American Hardcore

Reviews are rolling in for American Hardcore, a film I saw this weekend. It’s a nostalgic look at an aggressive rock scene that I was happy to be a fan of and show-goer back in Chicago in the early 80s.



Black Flag, Bad Brains and the DC scene all get major play in the film, as they should, but many lesser lights in the US hardcore scene are highlighted, and I felt that dragged the momentum and broader appeal of the scene. And while the Dead Kennedys and The Misfits are included in big sections in Steven Blush’s book, the film did not include them at all, apparently keeping more purist to the hardcore scene. I understand that Steven Blush and Paul Rachman were likely working with limited video footage of cool shows; after all, video cameras didn’t really start to impact with American until the mid-to-late 80, after hardcore had passed.

I liked the film, if just for its sheer existence! Our culture has been inundated with so much retro crap from the 80s that it's about time for retribution. As one of the band members says in the film, 'we didn’t buy into all of that stuff and never could'. It's true. My 80s memories are not predominantly of Kajagoogoo, MTV and Family Ties. It's more about Husker Du shows at Cubby Bear, Articles of Faith shows at Lucky Number and late night White Castle runs.

One note of interest – many of the scene's band members chose to be interviewed in front of their CD, LP collections and nearly everyone displayed the Misfits logo or box set somewhere on their shelves! Very funny, in a Tap-esque way.

American Hardcore's appeal will be pretty limited, I think. There aren't a lot of great truths that someone who didn’t know the scene will extract from the film. The hardcore scene I was part of in Chicago had some great nights, great after-parties at Big Blue (hangin’ out with Replacements one night!), and lots of sweaty, beery nights. Good times in my mind’s eye. But I’m not sure the rest of America will see the appeal of this fun, chaotic look at an aggressive rock subculture. But maybe they were never meant to....:-)