Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Fueled by a ferocious soundtrack director Paul Rachman's AMERICAN HARDCORE gives fans an all-access pass to the rise and fall of the U.S. punk scene an explosive musical and cultural phenomenon that shaped everything from the grunge movement to the emo and pop/punk music currently riding the charts. Set against the conservative early '80s political landscape AMERICAN HARDCORE chronicles the homegrown hardcore scene that was a swift kick in the head to corporate rock and mainstream complacency as disaffected teens adopted the same collective credo - harder faster louder. From downtown warehouses to suburban bedrooms the scene spread from city to city like wildfire uniting bored angry outcasts into an authentic underground revolution. A raw blast of politics passion and rage AMERICAN HARDCORE features never-before-seen live footage from Black Flag Minor Threat Bad Brains MDC SSD DOA DRI The Adolescents 7 Seconds and many more plus exclusive interviews with punk icons like Henry Rollins Ian MacKaye Keith Morris and H.R. (Paul Hudson).System Requirements:Running Time: 100 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 043396170940 Manufacturer No: 17094

Amazon.com:
The history of hardcore punk--the tougher, faster, and more politically minded stepchild of the '70s punk movement that arose in the '80s--is examined in exuberant detail in Paul Rachman's documentary American Hardcore. Rachman's cameras careen across the landscape of the U.S. to trace the movement's beginnings in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York, and cherrypicks interviews with the musicians that helped shape its sound and impact, including Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn of Black Flag, H.R. (frontman for the highly influential, all-African American outfit Bad Brains), Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and now Fugazi), and many others. Hardcore's violent reaction against the Reagan administration and the complacent mindset of middle-class America is also detailed in countless performance footage clips and poster-art reproductions, which do much to dismiss the popular opinion of hardcore as nothing more than mindless hooliganism. Some fans may find the omission of certain bands a considerable oversight (San Francisco's lethally satirical Dead Kennedys are not mentioned only in passing), but for most punk devotees, American Hardcore will be vital and essential viewing. The DVD includes several deleted scenes and bonus performances, commentary by Rachman and writer Steven Blush (whose book of the same name provided the inspiration for the film), and a gallery of photos from photographer Edward Colver, who covered the hardcore scene in detail during its heyday. -- Paul Gaita

Stills from American Hardcore (click for larger image)

Rating : - Your cage is clean
Good documentary, but leaving out Dead Kennedys and the Misfits is like doing a documentary on hippie culture and leaving out, I don't know, Jimi Hendrix and the Greatful Dead. I find mistakes that are this obvious really annoying. You wonder what the makers of the film were thinking. Another oddity is some bands getting as much attention as Minor Threat, or Black Flag. It's democratic giving everyone some time to tell their story and that's in the spirit of that scene, but there are some bands that were the primary influences and really got sh** going.

In anycase, AMERICAN HARDCORE serves as an incomplete and warped history, but it's an entertaining one. It is definitely still worth taking a look at if you have an interest in punk rock, for sure. I don't know how much someone with a basic familiarity with this culture will actually learn, but you'll enjoy seeing all these guys reminisce. Clearly the hardcore scene was one of the most vital and important culural movements of the last 30 years. I had to laugh at the comments made at the end about punk being dead. Tell that to some people I've known over the years! But, honestly I always had the sense that even they had to know the wave had peaked a long time ago.