Reliving the Salad Days of punk in the 1980s
DOCUMENTARY: Crawford’s work captures Washington’s aura
In the 1980s, hardcore punk scenes sprang up all over North America. One of the most celebrated and influential was the Washington, D.C. scene boasting acts such as Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream and arguably one of the best American rock bands of all time, the Bad Brains.
In his film Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, D.C. (198090), first-time director and longtime music journalist Scott Crawford tries to document the rise of D.C. hardcore and its importance to the overall indie rock movement. The director justifiably features himself in one segment of the film as his involvement merits mention, albeit humbly.
“No, I wasn’t one of the three people standing around watching early Bad Brains shows as I would’ve been under 10,” said Crawford. “But I was certainly there from about age 12 onward. It was possible to do so because of the all-ages and straightedge ideals embraced by so many bands at the time, and I was completely taken in by it and all the great music being made and the sense of community.”
Unlike the typically suburban middleto lower-class-rooted movements in urban centres such as Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Boston, the D.C. scene was made up predominantly of the children of well-heeled employees of the Washington establishment. These screaming youth hailed from tony neighbourhoods such as Georgetown and wrote less typically aggressive lyrics focusing on more worldly views.
This led to a unique sound and approach to hardcore punk, including such practices as being straightedge (no drugs or drink) and adhering to all-ages gigs with affordable pricing.
Over the course of Salad Days, Crawford manages to chart a timetable of how the scene developed from early important acts such as the Slickee Boys and Teen Idols through the violent downturn that spread across seemingly all hardcore scenes about the same time as punk violence entered headlines and TV show scripts. D.C. experienced a revitalization after the late’ 80s “Revolution Summer” which saw the rise of bands such as Rites of Spring, Jawbox and Embrace.
The film then discusses how these artists are credited (blamed?) for the emergence of the genre known today as emo. Ultimately, you see the rise of the Dischord records label and its roster coming to represent the city’s sound and the global popularity of acts such as Fugazi.
“It took me about four years of working every single day to put together the movie,” said Crawford. “Having spent my youth as preoccupied with documenting the scene to the point I could tell you where every album was recorded and who played on it and so on, just like some kids with baseball stats, I was well positioned to do this.”
Curiously, it seems many filmmakers and authors who were immersed in their respective hardcore punk scenes all decided to produce documentaries in the past decade. From Vancouver director Susan Tabata’s delightful Bloodied But Unbowed to American Hardcore, Afro-punk and others, each feature retains a fierce regionalism.
Ultimately, films such as Salad Days preserve a history that is lost almost everywhere due to gentrification. The music may remain, but as Crawford noted: “You can say this about any major city in North America, but D.C. is a very different city now to what it was and what was the 930 Club is now a J.Crew and DC Space is a Starbucks. Places I used to go as a kid are well beyond anything I could afford today.”
That last sentence could be a good chorus for a punk tune.