I think you're trying too hard to be like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Last night I watched Band Slam. Although produced by Walden Pictures, the family-friendly Christians behind the Chronicles of Narnia, it is halfway to being a classic teen movie, despite certain flaws. The plot makes no sense whatsoever. The pacing is terrible. Characters have nonsensical secrets. A lot of the music is really bad: there is Peter, Bjorn and John, Wilco, and Shack (all of whom are overrated) but also some kind of belief that reggae is the most authentic musical genre, and that ska is even better because they don't sing about marijuana.
But it features teen queen Vanessa Hudgens as a sullen introverted teenager who has no friends and spends most of her time with her face in a book. This is ridiculous casting because Hudgens (Gabriella in High School Musical) never slouches, is beautiful from practically every angle, self-assured, and as pure a product of the Disney machine as any black-eared mouse. Yet apparently she has no friends and a bizarre fondness for Ken Boothe/Boy George classic Everything I Own. Although giving a charismatic performance, Hudgens is a less convincing rock star than either Lindsay Lohan or Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday.
The hero (Gaelan Connell) writes contrived letters to David Bowie expressing his angst. Although he's not musically talented himself, he becomes manager of a group of no-hopers formed by a mysterious ex-cheerleader who has made some kind of pact with God (it's all very The End of the Affair). He turns them around by recruiting a geeky girl with a cello, a top pianist (in an actually funny scene in which he swaps her sonata music for Blister On The Sun), and assorted members of the brass band. Lisa Kudrow is the hero's mother. They have a queasily close relationship, and in one scene he encourages her to unzip her top in order to win the services of a talented drummer who likes older women.
Overall, it is not as good as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, because N&N never featured a speech in which the hero explains how CBGBs in New York was ultimately responsible for inspiring U2, who eventually played in Vegas giving rise to The Killers (as with the remark about ska and grass, this is explicitly stated by a teenager). And it is better than High School Musical because nobody plays any sports and there's no weird homophobic subtext. Instead there is Alyson Michalka (from House of Mouse highlight Phil of the Future) handing out teriyaki-flavoured beef jerky to toddlers. Band Slam also didn't make me hate indie music as much as 500 Days of Summer.
The action takes place at the Martin Van Buren high school. I would like to compile a list of schools named after presidents, VPs, and failed candidates in TV and movies. Both Glee and Freaks and Geeks take place at William McKinley High Schools in different states (Ohio and Michigan, I think); Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide at James K Polk Middle School; Pump up the Volume at subversively Hubert H. Humphrey High (he failed to win the election). There is a more general Wikipedia page.
But it features teen queen Vanessa Hudgens as a sullen introverted teenager who has no friends and spends most of her time with her face in a book. This is ridiculous casting because Hudgens (Gabriella in High School Musical) never slouches, is beautiful from practically every angle, self-assured, and as pure a product of the Disney machine as any black-eared mouse. Yet apparently she has no friends and a bizarre fondness for Ken Boothe/Boy George classic Everything I Own. Although giving a charismatic performance, Hudgens is a less convincing rock star than either Lindsay Lohan or Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday.
The hero (Gaelan Connell) writes contrived letters to David Bowie expressing his angst. Although he's not musically talented himself, he becomes manager of a group of no-hopers formed by a mysterious ex-cheerleader who has made some kind of pact with God (it's all very The End of the Affair). He turns them around by recruiting a geeky girl with a cello, a top pianist (in an actually funny scene in which he swaps her sonata music for Blister On The Sun), and assorted members of the brass band. Lisa Kudrow is the hero's mother. They have a queasily close relationship, and in one scene he encourages her to unzip her top in order to win the services of a talented drummer who likes older women.
Overall, it is not as good as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, because N&N never featured a speech in which the hero explains how CBGBs in New York was ultimately responsible for inspiring U2, who eventually played in Vegas giving rise to The Killers (as with the remark about ska and grass, this is explicitly stated by a teenager). And it is better than High School Musical because nobody plays any sports and there's no weird homophobic subtext. Instead there is Alyson Michalka (from House of Mouse highlight Phil of the Future) handing out teriyaki-flavoured beef jerky to toddlers. Band Slam also didn't make me hate indie music as much as 500 Days of Summer.
The action takes place at the Martin Van Buren high school. I would like to compile a list of schools named after presidents, VPs, and failed candidates in TV and movies. Both Glee and Freaks and Geeks take place at William McKinley High Schools in different states (Ohio and Michigan, I think); Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide at James K Polk Middle School; Pump up the Volume at subversively Hubert H. Humphrey High (he failed to win the election). There is a more general Wikipedia page.