A stellar documentary on one of the greatest and most influential music scenes, "American Hardcore" moves and delivers just like the music itself: fast, tight and in your face. Chronicling the music's origins from Southern California and its spread like wildfire onto the rest of the United States and Canada the film features interviews on the musicians, the writers, the artists and the scenemakers who created and cultivated this unique and compelling look and sound that formulated a whole philosophy and outlook of its own. From performing in the most offbeat rundown places to starting their own music labels to creating their own press releases onto the violence and the awesome power of the music everyone involved have their direct say. The stars are here: Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, etc., and the places that gave birth to them: Los Angeles, San Francisco, D.C., New York, Detroit, Boston, Texas, etc.. The individuals who gave this most life-changing music a voice and sound relate their experiences: Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Keith Morris, H.R., Jack Grisham, etc., recall the glory days of the scene and their fun and scary involvement with it. Through their tales one can get the idea and feel of the excitement and danger being involved with it, where in one moment you can feel the high of a stage dive while getting lost in the energy and intensity of the music while at the next you could find yourself getting pummeled to the ground by a cop's night stick in one of the worst displays of police brutality known. The music was the perfect outlet for adolescent angst and rage, the distillation of fear and confusion in a hormonal drive for purpose and release. The music and its ideology are among the greatest influences in my life, the combination of art and its DIY aesthetic have shaped and moulded my personality for the better. Compelling and with a rush that never lets up, "American Hardcore" is a document and a tribute to an era which embodied a rallying call to outsiders and individuals and gave them hope and something to call their own while changing the world in the process. "Rise Above"!
Review of American Hardcore
