The songs Thrashin' by Meat Loaf and Touch the Sky by White Sister were recorded specifically for the film. Neither track has ever been officially released on any format.
Catherine Hardwicke began her career in motion pictures as a production designer on this film. After becoming a film director herself, her second film would would be the period skateboard film Lords of Dogtown (2005).
This was the first movie Pamela Gidley and Flea starred in together. They went on to appear in four more films: Dudes (1987), The Blue Iguana (1988), Liar's Poker (1999) and Goodbye, Casanova (2000).
When Chrissy is on the bus, she has the October 1985 edition of "Seventeen" Magazine. Pamela Gidley was a frequent "Seventeen" cover girl in the early 1980s.
In one scene there's a picture of a skull missing an eye pinned on the wall. This is a reference to Josh Brolin's previous film The Goonies.
Jesse Martinez: lying on the ground at the L.A. Massacre, with medics tending to his broken leg. His leg was really broken, and the medics were not actors.