American Hardcore

The other night I watched American Hardcore, a documentary on the hardcore/punk scene in early 80s America. It's basically just fragmented interviews with people like Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye, with some live footage of prominent bands. A few things occurred to me when I watched it:

1. I would have been ecstatic about this film about 10 years ago. I loved this music when I was a teenager, but as far as I was aware, there was limited access to American hardcore bands in Tassie. Now, I don't have as much interest in it.

2. All of the hardcore guys that were interviewed, said that they were sick of rock music and thought that punk was boring. They thought that most music had become too generic and they wanted to do something different. What they didn't acknowledge is that most of the hardcore bands from that scene sounded exactly the same! The Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, 7 Seconds... there's not a lot of variety.

3. These guys prided themselves on not being able to play their instruments and just making loud, fast noise. However, this film implied that there was a general consensus that Bad Brains were a highly respected hardcore band on the scene because of their music ability and tightness as a band...

4. It's funny to see men in their 50s that are still trying to be punk; still dressing and acting the same way they did when they were 18. Most of these guys came across as huge nerds. Except for Henry Rollins, whom you wouldn't dare call any kind of name.