1991: The Year Punk Broke

[Captain Crunch]

This totally passed me by, an extra 40-odd minutes of lovely extra footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0W9ZSDq4E0

I don't know about you but there's something about watching very summery things in the middle of winter.

The original documentary is up on dailymotion with bits and pieces on youtube.  Seems to be ageing well, even if it does just feel a bit longer ago now. 

[Head Gardener]

erm, shurely 1976?

[Colin Sanction]

erm, shurely 1976?

My thoughts exactly but this is a documentary about American punk in 1991 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991:_The_Year_Punk_Broke

[McChesney Duntz]

And of course a lot depends on how you wish to define the word "broke."

[king_tubby]

And 'punk'.

[PlanktonSideburns]

1991: the year some bands existed

[Delete Delete Delete]

and Year. The Maya calendar would have a very different  view on 1991 in regards punk.

[studpuppet]

My thoughts exactly but this is a documentary about American punk in 1991 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991:_The_Year_Punk_Broke

Hahahahahahahahaha - you could have given me fifty guesses and I wouldn't have said Sonic Youth.

[kngen]

Hahahahahahahahaha - you could have given me fifty guesses and I wouldn't have said Sonic Youth.

The thing that gets me is that The Ramones - who'd been going for nearly two decades at that point - were in it. I mean, that should have at least nudged the film-makers towards the notion that the title is fucking nonsense.

[Spiteface]

Hahahahahahahahaha - you could have given me fifty guesses and I wouldn't have said Sonic Youth.

Heard "Teenage Riot" in a perfume ad recently.

Whenever punk "broke" it is almost certainly dead now.

[Gregory Torso]

The title is one of those "jokes" that people used to do back in the 90s, generation x, irony, sardonic "yeah sure mom i'll get right on that... not" type humour.

[sevendaughters]

thought the title was pretty solid given that Gen X was looming large and Nirvana/SY would take a mostly-underground style to the mainstream.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Chronology, continuity and spelling things out to people in documentary titles: the year that go fuck yourself

[PlanktonSideburns]

1991: arsed mate, cigs

[jobotic]

Perhaps they broke as in got busted up, in a clever play on words.

[Nowhere Man]

1993: The Year New Wave Broke
2008: The Year Britpop Broke

[Chriddof]

Apparently the title is a reference to how punk / alternative rock acts weren't taken seriously in America and didn't get a lot of airplay (outside of those fabled college rock stations) until the early 90s, when Nirvana hit it big. So, it "broke" very late in America in the form of grunge and became a huge thing, as opposed to the first wave of actual punk in the UK which was a huge deal instantly and was absorbed pretty quickly into pop music. Whether or not you want to classify grunge as being punk of some sort is up to you.

[thraxx]

Isn't the title not just taken from a line in the film, and the viewer is left to muse on the ambiguity of what it might mean?

[Epic Bisto]

Tried to watch this about a decade ago and gave up after 15 minutes.  The editing was headache-inducing and Thurston Moore's "hilarious" rapping and sneering at the locals made me wish death on him.

[Chriddof]

Isn't the title not just taken from a line in the film, and the viewer is left to muse on the ambiguity of what it might mean?

That might be the case. I was going off of 20+ year old memories of reading something about it in a music paper. Most likely written by Everett True.

Thurston Moore's "hilarious" rapping and sneering at the locals made me wish death on him.

There is/was something uniquely embarrassing and shit about Sonic Youth's sense of humour.

[Bobby Ralgex]

Fucking stupid cunt

[king_tubby]

Everett True.

HATE THIS BASTARD.

Anyway, it's a fun film, there's some good footage of Babes in Toyland and that.

[gilbertharding]

The thing that gets me is that The Ramones - who'd been going for nearly two decades at that point - were in it. I mean, that should have at least nudged the film-makers towards the notion that the title is fucking nonsense.

The film makers are Sonic Youth, pretty much. I mean, it's a film about them, Nirvana, and the European festival circuit in 1991.

And the Ramones aren't 'in it', so much as included at the end because they happened to be headlining one of the festivals - and are a distant presence. Anyway I'll argue, if you like, that the Ramones in 1991 are much more Rock than Punk. When did they sack Dee Dee?

I agree that the Thurston Raps sequence is a pain in the hole. I didn't realise that much of the between-song stuff is supposed to be a reenactment of the Madonna rockumentary Truth or Dare... perhaps that helps, maybe not.

In any case, if you ignore the title - and probably the title of the out-takes feature (This is Known As) The Blues Scale too - it's a blooming good documentary of an exact moment about a month before Nevermind came out, and contains some brilliant performances.

[gilbertharding]

Whether or not you want to classify grunge as being punk of some sort is up to you.

Nirvana and Mudhoney are (well, were) punk.
Pearl Jam, not. In that sense, I'd argue that there's not really any such thing as Grunge. I'd argue even more vociferously that there wasn't in 1991.

Plus not all punk is punk rock.

Hope that helps.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Thurston Moore looks and acts exactly like I'd expect somebody called Thurston Moore to look and act.

[kidsick5000]

1991: The year culture slowed to a crawl

[Spiteface]

The film makers are Sonic Youth, pretty much. I mean, it's a film about them, Nirvana, and the European festival circuit in 1991.

And the Ramones aren't 'in it', so much as included at the end because they happened to be headlining one of the festivals - and are a distant presence. Anyway I'll argue, if you like, that the Ramones in 1991 are much more Rock than Punk. When did they sack Dee Dee?

Wasn't sacked. He left after recording Brain Drain (which is their worst album). Wanted to be a rapper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAl-xzN8e-M