‘American Hardcore’ works best when it actually deals with the history of America’s punk rock movement.
This documentary, however, comes off more like a Who’s Who of Punk. This isn’t a bad thing for the uninitiated, but may be a little too superficial for those who wanted an insider’s look.
American punk was different than what came out of England before it. The Sex Pistols were about 1970s drug culture as much as they were about youth rebellion. American punk focused almost entirely on the rebellion.
It was a battle cry against the white man order of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Almost from the time he took office in 1981, America’s youth could see right through the false vanilla impersonations of 1950s family values. Their reaction was to roar “Fxxk You!” with ear bleeding music.
Hardcore punk seemed to burst forth overnight in Southern California. From there it spread to San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston… even Vancouver.
The punk scene became an assault of dissent with bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and SS Decontrol leading the charge. By 1986, after Reagan won a second term, it was all over. Hope of shouting the conservatives out of office turned to cynicism. “Fxxk You!” became “Fxxk This!”
In spite of insider interviews with the likes of Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat), and almost all of the members of Bad Brains, one still gets the feeling the band members aren’t telling us everything. Every single one of them has a story of finding their inner turmoil via the straight edge intensity of the music and fist meeting flesh.
After awhile, though, their stories begin to sound the same. Filmmakers Paul Rachman and Steven Blush avoid entirely the violent homophobia of Bad Brains, for example.
Or the fact that drugs were prevalent even if being stoned was held in contempt by the punk subculture. These are odd omissions considering they are well covered in Steven Blush’s own book, “American Hardcore: A Tribal History”, that inspired the film.
What saves ‘American Hardcore’ from being “Punk Rock For Dummies” are the moments of historical context mentioned before. These are the things we didn’t know about punk.
With all of those white boys with shaved heads, it’s very easy to mistake punk as a skinhead movement. Yet one of the most influential bands musically and beyond were the Bad Brains… an all black punk band.
One also forgets that there were quite a few girls around the pit. ‘American Hardcore’ sits down with some of these now grown women including Kira Roessler, an actual guitarist with Black Flag.
Regrettably, ‘American Hardcore’ doesn’t venture enough into these areas. Dissenting points of view also could have helped flesh things out. We hear about the Los Angeles police riots, but where is an interview with the police chief from that time?
We don’t gain any insight into how religious and government groups looked on punk’s revolution, either. Nor do we see how punk influenced and continues to influence music today.
In its efforts to leave no band unnamed, ‘American Hardcore’ seems to last longer than the actual movement. What you will walk away with is a fairly comprehensive play list.
While this isn’t what one may be expecting from a documentary, it is enough to make your inner punk say, “Fxxk Yeah!”
Limited opening September 22. MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language including sex and drug references
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