Scene of the Week: Shaolin Temple Blues

On March 28, 1958 when rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran stepped in the booth at Gold Star Recording Studios in Hollywood to record “Summertime Blues” he had no idea what the future held for the song.

“Summertime Blues” ending up peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. The song was also covered by a variety of artists over the years ranging from The Who to Alan Jackson.

The song was featured in the 1984 film La Bamba, where Brian Setzer played the role of Eddie Cochran and recorded his version of “Summertime Blues” for the La Bamba soundtrack. But La Bamba was not the only movie to feature “Summertime Blues”…

1991’s American Shaolin prominently featured “Summertime Blues” and even included a parody version of the song titled “Shaolin Temple Blues”.

American Shaolin tells the story of Drew Carson, a young American who travels to the famed Shaolin Temple in China to learn the fighting style of the Shaolin monks. The monks in training are tasked with doing back breaking chores to teach them humility. Drew makes the most of it by teaching his fellow monks in training about good ol’ American rock-n-roll in this week’s Scene of the Week…