Schoolhouse Rock

Once in a while you stumble across a bit of history, whether it be an object or a photo, or a place. It's not a huge discovery, but it reminds you of a time you might have lived through, or a tangible piece of the past lived by those who came before. I recently discovered a classroom that had a small bit to play in the pop culture scene of the mid 1980s...

While I was never a big fan back when their records were hitting the airwaves, Twisted Sister and Dee Snyder were definitely original. It can be argued that they are one of the few 80's "hair bands" (known for those long locks and obscenely poufy hairdoos) that put a well-remembered and permanent mark in the annuls of music history and culture. Wearing make-up, lipstick and sporting the iconic bad-boy threads that every rock star of the era had to have, Twisted Sister and the band's originality defined a large portion of 1980s rock music, creating controversy all the way into a U.S. Senate hearing. Censorship was the topic and in 1985 at the height of Twisted Sister's success, Dee Snider made a stand for freedom against the likes of then Senator Al Gore who was backed by his wife in proclaiming that modern rock music was "filthy", promoted deviant acts and should be stricken from the American psyche. What they were not expecting was Dee Snider. Articulate, well-versed and well-spoken, the U.S. Senate was matched and exceeded by an intellectual who cherished and spoke up for American freedom, and the freedom of expression (Grow, 2015).

We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock were two of the band's biggest hits. The music videos for these two songs were gritty and interconnected. Both used actors who had starring roles in the film Animal House (1978), Mark Metcalf who played Douglas C. Neidermeyer, a repulsive and insane R.O.T.C. cadet and Stephan Furst, a lovable and tubby "legacy" Freshman named Kent "Flounder" Dorfman. Metcalf appeared in both music videos reprising a character with similar qualities to the Animal House performance, while Furst only appeared at the end of I Wanna Rock, both characters being the nemesis of the other. As a side note, Twisted Sister was very keen on using well known films to enhance their music videos, from the nostalgic aspects of Animal House to pairing with Paul Rubens and his film, Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure.

I never expected a classroom on Montebello High School to be the scene of a 1980's rock music video. Montebello sits East of Los Angeles, and as far as I knew the one claim to fame was Edward James Olmos being a graduate. Room C-13 was originally a home economics classroom when the school opened in 1948, transitioning to a science classroom by the time Twisted Sister used it for the film shoot. Other parts of the high school can be seen, from the school's gymnasium and pool (with the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics mural), to the football field bleachers and the recessed school lockers which still exist in the older school buildings. I Wanna Rock was filmed at Montebello high in 1984, and the classroom is featured in the beginning. Much has changed, and the room itself is no longer being used as a class, but all the elements can still be picked out.