Winter is coming! Winter is coming! So, it warmed Lou’s heart or something to find a copy of the soundtrack to the teen sex comedy Spring Break (1983) at Vinyl Vogue. Spring Break movies take Lou back to the sunnier times of his youth. Losin’ It(1983), Where the Boys Are (1984); Hot Dog: The Movie (1984) (Spring break in the snow!!); Fraternity Vacation (1985), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987). Inspiredstuff. These films were the gateway, like that first beer on a summer night in the woods amongst friends, to a life misspent. From Spring Break to Emmanuelle movies to the coveted back room of the video store. Today, in more progressive times, thisis perceived as a walk of shame but back then it was a rite of passage. Follow the career of Janine Lindemulder from her start in Lauderdale on to Where the Boys Aren’t to a series of mugshots. It is also the trajectory of a Hollywood starlet.
As an older, wiser man, Lou can see the darkness that lurks inthe sun and fun of Spring Break. Take the movie poster which captivated a younger, less knowledgeable Lou. Back then it was an iconic image of the sex comedy genre. Now, the poster is an apt depiction of men’s colonization and exploitation of women’s bodies and Mother Nature. The rape of virgin territory. But it is even worse than that. One of the themes of this blog is the darkness of the Summer of Love and sunshine pop. It has been posited that the bikini clad body being conquered on the poster was that of Tammy Lynn Leppert, an 18-year-old aspiring model and actress who disappeared and was never heard from again in July 1983. Leppert briefly appears in the boxing scene of Spring Break, and she had a brief role as the girl who distracts the lookout car in the chainsaw scene of Scarface. Like Janine Lindemulder, Leppert is a cautionary tale of the dangers of the life of a model/actress. Her case has been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, and it was speculated that she was a victim of serial killer Christopher Wilder, who was active in Florida and across the entire country at the time of Leppert’s disappearance before he was killed in a shootout in New Hampshire in 1984. While Wilder was alive, Leppert’s family filed a lawsuit against him, but eventually dropped the case due to lack of evidence. It has been rumored that Wilder was on the set of Spring Break and that there is a photo of him stalking Leppert on set. Leppert’s disappearance has never been solved and there is speculation that she was a victim of John Crutchley, a convicted rapist suspected in a number of murders before his suicide in prison in 2002. Some surmise that Leppert was involved in some way with local drug traffickers. And a call to police after Leppert’s disappearance stated that Leppert was alive and going to school to become a nurse. More proof that there is darkness in the world of Spring Break movies. And Lou is here to tell you all about it.
Besides the now problematic album cover and the nostalgia of a seemingly more innocent time before Lou knew what was going on, he picked up the Spring Break soundtrack because the opening track is a song by Cheap Trick. What the hell was Cheap Trick doing here? Well, Cheap Trick went full whore and pulled a cheap trick. Rick Nielsen wrote the song “Spring Break” as the theme song for the movie and the song was released as a single (with “Get Ready” as the B-side) which quickly disappeared like Tammy Lynn Leppert, failing to chart. Too soon, Lou, too soon. NRBQ also slums it on the album with the song “Me and the Boys”.
But listening to the record, the real stars are Jack Mack and the Heart Attack with “True Lovin’ Woman” and “Hooray for the City” and Hot Date with “Do It to You” and “Friends”. Yes, this is the stuff the 80s were made of. Jack Mack, a soul and R&B band, out of L.A. were on the fringes of the big time in the 1980s with ties to Glenn Frey of The Eagles. They appeared onLaverne & Shirley in an episode written with them in mind, MTV specials, Miami Vice, and as the house band for The Late Show on Fox. Besides Spring Break, their music was in the films Police Academy, Porky’s Revenge, Back to the Future and Beverly Hills Cop 2. And don’t forget the Tuff Turf soundtrack. But they really exploded on the scene when they were performing live during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. This is their main claim to fame and footage of them performing was featured in the movie Richard Jewell by Clint Eastwood.
Even better than Jack Mack and crew is Hot Date, an all-girl band from Fort Lauderdale that performs the song “Do It to You” in a barroom scene in the movie. For the movie, Corinne Alphen, a two-time Penthouse Pet of the month, fronts the band and lip-syncs bassist Marilyn Maxx’s vocals. Needless to say, this performance is electric. Just ask Roger Ebert who got all horny for Corinne in his review of Spring Break. Lou mustadmit Hot Date stole the movie even if he had forgotten all about them before watching a clip on YouTube after listening to the LP. Come for Cheap Trick but stay for a Hot Date.
So, there you have it: The Spring Break Soundtrack. It would make a good movie in its own right. An unsolved disappearance of a young actress/model, a lurking serial killer, a band who performed during the Atlanta Olympics bombing, an all-girl band fronted by a Penthouse Pet. And Cheap Trick. Lou should get all F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner and head out to Hollywood to make his fortune as a screenwriter. It would probably be a scene out of Barton Fink.
Suggested Sites and Sounds:
Tammy Lynn Leppert – Unsolved Mysteries: Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 1 - Full Episode
Tammy Lynn in Scarface: Scarface (1983) - The Chainsaw Murder Scene | Movieclips
Hot Date Live in Spring Break: Spring Break "HOT DATE" I Want To Do It To You
Roger Ebert Horn Dogs Out: TEEN MUSIC HELL: Hot Date feat. Corinne Alphen from Spring Break | The Official Teen Movie Hell Mixtape | Bazillion Points Blog
Jack Mack and the Heart Attack Bomb: Jack Mack - Live from Centennial Park Atlanta 1996 (Clint Eastwood / Richard Jewell)
—Lou Waxman