Soundtrack Review: ‘American Hardcore’

By Jeff Swindoll Nov 10, 2006, 15:26 GMT

Soundtrack for the movie American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986 ...more

American Hardcore is a documentary film by filmmaker Paul Rachman and inspired by the book American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush.  It covers the history of punk rock from 1980-1986.  Punk rock was a cultural revolution that was born of suburban ennui and ignited a national movement. 

The music is the thing of the documentary and what would a documentary about music be without a soundtrack to highlight said music?  The 26 track soundtrack collects the songs used in the film but also adds some more samples from the time period.  I’ll have to admit that I’ve not seen the documentary so I can’t tell what was used in the doc or not. 

The credits on the back of the CD case list the bands Bad Brains, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, D.O.A., and Minor Threat.  Each of those bands have songs on the soundtrack.  “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag, “Red Tape” by the Circle Jerks, and “F***** Up Ronnie” by D.O.A. to name but a few.  My guess is that all or most of the contributions by those bands are in the film. 

Some of the other bands featured on the soundtrack are Middle Class, Minor Threat, MDC, Untouchables, Gang Green, The Freeze, Jerry’s Kids, SS Decontrol, Void, Scream, Negative Approach, Articles of Faith, Die Kreuzen, Batallion of Saints, 7 Seconds, Big Boys, Really Red, Adolescents, YDI, D.R.I., Cro-Mags, and Flipper.  The Adolescents’ “I Hate Children,” Negative Approach’s “Friend or Foe,” and the Cro-Mags’ “Don’t Tread on Me” are listed as demos. 

I’m not sure if that makes them rarities for those bands or not (they don’t have the usual *unreleased material moniker, so I imagine that they’re on albums by those groups).  Fans of the documentary will definitely want to pick up this aural accompaniment to the show.  What’s also a plus is that fans of punk rock of the time period can pick this up to have an instant collection.  Either of those groups will find this CD a welcome purchase.

‘American Hardcore’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the soundtrack database for more information and a complete track listing.