Docs Till Death: 9 Overlooked Punk / Music Documentaries

Docs Till Death, “the podcast where old punks talk about punk documentaries in a very punk way”, has just launched its second season, and to celebrate we have teamed up with its creators Geoff, Pete and Matt, to give you a list of 9 overlooked music and punk documentaries worth a check!

This season, hosts Geoff Garlock (Orchid, Panthers), Pete Zetlan (Sinaloa, Tin Can Full of Dreams Hardcore fest, Moganono records) and Matt Moraghan (NJ Hardcore strong!), continue to discuss punk-related films and media, as their loyal listeners have come to expect. But this season, the DTD crew is also expanding the format of the show — adding interviews and other new features.

Docs Till Death is a punk podcast in both its content and its form. In each episode, the hosts discuss a specific document (“doc”) of punk and hardcore history. And they do so with the kind of casual snark and humour that will be familiar to any scenester who’s spent time outside of shows arguing about the punk records, movies, books, zines, and people that they love (and the ones they despise, as well). With the hosts’ encyclopedic knowledge of punk, and their very “punk” delivery, DTD has become something like the podcast for punk podcasters — receiving positive reviews and recommendations on air from the hosts of “End on End”, “The NY Hardcore Chronicles”, “Chopping it up with Hal Capone,” and “Story Bored”, among others.

Tune in on Apple, Anchor.fm, Spotify.

TOP 9 OVERLOOKED PUNK/MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES

BAD BRAINS: A BAND IN DC

In full transparency, we have not watched this one. That being said, all things come back to Bad Brains in so many of the documentaries we have watched. No matter how much live footage we have seen or shows we have gone to, nothing compares to the raw energy of their music and their performances. Plus, this scratches that itch that there are in fact never enough DC documentaries.

BEYOND THE SCREAMS / MAS ALLA DE LOS GRITOS: A U.S. LATINO HARDCORE PUNK DOCUMENTARY

Although Martin Sorrondeguy’s short film about Chicanx and Latinx punks set the stage for the wave of punk docs that would follow, his movie is often overlooked — maybe because it’s genuinely DIY, in execution and distribution; or maybe because Sorrondeguy ties punk to culture and politics in ways that makes punk feel vital, rather than merely an object of historical observation. However, according to the DTD hivemind, those are actually reasons why you SHOULD watch it.

CANNIBAL CORPSE: CENTURIES OF TORMENT-THE FIRST 20 YEARS

Look you might have strong feelings about whether you like Cannibal Corpse or not. You also might have strong feelings about whether you like 3 HOUR DOCUMENTARIES! But this doc not only gives a great overview of this workhouse of a band but also the early American Death metal scene. It also was the first time I realized “oh Cannibal Corpse are just a bunch of normal dudes”. And this is before I saw a billion photos of Corpsegrinder at Target on his Instagram.

DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF JUSTIN PEARSON

This one isn’t even out yet, that being said, this is your preview that it will be coming out and we should all watch it. The San Diego scene was big during our youth and Justin Pearson seemed to be at the center of it all. With struggle, swing kids, the locust, and three one g, it seemed like he was doing it all and that San Diego was the place to be. Whether that was true, well…maybe the documentary will shed light on that. But, you cannot deny the fact that he has continued to be a creative force and stay rooted in the punk world.

KILL ALL REDNECK PRICKS: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A BAND NAMED KARP

A great documentary about one of the greatest bands of all time. It is nice to see a document of a band and a scene that is not covered over and over or even touched upon in most punk documentaries. It helps that the story of KARP is as compelling as their music and has some true emotion in it. Much like the band itself, more people should pay attention to this documentary.

LEGACY OF DYSFUNCTION: POISON IDEA

This one is so overlooked that no one in the DTD crew has watched it yet. But we should. And we will.

PUNK IN AFRICA

Let us explain this one; the movie isn’t overlooked. The movie is actually pretty bad, despite it featuring some pretty amazing bands from the 70s and 80s. What’s overlooked is the episode of DTD where we discuss PUNK IN AFRICA. We get it: you don’t want to listen to a podcast where the hosts discuss a movie that you haven’t seen about a scene — more precisely a Continent — of punk you know nothing about. That must sound like a lot of effort. But we promise you, the PUNK IN AFRICA episode of DTD is really good, so you should watch the movie, then listen to us shit all over it. Your effort will be rewarded.

RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE

Yes punks. You should watch the documentary on Rush. I am a person who always loved prog rock and STILL never got fully into Rush. Until I watched this documentary and realized that they were work horses, friends and maybe somehow stuck to their artistic guns more than most punk bands? And unlike some other, more recent docs that don’t make a compelling argument for the band they are covering (ahem..Sparks) by the end I would be hard pressed that you are not drawn to check out at least one Rush record. Or just listen to “Working Man”.

THERE WILL BE QUIET: THE STORY OF JUDGE

I’m not going to lie, I never listened to Judge growing up because I was scared of them and anyone I knew who listened to them. I equated them to tough guy hardcore and never gave them the time of day. Then this four part series came out and it shed a very human element on Judge and Mike Ferraro specifically. Now we are New York Crew for life. CHUNG KING CAN SUCK IT!