Jan
10
2007
American Hardcore
Went to see the film American Hardcore with my buddy Corey last night. Fucking inspiring. It tells the story of American (and a bit of Canadian) punk in the early/mid 80's. Most of the live footage is really shitty quality-wise, but it really couldn't be any other way. It paints a gritty and somewhat humorous portrait of the hardcore scene. Great interviews with Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and many other punk legends/luminaries.
Far and away, the most breathtaking and sublime footage is that of Bad Brains. They pumped out gorgeous, hellacious noise and took no prisoners. This is no "concert film" with elaborate stage sets and multiple camera angles. This is not sanitized, easily-digestible punk/pop a-la The Ramones or Rancid. This is the real fucking deal. This is down and dirty and violent footage shot on grainy, shitty videotape by fans, fists and spit flying. This is yelling into the microphone and jumping into the crowd with bootheels bared. The video is shaky and very poor quality, but the zeitgeist is captured in all its rotten guts and almost-glory. There's a great scene of Henry Rollins pummeling the shit out of a fan in the middle of a song. There's Bad Brains blowing the fucking stage apart. There's DOA tearing shit up. There's more than one riot scene. Duff McKagan, Moby, and Hank Williams III all make cameos, but the real "stars" of the film are the unsung suburban heroes who played their asses off every night for little or no reward; who didn't do it all for the nookie, but for the love of the game. They're the guys who pressed their own records and hand-assembled the sleeves. Who toured with no money and survived. Absolutely inspiring.
