Product Details

• Actors: Naked Raygun, Big Black, Articles Of Faith, Mentally Ill, Subverts
• Directors: Joe Losurdo, Christina Tillman
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Factory 25
• DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002IJQ2YY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,607 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

YOU WEREN'T THERE:HISTORY OF CHICAGO - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Aptly Titled, But I Feel Like I Didn't Miss Much..., February 19, 2011

By 

SteveBailey - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84 (DVD)

I bought this one on a whim while parusing through the musical docs at Newbury Comics, and having gained some interest in what Chicago was up to after reading some of the literature on the topic (Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, American Hardcore (Second Edition): A Tribal History). I had not heard about this documentary coming out and was kind of excited to see one that wasn't just reiterating the overwhelming opinion that the only good music from the period came out of NYC and LA.

Having watched it, I give it three stars. "Decent, but not great."

Why?

Let's start with the positives.

The interviews were pretty great, Albini is as usual highly quotable (albiet incredibly irritating, so the story about him getting dropped on his head is hilarious for anyone who's ever had the desire to do so themselves to the much-lauded/hated personality)and Vic Bondi of Articles of Faith was also well spoken. It was kind of funny to see that old local rivalries (i.e. between Articles of Faith and The Effigies) apparently still exist for some reason, as Bondi and his counterpart in the Effegies John Kezdy made some Bird/Johnson style jabs at each other during their respective interview segments. Old habits die hard apparently.
I was glad to see that the doc also covered a lot of the lesser known earlier era of punk rock from the city (pre-1980, therefore pre-hardcore), and spent some time on similarly lesser known groups (the pre-teen hardcore band Verboten was especially interesting to see, as usually groups of that age range didn't survive to put out records). Good times. We also get some of the early history of Touch and Go, and as with most hardcore or punk docs the live footage is pretty intense and enjoyable.

Now the bad news:
As seems to ALWAYS happen with these docs (and I especially note the Punk rock docs for this, although the 60s rock docs do it too to some extent), the story ends with a bunch of balding 50 year old men bemoaning that "no one who gets into this stuff now will ever understand it" and that "it's dead and everything new is garbage blah blah blah". It is a very uninteresting and narrow minded perspective for a scene that was supposedly about "no rules", and to quote Mike Watt from his own doc We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (worth checking out, BTW), "You can't help when you were born, and what you are into. Some people were born before, some after, some during." Needless to say, after hearing about how exciting it all was, it's a real downer at the end of the doc to hear them all talking this way and essentially discouraging anyone with an interest in the music to continue in their footsteps in any way whatsoever.
In a related problem, the doc also does end too soon in the timeline, IMO, as echoed by another reviewer. Things stop at about 1984 or so when hardcore ran out of steam (i.e. when all the actually interesting music started to pick up from the remnants, i.e. later Big Black and so on) which seems to miss a lot of the cool things musically that happened in the city later on. No good.

All of this being said, if you want a cursory overview of the Chicago underground rock scene from this period, You Weren't There is probably worth the viewing. Maybe on Netflix rather than purchasing (although the packing and included booklet is nicely put together) as I imagine mine probably won't be watched again any time soon. For those who want to learn more, the abovementioned books are great and of course, most of the records live on today on CD at your local indie record store.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, great transaction!!!, February 15, 2010

By 

Jordan T. Allen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84 (DVD)

Movie's great for anyone interested in punk rock history, especially if you come from the midwest. At times the people spotlighted can seem a little immature as they vent their still fuming feuds on camera but the information passed on makes up for it. Bonus features rule! And are hilarious!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wasn't there, May 31, 2010

By 

punker in Chicago (Chicago,Il) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84 (DVD)

This is where it all began as far as Chicago punk goes. I think that they did the best job possible. If you like punk and if you are from Chicago buy it. This is for real, the people interviewed I have seen at punk concerts. If you are not from Chicago buy it as well. It will give you a different view from a different city.