American Hardcore

In the early 1980s, while Ronnie Reagan, pastel conservatism and Disco held fist grips on the nation, a faction of U.S. punks grew angry, disaffected and powerful. Dubbed "hardcore," the new movement was a speedball of alienation, social and political discontent and the adrenaline of youth transformed into sound played at earsplitting levels and breakneck speeds. In his retrospective documentary American Hardcore, filmmaker Paul Rachman crisscrosses the country detailing the hardcore scene's viral birth, heyday and eventual decline. It's a fascinating and sometimes humorous study of musical ambition and youthful destruction, with the major players -- Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn of Black Flag, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat, Keith Morris of The Circle Jerks, H.R. of Bad Brains, Vinnie Stigma of Agnostic Front and more -- providing the narrative. Rough footage from early hardcore shows further details the insanity. And it was insane. People got hurt. They often lived in abject poverty. But the pride that shines through the musicians' reminisces reveals that they would have had it no other way. Anything less wouldn't have been hardcore. (Phil Morehart) Grade: B