Everybody knows that punk rock music is loud, fast, quick, and sometimes violent.  Songs are deceptively simple, and to the uninitiated sound like screaming over drums and loud guitars.  What people do not realize is that there is a lot of artistry and thought behind some of the music and songs, and some of the performers are extremely articulate about what they do and why.  American Hardcore, directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush (based on his book American Hardcore:  A Tribal History) sets out to shed light on the influential hardcore punk movement in America, which lasted roughly from 1980 - 1986.  They go about things in a very organic way.  As bands toured, they left seeds that started bands around the country.  The movie goes from city to city, exploring the influence of hardcore punk on the young fans and bands the movement created.

American Hardcore is a nice companion piece to End of the Century, which chronicled the rise of the Ramones, just a few years before the bands here got their start.  Everybody seemed to come together out of a general dissatisfaction.  Their music was a response to the general blandness in pop music, as well as the election of Ronald Reagan and the reemergence of "traditional" values.  Punk rockers had no intention of ever hearing their music on the radio.  According to the Circle Jerks' Keith Morris, they were mad at everybody and everything, and punk rock was a cathartic way to release their feelings.  Everybody associated was an outsider, and liked it.

Into this mix came Bad Brains, a Washington DC outfit led by H.R.  The interesting thing about this group was that their musicianship was excellent, they incorporated many spiritual ideas into their lyrics, and they were all black.  Los Angeles/Orange County was the other birthplace, with bands like Black Flag, TSOL, and the Minutemen.  Rachman has an astounding amount of footage, mostly grainy concert videos.  It's important to remember that at this point, aside from Bad Brains, nearly everybody was a teenager.  The "scene" was small, and everybody knew everybody else.  There are a huge number of interviews from many of the seminal bands across the country, and each person looks back fondly on the time.

The interviews run the gamut.  People like H.R., Morris, Henry Rollins, and Minor Threat's Ian Mackaye come off extremely well spoken.  Rollins is a well-regarded spoken word artist, and also currently a DJ at Los Angeles' influential 103.1.  Mackaye relates how horrified he was that a song he wrote against prejudice was later used for it, and voices his disgust at how violence became an influential part of the scene.  Then, there are other people like Articles of Faith's Vic Biondi, who says some interesting things, but then calls blacks "Negroes."  Uh, when was the last time anybody under the age of sixty did that?

American Hardcore does a great job of conveying the raw emotional power of punk music, and does a good job of looking at the people responsible for the music.  It is great for fans of the genre, or people with a little bit of pre-existing knowledge, but may feel a bit dense for those unfamiliar with punk rock.  There are so many bands and so many interviewees that the movie can get intimidating.  By opting to examine the bands by region, Rachman skimps on dates.  The chronological version of events is there, but Rachman keeps twisting back and forth on the timeline to fit his presentation.  More subtitles for lyrics would have been nice, as would more identifications on his talking heads.  He makes sure to point out who they were and what band they were in the first time they appear, but afterwards, it sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't.  It also would have been nice to see where many of these people are today.  Rachman leaves most of this out, along with their influence in today's music.  Bad Religion (some members were interviewed) still release albums.  Bands like Rancid and even Green Day are musical descendents of the film's subject matter.  And a bit more on the negative effects of punk music (more on violence, or some more on racism) would have made the film a bit more balanced.  But on the whole, this is an interesting look at a musical movement that whose reverberations are still felt today.