American HARDCORE, the cinematic version of Steven Blush's awesome historical book, is only an incomplete look at the hardcore era at best. While it is obviously understandable that covering such a vast subject, one is always bound to leave somethings out, this film leaves A LOT out. The book was pretty much an accurate (and biased) account of the hardcore days, complete with the era's key players (MINOR THREAT, DEAD KENNEDYS, MISFITS, BLACK FLAG, HUSKER DU, CIRCLE JERKS, D.O.A., M.D.C., BAD RELIGION, TSOL, BAD BRAINS, AGNOSTIC FRONT, CRO-MAGS, etc.)to the extent of devoting entire chapters to some of these bands. The film, which could have been an intense documentary with head and toes in the chronological department, ends up being just a string of interviews with little order and ending on an empty note. While the book's author managed to do interviews with DEAD KENNEDY's Jello Biafra and HUSKER DU's Grant Hart, they are NOWHERE mentioned in the film, save for their brief logo appearances and Henry Rollins mentioning them. MISFITS, who had an entire chapter dedicated to them, are also missing in the film, with just a brief interview with ex guitar player Bobby Steele. The film has loads of interview clips with Henry Rollins, Ian Mcaye, Dave Dictor, Bad Brains' Dr.Know and HR, Bad Religion's Greg Hetson, Brett Gurewitz and Brian Baker, the SSD guys, CRO-MAGS' Harley Flanagan, AGNOSTIC FRONT's Vinnie Stigma, TSOL, ADOLESCENTS, ARTICLES OF FAITH's Vic Bondi and some other, minor players of the HC scene. The interviews are fun and insightful, but the overall look of the documentary lacks cohesion. It ends up being just a documentary about 40 something punk rockers reminiscing about their glory days. What could have been the documentary's saving grace are the live performances, which to this very date, are extremely hard to find, save for the more long standing Hardcore bands. There's some excellent footage of BLACK FLAG playing in what appears to be their final days and it looks and sounds very powerful, almost metal like. But this performances are limited at best.
Despite my obvious complaints, American HARDCORE looks like it was a work of people who really love the scene. They just could have put it together more cohesively and in a more chronological order, with maybe a voice-over explaining certain aspects of the hardcore era (much like METAL: A HEADBANGERS JOURNEY, which was put together much better).
If you like this type of music ( I happen to LOVE it!), you'll do no wrong in getting a hold of American HARDCORE, but if you want a more in depth and complete look, get the book also.
Despite my obvious complaints, American HARDCORE looks like it was a work of people who really love the scene. They just could have put it together more cohesively and in a more chronological order, with maybe a voice-over explaining certain aspects of the hardcore era (much like METAL: A HEADBANGERS JOURNEY, which was put together much better).
If you like this type of music ( I happen to LOVE it!), you'll do no wrong in getting a hold of American HARDCORE, but if you want a more in depth and complete look, get the book also.