Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)

Description

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains received a limited initial theatrical release and has been seen only on television and occasionally at film festivals. Yet somehow this 1982 film about a trio of misfit teenage girls who start a punk band went on to inspire a generation of female rockers. SHE CAN'T FOOL ALL THE FANS ALL OF THE TIME... Recently orphaned Corinne "Third Degree" Burns (a 15-year-old Diane Lane) enlists her sister (Marin Kanter) and cousin (Laura Dern) to launch a punk rock band, The Stains. Three rehearsals later, The Stains score the opening slot on a cross-country tour with aging metal act The Metal Corpses (led by Fee Waybill of The Tubes) and British punk rockers The Looters (real-life punk pioneers Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols and Paul Simonon from The Clash). The Stains' meteoric rise (and equally lightning-quick fall) owes more to TV exposure than to talent. Cynical commentary on teen angst and rampant consumerism, or prescient allegory for the riot grrrl scene?