first it was just stylistically not punk or anything close to it.
2nd it was just far too slick and 'produced' to be anything some kids do. It reminds me of the crappy fake bands in movies from the 80's.
These two things struck me, too. Maybe they altered the production values of the music because the target audience wouldn't appreciate poorly produced music? I know hip hop fans value their production values and the movie seems to be to be targeted at hip hop loving audiences. Maybe I'm reaching with that one.
Certain brands of punk are well produced though, like pop punk. Well, certain bands within pop punk. Even some post-punk is well produced. They seemed to be aiming for something close to the core of the genre but, you're right, what they played sounded nothing like that. I wasn't really expecting a punk band inclusion within the film. I get that it was attempting to break down stereotypes but it still seemed out of place.
The early part of the film had a great soundtrack though.
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brunolavida
9 years ago
ever heard of Bad Brains? they are regarded as one the pioneer bands of hardcore punk.. they played reggae inbetween hardcore songs, as well as, soul, funk and heavy metal! what about body count?
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Calaverasgrande
9 years ago
Bad Brains are of course African American. They basically invented hardcore punk which many other mostly white bands went on to popularize. Bad Brains are one of my all time favorite bands and I feel fortunate to have seen them in the mid-80's when they were an unstoppable force of nature.
I'd also point out that Black Flag had a black drummer for a few years, Suicidal Tendencies and Dead Kennedy's as well had black members, Special Forces was an Oakland punk band from the early 80's fronted by a black skinhead (yes not all skinheads are nazis) and of course X-Ray Spex and pretty much all of the first wave of Ska/Two-Tone bands had black members. If you go back and look at photos from the early punk/new-wave scene in NY, SF, LA or UK it is easy to see black members of the scene.
That wasn't my point. Rather that this is about nerdy 90's hip hop obsessed kids in Compton who for no apparent reason have a punk band, not a 90's style hip hop band? And it kind of seemed to me that it was represented as a nerdy white thing, and the music was very not punk, and just lame.
This is part of my overall perception that we are told that hip hop is black, and rock is white. even though since the beginning both of those musical genres have been multiracial.
I certainly wasn't trying to imply that black people don't belong in punk!
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