Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Music from the Motion Picture)

Many credit the soundtrack for 1982’s Fast Times At Ridgemont High to be the first great rock ‘n’ roll-based soundtrack of the ‘80s (on par with Heavy Metal at least) with contributions by Sammy Hagar, Stevie Nicks and Don Felder. Fast Times leans harder on pop — most notably with its infectious opening hit single “Somebody’s Baby” by Jackson Browne. Paying tribute to the iconic checkerboard, waffle-treaded, slip-on Vans shoes gracing the cover (and the feet of Sean Penn’s character Jeff Spicoli), Joe Walsh follows with the slick boogie of “Waffle Stomp” before Ravyns “Raised On Radio” provides a nugget that’s equal parts classic-rock and power-pop. Although the Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” is curiously absent (it punctuated the teen scene at Ridgemont Mall), their Farfisa organ-laden “Speeding” turns up before Jimmy Buffett’s “I Don’t Know (Spicoli’s Theme)” cooks up some tasty rock. Hagar recalls his Heavy Metal title-track with a similarly heavy “Fast Times At Ridgemont High.”