American Hardcore Review
By Joe Lozito
Punk Doc
Around 1980, President Carter was out and President Reagan was in. America was feeling it at her gas pumps, her unemployment lines and in her inner cities. According to "American Hardcore", the youth reacted by taking the Punk Rock esthetic from England, stripping it down to its bare essence and creating Hardcore Punk, a grinding, toneless mélange of vocals, guitar, bass and drums that expressed musically the anger of that young generation.
"Hardcore", a documentary by Paul Rachman - an accomplished music video director in his own right - tracks the development of the Hardcore Punk movement in unprecedented detail using interviews with some of the pioneering bands of the time (Bad Brains, Black Flag, Minor Threat) as well as more ancillary players (Gang Green, Agnostic Front, Flipper, many others). The opening salvo of soundbites from these characters - some of whom still appear to feel the same way today as they did twenty years ago - makes it clear that everything else at the time was "crap". The Duran Durans, the thin ties, the layered hair - and especially Disco - someone needed to take a stand. And that stand was made through the "f.u." attitude of Hardcore Punk.
The film is based on the book "American Hardcore: A Tribal History" by Steven Blush. During their considerable years of research, Mr. Blush and Mr. Rachman uncovered unprecedented volumes of archival footage - by which I mean people's forgotten home videos - some of which paint a vivid picture of the punk scene in all its unpolished glory. Amazingly - and unfortunately - there are precious few shots of the true debauchery that most have been prevalent at the shows. Judging from the film, the performances were all business, but the interviewers tell another story.
That's where "Hardcore" is lacking. While it serves as a reverent time capsule to a half decade of thrashing guitars, it doesn't paint a full picture of the lives of those involved in the movement. I really want to recommend "American Hardcore" for everyone; I want to say that it's must-viewing for even the most casual music lover. But that's not the case. The film is as maddeningly unfocused and messy as the music it so adores. And I supposed that's just how it should be. If you're a music lover, you will come out of "Hardcore" with exactly what you bring to it. If you hate Punk, you'll likely continue to. If you're uninitiated, you may leave the film with a list of new bands to discover. Or you may leave in the middle. In that way, the film is a perfect representative for the Punk culture. It is what it is. Make of it what you will.
As the film accurately points out: this type of movement will never happen again. At least not in the same way. Part of what made it possible was the disconnected nature of the country at the time. Bands networked by touring - making friends by staying on couches and wherever else they could find. Today, in the internet age, a band is able to build up a cult following without ever leaving the house. As one interviewee vehemently declares: "Punk is dead".
According to "Hardcore", the end of the punk scene can be tied almost directly to the beginning of President Reagan's second term in office. At that moment, it seems, the country's problems stopped being funny and just got sad. Twenty years later, we can still relate. As graphic artist Winston Smith comments, this kind of thing happens every generation or so. Sounds like we're due.
