Punk: Attitude (2005)

I wanted to but couldn't!

hyped garbage

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

There's an old time-travel conundrum that goes "What would happen if a time-machine allowed you to go back and kill your own grandfather?" Keep this in mind while I make a small digression.I was a teenager in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I lived in Brisbane, and while I was only ever on the very periphery of the music scene, it seemed that something fairly special was happening. This is something I lived through, albeit mostly vicariously (I was, and still am, painfully shy), but about which I have some fond and vivid memories of what might loosely be called the punk and post-punk scene.I've recently seen the film "Punk: Attitude", and I'm now convinced that Punk Never Happened. Somehow the director has invented the hypothetical time-machine, and gone back, and replaced what happened with something witless, vapid, inert and, above all, crushingly unspecial.I feel that a part of me has been erased and replaced with corporate switchboard hold music.

Let's not argue about what is and isn't punk, it's very unpunk.This is a superb documentary that deserves to sit beside Jon Savage's book England's Dreaming as thorough punk rock history, well researched and presented. The study of the interplay between NY and London illuminates much of why things happened as they did even if it does tend to prejudice NY punk over the more politically charged London punk.This doco should have appeal to anyone interested in social and cultural history. For the enthusiasts, an amazing array of talking heads bring their own take on those years and the archival footage used is an absolute treasure.Punk remains an important moment in history that is still little understood and subject to very many prejudices. This documentary is an important foundation stone in understanding where punk came from, why it seemed to go so badly off the rails and how much a little chaos effected the world we inhabit today.SPOILER: Siouxsie Sioux looks more gorgeous than ever. ;-]

Loved the movie, but as far as accuracy is concerned, there is plenty of that missing. First of all, Max's and CBGB's were not the only clubs in NY. There was also 82, plus tons of others and also lots and lots of after hours places. Then the name for Punk Magazine, where did you really get that from? Did you guys forget about your summer listening over and over to the Dictators. I know I read it somewhere that the name came out of the lyrics from one of their songs. And the concept of going back to the 3 minute song. I think the New York Dolls took credit for that one, but I am sure it doesn't belong to them. And there are so many that were unmentioned. Some gone, and some still with us. And some who are mentioned but given nowhere near the credit they deserved. Like the Dictators, though they never made it, they were THE major influence on the Ramons. Just listen to the music. I was there, I lived it. Some of your facts from the early 70's seem to be more what sounds good, then what really happened.

This was mostly an outstanding movie. However, maybe it's my more limited Washington exposure, but some bands seemed to be missing. It all but skipped from the East Coast to Nirvana - by the way, we here in Seattle were the only ones not calling that movement 'grunge' (and somewhat resenting the name). Over those 10 "empty" years, some great and influential bands emerged - I was surprised that there was no mention whatsoever of Bad Religion, Pennywise. There are also many ska/punk mixes that, in my opinion, should absolutely have made the list, certainly before the likes of pomposity-driven Limp Bizkit. I would like feedback.