Airheads - Movie Poster

Airheads - Movie Poster

When I was about 13 or 14, I was watching Comedy Central late one night when I came across a movie that started with a pretty kick-ass song, then some guy who kinda looked like Dave Mustaine walking into a radio station. For the next hour, I saw a movie that changed my life.

That movie was Airheads, and it still stands as one of my favorite movies!

It was the type of movie that you kinda want your life to be like; crazy, insane, and fun. The metal band The Lone Rangers are stuck at the bottom of the rung of the Los Angeles metal scene while a bunch of crappy bands get signed. Frustrated, they come up with a plan to get their song on the radio in the hopes of getting a record deal.

Along the way, we get to see Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Joe Mantegna, and even Michael Richards in a film filled with metal puns that don't play down to the audience! It was great, and in hindsight its awesome to see Steve Buscemi in the movie after Boardwalk Empire.

We also get treated to an original song by White Zombie, who perform in the film, as well as an appearance from God himself, Lemmy Killmeister!

There are a lot of great quotes, but the one that changed my life was the exchange between Steve Buscemi's character and Milo, the station manager. He looks at the stations collection of bands and goes, "All these bands are great, why don't you ever put these guys on the air?" "If they're so great, why aren't they burning up the charts?" "Maybe because you're not playing them?"

That stuck with me, and since then I started my own metal radio station, Mark Skull Pirate Radio.