When American Hardcore came out I was really excited to see it. I was expecting/hoping for a history of the hardcore scene as told by the players, maybe some humorous stories and a bit of a glimpse into the inner-workings of some of the bands. What I was not expecting was to watch a bunch of 40-something guys give themselves a reach around. Outside of the fact that the movie was just plain boring, the pedestal these guys were putting themselves on was pathetic and a complete disservice to that scene, not to mention the fact that I think I could have made a higher quality visual appearance with my laptop and Vegas. To put it bluntly; I hated the movie, and as a result I totally ignored the soundtrack.
While the movie sucked and a good portion of the people in it came off as complete tools, that doesn’t change the fact that the music they made during those days was wonderful. I thought about this as I stared at the used copy on sale for $5.99 at my local record store last week. Finally, I decided that buying a used cd isn’t really supporting a movie, so I went ahead and bought it. Almost immediately I was transported back to my junior high/high school years, and by the time I hit the bridge I was doing 85 with the windows down and the volume on high. While most, nay, all of this music was made years before I heard it for the first time, that did not lessen the impact it had on my formative teenage years. Listening to it now is not only a jaunt down nostalgia lane, it’s also a hell of a lotta fun. While the latter could be a direct result of the former, I’m not really in the mood to overanalyze it, but I do wonder if this compilation will find it’s way into any kid’s hands at just the right time. I really hope so, but I am so outta touch with the kids today, I do not even know if they are listening to this sort of thing anymore. I can’t imagine that Fall Out Boy somehow leads to Minor Threat, but stranger things have happened. I gotta imagine that there is still a scene for this kind of thing though.
I thought about posting the entire comp so y’all could have it without having to shell out cash, and thus support the movie effort, but I have an aversion to take-down notices and lawsuits. So…I’ll just post a few songs from this 26 track comp, and if you like what you hear, buy the album used. Or download it.
Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown
Circle Jerks – Red Tape
D.R.I. – Runnin’ Around
Gang Green – Kill A Commie
4 Responses to “American Hardcore Soundtrack”
On
“we jam econo” is a much better documentary about the hardcore scene in the 1980s than “american hardcore” is. the book “american hardcore” is also badly written, a biased piece of garbage, even if it does cover a lot of ground.
On
I thought We Jam Econo was just a doc about The Minutemen.
On
Another State of Mind, is where I always turn for a good unintentional documentary of early hardcore. What’s funny is that if you listen to the DVD commentary by Youth Brigade, you get that same sort of retrospectively self-important douchebag vibe you seem to have picked up on in American Hardcore. In terms of books, Dance of Days and Our Band could be your life sort of define the genre (if there is one).
. . . also, Husker Du, FTW!
On
I’ll have to get the wife to add that to the Netflix que for me….with football season winding down i’m about to have a lot of spare time on the weekends.