Recently orphaned Corrine "Third Degree" Burns (a 14-year-old Diane Lane) enlists her cousin (Laura Dern) and sister (Marin Kanter) to launch a punk rock band, The Stains. Three rehearsals later, The Stains score the opening slot on a cross-country tour with aging metal act The Metal Corpses (led by Fee Waybill of The Tubes) and British punk rockers The Looters (real-life punk pioneers Paul Simonon from The Clash and Steve Jones & Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols). The Stains meteoric rise (and equally lightening-quick fall) owes more to TV exposure than to talent. Cynical commentary on teen angst and rampant consumerism, or prescient allegory for today’s pop scene?
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