Product Details

• Actors: The Police, Stewart Copeland, Toyah Wilcox, Steel Pulse, Wall of Voodoo
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS/Fox
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001W0X2W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,531 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Description "Urgh, A Music War" is a celebration of the new wave music that has become one of today's most popular genres. Thirty-seven bands are featured, including the Police, Gary Numan, Devo, the Dead Kennedys, and the Cramps.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Found out why there's no Urgh! DVD yet...(read on), March 26, 2006

By 

Bill Wikstrom (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Urgh! A Music War (VHS Tape)

I Found out why there's no Urgh! DVD yet...(here's why)

Because of an exclusive contract to publish this movie on a now dead format (CED), the contracts for the individual artists are missing. Because you can't renegotiate a contract without the original to amend, no one can touch this. Its currently owned by its original producer, Miles Copeland (founder of IRS records), and he has the film of THREE songs from each band in storage, but because of the legal landlock he cannot release it. If he does some day, we can look forward to a 6 hour 2 dvd special edition.

I've seen The Cramps three songs (Human Fly/I Was A Teenage Werewolf/Tear It Up) and they rock. Of course they used the most
"outrageously" performed song for the film - while "Human Fly" was the better performance.

The XTC performance alone would make me buy this amazing film.
It's a sad that the original contracts are lost and I can only hope one day that they are found. Oh, human error!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Capture of Diverse Punk-New Wave-fest, April 15, 2004

By 

Eric DiStefano - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Urgh! A Music War (VHS Tape)

I am surprised to see a vacuum of reviews on this great video. This is an outstanding event with a variety of bands playing in different cities in the US and England roughly at the same time, presented in a festival format. By the time this video was captured, punk had already matured a number of years and new-wave had long been on board, but the bands were still young. The list of bands captures the spectrum of known bands from the early days through to its filming, including Dead Kennedies, X, Devo, Cramps, Klaus Nomi, Oingo Boingo, Orchestal Maneuvers, Surf Punks, Romeo Void, Gary Neuman, and a number of others. The variety of styles was fascinating at the time and remains so to this day as almost a documentary of the era. I recall flicking on the TV while on travel when it first came out, not knowing what I was in for, but immediately and thoroughly hooked from performance to performance. Each gave their all, even the bizarre Nomi and the downright low-life Cramps. A very satifying evening of music. Fascinating. I do hope that there is a DVD on this one some day.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Urgh, why isn't it on DVD?, January 31, 2005

By 

C. Gardner (Washington D.C., D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Urgh! A Music War (VHS Tape)

This is a fantastic compilation from what must have been a monstrous series of concerts. "Night Flight" on the USA Network used to broadcast it often on Friday and Saturday night in the late eighties. Dead Kennedys playing "Bleed For Me", Devo ("Uncontrollable Urge") Pere Ubu, Gang of Four, Gary Numan, the Cramps, and many many others, plus two songs by the Police, who organized and sponsored the event. An essential document of the 1980s New Wave/punk scene.