Tellingly, director Richard Linklatter's Dazed and Confused was released 20 years after American Grafitti and offers a similar story of troubled young personalities lurking beneath an oversaturated pop culture veneer. Like Lucas before him, Linklatter clearly relishes that gloss and wields it like an ironic chainsaw. His soundtrack is a raucous, authentic collection of mid-70's radio fare, be it sharp-edged pop (Sweet, the vastly underrated Rick Derringer), nascent metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple) and out-and-out hard cheese (Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas). Dazed and Confused is the real sound of 70's teenage America. --Jerry McCulley
