An Album of Rock That Made It in Movies

Here’s one time when a rock album doubles as a trivia quiz:

1. Can you name three movies that used recordings by the Byrds?

2. Or one movie (other than “The Wall” or a concert film) that contained three songs by Pink Floyd as well as one by the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia and the Youngbloods?

3. Or one movie in which a Roy Orbison song appeared years before “Blue Velvet” and one in which an Orbison song appeared after “Blue Velvet”?

The answers--and the records in question--are contained in “Rock Goes to the Movies,” a series of albums that has been released by CBS Special Products.

The answers:

1. “Easy Rider” (which contained “Wasn’t Born to Follow” and “The Ballad of Easy Rider”), “Candy” (“Child of the Universe”) and “Don’t Make Waves” (the title song).

2. “Zabriskie Point,” a 1970 film by director Michelangelo Antonioni, who had earlier used the Yardbirds’ “Stroll On” for a scene in “Blow Up.”

3. “Zig Zag” (the title song) and “Pretty Woman” (Orbison’s classic “Oh, Pretty Woman”).

Rock ‘n’ roll and movies go all the way to “Blackboard Jungle,” a 1955 film about a tough urban high school.

The film--which featured Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” over the opening credits--had an enormous effect on teen-agers because rock concerts were rare. Most teens had only been able to listen to the raw new sound on tiny radio or record-player speakers.

In the theaters, they suddenly heard “Rock Around the Clock” exploding through huge theater speakers--and they were hearing it with hundreds of other teen-agers, providing what was, in effect, their first rock-concert experience. It didn’t matter that the band wasn’t there. The music boomed and “Rock Around the Clock” went right to No. 1.

Bruce Eder, who selected the material for the series, traces the history of rock ‘n’ movies in the liner notes to the albums, including some information about some of the rarities featured on the albums.

The five individual volumes are short by CD standards (just 31 to 43 minutes) and contain few of the classic rock-film selections (no Elvis Presley, Beatles or Prince material, for instance), so the series is far from definitive.

But you may find a few lost favorites among the 57 selections--mostly taken from the MGM/UA or CBS Records catalogues. Among the other artists featured the Lovin’ Spoonful (songs from “What’s Up Tiger Lily?” and “You’re a Big Boy Now”), Johnny Horton (“Sink the Bismarck”), Neil Young (“Strawberry Statement”), Ray Charles (“The Cincinnati Kid”), Mountain (“Vanishing Point”) and Flatt & Scruggs (“Bonnie and Clyde”).