''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' is a 2006 American

rockumentary A concert film or concert movie is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert, by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history One ...

about the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, Popular music, mainstream popular music culture. Underground styles lack the commercial success of popular music movements, and may involve the use of avant-g ...

scene in 2006 directed by

Sean Carnage Sean Carnage, born Sean Carney, is an American director and producer living in Los Angeles. He is also a concert promoter, hosting "Sean Carnage Monday Nights" at Pehrspace in Echo Park, Carnage has also hosted his "Monday nights" in the past at L ...

. In the style of ''

Urgh! A Music War ''Urgh! A Music War'' is a 1982 British concert film featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk bands and artists. Filmed in August to September 1980 it was directed by Derek Burbidge and produced by Michael White and Lynda ...

'', ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' is a series of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

musical performances and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

pieces, with minimal narration. The film was conceived as a way to systematically document the music of the entire L.A. underground music scene. On March 6, 2020, ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' was reissued with remastered sound and picture.

Development

All of the performances in ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' were filmed on March 6, 2006, at all-ages performance space Il Corral in

Hollywood, CA Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. The young performers were required to play for less than two minutes, with no re-takes. The results were captured with four digital video cameras and a professional sound crew. Over 52 new bands were filmed. Forty performances are contained in the ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' feature documentary. The other twelve performances are available as extras on the ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

which was released in late 2006 by the

Long Beach, CA Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter city, Long Beach is the 7th-most populous ci ...

-based label, Sounds Are Active Films. Among the most prominent groups are established L.A. underground bands

Abe Vigoda Abraham Vigoda (February 24, 1921 – January 26, 2016) was an American actor known for his portrayals of Salvatore Tessio in ''The Godfather'' (1972) and Phil Fish in both ''Barney Miller'' (1975–1977, 1982) and ''Fish'' (1977–1978). His ...

, Anavan, Bizzart,

Captain Ahab Captain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'' (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship '' Pequod''. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg and ...

, Explogasm, Fireworks, Halloween Swim Team, Harassor, Three ( \\\ ),

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, I Heart Lung, and Toxic Loincloth. There are also solo and duo performances by members of acclaimed bands Mika Miko, Friends Forever and

Child Pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

. The last performance by legendary Los Angeles band

Wives A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On th ...

is also included. Director Sean Carnage, the movie's crew and featured performer Rob Williams (who is listed in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

as the fastest man in the world to make a sandwich with his feet) were producers at

Q Television Network Q Television Network was a shortlived American cable television channel which aired programming targeted to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual audiences.David Bauder"Three new television networks seeks (sic) out gay and lesbian audiences" '' The Da ...

, a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

cable network which entered bankruptcy the day ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' was shot. On March 6, 2020, ''40 Bands 80 Minutes!'' was reissued with remastered sound and picture.

Musical performances

References

External links

The Official 40 Bands 80 Minutes! webpage
* {{IMDb title, 0918484, 40 Bands 80 Minutes! 2006 films 2006 documentary films Documentary films about punk music and musicians 2000s English-language films American musical documentary films English-language documentary films 2000s American films