''You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk, 1977–1984'' is a 2007

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about

punk subculture The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of Punk rock, music, Punk ideologies, ideologies, Punk fashion, fashion, and other forms of expression, Punk visual art, visual art, dance, Punk literature, literature, and film. La ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

from 1977 through 1984. The film was written and directed by Joe Losurdo and Christina Tillman, and profiles the punk bars and local bands that gave rise to the city's punk rock scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Losurdo was the one-time bass player for the Chicago-based 1980s hardcore band, Life Sentence, although his group is not profiled in the movie. Reviewer Max Goldberg of the ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016. History The ''Bay Guar ...

'' called the film "a thrillingly exhaustive survey of early Chicago punk." ''You Weren't There'' was released on DVD in 2009. A limited edition white vinyl LP of the soundtrack was also issued and came packaged with copies of the DVD. The film was released on Vimeo in 2014.

Bands profiled in the film

* Articles Of Faith *

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded first as a solo project by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band became a trio with an initial lineup that included guitarist Santiago Dur ...

* DA! *

The Effigies The Effigies are an American punk rock band from Chicago. The band played its first show in 1980 and was active initially for approximately a decade, undergoing multiple personnel changes (with frontman John Kezdy the only constant) before disban ...

* End Result *

Mentally Ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

Naked Raygun Naked Raygun is an American punk rock band that formed in Chicago in 1980. The band was active from 1980 to 1992, along with reunion shows in 1997, and since 2006. Naked Raygun have cited various bands as influences, including Buzzcocks, Wire, ...

* Negative Element *

Rights of the Accused Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

* Savage Beliefs * Silver Abuse * Strike Under * Subverts * Tutu And The Pirates * Verböten * The Way-Outs

People interviewed in the film

* Terry Fox (Mgr. O'Banion's, Mgr. Tut's, Owner Exit, Clox) * Ken Ellis (La Mere Vipere, O'Banion's, Rainbow Club) * John Kezdy (The Effigies) *

Vic Bondi Vic Bondi is an American singer-songwriter and one of the founding members of political Chicago hardcore punk band Articles of Faith. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of AoF's original breakup Bondi was w ...

(Articles Of Faith) * Steve Bjorklund (Strike Under) * Chris Bjorklund (Strike Under) *

Jeff Pezzati Jeffrey Neal Pezzati (born February 6, 1960) is an American musician, known for being the lead singer of the Chicago punk band Naked Raygun. From 1983 to 1985, he also played bass for the band Big Black. In 1980 Pezzati was asked to audition fo ...

(Naked Raygun) *

Santiago Durango Santiago Alonso Durango (born 1957) is a Colombian–American attorney and retired musician. He is best known for his work with the 1980s punk rock groups Naked Raygun and Big Black. Life and career Durango is the son of a Colombian doctor. Hi ...

(Silver Abuse, Naked Raygun, Big Black) *

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

(Big Black) *

John Haggerty John Haggerty (born October 17, 1960, Chicago) is an influential Chicago guitarist. Haggerty was a member of Naked Raygun from 1983 to 1989. Upon leaving Naked Raygun, He formed the band Pegboy with brother Joe Haggerty, Steve Saylors, and Larr ...

(Naked Raygun) * Mike O'Connell (Rights Of The Accused) * Anthony Illarde (Rights Of The Accused) *

Jay Yuenger Jay Noel Yuenger also known by the stage name "J.", is an American rock guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal band White Zombie. Career As a teenager, Yuenger's interests quickly progressed from pop to hard rock to hardcore pu ...

(Rights Of The Accused) * Dave Springer (Tutu and the Pirates) *

Pierre Kezdy Pierre Kezdy (January 4, 1962 – October 9, 2020) was an American bass player, known for playing with various Chicago punk bands, including Naked Raygun, Pegboy, Strike Under, Arsenal, and Trial By Fire. He was also the younger brother of ...

(Strike Under, Trial By Fire, Naked Raygun) * Earl Letiecq (The Effigies) * Barry Stepe (Negative Element) * Chopper Stepe (Negative Element) * Steve Stepe (Rights Of The Accused) * Dem Hopkins (owner of the Oz bar) * Eric Nihilist (local promoter) * Rodney Anderson (Seismic Waves, Fast & Loud Radio) * Timothy Powell (sound engineer) * Terry Nelson (DJ for WZRD Chicago) * Bill Meehan (Silver Abuse, The Way-Outs) * Camilo Gonzalez (Silver Abuse, The Way-Outs, Naked Raygun) * Steve Smith (End Result) * Lorna Donley (DA!) * Brian Gay (Savage Beliefs) * Special Ed (Mentally Ill) * Sado Marquis (Mentally Ill) * Brian Green (Subverts) * Steve Ross (Subverts) *

Jason Narducy Jason V. Narducy is an Americans, American musician from Evanston, Illinois, United States. After receiving his first guitar at the age of nine Narducy started his music career, playing guitar and writing songs for his punk rock band, Verboten. ...

(Verboten)

Soundtrack

* Tutu & The Pirates - "Wham Bam

Son Of Sam David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco; June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and former United States Army, U.S. Army soldier who committed a series of stabbings and ...

" * Mentally Ill - " Gacy's Place" * Buzzards - Who Are The Boys? * The Way-Outs - "Surf Combat" * Painterband - "Reactor" * Strike Under - "Elephant's Graveyard" * DA! - "Dark Rooms" * Subverts - "Eyesore" * Toothpaste - "Spy Guy" * End Result - "They Love War" * Naked Raygun - "Tojo (demo)" * Trial By Fire - "Rocks Of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

" * Articles Of Faith - "I Got Mine" * Negative Element - "Anti-

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

" * Verboten - "Slump Shot" * Rights Of The Accused - "Fuckup" * Savage Beliefs - "Big Big Sky" * Nasdat Rebel - "Bounty" * Seismic Waves - "Lypsynch To The Go-Gos"

References

External links

* * *{{IMDb title, 1340142 Documentary films about punk music and musicians Music of Chicago Documentary films about Chicago 2007 documentary films 2007 films American documentary films 2000s American films