This documentary captures the energy, anger and DIY ethos of the LA punk and hardcore scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s as it rebelled against mainstream America. It focuses on the first wave of iconic hardcore punk bands such as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs and X. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris and her team immerse themselves in a scene characterised by aggression and anger. Using a combination of live performance footage and interviews the film gets very close to the scene allowing the viewer to feel the sweat, grit and violence that defined the hardcore punk subculture. Handheld cameras and close-ups allow the film crew to capture both the chaos of live shows and the more intimate moments with artists behind the scenes. The use of low lighting by cinematographer Steve
Conant, likely due to the limitations of analogue film, and rapid editing by Charlie Mullin and Peter Wiehl enhance the underground feel, reflecting the filmmakers’ own status as newcomers in the industry. Interviews with the musicians add a layer of personal insight to the film, revealing their motivations and struggles. Many express a deep alienation from mainstream American society, and Spheeris’ unfiltered approach allows these artists – such as Darby Crash of the Germs and Exene Cervenka of X – to speak openly about their discontent and desire for an alternative community. In addition to the band members, Spheeris includes the perspectives of the scene’s fans and followers – young people who found a community in punk as they struggled with issues such as poverty, police aggression and family conflict. Their voices shed light on the socio-economic context that fuelled the rise of punk and offer a portrait of a generation of teenagers and young adults who, along with the musicians, channelled their frustrations into a movement. These voices reveal punk as more than music; it was an attitude, a survival strategy and a fierce critique of conventional society. All of this, combined with a great deal of self-hatred and an often self-destructive lifestyle.

Karl Wratschko

Through my work for the magazine “Search and Destroy” in San Francisco, I met several prominent punk bands (including the Sex Pistols) whom I interviewed and filmed. Intrigued by Holidays in the Sun, Johnny Rotten’s song about the Berlin Wall, the next time I was in Berlin I clandestinely filmed the Wall and included the edited footage of the Sex Pistols’ last concert with Sid Vicious at Winterland in San Francisco.

Babeth Mondini-VanLoo