There's a slender thread here, and some would probably say in the DNA of punk itself, of creepy shit like white supremacy, homophobia, and genuinely antisocial and violent behavior (as opposed to the cool kind) that to the movie's credit isn't brushed under the rug but isn't quite the subject of serious exploration either. Contrast that with the often straight-ahead mockery of Part II and you have quite a study in how subtle differences in presentation can make a huge difference in material. It's also a study in how much shittier music apparently got in less than ten years.

I forget where I saw it, or who said it, but it was about all the inevitable 'Punk's not _______' and ' ______ isn't Punk' debates, with the point that Punk works best as a means to an end rather than an end in itself (I mean, that Fear concert at the end seems REALLY tiring, and I don't know how I'd feel about being in a room with those guys for any length of time---that said, I really liked the X and Germs sections, har har...also this is an invaluable and fascinating time capsule and sociological document, and if the music doesn't make you want to try and play guitar badly or at least run in a circle and scream at your lamp, there's something possibly wrong)

punk is horrible and punks are horrible

Lives up to the title. Played on me like The Queen of Versailles. Even though it’s on another pole of the capitalist experience, the punk movement as depicted this movie suggests the same dark truths about human nature.

I forget where I saw it, or who said it, but it was about all the inevitable 'Punk's not _______' and ' ______ isn't Punk' debates, with the point that Punk works best as a means to an end rather than an end in itself (I mean, that Fear concert at the end seems REALLY tiring, and I don't know how I'd feel about being in a room with those guys for any length of time---that said, I really liked the X and Germs sections, har har...also this is an invaluable and fascinating time capsule and sociological document, and if the music doesn't make you want to try and play guitar badly or at least run in a circle and scream at your lamp, there's something possibly wrong)

I loved the use of freeze frames in this, as well as the cutaways. So, well edited and put together. The characters are also fascinating, if ultimately I didn't come away enlightened or with a better understanding. But maybe disaffected youth are disaffected youth and that's all there is to it. I may have been expecting more personal background rather than the more straightforward document that it is.

this is the essential portrait into the raw and uncensored origins of California punk rock and it’s forefathers. burned out, dropped out, fast and unapologetic. punk in its purest form.

I feel like X was too good for this.

A really fascinating and well-put-together documentary; there are cute/clever editing touches throughout (absurdities spoken while confused punks look at something unrelated from the dance floor, etc) and the interviews with the fans are borderline terrifying. Like the chat with "Eugene," who casually drops the n-bomb while talking in front of a blank wall lit by a naked lightbulb, the top of his head just out of frame in a way that makes him look hydrocephalic.

I mean, punk isn't really my kind of music, but even then, it's pretty interesting stuff ... which is the hallmark of a good doc, I guess.

fuck, i love punk culture. just hanging out with these bands and getting to hear their state of minds at the time is something severely lacking in today’s culture; what it really means to be free. these kids truly lived for the present and had no clue or care about the future.

Prog hippie guy on this side so I’ll never “get” this kind of punk but there’s still so many beautiful looking people you can find here. Just sifting through the crowds amidst the disgusting animosity.

Yes, I feel like this is absolutely definitive. In the realm of music documentary and documentary as document. It equally doubled down my fascincation for the scene and its music and characters, and my disgust at the scene's putrid homophobia, racism and violence. But what a feat to provide this almost totally objective, diverse, wide-reaching view of a sliver of music culture history. Excited to see the other installments. Not necessarily perfect, but I can't think of any reasons not to see this as necessary. Fantastic documentation.