UNK (Epix, 2019) - A four hour Documentary co-Produced by Iggy Pop does an okay job of outlining the history of the music sub-genre from it's earliest roots in the late-60s to the grunge boom in the 90s. Director Jesse James Miller and his writing team break down the Doc into four chapters: 1. 60s and early 70s Proto-Punks like the MC5, New York Dolls and Iggy's The Stooges. 2. Mid-70s NYC's CBGB's with the Ramones and London's scene including the Sex Pistols. 3. 80s California's Hardcore bands like The Circle Jerks and Black Flag. 4. 90s with Nirvana and Green Day. The interviewees range from Marky Ramone to Blondie to Johnny Rotten to Penelope Spheris to Henry Rollins to, of course, the patron saint of Rock Docs, Dave Grohl.
As will all these survey shows, one can always argue about which artist deserved inclusion or not, or which bands got too much or too little attention, but PUNK has a genuinely large chapter missing - the late 70s/early 80s 'Post-Punk' movement which included such major stars as Elvis Costello, The Jam, Sonic Youth and Rotten's own band Public Image Limited. It seems like Miller and the Producers wanted to focus on harder edged bands, which is fair enough. Still, if lighter groups like Blondie, Television and the Talking Heads are covered why not Joy Division, Wire, Devo and The Fall? It's a major missing chapter and feels somewhat arbitrary.
PUNK is an entertaining enough sampler with some obvious gaps. If nothing else, it's kind of interesting to see the interviews and hear disparate voices like Jello Biafra, Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna, Legs MacNeil, Flea, Exene Cervenka and Joan Jett look back at that era in music.
