Punk: Attitude
April 2006 Reviewed by: Marc Mickelson Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Punk rock was a US/UK joint effort. Its roots were in America, with bands like the MC5, the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, and the New York Dolls, but it was perfected in England, where the Sex Pistols and the Clash became its best-known acts. Punk: Attitude is a loud-and-proud mini-course on the beginnings, maturity and continuing influence of punk rock, told by people who made the music. It resurrects little-known bands such as Suicide, the Dictators, the Slits, the Screamers, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and makes it clear that punk rock arrived with the Ramones and their black leather jackets, torn jeans, and blistering three-minute songs. The Sex Pistols cranked up the anger, while the Clash gave the world punk rock's highest point: the double-LP London Calling. Punk was a subculture that turned into a counterculture, and Punk: Attitude documents the forces behind it all.

While Chrissie Hynde (the Pretenders), Jello Biafra (the Dead Kennedys), Mick Jones (the Clash) and Paul Simonon (the Clash) headline among the movie's narrators, Henry Rollins (Black Flag, the Rollins Band) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) prove to be the most thought-provoking voices. One of the two-DVD set's many extras is an extended interview with Rollins, who combines growling irreverence with acute insight. There are also separate features on punk fashion, punk women and punk fanzines -- among many other topics -- and all are in the movie's own style. While you listen to Chrissie Hynde, for instance, you wonder what she's doing now. That information is here, along with a punk-rock family tree. When the movie ends, there's much more to watch and read.

As the narrators argue, two things killed punk rock: drugs (especially heroin) and the music itself. In the latter case, many of the best musicians grew out of their own punk attitudes and became "no wave" and "new wave" pioneers. Even so, punk lived on, influencing the Seattle grunge scene and contemporary bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and Limp Bizkit. As one of the narrators points out, "The Internet is a punk idea" -- referring to its utter freedom and the heightened awareness it promotes. Still, it's the "first time I saw the Ramones" stories and other personal anecdotes that make watching Punk: Attitude much more than an academic exercise.

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