Review of American Hardcore (2006) by Laura M — 09 Sep 2007

I like punk music... a lot. But this movie, to me, was a great disappointment.

For one thing, a lot of the people they interviewed seemed like odd choices to me. As well as some aweful choices like Moby (yuck) and that guy from TISOL who proudly refers to himself as a "rapist" who "pissed on the face of a sleeping woman" or something despicable and reactionary to that effect.

Aside from that, all the stuff they talked about was just how crazy some shows were or what stuff got broken and what drugs got done. They nearly almost completely ignored the political aspect of punk music. They talked to the guy from MDC, which is rad, and they didn't ask him a single question about the message behind his music.

In the end, the viewer is left with the notion that punk music is about either doing drugs, cutting yourself, beating people up and breaking things OR about being straight edge. One or the other. I'm not personally interested in either.

For people who want to know about punk rocks political significance or where it has evolved to today or anything actually worthwhile, don't bother with this. This is really a movie to watch if you want to hear party stories from 80's punk rockers.