Punk: Attitude

Lots of interesting posts about Punk lately so I thought I would chip in with my thoughts on the doco Punk: Attitude. Firstly I liked the idea that the film projected that whilst punk is personified for most people by the British and New York scenes of the 70s, it is rather an attitude and ethos that inspired different artists across many eras and different musical movements, from Chuck Berry to the Sex Pistols to Nirvana.

This worked negatively and positively for the film. On the one hand giving a broader spectrum of the tradition of punk gave the viewer a wider appreciation of the many different artists that have punk rock influences, however in a 90 minute doco such an approach seemed to be a bit too ambitious and in the process many essential bands and even whole movements were left out. The majority of the 80s scene for example, was pretty much not even touched on. It is stated that there was a thriving underground scene and there were simply no commercially successful punk rock bands around this time until Nirvana came along, but dosen't go into much detail about who these bands are. Bands such as the pixies, butthole surfers, dinosaur jr, and big black were essential to building a fanbase that enabled Nirvana to become as big as they did, but are completely ommitted from this doco. Then when the film ends by suggesting that bands like Limp Bizkit, Sum 41, and Blink 182 are the future of punk is downright embarrassing. How about paying attention to modern bands with punk influences that are pushing their music in new directions instead? Groups such as At the Drive-In, Rage Against the Machine, the Strokes or the White Stripes would have been more appropriate to the idea of embracing 'Punk Attitude'. NZ groups such as So-So Modern and The Mint Chicks could be added to this list, so it would be like someone making a doco on NZ Punk and completely omitting these groups in favour of Elemeno-P.

Other scenes which I thought were sorely missing were that of 'Psychobilly' (from 70s - present: the Cramps, Reverend Horton Heat etc) and the mostly 90s 'Riot Grrl' scene (groups like L7, Bikini Kill etc) Also the film neglected to mention negative influences of Punk Rock such as the skinhead neo-nazi groups that the genre spawned. These groups were completely against what most punk-rockers (eg the Dead Kennedy's 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off!') considered themselves to be about but still should be included as an example of how something subversive is always manipulated by some.

I also thought the selection of people interviewed ranged from the insightful and inspiring (Thurston Moore, Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra) to ego-tripping wankers who seemed bitter at their lack of success (dude from Agnostic Front.) Also a lot of pivotal musicians did not appear at all, some input from people such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, or John Lydon/Johnny Rotten (even though his egotistical rants get tired very quickly) would have helped validate the doco a bit more but I guess these guys didn't want to take part. Any Sex Pistol but Glen Matlock anyway! Everyone knows the guy is a pansy :)

Even though i'm focussing on the negative I did enjoy the doco, I just think these are some areas which would have improved it. Some other good punk docos I recommend are:

'Hype' (film about the seattle 'grunge' scene of the 80s/90s, director also did the hiphop doco 'Scratch)
'End of the Century' the story of the Ramones.'
'The Filth and the Fury' (Sex Pistols)

Any doco suggestions anyone would like to add would be good.