The Lovedolls (first film lineup) Jennifer Schwartz, Janet Housden, & Hilary Rubens

DESPERATE TEENAGE POWER

It's been said that desperation is the mother of invention. It was sometime late in 1983 and things were changing in the Los Angeles punk scene. The hardcore heyday of the previous two years was shifting, as far as I could tell. The fanzine I edited and published along with my friends Jennifer & Jordan Schwartz and Kim Pilkington was running out of steam. We were in production of the 6th issue (#666) of We Got Power, when the publication ceased to exist.

If you do not know what a fanzine is, the name is derived from “fan magazine”. There were many regional ‘zines published practically in every nook and cranny in the USA. From the major cities to the sticks, fanzines were often photo copied, and usually lovingly put together. The bigger publications like Flipside and Maximum Rock N Roll were offset printed on newsprint. (As a footnote; I wrote the Southern California scene report for the early issues of Maximum Rock N Roll.) Fanzine publication was primarily kids taking control of the media by creating their own. Rolling Stone was certainly not going to write about these bands and this scene.  Fanzines were Truly Needy, and the primary source of information between the country’s underground network of Punk & Hardcore.  There was no internet back then. No cell phones either.  ATMs and VCRs were as new as it got.

We Got Power was started by Alan Gilbert, a friend of ours who lived nearby, although notably North Of Wilshire (Wishire Boulevard being the economic dividing line between the lower middle class, and the more well off Santa Monican's.  There were few apartment buildings north of Wilshire; mostly nice suburban homes.) Alan and I wholeheartedly agreed on music, for example we both had a fondness for The Electric Eels “Agitated” single, the debut Meat Puppets 7” “In A Car”, the Red Cross “Six Teen Punk Anthems” (Posh Boy) ep, and Half Japanese “No More Beatlemania” 7”. Alan christened the ‘zine “We Got Power” after a Negative Trend song “I Got Power”, from Tooth & Nail, a local punk compilation and favorite. He is seen in my 1982 documentary The Slog Movie in the “A Day In The Life Of A Punk” section in with his terminal acne.

We Got Power was different from most fanzines of the time. The quality of the paper was closer to a high school yearbook, (or at least Teen Angel) rather than newsprint or Xerox.

We Got Power had a unique sense of humor and did not take itself too seriously, focusing on people in the scene almost as much as the bands and the music. The 'zine came complete with goofy puzzles ("Help The Punk Find The Safety Pin" maze) and jokes (such as Q: "Why Did The Punk Cross The Road?" A: "Because he was safety pinned to the chicken.") We Got Power also had a glossy cover and Day-Glo colored ink high quality paper. Checking it's content many years on, very little to cringe at. There was the usual gig and record reviews, band interviews, & scene gossip, all keeping it's punk tongue in cheek. Not bad for teenagers having fun, which was the bottom line in fanzine publication. We were certainly not in it for money, as each issue usually kept us in the red.

Jennifer drew the cover of the first issue, a caricature of a punk kitty with an “Anarchy” necklace. I had known the Schwartz's a couple years before the L.A. Punk scene would engulf us as kids from my neighborhood. We were just bored teenagers trying to amuse ourselves, and spread the word of these bands and their music. Alan would soon bow out as he went off to college at UC Santa Barbara and I took over as editor.

The magazine brought us into contact with many bands, not only from the Southland, but the few bands that were able to get on the road at the time (Minor Threat, Government Issue, Bad Brains, The Necros, & The Misfits to name a few.) My mother’s apartment (my bedroom was our corporate headquarters) and the neighboring Schwartz condo became a stop for many touring hardcore bands. You would find "Land Speed Record" era Husker Du hanging out. I remember Bob Mould playing me the rough mixes for “Everything Falls Apart” in my room, wondering how their 'core fanbase was going to react to their new sound. Dayglo Abortions would stop in for a visit. Maximum Rock N Roll’s Tim Yohannon would stop by whenever he was in the area.

We would usually end up at a lifeguard tower on the beach in the middle of the night drinking a case of Lucky Lager beer, the beer that had puzzles under the cap. I recall Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley spending a night or two at my mom’s, back before Sonic Youth could afford to pay for hotel rooms. Henry Rollins tripped an all-nighter at the Schwartz condo. The former Washington DC Straight-Edger was spreading his wings on the west coast. Henry had long since changed his last name from Garfield to Rollins, started in on tattoos, and grew his hair long. He was hanging out with Kim Pilkington around that time.

Kim Pilkington gassing up her Gremlin in 1983

We ended up interviewing the cream of the crop of American Hardcore: Flipper, Circle Jerks, Red Cross, Saccharine Trust, Dead Kennedys, DOA, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, The Misfits, Husker Du, & The Necros. I don't remember exactly how we pulled it off for the two years of its existence. Much of it had to do with the good graces of the printer, Mr. Macias, father of the late John Macias, singer of the legendary Circle One (John Macias was tragically shot and killed by the Santa Monica Police in 1990). John's father ran his own print shop in South Central Los Angeles and he insisted on giving us his best paper and printing quality for next to nothing. We did sell a decent amount of ads, and we did host a couple benefit shows. I recall one particular bill consisting of Bad Religion, Minutemen, Descendents, Symbol Six, & Sin 34 at Godzilla’s that must have brought in at least $500.

Through the 'zine, Jordan and I compiled the Party Or Go Home compilation LP (1983 Mystake Records) featuring an amazing line up of national (and Canadian) bands such as 7 Seconds, The Minutemen, The Big Boys, Red Cross, Sin 34, Nip Drivers, JFA, Dr. Know, Tar Babies, Mecht Mensh, Dayglo Abortions, Rebel Truth, The Patriots, White Cross, White Flag, & a host of others doing 60 seconds or less of their fastest thrash (for the most part.) It's a great collection, unfortunately it appeared on the wrong record label. Avoid the unauthorized and poorly remastered CD.

To the observant "hardcore" was over midway through the decade, for us the writing was already on the wall in '83. Everything fell apart, bands broke up, friends disappeared, and the scene as we knew it, died away… It's not like we went away, much grew from our time with the ‘zine. I was already busy playing in bands and recording records, touring, and I still found time to make the occasional film every couple years. Jordan went on to work for Chuck Dukowski’s Global Management, which handled the bands on SST, of which I would also soon become a part of during the post-hardcore era.  You can see Jordan on the cover of Black Flag's "Annihilate This Week" ep and the star of the "Slip It In" music video I directed in 1984. That's also Jordan's writing all over the cover of the Flag's "Who's Got The 10 & 1/2".

John Macias in 1982

We Got Power magazine folded but We Got Power Films remained. In 1983, we put all of a few hundred dollars and a few of our friends in front of the camera to begin shooting my first film since I completed The Slog Movie, (which featured Macias and Circle One quite prominently) a couple years previous. I was prompted to begin shooting this cinematic endeavor as a vehicle for Kim Pilkington's and Jennifer Schwartz's aspiring rock 'n' roll dreams. I gave them the name The Lovedolls, and I titled the film Desperate Teenage Runaways in an obvious nod to the 1970's LA all-female band The Runaways. Jennifer was more than ready to handle the lead after having previous supporting roles in my backyard films. Talk about method, she became the star-searching Kitty Carryall overnight. She collaborated with me on the script, which we made up as we went along.

I had known the Schwartz's before the L.A. Punk scene would engulf us. I had featured the two in my 1980 horror film parody The Omenous. Jordan is one of the most hilarious and individually askew people I have ever known. His dual roles in the film, as the overly smiling psyche-ward doctor and the very shrill, Kitty's (unnamed) mother were both so dead-on, no one ever recognized the two as being acted by the same person. He also acted as "executive producer", supplying the spare change that was needed for production.

Jordan Schwartz, Jennifer Schwartz, & Dave Markey in Santa Monica 2005

From behind the eyepiece of my Elmo Super 8 sound motion picture camera, our makeshift nod to Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls began to take shape. We were turned on to the Russ Meyer classic via Redd Kross (then known as Red Cross, prior to the American Red Cross' cease and desist), shortly after meeting and interviewing the brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald at Oki-Dogs under fluorescent lighting and gas-inducing junk food. We found we shared a similar taste for trash culture and the 1970's. Keep in mind this was before the nauseating cross-cultural affinity for that timeframe kicked in. Back then, the very idea of a Brady Bunch film was so far from reality, we actually considered doing it ourselves. We also considered doing our own Charlie's Angels (via Charles Manson). If it wasn't for Redd Kross' music, this film would not exist.

Jeff McDonald & Steve McDonald  Red Cross 1982

We started production on Desperate Teenage Runaways before we had any idea of what we were doing. There are much better ways to approach filmmaking, but sometimes you can't deny the moment. There was no screenplay proper, although a great deal of dialogue and scenes were pre-planned. A lot of improvisation was going on too. All of the extras in the film were actually there on the street at the time of filming. There were no sets. There were no caterers. We used household lamps as movie lights. There certainly wasn't any studio. The film was processed at Thrifty mart. Everyone knew their place, and somehow it all clicked.

However The Runaways nutbag producer Kim Fowley showed up at the Friday the 13th (of July 1984, at the Lhasa Club in Hollywood) premier of the film with a suitcase he said was loaded with explosives, threatening hundreds of peoples lives. Fowley was livid, insinuating we had ripped off his life story. He came in tow with a body guard who was a large black woman dressed to the hilt in Jungle Jane drag clutching a spear! He threatened that Joan Jett and Sandy West would kick our asses, after the fact that he had parted ways less than amicably with the original Runaways years before.

As ridiculous as Fowley’s claims were, I suppose it didn't help that we had actual Runaways songs dubbed in the film during the Lovedolls live performance, which was obviously the first thing to go. I was just a punk kid who made an unprecedented no-budget Super-8 feature, what did I know about sync-rights?  In all actuality Fowley was probably trolling for a little publicity in The LA Weekly, which he got. “All this over a Super-8 film with a budget less than a power-lunch meal at Spago.” Wrote Craig Lee (his former band The Bags have a song in the film) in the LA Weekly over Fowley’s episode. I decided a title change would be no problem as Fowley was threatening litigation. And, I am very glad that I did. After all, it was the story of the rise and fall of The Lovedolls, so the movie then became Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. Thanks Kim, I couldn't imagine the film being titled anything else.

I suppose Fowley could have seen a lot of himself in Steven McDonald's tour-de-force performance as the conniving record magnate Johnny Tramaine. Steve's acting ability was apparent to me right away.  The way he was able to get into his character was remarkable for a 15 year old first time actor.  We were also impressed enough by Mr. Fowley's antics that we named a character in the sequel after him (Slim Crowley), played by Bob Moss. He was featured in The Ramones I Want To Be Sedated video, and in a Got Milk? TV ad, both times playing a doctor. Life was imitating art, and art was... you know how it goes when it goes well.

The subsequent LA screenings were sold out, and people started requesting copies on VHS and Beta! After selling several hundred tapes at shows, on consignment, or through mail-order, we settled on a distribution deal with a small, fledging company known as Hollywood Home Video which ran out of the back of a video store across from Hollywood High School. We were pleased to see them sell a couple thousand copies, with the help of continuing positive press and word of mouth. In fact, one of the biggest buyers of the film was the notoriously straight and fundamentally Christian, Blockbuster Video, who reported back an incredibly high rental of the title. I wonder if the executives at Blockbuster ever screened the film. Probably not, but if they did, I wonder what they thought about that graphic Alexandria (Kim Pilkington) shoot-up scene. This was ten years before John Travolta shot up in Pulp Fiction. 

The Lovedolls films capture the dark side of Hollywood in the 1980's. To walk down the clean streets of Hollywood today, one sees a Disney-fied shopping mall. The Hollywood captured in these films is seen in it's truly sketchy, druggy & hooker filled glory. That wasn't a real mountain of cocaine on Johnny Tramaine's mirror. There was no way we could have worked that into the budget. The on-screen tripping was however inspired by our own cutting-teeth experiences with psychedelics. This is probably why Tramaine's acid trip in Westwood Village worked, with it's Taco Bell signs, Yentil & Star 80 Poster freak outs. While shooting Lovedolls Superstar we thought it would be a good idea to try to improvise a scene and film on (psychedelic) mushrooms. It proved to be incomprehensible when viewed later. This leads me to the tipping point scene in Desperate for me; Alexandria's shooting up speed.  It was not faked, it was the real deal (not that it is anything to be proud of.) In retrospect it is very sad, considering Kim Pilkington passed away in 2005 due to years of hard living.

The homeless characters in the film are the real deal. We had asked some of the more colorful vagrants of Venice Beach and Santa Monica to act in the film in exchange for a bottle of Thunderbird. I regret not getting their names for screen credit at the time of filming (always too hectic), as their performances (as in; "Do you girls have any doobies for sale?") ad a surreal element you couldn't get otherwise.

We were completely surprised to see this beyond low budget film take off the way it did. This film was made to entertain our small circle of friends. It was filled with in-jokes we thought no one would understand. I never thought the combination of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven inter-cut with incidental music from the Brady Bunch, would strike such a resounding chord. There was a thrill of seeing positive reviews in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and LA Times, along side of the big Hollywood fare of the day; Flashdance, Footloose, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. 

No one was working publicity, it was happening all by itself. The word spread nationally through various fanzines as Flipside, Flesh and Bones, and Suburban Relapse. The Village Voice gave us a rave review, as did other mainstream publications.  Eventually, this film would actually be featured in a sketch on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. Marylin Manson liked the film enough to sample Steve McDonald's dialogue ("Those Fuckin' Bitches...") and of course "Thanks for killing my mom." Redd Kross was certainly the most responsible for the film's infamy, re-recording Ballad Of A Lovedoll for their landmark Neurotica LP.

Dave Markey shooting "Desperate Teenage Lovedolls" in 1984

I have to dig deep to recall all that was going on behind the scenes, which actually was the true hidden force in what was going on the screen. To an extent, everyone played themselves, or their alter-egos, which became indistinguishable as the film gained notoriety. At times, it almost played as a documentary of our scene. By the time the sequel was completed two years later, The Lovedolls became a real band, packing nightclubs in LA, and even touring nationally.

Drummer Janet Housden was playing in Redd Kross at the time, and sometime during the filming she was kicked out of the band. I remember that made for a few tense moments, especially when we filmed the live Lovedolls sequence at an actual benefit for the film at the notorious Hollywood dive punk basement, the Cathay De Grande, in December of 1983. Janet was to use her replacement drummer Dave Peterson's kit, and I remember she was threatening to destroy it. I am glad she didn't, Dave not only turned out to be a great drummer, but he proved to be an equally apt producer/engineer (check out Ballad Of A Lovedoll, the great theme song and Legend, and marvel how he produced this in a bedroom on a four-track.)

I do recall how much attitude Janet packed during filming. She was perfect as Patch, and could have kicked anyone who ever hassled us for a permit ass' without blinking. "Thanks for killing my mom... No problem!" (which became the tagline.) Janet was not the only X-RK member in the film. Tracy Lea practically steals the show as (Tanya Hearst), and Dez Cadena (Flaco) both one-time guitarists for The Kross, graciously lent their acting talents to the film. Dez has been in many bands including The Happy Tampons, Black Flag, DC3, Twisted Roots, The Misfits, Lipstick Sandwich, Carnage Asada, & Lou Renaldo. Tracy, Dez, and Janet are also heard on the soundtrack in RK's various stages of incarnation. Jeff McDonald appears in a cameo (Tears Brunell, "But you can call me Donut.") in which he is hardly recognizable as a Venice street person in an afro wig and purple fur overcoat. He is later bludgeoned to death with his own guitar.

For the 2003 DVD reissue of the film, you may notice a few changes on the soundtrack. First the debacle with Kim Fowley, and then 2 decades later my old pal Black Flag founder / SST Records owner Greg Ginn. Ginn phoned my distributor (Eclectic / Music Video Distributors) and threatened suit over the use of the aptly titled Black Flag song Life Of Pain.

Jordan Schwartz gets Black Flagged in 1982 (Henry Rollins, Greg Ginn, & Chuck Biscuits)

Keep in mind this is the same song that was in the movie for 20 years. The same song that he agreed to let me use all those years ago. The same song that was featured on the original soundtrack LP and expanded CD reissue. You see there were no contracts in punk, so 3000 DVDs had to be destroyed and the artwork had to be redone at my expense. Here's a man who I was involved with on a dozen recorded releases, and who never paid up on any of them. Lesson learned the hard way.

Ginn has had it in for me ever since I completed the 1986 Black Flag tour film Reality 86'd. A film I shot when I was on that relentless six month In My Head tour, which turned out to be the bands swan song (I drummed and sang for the support band.)  A film he has long prevented being released, as he owns the music publishing including that of my own band Painted Willie. Such a shame, as it is a much requested historic musical document. So good-bye to Black Flag's Life Of Pain (used during the aforementioned shoot-up scene), and hello to Sin 34's Twelve Hour Trip. And what a long strange trip it's been.

- David Markey