Various Artists - Dazed And Confused (1993 Film)

Tellingly, director Richard Linklatter's Dazed and Confused was released 20 years after American Grafitti and offers a similar story of troubled young personalities lurking beneath an oversaturated pop culture veneer. Like Lucas before him, Linklatter clearly relishes that gloss and wields it like an ironic chainsaw. His soundtrack is a raucous, authentic collection of mid-70's radio fare, be it sharp-edged pop (Sweet, the vastly underrated Rick Derringer), nascent metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple) and out-and-out hard cheese (Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas). Dazed and Confused is the real sound of 70's teenage America. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

I just am speachless!

For what it is worth, I cannot believe a compilation like this exists...Every song jams and the movie even lives up the soundtrack! Get it !!!!!!!! November 15, 2008

The 70's...What a Larf!

It's been famously suggested that if you remember the 1970's, then you weren't really there. Or was it the 1960's? I forget.

One thing about those ten years that can't be obscured by cobwebs or short circuited by misfiring synapses is the music which, despite general malignment from blog-happy kids who weren't even a single cell in their daddy's nut sack at the time, is an endless parade of addictive melodies, guitar riffs, and vocal somersaults from men in tight satin trousers trying to be boys by flirting with teenage hearts, each one grabbier than the last.

Of course the 1970's also gave us a lot of blow-dried twits singing witless mush about their overwhelming love blotting out everything else in life, but I've always rationalized away their very existence as the perfect background music for the kind of person who whispers "I love you" to a one-night stand. Some things I can't explain away are the Bee Gees' cover of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," how Boston blew up enough to warrant a gig at the Pontiac Silverdome, Dan Hartman leaving the Edgar Winter Group for a career in disco, and why The Dictators weren't massive. When I snap my fingers, move on.

This soundtrack may alternately be viewed as a treasure trove of teenage-boy, air-guitar bliss, a howling vortex of everything inherently evil about corporate mainstream rock, or, in today's overcompressed, sterile, tarted-up music biz, the aural equivalent of Cro-Magnon knuckledraggers celebrating the discovery of fire. For those who grew up with the music, it's nothing more than an average 60 minutes of rock radio from 30 years back in the haze which - truth be told - we used to rail against for everything from excess advertising to excess Led Zeppelin, safe programming, and station managers who had the gall to send their laid-back DJ's to MC punk gigs.

Although you could quibble all day about what desert island tracks should have made the cut (BTO's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet," Golden Earring's "Radar Love," the studio version of REO Speedwagon's "Ridin' the Storm Out," or anything from Starz or the J. Geils Band would have all fit nicely), it's hard to argue with what did, most of them working wonders over the years to quell suburban-kid anxiety.

Foghat's thumping "Slow Ride" sounds as if it has OD'd on Sominex but slakes the thirst for a loud, simplistic, English boogie band, the heavy-metal blaze of Deep Purple's "Highway Star" still burns like gonorrhea, and Sweet's "Fox on the Run" may seem slightly out of its league, but stakes its claim as a bug-eyed glam anthem.

Elsewhere, we get a quick taste of ZZ Top before their 80's detour into the ether as leering, synth-drunk hucksters ("Tush"), Rick Derringer's turn as a hard-rock David Cassidy ("Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo"), a just-fed-with-clean-newspapers-in-his-cage Ted Nugent ("Stranglehold"), the Kiss Army patch on the album's jean jacket, "Rock and Roll All Nite," and Alice Cooper's rebellious "School's Out," which starts at punk desperation and ends at bubblegum bliss.

For better or worse, much of the Clerasil rock on display here lives on in the brawny roar and smudgy guitar distortion of a thousand nu-metal bands, the retro slouch of a backwards-leaning Kid Rock, and the cocky power stance of Buckcherry.

Adolescence is tough, especially when you don't grow out of it. November 5, 2008

An Excellent Soundtrack For An Excellent Film/Decade

I was born in 1976, so I didn't really grow up listening to these songs. However, many of them still get heavy airplay on classic rock stations. Not one song on this album is bad. Personal favorites include "Cherry Bomb" and "Tuesday's Gone." Other solid tracks include "Low Rider," "Tush" and "Love Hurts."

If you've seen the film, you already know that it lives and dies by the music that's constantly played in it. Much like "Swingers," "Dazed And Confused" is a very good film, but the soundtrack selection makes it great.

I gave this album four stars because there are some key tunes missing (most notably "Hurricane," by Bob Dylan). Also, the classic rock vibe is broken up by "Jim Dandy," which doesn't quit fit in as well as the rest of the tunes. It's still a good song, though. This is an excellent album, and if you enjoy classic rock or grew up listening to these tunes, I'm sure you'll enjoy it (and the film). Highly recommended. June 4, 2008

Flashback

Loved the CD. The music is a much fun as it was the first time I enjoyed it! March 27, 2007

Dazed and Confused soundtrack

I loved the movie and I love the soundtrack. Contains all those songs from the 1970s that were very "feel good". Also highly recommended is the companion CD which contains more songs that this one couldn't fit. Recommend both of them. March 26, 2007

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