Top-rated
Sun, Apr 30, 1995
'Punk' Strips Music To Its Angry Roots
BYLINE: EDWARD GUTHMANN, Chronicle Staff Critic
4 Star Rating
PUNK: Documentary. With Johnny Rotten, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Chrissie Hynde, Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone. Directed, Written and Produced by Ted Haimes. (Not rated. 68 minutes. At the Red Vic Movie House through June 18.)
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If you thought you'd heard the last word on punk, or believed -- as I did -- that Penelope Spheeris' 1981 film ''The Decline of Western Civilization'' was the definitive punk documentary, you were wrong.
Say hello to ''Punk'' , a smart, bracing, thoroughly enjoyable film that recalls the punk movement in England and the United States, pinpoints its roots and legacy, and interviews all the players who defined the genre.
Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols is on board, along with Joe Strummer of the Clash, Elvis Costello (who says he never identified with punk), Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Joey Ramone of the Ramones and Malcolm McLaren, the effete London haberdasher who created the Sex Pistols.
Unlike ''The Decline of Western Civilization,'' which offered an insider's look at the L.A. punk culture at the time it was happening and was followed by a 1988 sequel, ''Punk'' benefits from hindsight -- from a wisdom and insight that weren't possible when mosh pits, body slams and screaming bloody outrage were still cutting-edge.
''It was a great time because it was so spontaneous and pure,'' says wraithlike poet Patti Smith, whose mid-'70s success slightly predated punk. Adds John Doe of the Los Angeles band X: ''It was reclaiming rock 'n' roll to a simple message -- and wasn't a big, bloated, corporate, limousine, cocaine- ridden bunch of s--.''
Directed and written by Ted Haimes, and executive-produced by Quincy Jones and Andrew Solt (''This Is Elvis,'' ''Imagine''), ''Punk'' benefits from an amazing trove of film clips -- Costello's first TV appearance, David Byrne and the Talking Heads in 1975 -- and wisely lets the material speak for itself instead of imposing an overlay of critical analysis.
The participants do the interpreting in ''Punk,'' whether it's Bono of U2 praising Smith for her blend of the profane and the sacred; Strummer admitting that the Clash ripped off its sound, as did most Brit punk bands, from the Ramones; or guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols recalling, ''I couldn't play and Johnny Rotten couldn't sing and it created this horrible noise.''
Horrible noise, perhaps, but the energy and fury that fueled it were inescapable and demanded a voice. Once that rage was diluted and turned into New Wave, Rotten argues, the whole point of punk was destroyed. ''(New Wave) was a complete corruption of everything,'' he says. ''Everybody tried to be nice all over again. Don't be nice; it's the kiss of death.''
We also learn that the Sex Pistols modeled their anarchistic, screw-off style after the glam-rock New York Dolls. Contrary to the standard media perception, ''Punk'' insists, the movement wasn't born in Britain but had its antecedents in such American performers as Iggy Pop, MC5 and the Velvet Underground and actually took form at CBGB, a dumpy biker bar in Manhattan's Bowery.
''Punk'' also demonstrates how the grunge rock of the early '90s -- Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day -- can be directly traced to the punk stylists of the '70s. So much for the notion that punk was a brief aberration that existed in a vacuum -- something that ended with Sid Vicious' death rattle.
''Punk'' celebrates the blasting energy of its subject, but also demonstrates the costs of unbridled rage and self-abuse. When Kurt Cobain died at 27, Iggy Pop says, ''it brought home to me, as many things have in my maturity, that this is a dangerous business -- dangerous for the practitioners.''
BYLINE: EDWARD GUTHMANN, Chronicle Staff Critic
4 Star Rating
PUNK: Documentary. With Johnny Rotten, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Chrissie Hynde, Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone. Directed, Written and Produced by Ted Haimes. (Not rated. 68 minutes. At the Red Vic Movie House through June 18.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you thought you'd heard the last word on punk, or believed -- as I did -- that Penelope Spheeris' 1981 film ''The Decline of Western Civilization'' was the definitive punk documentary, you were wrong.
Say hello to ''Punk'' , a smart, bracing, thoroughly enjoyable film that recalls the punk movement in England and the United States, pinpoints its roots and legacy, and interviews all the players who defined the genre.
Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols is on board, along with Joe Strummer of the Clash, Elvis Costello (who says he never identified with punk), Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Joey Ramone of the Ramones and Malcolm McLaren, the effete London haberdasher who created the Sex Pistols.
Unlike ''The Decline of Western Civilization,'' which offered an insider's look at the L.A. punk culture at the time it was happening and was followed by a 1988 sequel, ''Punk'' benefits from hindsight -- from a wisdom and insight that weren't possible when mosh pits, body slams and screaming bloody outrage were still cutting-edge.
''It was a great time because it was so spontaneous and pure,'' says wraithlike poet Patti Smith, whose mid-'70s success slightly predated punk. Adds John Doe of the Los Angeles band X: ''It was reclaiming rock 'n' roll to a simple message -- and wasn't a big, bloated, corporate, limousine, cocaine- ridden bunch of s--.''
Directed and written by Ted Haimes, and executive-produced by Quincy Jones and Andrew Solt (''This Is Elvis,'' ''Imagine''), ''Punk'' benefits from an amazing trove of film clips -- Costello's first TV appearance, David Byrne and the Talking Heads in 1975 -- and wisely lets the material speak for itself instead of imposing an overlay of critical analysis.
The participants do the interpreting in ''Punk,'' whether it's Bono of U2 praising Smith for her blend of the profane and the sacred; Strummer admitting that the Clash ripped off its sound, as did most Brit punk bands, from the Ramones; or guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols recalling, ''I couldn't play and Johnny Rotten couldn't sing and it created this horrible noise.''
Horrible noise, perhaps, but the energy and fury that fueled it were inescapable and demanded a voice. Once that rage was diluted and turned into New Wave, Rotten argues, the whole point of punk was destroyed. ''(New Wave) was a complete corruption of everything,'' he says. ''Everybody tried to be nice all over again. Don't be nice; it's the kiss of death.''
We also learn that the Sex Pistols modeled their anarchistic, screw-off style after the glam-rock New York Dolls. Contrary to the standard media perception, ''Punk'' insists, the movement wasn't born in Britain but had its antecedents in such American performers as Iggy Pop, MC5 and the Velvet Underground and actually took form at CBGB, a dumpy biker bar in Manhattan's Bowery.
''Punk'' also demonstrates how the grunge rock of the early '90s -- Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day -- can be directly traced to the punk stylists of the '70s. So much for the notion that punk was a brief aberration that existed in a vacuum -- something that ended with Sid Vicious' death rattle.
''Punk'' celebrates the blasting energy of its subject, but also demonstrates the costs of unbridled rage and self-abuse. When Kurt Cobain died at 27, Iggy Pop says, ''it brought home to me, as many things have in my maturity, that this is a dangerous business -- dangerous for the practitioners.''