Customer Reviews

Another State of Mind [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Before MTV auditioned 7 people to live in an unbelievable house and call it "real", there was "Another State of Mind". Before 7 or 8 more people had the privilege to cruise in an awesome bus, there were the kids of Social Distortion and Youth Brigade clunking around in a beat-up old School Bus from the 70's!

In October of 1982, Youth Brigade lead singer Sean Stern had the idea to "tour" the U.S. along with a "pretty good" band named Social Distortion. The tour was a failure, but the footage of their adventures till this day is hilarious!

The interview of the local fans in the streets is very strong and candid. MArcell, the fellow who was run over by a car, is a very quotable individual. In DC with "Minor Threat", is classic...especially the Ice Cream shop footage in Georgetown.

A simple documentary about some punks before they became punk legends. It was very rare to see a young Mike Ness with the late Dennis Danell really working on the "Amother State of Mind" the song.

An absolute for the old-school punkers!

In 1982, a movie was recorded that would be known for years afterwards. ANOTHER STATE OF MIND is a documentary of 2 bands, Youth Brigade and Social Distortion, on tour together, going through the mishaps and turbulations that every tour has with it. The troubles include the bus breaking down everywhere, shortage of money, personality clashes, people splitting home, and so on. It's a fascinating look at youth culture as well, with interviews of young punks from all over, as well as a short bit with Minor Threat, with whom the band is staying with while stranded in Washington D.C. It's an excellent movie and highly recommended for any punk or music fan. END

Man, I had no idea that so many other people had seen Another State of Mind on Night Flight. I was 14, living in the middle of nowhere Alabama and INSTANTLY, as soon as I saw the punks on the screen, I popped a tape in the VCR cause I knew it was going to be worth preserving. That tape was my private treasure for so long. I never thought anybody else had seen it. Nobody in Alabama had anyway. Nobody that I knew. But I'd watch this almost every day for a couple years... except when they threw me in a psych ward for "disturbing behavior." I didn't even care that I was locked up, cause I knew people like Mike Ness, Shawn Stern, Ian McKaye, the roadie dude that kept fixing the bus when it broke down, Marcel all banged up but so full of hope and inspiration, even the surfer dude roadie with his daily dye jobs... and the music... it took me a couple years to track down the Mommy's Little Monster tape, and man was I thrilled when it had the title song from this movie on it... "Another State of Mind" was the first song I learned to play on the guitar cause I could watch Mike play it on the screen and know where to put my fingers... so much has happened since that fateful night watching cable while my folks were out of town, but this is where it started, thanks to Night Flight and this (now!) classic documentary of a small slice of a very large scene/culture, but what a tasty slice... made me want another, and another, and another...

Having already owning "Another State Of Mind" on VHS, the only reason I bought the DVD was to hear the commentaries.
The Mike Ness/Joe Escalante commentary is pretty funny even though Mike can' really remember much, but the Stern Brothers commentary is excellent.
They point out all the fake parts of the film and the wrong locations.
I haven't listened to the filmakers yet.
It's such a shame that they shot so much footage, yet this is all of the extra features we get.
Oh well, it's still a classic.
I wish the Decline Of Civilization would hurry up and be released!

I saw this on Night Flight when I was like fourteen and was totally hooked. I have been looking for it for a long time. A great 80's Punk film with vintage footage of some great bands. I was always a huge Minor Threat fan as well as Social Distortion, so this film had to be in my collection. More kids from this generation need to see this film so they can see what "real" independent music and touring was all about. I often wonder what ever happened to some of the individuals that were featured in the film; Shaun Stern, how about an update?
...

Just to see little Mikey Ness with no tattoos and Ian McKaye happily scooping ice cream is worth the trip alone. Also watch for Mike Brinson, the "Roadie Extrordanaire" who gets majorly "bummed out" because nobody is "flowing him any brews" and he can't wait to "go back to the beach" dude. And the psycho-guy who goes off about The Cramps. There is also some really cool footage of punkers pulling off stuff that would never fly today at alternative rock shows, such as slamming and skanking on stage with the bands (look for the uncredited Circle Jerks and Bad Religion), and the non-stop acrobatic, lemmings like stagediving. The most inexplicable and dopey part of this film however involves a scene where three kids "pratice" stagediving into thier pool. With all the legendary and infamous characters who used to inhabit the LA punk scene to choose from ,the filmakers chose to concentrate on these three .... Oh well I guess they were just "living thier lifestyle".

ASM is a wonderfully engaging documentary on the DIY-ethic of early 80s punk. The filmmakers do an excellent job of getting into the heads of the band members and the punks in the various cities on the tour. You can't help but admire (and somewhat sympathize with) the punks interviewed, who speak sincerely about why they became a part of the scene. This video is an absolute must-have for old fans of Youth Brigade, Social Distortion and Minor Threat (or even Fugazi). Two of my favorites parts: the classic scene in which some punk calmly and rationally demonstrates various methods of slamming and later in the film when Ian is shown scooping ice cream on the job at Hagen-Daaz. A classic.

Another State of Mind shows some of the true beginnings of hardcore punk in America. I first saw the film back in 1988 or so on USA, and imediately went out and bought everything I could find by Youth Brigade, Social Distortion and Minor Threat. No other "punk" film had shown the true punk rock culture, from squatters to straight edge, as well as A.S.o.M. If you have never seen the film, it is a must, and if you saw it years ago, pick it up and watch it again. It will teach everyone that there was punk rock long before the Offspring and Greenday.

Another State of Mind proves to be an excellent documentary exposing the ideals and values of punks in the early 80's. The film does a great job of capturing the spirit of the movement and what individuals, who were involved, thought about their way of life. The flim also handles the other side of the idealized values of punks well, as it displays the realities of this society and members. The question of who can preach about punk ethics when there's no food in your stomach, is correctly stated (and captured)by Shawn Stern of Youth Brigade. The film unquestionably exposes the inevitable tragedies of the 10,000 mile tour and does a great job in tying the tragedy to somewhat of a learning experience, and thus triumph. Another State of Mind is a must see/must have for anyone who has ever questioned the society in which they live in. With themes ranging from the disregard of money, to the the ideals of straight edge, this documentary covers the entire spectrum of the pleasures and labors of punk rock.

Have to admit of all the punk DVDs out these days this has got to be my favorite, not least because of the content of the DVD but the commentary at the end from both the directors and members of Youth Brigade and Social Distortion.

I can only assume that some who have reviewed this DVD didnt watch the extra footage because for example the scene where the song 'another state of mind' was written was staged, other scenes such as the video of the Youth Brigade violenc has crowd shots from Circle Jerks amongst others mostly because the directors couldnt find good enough footage from Youth Brigade shows.

Its great to hear the 2 different perspectives from the directors who while wanting to make a loyal film on punk culture had to keep in mind that they had to sell the thing and they had contracts to stick to while band members complained about how many scene were unrealistic. Scenes such as endless shots of toothless punks to make the film look more 'real' the shot of the band sneaking in the back door of a show because the 'jocks' were waiting for them (in actual fact the 2 shots were from 2 different shows and while the band snuck in the back door the camera crew went in the front braving the crowd! Other great things to look for are the punk chick/model from DC. Realy interesting to hear the contrasting comments. The band who deeply disliked that she was even in the film as she was unknown in the DC punk scene while the directors disliking the snobbish attitude of punks towards her pointing out that this was everything punk was not supposed to be!

Great to see Social Distortion live though, one of the great bands of punk. Hear they always tried to sound like Americas answer to the Clash, not so sure about that but they were a great band.

Great DVD, one you will watch and watch again. One point though, dont know why this is featured as having Ian McKaye in it as though he had some leading role. He is in it for about 5 minutes. If you are buying it to see some early Minor Threat there is about 2 minutes from a live show when the sound went and the crowd sings along. Other than that you will be very disappointed.