All Ages: Boston Hardcore DVD Review

All Ages: Boston Hardcore

This documentary focuses on roughly 1980 thru 1984; it dives into the history of the scene, the clubs the bands played at (perhaps most notably the Rat), the straight edge scene in Boston, the iconic flyer art-- as well as the influences of Black Flag, and other bands outside of the area-- perhaps most notably the D.C. scene and Dischord Records is discussed in relation to the early EP's released (Teen Idles, "Minor Disturbance" EP, S.O.A., "No Policy" EP, Government Issue's, "Legless Bull" EP, etc.. The film expresses Boston was particularly known for being a scene that took hardcore, and tried to take it to the most extreme level possible; after the influence of the first wave of punk rock (particularly that of the Ramones) and the their peers in D.C.-- they took their own spin on punk and tried to make it yet even faster and harder than their predecessors.

The film features interviews with key band members as well as active participants of the scene. SSD (Society System Decontrol) is the first band talked about in detail on the disc. The stylistic influence of Minor Threat, combined with the unique and somewhat clashing personalities of Al Barile and Springa. The back-story of the creation of, "The Kids Will Have Their Say" and its influence during the creation of Boston's hardcore-punk scene.

Jerry's Kids is the second band thoroughly examined in this tribute to Boston hardcore. Known for being a highly energetic band always jumping around; a nice selection of both reunion footage as well as early live footage of Jerry's Kids appears throughout the film. Their iconic record "This Is My World" is touched on in the film as well as a highly influential and notable album for the Boston hardcore sound. D.Y.S. is also covered a bit, along with Gang Green, and others.

Though Boston is full super fast bands of it, Gang Green and the Freeze were probably the two most musically proficient groups; both fast and on-point. Gang Green briefly talks about making the, "Pre-School" EP in an 8-track studio.  The "This Is Boston Not L.A." compilation is discussed too; it taps into the exclusion of S.S.D (as Al Barile's policy was no compilations), the inclusion of Gang Green being an obvious choice for their sheer speed alone, and explores the different opinions on its portrayal of the scene. The film also has some reunion footage of D.Y.S. (Department Of Youth Services) sprinkled in the both the beginning and the end.

Boston was a unique scene in both the records and the type of bands that it produced in this time period; hardcore became faster, tougher, and exploded into a new movement of bands releasing incredible and iconic albums that would influence further generations of punk bands to follow. This was a really interesting film and a neat glance into the early Boston hardcore-punk scene, and a fairly informative look into its sound and the groups within it.  One can only hope it offshoots further films on the individual groups and cover Boston hardcore in more depth.