I was in the scene. I took photos at shows. Did stage dives. Hung outside of too many clubs (and crashed the doors of others). Had green hair, no hair, and then blue hair.
Am-HC was a let down. It leads the audience into thinking the scene started in 1980 and then end in 1985 (LA punk HC scene stared much earlier with the Germ, Screamers, etc.).
It white washes the whole LA scene, and makes it look like the mid-west or nyc was actually influential on what was happening in HC (maybe DC, but LA was fully in the driving seat). It doesn't talk about the Huntington Beach punks that started this part of the HC at and around the Fleatwood in Redondo Beach. Overlooked and neglects to explore a lot what was happening in other areas (the Valley's, Hollywood, San Pedro, etc.) Missing link of too many headlining bands at the time: Vandals, 45 Grave, Dead Kennedy's (what's with this missing), Wasted Youth (billed, but nothing), Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies (first LA punk band to sell more the 500,000 album copies), etc. To many talking heads (and nodding heads), and awful footage.
From a person that was in the scene, this doc seemed to be made by someone that never went to a gig until 2000 -- and researched everything in the LA Weekly. Dude, Flipside was covering the scene better then the LA Weekly knew how -- a little research would've revealed that.
Overall. If you do see this film, made sure you go back and rent The Decline of the Western Civilization. At least you can see "real footage" and true gritty interviews of the scene.
I gave it a 3 for the kindness to my peps.
Am-HC was a let down. It leads the audience into thinking the scene started in 1980 and then end in 1985 (LA punk HC scene stared much earlier with the Germ, Screamers, etc.).
It white washes the whole LA scene, and makes it look like the mid-west or nyc was actually influential on what was happening in HC (maybe DC, but LA was fully in the driving seat). It doesn't talk about the Huntington Beach punks that started this part of the HC at and around the Fleatwood in Redondo Beach. Overlooked and neglects to explore a lot what was happening in other areas (the Valley's, Hollywood, San Pedro, etc.) Missing link of too many headlining bands at the time: Vandals, 45 Grave, Dead Kennedy's (what's with this missing), Wasted Youth (billed, but nothing), Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies (first LA punk band to sell more the 500,000 album copies), etc. To many talking heads (and nodding heads), and awful footage.
From a person that was in the scene, this doc seemed to be made by someone that never went to a gig until 2000 -- and researched everything in the LA Weekly. Dude, Flipside was covering the scene better then the LA Weekly knew how -- a little research would've revealed that.
Overall. If you do see this film, made sure you go back and rent The Decline of the Western Civilization. At least you can see "real footage" and true gritty interviews of the scene.
I gave it a 3 for the kindness to my peps.