate!

  Jim Jacks: Our production company had to give up their back end to cover the music. So the little bit of compensation we were getting for this movie, we lost because of Rick’s bonehead play. We could’ve just gone with half the songs, but the movie was so dependent on the songs, we finally said, “Alright, fuck it, we’ll do it.” Sean and I weren’t happy about it.