Metro Cinema Society: American Hardcore

American Hardcore

USA 2006, 100 min, 35mm, Dir: Paul Rachman

"Six flyers, five shows, one album, 18 songs."

This is how one of the interviewees describes his favourite band's trajectory in American Hardcore, the encyclopedic archaeology of hardcore, the louder-faster punk movement of the early 1980s. Made mostly in basements and garages with next to no money and little hope or desire of ever attaining mainstream recognition or even a record deal, hardcore was a pared-down and punishing offshoot of the more listener-friendly first wave punk. A sense of community in the music spread across the country; while hardcore was never popular, its adherents, from California to Minneapolis to Boston, became a loose network, helping bands find lodging, gigs, and camaraderie. Based on Steven Blush's book American Hardcore: A Tribal History, director Paul Rachman follows Blush's thesis that hardcore was partly a reaction to the smiling fascism of Reagan's America, framing the film between Reagan's dual inaugurations. There are interviews with countless hardcore fixtures, from Black Flag to Minor Threat, from Joey 'Shithead' Keithley to Paul 'H.R.' Hudson. The concert footage is often as raw as the music itself; shot by teenagers on '80s home video, it's probably all that survives from the era; much of the footage is remarkable, from the Bad Brains' intense stage antics to the pulsing movement of the punks in the crowds. And yeah - punks will point out that it misses key bands. They're right, of course, but you gotta start somewhere.