Various Artists – American Hardcore: The History Of American Punk Rock 1980-1986

I can not wait for this documentary to hit DVD so I can see it. Since it’s just hitting a few theatres, American Hardcore: The History Of American Punk rock 1980-1986 isn’t coming anywhere near me, so I have to patiently wait for it to be released in a take home format. Until then though, I can occupy myself with the soundtrack for the documentary – and anyone interested in the evolution of punk and punk from the early 80’s should occupy themselves with it too.

American Hardcore is a collection of tracks from punk legends all on one nicely compacted CD. Almost every punk rock pioneer makes an appearance.Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Jerry’s Kids, 7 Seconds, Negative Approach, Adolescents, Gang Green, Minor Threat, Commas and Black Flag are just some of the many on it. Quick, snotty, cheaply recorded, this is raw punk rock the way it was supposed to be. It’s insanely fast, energizing, rebellious and American Hardcore documents that.

With twenty six bands on here, the compilation features a wide range of tracks to entertain you with. But unlike most twenty-six track albums, this one isn’t close to 74 minutes long. Most of the songs are less than two minutes long, hell, The Freeze‘s Boston Not L. A. is only 19 seconds long. This speed presents the listener with another view into the past, where the three minute pop song is long forgotten and instead focused on short snippets of sonic outbursts. The polished vocals are nowhere to be seen and distortion is rampant throughout the amps.

American Hardcore is a perfect compilation for any punk fan, new or old. Without half these bands, there would be no punk like there is today. It was because of these people that the punk movement was created. They started a social movement, where all the outcasts were accepted, and we have a duty to learn about these bands; because as the old worn out saying goes, “how can we move forward if we don’t know where we came from?” American Hardcore shows us where punk came from, and I’ll be playing this lots until I can finally see the documentary myself.