View source for Airheads

{{short description|1994 film by Michael Lehmann}}
{{About|a 1994 film|the candy|Airheads (candy)|other uses|airhead (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Airheads
| image          = airheads film poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| alt            = 
| director       = [[Michael Lehmann]]
| producer       = [[Mark Burg]] <br />[[Robert Simonds]]
| writer         = [[Rich Wilkes]]
| starring       = {{Plain list |<!--Per poster billing-->
* [[Brendan Fraser]]
* [[Steve Buscemi]]
* [[Adam Sandler]]
* [[Chris Farley]]
* [[Michael McKean]]
* [[Judd Nelson]]
* [[Michael Richards]]
* [[Joe Mantegna]]
}}
| music          = [[Carter Burwell]]
| cinematography = [[John Schwartzman]]
| editing        = [[Stephen Semel]]
| studio         = [[Island World]]<br />Robert Simonds Productions
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1994|8|5}}
| runtime        = 92 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $15 million<ref name="ParBudgets">{{cite news|url= https://variety.com/1995/more/news/h-wood-tries-to-think-small-99125211/ |title=    H'wood Tries To Think Small   |publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=January 9, 2025|archive-date=January 10, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110025950/https://variety.com/1995/more/news/h-wood-tries-to-think-small-99125211/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| gross          = $5 million 
}}
'''''Airheads''''' is a 1994 American [[comedy film]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Airheads (1994) - Michael Lehmann {{!}} Synopsis, Movie Info, Moods, Themes and Related |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/airheads-am716 |access-date=July 7, 2024 |website=AllMovie |archive-date=July 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708183237/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/airheads-am716 |url-status=live }}</ref> directed by [[Michael Lehmann]] and written by [[Rich Wilkes]]. It stars [[Brendan Fraser]], [[Steve Buscemi]], and [[Adam Sandler]] as the members of a struggling rock band who hijack a [[Los Angeles]] radio station in order to get their [[Demo (music)|demo]] aired. The rest of the principal cast includes [[Chris Farley]], [[Michael McKean]], [[Judd Nelson]], [[Michael Richards]], and [[Joe Mantegna]], with [[Ernie Hudson]], [[Amy Locane]], [[Nina Siemaszko]], [[Marshall Bell]], [[Reg E. Cathey]], and [[David Arquette]] in supporting roles.

''Airheads'' was a critical and commercial failure,<ref>{{cite web |title = Airheads (1994) |url = https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=airheads.htm |publisher = [[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date = November 23, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091226030127/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=airheads.htm| archive-date= 26 December 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Airheads {{!}} Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airheads |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}</ref> but has since come to be viewed as a [[cult film]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/a-love-letter-to-airheads-one-of-the-great-metal-cult-movies-of-the-90s | title=A love letter to Airheads: One of the great metal cult classics of the 90s | date=8 June 2022 }}</ref>

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 to 700 words. --> 
In Los Angeles, Chester "Chazz Darby" Ogilvie and his friends, sibling musicians Rex and Pip, are in the [[Los Angeles]] hard rock band "The Lone Rangers" who are continuously rejected while trying to get their [[demo tape]] heard by record producers like Jimmie Wing. After scolding him for being lazy, Chazz's girlfriend Kayla kicks him out of her apartment.

The Lone Rangers try to get local rock station KPPX to play their reel-to-reel tape on the air by attempting to break-in through the back door. Once inside, DJ Ian "The Shark" talks with them on the air. Station manager Milo overhears them and intervenes, but Ian continues broadcasting. After Milo calls Rex "Hollywood Boulevard trash," he and Chazz pull out realistic-looking water pistols filled with hot pepper sauce and demand airplay. After setting up an old [[reel-to-reel]] for the demo, the tape begins to play but is immediately destroyed when the player malfunctions. The trio attempt escape, but the station's accountant Doug Beech has already called the police. The building ends up being surrounded as the Lone Rangers start rounding up Suzzi and the other employees Yvonne, Marcus, and Carter.

They negotiate with the police who are now tasked to find Kayla who has a cassette of the demo. Since the station never went off the air, news of the hostage crisis travel and fans begin showing up outside and interfering with police. A [[SWAT]] team also arrives where Carl Mace prefers using force over negotiation tactics by Sergeant O'Malley. His team secretly passes a gun through a roof vent to Beech who has been hiding in the air ducts. During the crisis, it is revealed that Milo secretly signed a deal to change KPPX's format from rock to [[adult contemporary]] which includes having to fire Ian and most of the other employees. Consequently, Ian and some employees side with the band and turn against Milo.

The police find Kayla at the club and she arrives at the station to deliver the tape. However, the tape is damaged because she threw it out of the car earlier. Chazz and Kayla get into an argument that escalates and results in the studio console being destroyed, dashing any hopes of the tape being played on the air.

As some of the items the band demanded from police are brought into the station, the door shuts on Rex's plastic gun, revealing it to be fake. Seeing this, Marcus and Carter run out with one telling the SWAT team the band's guns are fake upon being subdued. As the team assembles to storm the station, Beech corners the band from an air vent. Knowing he no longer will have a job at the station, Ian knocks down Beech's gun. This causes the weapon to wildly fire rounds, and the police are forced to back off. Ian picks up the gun, but gives it to Chazz in an act of anti-establishment rebellion.

Jimmie Wing comes to the station and offers the band a contract, to which they reluctantly agree. Wing arranges a stage and sound system to be airlifted to the roof where the band will play their song for the now huge crowd outside. However, the band find that only the [[Public address system|PA system]] is real and everything else is just props. Refusing to [[lip sync]] to their tape, they instead destroy their instruments in protest to the delight of the crowd and [[stage dive]] into the hands of the cheering audience that O'Malley has his men let through.

The band later plays a gig in prison where they are incarcerated as Kayla and Suzzi dance in the background. The concert is shown live on [[MTV]]. Now their manager, Ian says on the phone to an unknown person that the band will start touring upon their release in six months, three months if they behave themselves.

A postscript states that the Lone Rangers ultimately serve three months in prison for kidnapping, theft, and assault with hot pepper sauce. Their album ''LIVE IN PRISON'' goes [[Music recording sales certification#Certification thresholds|triple platinum]].

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Brendan Fraser]] as Chester "Chazz Darby" Ogilvie, the lead guitarist and lead vocalist of the Lone Rangers
* [[Steve Buscemi]] as Rex, the bassist of the Lone Rangers
* [[Adam Sandler]] as Pip, the drummer of the Lone Rangers and Rex's brother
* [[Chris Farley]] as Officer Wilson, a police officer involved in dealing with the hostage crisis
* [[Michael McKean]] as Milo Jackson, the station manager of KPPX
* [[Judd Nelson]] as Jimmie Wing, a self-serving record executive at Palatine Records that has repeatedly denied Chazz
* [[Ernie Hudson]] as Sergeant O'Malley, the head of a SWAT team involved in dealing with the hostage crisis
* [[Amy Locane]] as Kayla, Chazz's ex-girlfriend
* [[Michael Richards]] as Doug Beech, the accountant at KPPX
* [[Joe Mantegna]] as Ian "The Shark", a laid back DJ at KPPX
* [[Nina Siemaszko]] as Suzzi, a worker at KPPX
* [[Marshall Bell]] as Carl Mace, a SWAT officer involved in dealing with the hostage crisis that would prefer to use force in dealing with the hostage crisis
* [[Reg E. Cathey|Reginald E. Cathey]] as Marcus, a worker at KPPX
* [[David Arquette]] as Carter, a worker at KPPX
* [[Michelle Hurst]] as Yvonne, a secretary at KPPX
* [[Harold Ramis]] as Chris Moore (Probably a pseudonym), an undercover LAPD detective who poses as a Capitol Records [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] executive in order to gain entry into KPPX to no avail
* [[Allen Covert]] as Officer Samuels, a police officer who was the first to arrive at KPPX at the start of the hostage crisis
* [[Rob Zombie]] as himself
* [[Kurt Loder]] as himself
* [[Lemmy|Lemmy Kilmister]] as School Magazine Editor Rocker
* [[Rich Wilkes]] as Corduroy Pants Rocker
* [[John Melendez]] as Constant Masturbating Rocker
}}

;Cameos
* The band [[Galactic Cowboys]] perform in the film under the name "The Sons of Thunder".
* [[Mike Judge]] voices [[Beavis]] and [[Butt-Head]], who call in to the radio station during the hostage situation and end up infuriating the Lone Rangers with their comments.
* [[White Zombie (band)|White Zombie]] appear in the bar scene with Officer Wilson is searching for Kayla, playing the track they recorded for the film "Feed the Gods".

==Production==
===Casting===
[[Metallica]], [[Cannibal Corpse]] and [[Testament (band)|Testament]] were approached for the bar scene but declined to appear.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://metalinjection.net/at-the-movies/cannibal-corpse-almost-turned-down-working-with-jim-carrey-on-ace-ventura|title=CANNIBAL CORPSE Almost Turned Down Working with Jim Carrey on Ace Ventura|date=February 11, 2015|website=Metal Injection|access-date=February 25, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030235716/https://metalinjection.net/at-the-movies/cannibal-corpse-almost-turned-down-working-with-jim-carrey-on-ace-ventura|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/6993062/radio-stations-movies-tv/|title=How accurately have radio stations been portrayed in TV and movies? Alan Cross rates them|date=May 31, 2020|website=[[Global News]]}}</ref>

=== Location ===
The KPPX radio station was located at [[Fox Plaza (Los Angeles)|Fox Plaza]] in Los Angeles, which served as Nakatomi Plaza in the 1988 film ''[[Die Hard]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Airheads|url=https://www.itsfilmedthere.com/2012/09/airheads.html|access-date=2021-04-08|language=en|archive-date=2021-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304094107/https://www.itsfilmedthere.com/2012/09/airheads.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=I Went to Die Hard's Nakatomi Plaza and Not a Single Hostage Was Taken |url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/i-went-to-die-hards-nakatomi-plaza-and-not-a-single-hos-1828012587 |access-date=2021-04-08 |website=io9 |date=3 August 2018 |archive-date=2021-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316104324/https://io9.gizmodo.com/i-went-to-die-hards-nakatomi-plaza-and-not-a-single-hos-1828012587 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Music===
The film features an original song by [[White Zombie (band)|White Zombie]] and went on to chart on the [[Billboard 200]] and peak at Number 157.<ref>{{cite web|title=Airheads - Original Soundtrack|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/airheads-mw0000116653/awards|website=AllMusic|access-date=2020-04-28|archive-date=2015-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129052512/http://www.allmusic.com/album/airheads-mw0000116653/awards|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, there are re-recordings of songs from Motorhead and Primus. [[Jay Yuenger]] and [[Sean Yseult]] also accompanied with Brendan Fraser's vocal rendition of "Degenerated", a song by [[hardcore punk]] band [[Reagan Youth]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jgtwo.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/white-zombies-sean-yseult-the-jg2land-interview/ |title=White Zombie's Sean Yseult: The JG2Land Interview |date=March 8, 2013 |access-date=2013-05-21 |work=JG2LAND}}</ref> The song was produced by Yuenger and Bryan Carlstrom.<ref>{{Discogs release|4567807}}</ref>

A number of songs can be heard in the film but not included on the soundtrack album. These are: "Baby Huey (Do You Wanna Dance)" by [[Dim Stars]]; "Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom) [Butch Vig Mix]" by [[House of Pain]]; "Unsatisfied" by [[The Replacements (band)|The Replacements]]; "Rocks" by [[Primal Scream]]; "[[Janie's Got a Gun]]" by [[Aerosmith]]; "Wheezing" by [[David Byrne]]; "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" by "Sons of Thunder" ([[Galactic Cowboys]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Airheads (1994) - Soundtracks|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109068/soundtrack|website=[[IMDb]]|access-date=24 November 2015|archive-date=18 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218075159/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109068/soundtrack|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film debuted in tenth place, grossing US$1.9 million in its opening weekend,<ref>{{cite news |title=A 'Clear' Triumph at Box Office : Movies: The Harrison Ford thriller seizes the No. 1 spot with estimated ticket receipts of more than $20 million. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1994-08-08 |first=David J. |last=Fox |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-08-ca-24966-story.html |access-date=2023-01-01 |archive-date=2023-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408003748/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-08-ca-24966-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and grossed only half its budget.

===Critical response===
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 38 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "There's a biting satire that keeps threatening to burst out of the well-cast ''Airheads'', but unfortunately, the end result lives down to its title in the most unfortunate ways."<ref>{{cite web |title=Airheads |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airheads/ |access-date=July 3, 2022 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Airheads Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/airheads |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526104613/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/airheads |url-status=live }}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title=CinemaScore |access-date=2018-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722041238/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date=2018-07-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Peter Travers]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' gave the film a rare positive review: "Fraser and Buscemi are deadpan delights. And Sandler, Opera Man on SNL, is a red-hot screen find."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Travers |first1=Peter |title=Airheads |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=February 6, 2001 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/airheads-105270/ |access-date=3 June 2020}}</ref>

=== Year-end lists ===
* 9th worst&nbsp;– Sean P. Means, ''[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]''<ref>{{cite news|last=P. Means|first=Sean|date=January 1, 1995|title='Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|page=E1|edition=Final}}</ref>
* Top 18 worst (alphabetically listed, not ranked)&nbsp;– Michael Mills, ''[[The Palm Beach Post]]''<ref>{{cite news|last=Mills|first=Michael|date=December 30, 1994|title=It's a Fact: 'Pulp Fiction' Year's Best|newspaper=The Palm Beach Post|page=7|edition=Final}}</ref>
* Dishonorable mention&nbsp;– Dan Craft, ''[[The Pantagraph]]''<ref>{{cite news|last=Craft|first=Dan|date=December 30, 1994 |title=Success, Failure and a Lot of In-between; Movies '94|newspaper=[[The Pantagraph]]|page=B1}}</ref>
* Worst (not ranked)&nbsp;– Bob Ross, ''[[The Tampa Tribune]]''<ref>{{cite news|last=Ross|first=Bob|date=December 30, 1994|title=Versed in the worst|newspaper=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|page=18|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/126948976|edition=Final|archive-date=December 17, 2023|access-date=June 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217065159/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/126948976/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Soundtrack===
{{Infobox album
| name       = Airheads (Original Soundtrack)
| type       = Soundtrack
| artist     = Various artists
| cover      =
| alt        =
| caption    = 
| released   = July 19, 1994
| recorded   = 1994
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[punk rock]]
| length     = 49:14
| label      = [[20th Century Fox Records|Fox Records]]/[[Arista Records]]
| producer   = Lonn Friend
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = Airheads (Original Soundtrack)
 | type        = soundtrack
 | single1     = [[Born to Raise Hell (Motörhead song)|Born to Raise Hell]]
 | single1date = November 1994
}}
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1      = [[Allmusic]] 
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r203125}}</ref>
| rev2      = 
| rev2Score = 
}}

{{Track listing
| extra_column    = Performed by
| total_length = 49:14
| title1          = [[Born to Raise Hell (Motörhead song)|Born to Raise Hell]]
| writer1         = [[Lemmy|Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister]]
| extra1          = [[Motörhead]] with [[Ice-T]] and [[Whitfield Crane]]
| length1         = 4:57
| title2          = I'm The One
| writer2         = [[Eddie Van Halen]], [[Alex Van Halen]], [[Michael Anthony (musician)|Michael Anthony]], [[David Lee Roth]]
| extra2          = [[4 Non Blondes]] (with Dave Navarro)
| length2         = 3:58
| title3          = Feed the Gods
| writer3         = [[White Zombie (band)|White Zombie]]
| extra3          = White Zombie
| length3         = 4:05
| title4          = No Way Out
| writer4         = [[Jesse Malin]], Richard Bacchus, [[Howie Pyro|Howard Kusten]]
| extra4          = [[D Generation|DGeneration]]
| length4         = 4:26
| title5          = Bastardizing Jellikit
| writer5         = [[Primus (band)|Primus]]
| extra5          = Primus
| length5         = 4:11
| title6          = London (The Smiths cover)
| writer6         = [[Morrissey]], [[Johnny Marr]]
| extra6          = [[Anthrax (American band)|Anthrax]]
| length6         = 2:54
| title7          = Can't Give In
| writer7         = [[Candlebox]]
| extra7          = Candlebox
| length7         = 3:15
| title8          = Curious George Blues
| writer8         = [[Scott Hackwith]]
| extra8          = [[Dig (band)|Dig]]
| length8         = 4:03
| title9          = Inheritance
| writer9         = [[Prong (band)|Prong]]
| extra9          = Prong
| length9         = 2:11
| title10         = Degenerated
| writer10        = Paul Bakija, Dave Rubenstein
| extra10         = The Lone Rangers
| length10        = 3:53
| title11         = I'll Talk My Way Out Of It
| writer11        = [[John Melendez]], J. Cantor
| extra11         = [[Stuttering John]] (John Melendez)
| length11        = 3:40
| title12         = Fuel
| writer12        = Stick
| extra12         = Stick
| length12        = 4:57
| title13         = We Want the Airwaves
| writer13        = [[Joey Ramone]], [[Johnny Ramone]], [[Dee Dee Ramone]]
| extra13         = [[Ramones]]
| length13        = 3:21
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0109068|Airheads}}

{{Michael Lehmann}}

[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:1990s buddy comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1994 crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1994 films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American buddy comedy films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American rock music films]]
[[Category:American satirical films]]
[[Category:Beavis and Butt-Head]]
[[Category:English-language buddy comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]
[[Category:Fictional trios]]
[[Category:Films about hostage takings]]
[[Category:Films about radio people]]
[[Category:Films directed by Michael Lehmann]]
[[Category:Films produced by Robert Simonds]]
[[Category:Films scored by Carter Burwell]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Heavy metal films]]