Roger Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American independent film producer, director, and actor. He has been called “The Pope of Pop Cinema” and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Much of Corman’s work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of low budget cult films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Admired by members of the French New Wave and Cahiers du cinéma, in 1964 Corman was the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française, as well as the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award. Corman mentored and gave a start to many young film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, and James Cameron. He also helped to launch the careers of actors Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. (More from Wikipedia)
Mike Curb made a deal to supply soundtracks for the many Roger Corman films that came out in the 1960’s by American International Pictures. Roger Corman began using Davie Allan music after hearing his work in the 1965 short film, Skaterdater.
The soundtrack for the Roger Corman film The Wild Angels (1966) was a breakthrough for Davie Allan and the Arrows and yielded their biggest hit song, “Blues’ Theme”. From Wikipedia: “The song from the film’s opening, ‘Blues’ Theme’ (sometimes listed as ‘Blue’s Theme’), an aggressive, repetitive and very catchy instrumental showcasing [Davie] Allan’s new fuzzed-out (heavily distorted) guitar sound became their biggest hit (it was also one of the first songs Eddie Van Halen learned to play on brother Alex [Van Halen]’s guitar). The song stayed on the Billboard charts for 17 weeks (it peaked at #37); the single, backed with ‘Bongo Party’, and the soundtrack album [The Wild Angels] both sold well. Rumors have stated that the melody in ‘Blues’ Theme’ was stolen from the Monkees’ guitar lick in ‘Last Train to Clarksville’; but ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ was recorded on July 25th, 1966, and The Wild Angels debuted in the theaters on July 20th, 1966.”
(December 2014)
