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Sonic Youth - The Year Punk Broke (DVD Review)
Monday, 07 November 2011 Written by Steven James
Sonic Youth - The Year Punk Broke (DVD Review)

'The Year Punk Broke' was originally released in '92, with filmmaker David Markey following Sonic Youth and Nirvana on their European tour of the previous year, both on and off the stage, from small clubs to large open-air festivals. The film also features live videos from Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, Gumball and The Ramomes. Some of you may have been familiar with the VHS version of the film or have found pieces of it on the internet accompanied by a fuzzy mp3 soundtrack, but now this grunge extravaganza has now finally made it to DVD! There's even a few little extras that you won't have seen before thrown in for good measure.

The film was originally titled 'Tooth or Hair', parodying the then-contemporary Madonna documentary, 'Truth or Dare'. A few scenes of which are parodied by Kim Gordon and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. during the film – references which may be lost on fans who are viewing the documentary for the first time on DVD. The film was intended to be pretty much just that though: a spoof, nothing at all serious. It was to be Sonic Youth messing around, taking the piss and then putting on some great shows, which it was. But now, looking back, it can also be viewed as a snapshot of Nirvana just before punk truly died and they became the biggest band in the world.

It's doubtless to say that for some viewers Kurt Cobain will be the same focus of the backstage segments, when he makes an appearance. Despite not being the centre of attention, it is nice (and a little haunting) to see a happy pre-fame Cobain, not as he is usually depicted, but blissfully unaware that he was about to change the world. Although it really is Thurston Moore's spontaneous commentary that really takes the viewer around Europe with Sonic Youth. The off stage footage pretty much sums up who the band are behind the music; even if that is just a few geeks looking for fun and second-hand record shops in between shows. In between his rambling some serious points do bubble through though, even if they are masked behind a joke and used as a basis for confusing locals and foreign journalists.

ImageNone of the original super 8 film has been tweaked and despite moving into the 21st century with the DVD format it still captures the essence of the early 90s when grunge was just about breaking through into the mainstream. This gives a very intense feel to the live footage, particularly of Nirvana, all of which is very well shot with close-ups that not only give you the feeling of being at a grunge gig in '91, but make you feel like you're right up there with the band! All the live videos capture the bands very well, the live versions of 'Schizophrenia' (which is a nice alteration on the album version) and 'Brother James' by Sonic Youth are particularly good, as well as an excellent, note-perfect rendition of 'Polly' by Nirvana.

The extras on the DVD, as well as trailers, alternate edits and the usual are a shorter film entitled '(This Is Known As) The Blues Scale' and 'Broken Punk', a feature from a Q&A session twelve years later, in 2003. 'The Blues Scale' features more performances from both Nirvana and Sonic Youth and is essentially more of the same, albeit a little (but not too much) more serious and without the two-bands-messing-around-on-tour vibe that makes the main feature so enjoyable. 'Broken Punk' on the other hand isn't too enlightening, but would be interesting to die-hard Sonic Youth fans who have followed them throughout their career.

Overall the main feature is a good depiction of both Nirvana and Sonic Youth with a couple of performances of underground 90s heroes thrown in-between. The live shows are broken up by spontaneous, backstage babble which occasionally touches on the thoughts and feelings that drive them to make the music that they do and it's really quite entertaining, if a little nonsensical. It also captures the mindset of the generation pretty well; and as Thurston Moore puts it “Who knows what it’s going to be like, the future. The future to us is a dare. So f*#@ 'em.” and that kinda sums up grunge really, doesn't it?


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