- When a promising record company president is arrested, his daughter takes over his company to promote her own rock and roll music by promoting various young singers.
- In the opening scene at a local cafe bar in Rome called 'The Sewer', a group of young local teenagers congregate to listen to American-style rock 'n roll music on the venue's gleaming new jukebox. The club is run by Paolo Macelloni, an ambitious hustler on the lookout for musical talent. His girlfriend, Giulia, is the daughter of Cesari, the head of a successful record label. Giulia's father wants nothing to do with the rock 'n roll scene of the youth of today, preferring the sort of middle-of the road crooner typified by his latest signing, Appio Claudio, whom is is currently promoting heavily.
When Tony Bellaria, a talented but old-fashioned crooner from the South of Italy wins a coveted singing spot at the Sewer by throwing a bulls-eye dart at a picture of Mrs. Cesari, Paolo is mortified; Tony's style of music is more conservative that the usual Sewer fare. However, when Adriano Celentano takes control of the musical arrangements the Tony performed Figario's aria from The Barber of Seville to a rock 'n roll beat, the crooner earns the respect of the club and Paolo becomes his manager.
A visiting journalist, named Salomone, suggests that the best way to combat the major labels is to put on the music festival at the club so Paolo arranges for the cream of the new crop to play there. The line-up of the groups include: Adriano Celentano and his Modern Jazz Band, Fred Buscaglione and the Asternovas, the eccentric singer-guitarist Gianni Meccia, and Giulia's friend Betty Dorys (who is is also Cesari's secretary).
Incensed by the Cesari empire's hardball business approach, which keeps the new music off jukeboxes around the country, club-goers from The Sewer deface all the posters of Appio Claudio currently on display around the city. This does not go well with the local Mafia, who are heavily subsidizing the star's career.
At a showcase for Tony Bellaria at The Sewer, a group of mafiosi in the audience deliberately provoke a brawl. The police are called and several arrests are made. Tony decides that this is too much to handle and boards a bus back to his home village in the countryside, but Paolo and Giulia persuade him to stay.
On the night of Appio Claudio's "coronation", a glitzy promotional bash arranged by Cesari with saturation TV coverage, the "sewer gang" invades the stage, installs a jukebox, and bop to the music while a stripper mimes to Betty's song "Troppo timida" ("Too Shy"). The nationwide press outrage is too much for Cesari, who suffers a nervous breakdown. While he is away at a local clinic, Giulia takes over the family business and swiftly uses her position to sign Betty and Tony to the record label. When Cesari returns after his stay at the asylum, he finds that Giulia's signings are outselling all of his other acts and he finally decides to embrace the "new wave" of music.
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