Featuring original interviews with America’s punk pioneers and the U.K.’s most notorious bands, alongside a seamless blend of rare and unseen photos, gritty archival film and video, a crackling soundtrack of punk hits and misses, this documentary series explores the music, the fashion, the art and the DIY attitude of a subculture of self-described misfits and outcasts.
The proto-punks of the Detroit scene, including the Stooges and MC5, put the 60s to bed in 1968 and reinvigorate the New York art music scene of the early 70s, inspiring the New York Dolls and the Ramones, giving outsiders a milieu to express themselves and start a revolution.
The Ramones visit London in 1976 to discover a vibrant UK punk scene who reciprocate with a second British invasion of America, culminating in the Sex Pistols' disastrous US tour and flameout in 1978.
The Germs, Bad Brains, Black Flag, DOA and others dump gas on smouldering rage and alienation in America’s suburbs, igniting a blazing form of punk so extreme they call it hardcore which, in turn, inspires a DIY culture and network that spans cities and bands across the continent and comes to define the genre.
Despite itself, punk breaks big, highlighting the talents of Nirvana, Bad Religion and Green Day while women roar onto the scene in defining bands such as Bikini Kill and L7, establishing punk as an enduring force, its spirit living on in the broader culture as we know it today.
