I love The Clash. I love the Ramones. I love the Pretenders. I love Lou Reed. I love punk rock, so this was a thrill. Punk, pure unadulterated, unapologetic pink was about rebellion, Punk was about saying "fuck you" to the mainstream, it was about rebelling against conventions and restriction, it was about experimenting, and paving your own path; everything I love. Before it became a commercial cash cow, Punk was the anti-culture, the parent's worst fear, hell, as one of the rockers say here, they were so rebellious, they were rebellious against the rebels (i.e. Hippies), and hated how it became in the later life. This more than just an ode to punk rock, this is more of a wake for it.

Because in the end, every rocker whose interviewed here, admits, with a sad gloom, that punk has died and been commercialized for today's generation, which takes the documentary in a whole new direction by analyzing poseur bands (ahem Good Charlotte, Linkin Park) that have dared to call themselves punk yet really have no sense of what it means. Punk was a lot more than rebelling, it was about making good music that were expressions of artists that didn't want to adhere to the business rules. This really high energy doc really manages to capture the spirit of what the artists were trying to capture with their art.

This profiles (with exception to Nirvana) the true auteur's of punk, and all the usual suspects from The Ramones, to The Clash right down to The New York Dolls, all of whom really deserve their due as legends. The revolution of punk became so great, they caused a stir in  contemporary America, even being touted as communists, and as always, the rebels went along with the rumor as did The New York Dolls who pretended to be communist for shock value at one point. We get to see everyone who caused the punk movement from people like MC5, and Lou Reed to others like The Pretenders, and The Talking Heads.

We also manage to gain some relative insight in to the punk movement such as the controversial artists, government and conservative backlash, to some amusing nuggets like how everyone thought The Ramones were horrible musicians in the beginning, and how Johnny Lydon would smash filled beer cans against his face and spit blood at the audience, but as per the wake, we also get to hear about the inevitable commercialization and sheer over saturation and poseurs whom used punk as a way to play dress up and pretend to be enraged, all of whom are properly mocked and dismissed by the artists interviewed here.

Ultimately, they question about how punk, like all revolutions, became so saturated with poseurs and it eventually became nasty and superficial where nothing but screaming howling bands ruled the scene escorting the older artists out of the scene and eventually just faded away in to becoming the thing it hated most, the idea inevitably became the institution. The documentary not only talks about punk, it mourns it in the somber finale and just shows that punk has died with the people falling asleep to the revolution they set forth.

With "Punk: Attitude" you're really not going to learn anything you don't already know, as far as bands from that movement. There is never really a band profiled here that haven't already been credited before millions of times, thus the documentary fails to really present us with refreshing examinations of punk. Meanwhile, as it does profile the great artists, it inadvertently chastises "The Pretenders" and "The Talking Heads" for their commercial appeal and for being too talented, thus we never get to see as much of them as we would like.

While the documentary does have a great flow, it's main mistake is that it lumps Nirvana in with the rest of the gang. Nirvana at the level of The Pretenders, Lou Reed, The Ramones? Are you high? Nirvana is one of the most overrated bands in twenty years with music that border from decent to incredibly overrated, and painted a musical style that just wasn't unique. And while this goes from touting amazing innovative bands to almost touting poseur cheesy pop punk bands like Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, and Nirvana, you just couldn't help but feel a sense of pity as the people interviewed almost struggled to cling on to the denial that these bands were punk in some form or another when, really, they weren't.

Though the film suffers from touting really bad bands like Limp Bizkit, and Blink 182 in the end, "Punk: Attitude" is a basically high energy, well thought out and very fascinating documentary about the birth, evolution, and death of punk rock in its unflinching form.

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