You’ve got an original pressing of Sonic Youth’s Sister, your CD of The Priest They Called Him with Nirvana and William S. Burroughs is all scratched up — you love the early 90s, and you love Sonic Youth and Nirvana. Which means you probably love — or want to love, if only you had a copy of it — the 1991 documentary The Year Punk Broke. For those that aren’t such big fans of the aforementioned, this out-of-print, VHS-only film covers the Sonic Youth tour of Europe, with a little opening band called Nirvana — just before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hit mainstream radio and changed the music world, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, superfans, according to director Dave Markey, the infamous doc will at long last be released on DVD this fall, from Universal Music. [expletive deleted]!
In addition to awesome footage of Sonic Youth and Nirvana on-stage and off, the DVD features Dinosaur Jr., The Ramones, Babes in Toyland, and Gumball, plus commentary from Thurston Moore and Dave Markey and a 2003 panel discussion with Moore, Markey, Lee Ranaldo, and J Mascis. This isn’t just some 15-minute-long video about kids extolling their favorite band in a parking lot, though. The DVD also includes a new 42-minute “bonus movie” entitled “(This is Known As) The Blues Scale”, with unreleased performances and material: an often hilarious peek into the on-camera but off-stage life of Sonic Youth and Nirvana throughout the tour. Check out three of the outtakes added to The Year Punk Broke here, and keep your ears open for a release date!
Thanks to Spin for pointing out that the entire original version of The Year Punk Broke is up on Google Video until April 29. Watch those obnoxious opening credits while you can!
• We Got Power Films: http://wegotpowerfilms.com
• Sonic Youth: http://www.sonicyouth.com
