Friday, September 22, 2006

R

For pervasive language including sex and drug references.

Documentary

Henry Rollins, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Mike Watt, Ian MacKaye, Minor Threat, Moby, Flea, Jimmy Gestapo

Steven Blush

Paul Rachman

American Hardcore (2006)

A documentary about the history of punk rock in America from 1980-1986. Generally unheralded at the time, the early 1980s hardcore punk rock scene gave birth to much of the rock music and culture that followed. There would be no Nirvana, Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers were it not for hardcore pioneers such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat. Hardcore was more than music, it was a social movement created by Reagan-era misfit kids. The participants constituted a tribe unto themselves, some finding a voice, others an escape in the hard-edged music. And while some sought a better world, others were just angry and wanted to raise hell. "American Hardcore" traces this lost subculture, from its early roots in 1980 to its extinction in 1986.