FAQ for
Almost Famous (2000) More at IMDbPro »

The film is based on Cameron Crowe's early life. Crowe excelled academically and was skipped ahead two grades at elementary school, as William is in the film, which made him much younger than the other students in his class. He began to write rock music articles, first for his school paper, and then for the fanzine The San Diego Door, and the magazines Creem and Circus. He met the editor of Rolling Stone on a trip to Los Angeles and aged 16 had his first cover article, which he wrote whilst following the Allman Brothers tour of 1973.

Stillwater is a compostie of bands who Cameron Crowe met whilst working at Rolling Stone. It is said to be likely that guitarist Russell Hammond is based on Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers, who Crowe went on tour with in 1973.

Stillwater's songs were written by Peter Frampton, and Crowe and his wife Nancy Wilson, guitarist in the rock band Heart.

And while there is no connection between the two, there was also a real band called Stillwater, active from 1972-83, who were known for their hit "Mindbender."

The character Penny Lane is based on two women who were linked with rock stars in the mid seventies, Pennie Lane AKA Pennie Trumble and, to a lesser extent, Bebe Buell.

Bebe Buell was a former Playboy Playmate who had relationships with Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and Steven Tyler. She is the mother of Liv Tyler.

Pennie Lane was the lead member of The Flying Garter Girls, five groupies who toured with many bands over a three year period in the early to mid seventies. She has a website at www.pennielane.com

The list of songs are found on imdb here.

However, you can find the corresponding scenes to these songs here.