This documentary addresses the birth and evolution of hardcore punk rock from 1978 to 1986. There would be no Nirvana, Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers were it not for hardcore pioneers such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat.
12 May 1962, Los Angeles, California, USA
6 February 1911, Tampico, Illinois, USA
18 August 1964, USA
1982, Venice, California, USA
1 October 1924, Plains, Georgia, USA
21 February 1962
18 March 1956, New Jersey, USA
5 February 1964, Seattle, Washington, USA
22 July 1962, Barberton, Ohio, USA
20 December 1957, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA
8 October 1958, USA
30 August 1963, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
April 26, 2009
For a documentary ostensibly about the history of the hardcore punk music movement that reigned in America during the '80s, director Paul Rachman and writer Steven Blush indefensibly omit the genre's most talented and high-profile band (The Dead Kennedys)November 10, 2006
American Hardcore gets what most music lovers could not at the time: Sometimes, that noise in your head and that anger in your heart just has to get out, and there's always a guitar around somewhere.November 03, 2006
Instead of an insightful look at disaffected youths finding an outlet for angry energy in rock rages, American Hardcore is a slanted history lesson coming solely from its subjects.December 07, 2006
... an enjoyable if incomplete nostalgia trip.November 03, 2006
What's irritating about the movie is how much time it spends on empty nostalgia -- shouldn't real punks scorn reminiscing? -- and how little time it spends truly exploring the roots of America's punk prime in the early 1980s.January 31, 2007
Rachman's chronicle suffers not from a shortage of authentic footage of ready-made hardcore shows, complete with (completely necessary) subtitled lyrics, or doughy, balding, talking heads still bragging about the thrown punches and peed-on chicks of yesteJanuary 12, 2007
A film for the fans, especially if you were one of those sonic youths venting steam at a guerrilla show in someone's basement, a VFW hall or club that condescended to present a hardcore show. For once-upon-a-time kids now irrevocably middle-aged, the kickFebruary 09, 2007
The hit-and-run effect sometimes suggests a documentary equivalent to slam dancing, but without the bruises.March 01, 2007
Struggles under the weight of its own ambition.January 01, 2007
AmericanHardcore ! Aboutboredstupidyouth! Didn'tliketheNewWave ! Gomoshin'fortruth ! Can'tfindtruth ! Can'tfindgrace ! SettleforHenryRollins! Punchin'dudesintheface !November 10, 2006
American Hardcore, Paul Rachman's impressively thorough documentary, tells of the second-generation punk rockers who learned from the Sex Pistols and Ramones and then did their DIY thing.October 30, 2006
Leaves little doubt that this truly was one of the wildest eras in rock.