Everyone here who thinks they know some things about punk, and/or everyone here who things Green Day and Offspring are representative of "punk" (versus simply being derivative), needs to watch the 1-1/2 hour program/film/documentary/thingy titled "punk: attitude" being shown on IFC this month. Directed by Don Letts, it covers the movement of the late 1970's forward, and includes *but by no means not limited to* footage and discussion of

The Velvet Underground
MC5
Iggy and The Stooges
New York Dolls
Dictator
Suicide
Ramones
Sex Pistols
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Buzzcocks
John Cooper Clarke
The Slits
The Damned
The Pretenders
The Clash
X-Ray Spex
Magazine
The Contortions
Sonic Youth
Dead Kennedys
Agnostic Front
The Bags
The Screamers
Minor Threat
Fugazi
Black Flag
Bad Brains
Nirvana


With interviews with David Johansen, Jim Jarmusch, Henry Rollins, James Chance, Siouxsie, Martin Rev, Darryl Jenifer, Chrissy Hynde, Steve Jones, Bob Gruen, Thurston Moore, Jello Biafra, John Cale, Mick Jones, ......



It's pretty amazing. An absolute MUST SEE/HEAR.


Seriously. Check it out. Then go buy some punk records. They play them while reading Beat poetry Okay, you don't have to go that far, but definately go buy some punk records....


(PS: no No NO Offence intended to or toward Green Day fans, but I can't stress enough how folks need to turn off their MTV and radios and go back in time to listen to that which made it possible for Green Day, and many many others, to exist).

i turned it off once they showed footage of limp bisquit.

Beat poetry, save for a few exceptions, is to be avoided...

The Limp footage was very brief and was shown with commentary indicating what CRAP it is/was, and the beat reference has to do with what influenced a certain stage of the music.


This film is Well Well WELL Worth Watching. It's on again next weekend along with "The Filth and The Fury"

Seriously Worth Watching from beginning to end,....

where's blink 182 on that list?

Blink and Green Day and Limp B (and Rancid) are mentioned at the tail end of the program relative to corporations and user friendly "punk" and such... last 15 minutes of the program or so, very brief.

c-

wow, i was joking. i was hoping they wouldnt be mentioned.

does anyone else think green day shouldnt be mentioned w/ blink and limp? i mean, none of those bands are really all that "punk" but at least green day makes good music.

I was hesitant to mention Green Day at all simply because I didn't want to jade anyone into not watching the film,.... they are not uncomplimentary to the band. The theme to the film is the rebellious attitude associated with the creation of that which is innovative and that which speaks to a person's core..... and the evolution of such things (to where, for example, Rollins makes note "If your mom knows "grunge" its time to chuck it (out)"....and surviving one's youth in general (the means by which the original punks coped with what was going on around them or rebelled against it).

c-

Is this Punk nostalgia thing coming to an end any time soon? What's it going to take for this to pass? When are we going to get, say, a power-pop revival movement with documentaries on Big Star?

Oh well, at least it's got Henry Rollins in it.

This program is more of a history than "nostalgia", actually. Thurston Moore being interviewed is pretty excellent as well as Jello Biafra and Keith Morris, and Siousxie,...and Steve Jones... and Marco Pirroni.

c-

how bout billie idol?

IFC broadcast this again last night -- It's really quite excellent.

Billy Idol is shown but not discussed at length at all.
They also make no mention of Sid playing drums for Siouxie (but the show a snapshot of them on stage).

Other than intentionally skipping 1980-1990 (for understandable reasons really) it is very, very well done.

Attitude remained the focus - I appreciated that greatly.


DVD is due out in September with a second disc - I'm sure it will be well worth checking out as well.

c-

I must check this out.

where the fuck is good charlotte on that list? fuck this movie

please explain

i'll be sure to set my tivo. how come social distortion and mike watt were not on that list?

They mention Minor Threat, Fugazi, Agnostic Front, and Black Flag toward the end of the program, but they never get to Social Distorition because they sort of "stop" at 1980 and leap to 1992 (and cover it very briefly).

Since they didn't cover the 1980's (intentionally), Social Distortion didn't get covered. Same for Bad Religion, Dinosaur Jr., Jane's Addiction, and others.

Perhaps the DVD set will have some 1980-1989 coverage....... I hope so.

c-

You're kidding, right?




Because their point was to cover the "attitude" associated with the beginnings of Punk, not necessarily to a complete history of the genre. They skip from 1980 (when the industry coins certain groups as "new wave" thereby making them more acceptable or more of a commodity to the general public) to 1992, when Nirvana "hits", and explain that it wasn't just some sudden snapshot in time but 12 years in the making (from an underground standpoint),....

You'll probably have to watch the program to understand why they did a jump in time because it makes more sence in the context of the program than my attempting to explain it herein..

c-

i haven't seen the movie, but that's retarded. i would've accepted them viewing the so-cal movement that started in '79-'80 as what ultimately resulted in the current bland homogenization of punk movement more than i would accept them summing up eleven years of music as an underground movement that resulted in the now-aged "nevermind". At least villifying a movement because a couple of its big daddies stuck around long enough to hone their craft well enough to get paid has all the hallmarks of "punk", right?


unfortunately, i can't afford a cable package with the IFC. and the shorthairs would probably villify me for my led zeppelin records, anyway.

your fucking kidding me right man? jesus!?!? let me quote eddie here for just a minute...... "if it was'nt for the buzzcocks we'd probally sound like good charlotte or something.don't get me wrong it just taste's like a popcicle that's been stuck up somebody's ass, but hey some people are in to that.".... msg 7-03.