96 Tears
I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the Don Letts documentary, Punk: Attitude on IFC this weekend. I'd heard good things about this film and wanted to like it, but despite the presence of the lovely and talented Alice Bag, I have to say that it didn't resonate with me very much.
Like every punk documentary I've seen, with the sole exception of Penelope Spheeris' The Decline of Western Civilization, it devotes almost its entire running length to covering the New York/London scene which anyone who's at all interested in the history of Punk already knows inside and out. Musical movements in other cities are ignored or given a cursory examination, and the timeline of punk's development is presented in a jumbled and confused manner. I was also unhappy at the presence of the usual interview suspects like Henry Rollins, and the lack of fresh voices who could've provided some unique perspective into what was really going on back then. I guess I should just be grateful that hack Kim Fowley wasn't in it.
On the positive side, Letts did examine how in addition to glam, '60s garage rock influenced punk, which I've always thought has been overlooked, and kudos to Alice for pointing out that LA wasn't sun and fun for everyone.
And speaking of garage rock, until I watched this I never noticed how much my buddy X-8 resembled the lead singer of ? and the Mysterians. Makes you wonder.
