Movie/DVD Review

We were labeled Generation X because “they” couldn’t identify exactly who we were supposed to be. Then came Nirvana and all of a sudden not only could they smell our teen spirit but recognize us by our flannel shirts, torn jeans and Doc Martens. Apparently we had fooled them throughout the 80s as we were discovering the underground surge of music lead by Sonic Youth and The Buzzcocks (in defiance of MTVs hairbands). But Sonic Youth, et all were bands just running to the front lines previously held by The Ramones, Television, The Velvet Underground, Black Flag and dozens of other bands trekking the streets of NYC with a new mantra of DIY. As any music fan knows, the underground movement didn’t begin with grunge. It began long before on the stages of The Roxy and CBGBs in the early 70s.

Enter Don Letts, renowned DJ and later member of Big Audio Dynamite. Armed with a Super 8 during the heyday of punk, Letts has now taken his footage and made a documentary ably willing to tell the story of how a few guitar chords changed the world. PUNK: attitude now screening on the IFC, is the quintessential walk through music history not appearing on MTV or VH-1.

Peppered among the live footage from the 70s and 80s (pings at the nostalgic heart) are interviews with infamous artists synonymous with what became the Punk scene – Henry Rollins, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon from The Clash, Chrissie Hynde, David Johansen from the New York Dolls, writer Legs McNeil whose Xeroxed newsletter reported on the fray, Howard Devoto of Magazine – the list goes on. PUNK manages to transcend the obvious trappings of mohawks and moshing by bringing in the ethos of fashion, film and hip hop to get at the heart of what was punk.

More than a history lesson, PUNK gains its prevalence by calling out the apathy that runs through culture today. Even more notable is that Letts points to culture’s vapid nature without self righteousness. As Henry Rollins sums up in perfect Rollins poignancy, “I’m 43 and still saying fuck you– but where’s the political awakening?”