Music Mondays: Rock 'n' Roll High School with Clint Howard Live

30 years ago, before the dawn of the Reagan era and all the conservative back-patting and chumminess that would come with it, a film was released that would eventually introduce our little sheltered selves to punk rock and rebellion-as-fun. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is the bizarre anti-Grease (which, notably, was released just a year before RNRHS), a film which follows the same musical paradigm as its lily-white counterpart, but instead of poodle skirts and dance competitions favors "ugly, ugly, ugly" punk rockers and a boys-bathroom-businessman who sells black market hall passes and hired dates.

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School was a revelation for us; while our father would blast Alice Cooper as we came home from the last day of school, we found him to be a bit scary and fell more in line with our Mother’s sensibilities toward Billy Joel, Randy Travis and classic musicals. Thinking that RNRHS would be something like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun meets West Side Story meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High (all of which we had already seen), we watched it anxiously with our brother and sister. Low and behold our punk-rock-virgin ears were forever burst when Riff Randell (P.J. Soles) defiantly blasted The Ramones' “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” over the school’s PA , immediately grabbing us with its lyrical simplicity and danceable riffs, even if it could make lab rats spontaneously combust.

Tonight at the Alamo Ritz you can experience this satirical explosion with not one, but two special bonuses: a rare 35mm print of the film AND very special guest and bombastic character actor Clint Howard, who portrays Eaglebauer, the slick, connected go-to man for all your high school needs (i.e. hall passes, dates, etc). RRNHS is a totally kooky romp, and plays almost like an infomercial for The Ramones, but we certainly don’t hold that against it. After all, we wanted to be as cool as Riff Randell, too, even if Joey Ramone was terribly unattractive.