Music Documentaries # 5
With my Music Documentaries posts my aim is to highlight certain scenes, music genres or just in general music history that in my opinion matters and the world should know more about. In today’s installment you get three documentaries from the UK highlighting the very beginning of the punk rock explosion to be followed by two documentaries focusing on the Mid-80s and how now Hardcore influenced by bands from the US took over the stale smell of cider and Mohawks…
The first in this batch was televised back on November 28, 1976 and I would assume it must be one of the earliest TV reports on the emerging punk scene in London. One notable absence would be the Damned, not sure why. Otherwise it’s a fascinating look at a time when punk rock was literally just about to explode and one could argue that this video can act like a time machine back to when punk rock was simply new territory and anything and everything was possible.
Nine years on from the above video “Made in Huddersfield” is an entertaining look at the state of affairs of punk rock in the UK in 1985. While the UK82 bands have either quit or moved on to Metal the chaos punk scene is thriving in a small town like Huddersfield, sandwiched in between Manchester to the south and Leeds to the north. Mohawks, cider and apathy rule the daily routine while patient and understanding parents make the most of a situation they did certainly not want to face.
A few years back Channel 4 showed a great short documentary called “Soap the Stamps” focusing on the emerging hardcore scene with bands like Extreme Noise Terror, Heresy, Stupids or Ripcord. Personally, those are the type of bands that got me into hardcore punk in the Mid-80s, hence I wish this would have turned out to be a longer and more detailed look at a fascinating time during which the old punk rock went out the window and a much faster and more aggressive form took over. Last but not least I think it rounds up nicely this set of videos taking you from ground zero London punk rock to a massive overhaul some eight/nine years later.
