Dave Edmunds: High School Nights

Marathon Pundit trivia time: Which chic-flick favorite appeared in the first Porky's movie? The answer is at the bottom of this post.

I recently stumbled across Dave Edmunds' "High School Nights" from the Porky's Revenge soundtrack on Launchcast.com, which got me thinking about my high school days. Porky's Revenge,
which was released in 1985, was the third and final installment of the franchise.



Recently some of my kinda-old friends from Carl Sandburg High School have gotten in touch with me--or I've gotten in touch with them--through Facebook.

Apparently I was more popular than I thought. I pretty much though most people at the Orland Park school viewed me in one of three ways--as a flake, a jerk, or a loudmouth--or a combination of all three. Readers of this blog might think that perception was, and still is, correct.

Anyway, it's time to cue the Sally Field: "You like me!"

Of course Sandburg didn't have much common with the Porky's school. In my four years there, I didn't encounter any thirty year-old students (by the time of the Porky's Revenge, the actors portraying the teens were almost old enough to be fathers of their own high schoolers), nor did I see any bare female breasts on my campus. Coming-of-immaturity films rarely are reality-based. Porky's Revenge, set in the late 1950s, revolves around an ongoing feud between the kids and Porky, a brothel owner turned casino tycoon. It's a classic allegorical struggle: The horny versus the greedy.

Despite the inane subject matter of Porky's Revenge, the soundtrack shines. Besides "High School Nights," it contains other period songs--with a twist. Popular 1980s artists recorded covers of earlier hits. Among the gems: Dave Edmunds tackles "Do You Wanna Dance," the Fabulous Thunderbirds perform "Stagger Lee," Willie Nelson croons "Love Me Tender," Clarence Clemons interprets the "Peter Gunn Theme," and Carl Perkins revisits "Blue Suede Shoes," with the uncredited Stray Cats backing him up.

This post is dedicated to my high school friends and our high school nights.

To my regular readers, thanks for tolerating this introspective post--don't worry, I'll be back to Obama-bashing soon enough. Perhaps a post about the president's high school days is in order?

Oh, I almost forgot. The then-unknown Kim Cattrall of Sex and the City fame portrayed cheerleading coach "Lassie" in Porky's. Owooo!!!

Related posts:

Dave Edmunds and Graham Parker: Crawling from the Wreckage

Dave Edmunds: Girls Talk

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Carl Perkins

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