This documentary is broken up into 10 episodes, with a total of over 4 hours of playtime. Whilst it might be considered as excessively long for some, for the true fan of punk it is great value. The main focus is on the early British scene of the mid to late 1970s. The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and the Buzzcocks, and the many other bands of the time and the developments surrounding them, are well-covered.
'The Punk Years' is also good in tracing the pre-punk music history, including David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, etc. Another strength is that the punk scene is covered in a sub-cultural sense, which is placed in the context of mainstream culture, but also goes further than just music. Fashion, values, 'Zines' the DIY ethic, and so forth, are all explored.
'Second wave' punk, as well as post-punk developments, are all covered, up until Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Nirvana. Even bands like Atari Teenage Riot are mentioned. The disappointments, for me, are that whilst these post-'first wave' British acts are given mention, the overall focus seems to be on what punk 'was' in the early years as compared to what it became subsequently.
John Lydon of The Sex Pistols/PIL is given a large say in 'The Punk Years', and he is continually referred back to with every new point covered. Yet, whilst one can't help but admire his true punk attitude and longevity, overall his comments inject a bias into the commentary that displaces the value of how punk has evolved over the years.
Thus, bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Bad Brains, etc, are all only given cursory mention, when one could argue that the shift in punk moved from Britain back to the US in the early to mid 1980s, spawning a new focus. These founders of 'hardcore' punk should have been given at least as much attention as the British bands of the 'first wave'.
Moreover, 'third wave' So-Cal bands such as those on the Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords labels are conceived in the documentary as a move basically towards the mainstream. But was The Offspring anymore mainstream than The Sex Pistols? Given the shape of the mainstream culture in both periods it is hard to argue that The Sex Pistols weren't as mainstream as The Offspring.
Certainly these 'skate-punk' bands should have been given more mention. That's not to say that, however, 'The Punk Years' isn't a fantastic effort, and a pleasure to watch. It does catch the true spirit of the punk attitude, and I would definitely recommend it.
