Five of the most awesome band cameos in movies
By Jonathan Eig
THE OFFSPRING – in Idle Hands and THE DONNAS – Drive Me Crazy (both in 1999)
I promised you a bonus, didn’t I? Idle Hands is a silly, campy horror that is best remembered today for having Jessica Alba at the beginning of her career. The premise? A severed hand turns malignant and starts murdering people. If only someone could have been around to help that severed hand through its difficult time.
At least there is one outright excellent scene in which a band is playing at a school dance where the hand is going to strike. The band is The Offspring and they are doing a letter-perfect Ramones impression on “I Want to Be Sedated.” And in the middle of the song the hand appears to rip Dexter’s scalp off. How cool is that?
Next. Five great songs from the 1970s with excellent backstories. Five great songs from the 1970s with excellent backstories. dark
Then there are the Donnas, performing as the Electrocutes, in Drive Me Crazy. It’s another school dance. But there is no roving hand ripping the tops of singers' heads off. There’s just a kind of contrived plot line about Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier trying to make their respective love interests jealous by pretending to date each other.
Of course, they will fall in love – and they will do it at the big dance, where The Donnas – I mean, The Electrocutes – are singing a grungy, riot grrrl version of “Keep on Loving You,” which I kind of like more than the original.
The Electrocutes were an early incarnation – and occasional alter-ego – of the Donnas. They played a different movie prom that same year as the Donnas, in Jawbreaker. But you already got your bonus, so I’ll say no more about that. Next time on Music and Movies, we address the burning question: Daisy Jones & the Six v Josie and the Pussycats.
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