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.

This is most certainly an interesting documentary and one that I'd recommend seeing, but I cannot help but have the feeling that it is somewhat US-centric, even if many of punk's pivotal points are not.Starting with the origins of punk in the late 1960s and 1970s, it covers the origins of the 'movement' (for want of a better term) in the United States, focussing on the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, the New York Dolls and MC5. The important people of the era (well, some of them) were found and given an opportunity to express their views.However, all too quickly it moves through what defined punk (rightly or wrongly) - the UK scene. No, it was not where punk began, and no, it was not the be-all and end-all of punk, but to cover the ongoing influence of the UK in a relatively short space of time before moving onto the US hardcore and post-punk of late 1980s Seattle is to do a great disservice to the importance of the British punk scene. Aside from the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Buzzocks, Sioxsie and the Banshees, and the Slits (and even these are at times somewhat rapidly covered - how about the UK Subs or the Not Sensibles, to name two), the UK scene was somewhat glossed over in favour of the US hardcore scene. As interesting as this is, and relevant in a greater history of punk, barely mentioning the 'Anarchy in the UK' tour, or the influences of reggae on the music is hard to overlook. Indeed, without some background knowledge, one could almost be forgiven for thinking that the Clash and the Sex Pistols were really only minor players in shaping the direction of not only punk rock, but music generally.Ultimately, as interesting as the documentary is, I cannot help but think of the Clash's song from their 1st album, "I'm so bored with the USA". However, having said all of this, somewhat ironically, the real importance of the UK is recognized almost underhandedly (and unwittingly, I suspect), with the Clash's "Car Jamming" opening and closing the documentary, not to mention the dedication of the program to Joe Strummer.In many ways, the multi-part series "Get Up Stand Up" - even though punk is but a small section of it - does a much better job of portraying the importance of punk in a more balanced manner - and especially in covering non-US punk (it even gets into the German and French scenes).

A great Documentary!!! Very informative. I only wish Devo, Wire, and The Minutemen were more represented. I'm very pleased with this film. Damn, they have finally done a great job documenting punk rock! 10 stars! Thank you Don Letts! This is a two-disc DVD that features over 17 extras including a 30 minute LA punk scene featurette produced exclusively for the US DVD. Other extras include, Where are they Now and Punk Family Tree, California Screamin' "Behind the Masque" article, Henry Rollins interview, Dave Goodman feature, Fanzines, Fashion, Women in Punk, Record Companies, The Attitude/Spirit of Punk, The Influences/Origins of Punk, Punk on Culture and the Arts, UK versus US, Punk Evolution, The Gigs/Performance and The Punk Sound.

The one major problem I had with this film was that, while it did a more than adequate job of covering the already well-documented early days of punk (the Velvets,MC5, Stooges the CBGBs scene), in covering punk of the 80s, it completely dropped the ball. It fails to detail the very localized American post-punk movement of the 80s that actually set the stage for bands like Nirvana, the grunge movement and the "alternative" music of the 90s. No mention of Husker Du, The Minutemen, X, the Pixies or The Replacements? What's up with that?!! Yes, I liked Sonic Youth in the 80s. But to canonize a band who stopped mattering over ten years ago yet still inflicts their painfully uninspired noodling today and not even mention the aforementioned bands that really did have a profound impact on punk (and who knew when to quit) is criminal.And then to close it up with Sum 41 and those other corporate punk forgeries?!I wanted to puke at that point. God, if they really wanted to use a current example of today's punk, couldn't they have used a more credible band like The Hives? The 80s was such a great time for punk and underground rock, but you sure wouldn't know it from this documentary.