American Hardcore

American Hardcore is a new documentary about American Hardcore Punk from 1979-86. So, no Ramones, no Youth of Today, no Dillinger Escape Plan. This is undoubtedly the strength of the film, where almost every book (This Band Could Be Your Life, Dance of Days) or movie about the subject has previously ended up wondering what happened after (and getting it wrong). By not asking Henry Rollins where punk is today, the movie avoids expressing the embarrassing and misinformed post-history which it undoubtedly believes in.

The main problem with the movie is its organization: having bitten off more than could be chewed, you never really get an idea of what any of these bands sounded like (unless you knew already), and while the film changes subject both on topical and geographical/temporal lines (which is smart), but then has NO breaks, which is like reading a novel without paragraphs. The topics, by the way, are: violent dancing, straight edge, police violence, women, DIY, and the end of hardcore. The problem is that, except for Henry Rollins and HR and Ian McKaye, there is a dearth of legitimately charismatic people in the film: the anti-charisma of Harley Flanagan and Vic Bondi are perhaps just as interesting, but then there are a couple dozen uninteresting, washed up weirdos who, despite having 20 years to think about these events, don't have much to say: Brian Baker...Greg Ginn...Dave Dictor...John Bloodclot. As a diehard fan, I still enjoyed hearing them, but cinematically they are dead weight. And because there are no "chapter" breaks, the film begins to seem like one long, unnarratable ramble.

The best aspects of the movie are the footage of Bad Brains, SSD, and the Adolescents, and just seeing what bands like Poison Idea, YDI, Necros, Negative FX, and Flipper looked like playing. The absence of HUGE bands like Husker Du, Misfits and Dead Kennedys from the film is obviously skewing in some way (also missing but less essential: Suicidal Tendencies and Bad Religion), but putting those bands in the movie would probably have crowded out footage of lesser-known bands, so whatever. Still, the film's focus is for the most part what mine would have been: it REALLY IS about American Hardcore, and not about Raybeez or crossover, or SST's indie bands, or how hardcore "grew up" INTO anything. Saying punk or hardcore is "dead" is clearly just a way of owning that memory, so whatever, but the film hedges its bets on that account by staying within the frame of America and 1979-86.

But actually, omissions aside, and a few clunkers (Jack from TSOL, Flea, Duff McKagan, a "hardcore artist" from NYC), the interviewed subjects were the important ones. The movie is funny, and for what it's worth, you'll never see YDI or Poison Idea on a big screen again. My overall review though, is that American Hardcore is best thought of as an advertisement for the new Bad Brains DVD.