Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll!!!  What a great philosophy for life – and most certainly a great premise for a hardcore tape. There is plenty of all of the above in Jerome Tanner’s Tailhouse Rock… lots of drugs… lots of rock… and lots of rolling… in the hay.

Traci Lords heads a typical L.A. rock band struggling to make it big, but the primarily all-girl band needs a bass player to join the group.  So the girls hold auditions.  However the guitar is not the only instrument that these musicians must be adept with.  Lucky Steve Powers gets to try out for the band and gets to perform for… and on Traci Lords and newcomer Josephine Carrington.  Funny thing – Powers really does play a mean bass guitar.

Tailhouse Rock starts out like gang-busters and the storyline carries somewhat throughout the production.  Two of the sex scenes are amazing, both involving Traci Lords.  But halfway through the story it loses its rhythm.  Some unsettling sounds and poor editing really hurt what could have been a great endeavor.

In one outdoor scene in particular, for over five minutes you cannot understand a word said, unless you’re able to read lips.  Two couples get high and go back to Mark Wallace’s pad to party.  Somehow, by the time they get to his place, one of the girls miraculously changes into someone else.  This sloppy continuity switch really deters from the realism of Tailhouse Rock.

Tailhouse Rock has a good beat and I can chew my gum to it. But sometimes the premise is better than the end result. That’s the case here.