toddfries Fantastic film , especially for the kids who think punk began and ended with Green Day.Yea the film left out HUGE chunks of the Punk 'scene' (movement ? movements are for hippies , thank you for much)While the 70's were well covered , and rightly so , yea the 80's were left out in the cold , there were a ton of American and English bands that made a difference , not to mention bands from Europe and also no mention of Australia's best - The Saints.. IMO one of the best of the "77" punk bands. Lots of worthy bands were not mentioned , X - The Avengers - FEAR - Negative Approach (the catalyst of true hard core music)- Jerry's Kids , I could go on and on. Honestly though how could one possibly add in all bands unless it became a mini series of DVD's , otherwise there are just too many bands to mention and show in 1.5 hours. What about the Misfits , one of Englands best and far more controversial than the Pistols / SHAM 69 ? How about Stiff Little Fingers or Vice Squad. heheheOverall... A good film that gives a general idea of what Punk is/was , I am glad that they did not try to kiss too much ass to the hippies but I wish they would have pointed out how truly commercial "punk" became. Punk rock was never meant to be on MTV.

apocalypse_ciao I have nothing really bad to say about the first hour of it. It's actually helpful if you want to know the history of "early" punk ie The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, The MC5, and The Count Five. I loved The Damned footage of them playing New Rose. The Clash and The Sex Pistols seem to get all the attention though when the UK punk scene is discussed. No mention of Wire or Joy Division.But I have to agree with another person who observed how they left out a crucial chunk of hugely influential post-punk 80's American groups: The Minutemen, Husker Du, The Replacements, and The Pixies and set the stage for pretty much every band afterwards. No mention of Devo either. The film also makes the West Coast punk scene seem like it died in 1982 or something. Nothing against Black Flag, Germs, X, Circle Jerks, or Dead Kennedys but it gets old mentioning these groups, it really does. It would've been nice to see Fishbone mentioned and how punk splintered into a ska phase throughout the 80's and beyond, particularly on the West Coast.And Henry Rollins does his usual "ambiguous" put down of the West Coast punk scene: "How can you have sun, fun, hot chicks, and punk rock?" Well Mr. Rollins, was Black Flag an East Coast punk band? Big fat no, they're from the West Coast, which is a band he joined by the way. I also observed there was also no coverage or even mention of the Riot Girl scene in Olympia, WA and D.C. of the early 90's ie Bikini Kill and Sleater Kinney. They paved the way for bands like Le Tigre, The Gossip, and The Capricorns who are really responsible for the disco-punk explosion that groups are now reaping the rewards from like VHS or Beta, The Rapture, and Bloc Party.The majority of the Riot Girl bands have outspoken leftist politics and are lesbian and to me that's more relevant than some old geezers reminiscing about a bye gone era and sticking their middle fingers at the camera and saying f*** you.And then to end it with footage of Limp Bizkit, Green Day, and Sum 41 is an insult to fans because those bands don't represent how punk evolved but how punk got commodified. Overall, I got the feeling that the filmmaker's opinion on just who is punk, and what is punk is rather one-dimensional and subject to his own "punk" aesthetics.

Spuzzlightyear Yeaaaars ago, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, I saw a movie there called 'Hype!' which was all about the rise and fall of grunge music. It was loud, it was informative, and it was great, it was my favorite movie that year in the film festival. For some odd reason, I'm always interested in music docs (except maybe classical and Jazz (though that's sometimes not true)), and I've been searching for some time for a movie like Hype! ('The Filth and The Fury" was, to me, disappointing), and this year at the VIFF, there was a movie called Punk Attitude which looked great, had all the icons, from Henry Rollins to Chrissy Hyde, so how could I go wrong? Punk Attitude essentially follows Hyped's narrative path, following the history of Punk from it's early years (the filmmakers contend, and I agree, that Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were 50's punk) in the US, the British Invasion (namely The Sex Pistols) and then back into the U.S. Much of this stuff I didn't know, as I really don't follow punk that much, so all of this was really new to me, and nearly all of it was fascinating. Was really interested in the history of the New York Dolls and the Stooges, bands I'd had heard about, but that's about it. (Watch for a hideous looking David Johansen in this by the way). Rollins is great as usual, with plenty to say. Actually, everyone in this doc seems quite passionate about Punk's place in history. Funny how in the present, Punk is now represented by such artists as Green Day and Blink-182, artists that don't appear in the film at all. Wonder if this in part with the studio labels now taking Punk into the radio mainstream and of course with it, copyrights, copyrights, copyrights. Good thing Rollins is still there to cause noise. So, is this better then 'hyped'? You know, the one big problem I have with this, is that I wish 'Punk Attitude was on film, rather then on video. On video, it seems to take back it's rawness and it's urgentness. If it was on film, it would be, well, punk.

slh2 loved it. loved it. loved it. really great accurate doc. punk is a state of mind....depressing to see how many dead people are in this film...but that's punk rock... one big gripe--more ramones. much more ramones. but hey, i can always watch the ramones raw DVD. and i would have very much liked to have scenes on--billy idol generation x the smiths, the cure, etc. joy division and a certain beloved indie 103.1 dj to actually speak in the movie vs. one tiny scene to open and close the film...but that's just my own happy little punk rock taste.