Song: “No More Mr. Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper
Movie: Dazed and Confused
In the movie, Dazed and Confused, the upcoming seniors rise up to become the new heads of the school and rule the underclassman with an iron fist. Being the oldest, biggest and strongest students, they carry out a tradition of hazing the incoming freshmen with a series of rituals that are both demoralizing and abusive. From forcing the girls to act like babies to chasing after the boys to beat them with a paddle, the underclassman are yelled at as well as mentaly and physically abused and tortured. One of the worst hazing scenes occurs when Slater and his friends beat Mitch. After Mitch evades them repeatedly throughout the film, they finally catch up to him after his little league game. Angry that he was able to escape so many times, when the seniors finally catch him, they take out all of their anger and aggression on the beating. This scene is shot in slow motion to the song, “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” This song creates an angry atmosphere that highlights the violence and rage of the seniors. Alice Cooper’s gravely voice conveys his frustration at being misunderstood to the point it makes him angry: “I got no friends cause they read the papers. They can’t be seen with me. And I’m gettin’ real shot down. And I’m feeling mean. No more Mister Nice Guy. No more Mister Clean.” While it is not a rager of a song, it gets the point across: It is alright to stop being nice and start being mean.
This song is perfect for enhancing an angry mood, or just to get you mad. It gives the listener permission to be mean. The repeating melody “No More Mr.Nice Guy” can help build up your anger and get you thinking about how being nice might not be the answer. Anger is a good emotion to have at times as it can help you release frustration, in non violent ways.
