I saw an advanced screening of American Hardcore and it was good - but it did leave a bit to be desired. One consistent complaint seems to be that not EVERY band that was influential in the 80's hardcore scene was mentioned. Listen up folks that would be impossible! Sure Slapshot, Uniform Choice, Token Entry and a whole host of others are not profiled - but that's because profiling EVERY band would be damn near impossible. The brain child of American Hardcore Paul Rachman was a part of the early Boston hardcore scene - hence the emphasis on the bands he was familiar with and knew. Nothing wrong with that.
The big shortcoming of American Hardcore is the suggestion that hardcore essentially died in 1986. This is ridiculous (and perhaps a romantic notion on the part of the "86 scene") and we have dozens of fantastic hardcore albums from Integrity, Agnostic Front, Sheer Terror, Blood For Blood and a whole host of others to prove it. If anything, what happened after 1986 really shaped and "tested" the hardcore scene: metal influence, major labels sniffing around, the rise of the skinhead movement, militant straightXedge, Krishna kids and unprecedented show violence. The "afterbirth" of the 86 scene was one wiser, harder and in many respects musically more interesting.
Anyone into hardcore music, then or now, should at least be happy that someone took the time to bring us a bunch of cool interviews and video footage of a time that the mainstream never paid enough attention to to forget.
The big shortcoming of American Hardcore is the suggestion that hardcore essentially died in 1986. This is ridiculous (and perhaps a romantic notion on the part of the "86 scene") and we have dozens of fantastic hardcore albums from Integrity, Agnostic Front, Sheer Terror, Blood For Blood and a whole host of others to prove it. If anything, what happened after 1986 really shaped and "tested" the hardcore scene: metal influence, major labels sniffing around, the rise of the skinhead movement, militant straightXedge, Krishna kids and unprecedented show violence. The "afterbirth" of the 86 scene was one wiser, harder and in many respects musically more interesting.
Anyone into hardcore music, then or now, should at least be happy that someone took the time to bring us a bunch of cool interviews and video footage of a time that the mainstream never paid enough attention to to forget.