''1991: The Year Punk Broke'', released theatrically in 1992, is a documentary directed by

Dave Markey David Markey (born December 3, 1963 in Burbank, California, United States) is an American film director. Biography As a self-taught filmmaker and musician, David Markey directed, produced, edited, and photographed most of his films, the majori ...

, featuring American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band Sonic Youth on tour in Europe in 1991. While Sonic Youth is the focus of the documentary, the film also gives attention to

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlo ...

, Babes in Toyland, Gumball and

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United S ...

. Also featured in the film are

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, ...

Dan Peters Daniel Joe Peters (born August 18, 1967) is the drummer for Mudhoney, having played with them since their formation in 1988. Prior to Mudhoney, he joined Bundle of Hiss when he was fifteen years old. He was also briefly the drummer for Nirva ...

and

Matt Lukin Matthew David Lukin (born August 16, 1964) is an American former musician, best known as a bassist and founding member of the Melvins and Mudhoney. Career Melvins (1983–1987) Lukin co-founded the Melvins in 1983 with guitarist/vocalist Bu ...

of Mudhoney, and

roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...

Joe Cole, who was murdered in a robbery three months after the tour ended. The film is dedicated to Cole. Several scenes in the film involve re-enactments and references to scenes from the contemporaneous Madonna tour documentary, ''

Truth or Dare Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, ...

'', such as Gordon complaining about "industry people" in the front row, or Cobain, introduced as "Costner" telling Sonic Youth that their show was "neat". At a screening of the film at the 2008

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival in Monticello, New York, Markey mentioned that the working title for the film was ''Tooth or Hair'', as a further play on this connection. A home video VHS was released by the David Geffen Company on April 13, 1993. The film was again re-released on DVD on September 13, 2011 by the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Cast

; Sonic Youth *

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Mo ...

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth (guitar and vocals). In 2004, ''Rolling ...

* Steve Shelley ; Babes in Toyland: *

Lori Barbero Lori Anne Barbero (born November 27, 1961) is an American musician and singer who rose to notoriety as the drummer of the Minneapolis-based punk rock band Babes in Toyland, which she joined in 1987. After the dissolution of Babes in Toyland in ...

Kat Bjelland Katherine Lynne Bjelland (born December 9, 1963) is an American musician. She rose to prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band Babes in Toyland, which she formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1987. ...

* Michelle Leon ;

: * Mike Johnson *

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo art ...

* Murph ; Gumball: * Don Fleming *Jay Spiegel *Eric Vermillion ; Mudhoney: *

;

: * Kurt Cobain * Dave Grohl *

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician and activist. He was the bassist and co-founder of the rock band Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the band Nirvana in 1987 along with drummer Aaron Burckhard, wh ...

; Ramones * C. J. Ramone *

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the R ...

* Johnny Ramone *

Marky Ramone Marc Steven Bell (born July 15, 1952) is an American drummer. He began playing in hard rock bands in the New York City area, notably Dust and Estus. He was asked to drum for punk rock band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. He replaced drummer Tom ...

;Others *Nic Close *

Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger in the Premier League, Ligue 1, League One and United Soccer League. He is regarded as on ...

*Dave Kendall *

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as ...

*Craig Montgomery *

Bob Mould Robert Arthur Mould (born October 16, 1960) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s. Early years Born in Malone, ...

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

*Susanne Sasic *Peter Van Der Velde - tour manager *Dave Evans - driver

Songs included in the film

The songs included in the film are: # Sonic Youth - “Schizophrenia” #

- “

Negative Creep "Negative Creep" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the seventh song on their debut album ''Bleach'', released in June 1989. Origin and recording Written by Cobain in 1988, "Negati ...

” #Sonic Youth - “Brother James” #Nirvana - “School” #Sonic Youth - “ Teen Age Riot” #

- “

Freak Scene "Freak Scene" is a song by American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., the opening track on the group's third studio album '' Bug'' (1988). Written and produced by frontman J Mascis, the song was recorded at Fort Apache Studios by engineers Paul ...

” # Babes In Toyland - “Dust Cake Boy” #Sonic Youth - “

Dirty Boots "Dirty Boots" is a song by American rock band Sonic Youth from their sixth studio album '' Goo'' (1990). It was released as the third and final single from the album in April, 1991, by DGC Records. The song was written and produced by Sonic Y ...

” #Nirvana - “ Endless, Nameless” #Sonic Youth - “I Love Her All The Time” # Gumball - “Pre” #Dinosaur Jr. - “ The Wagon” #Sonic Youth - “Mote” #Nirvana - “

Smells Like Teen Spirit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled ''Neve ...

” #

- “Commando” #Sonic Youth - “ Kool Thing” #Nirvana - “

Polly Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (name), Molly (a diminutive of Mary (name), Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina (given name), Polina, Polona (given name), Polona, Paula (g ...

” #Sonic Youth - “Expressway To Yr. Skull”

Tour dates

The film takes place over the course of Sonic Youth and Nirvana's 1991 European tour. The European dates, given at the beginning of the film, are as follows:

Charts

Original 1993 VHS release

2011 DVD re-release

References

External links

* * * * * * *
Dave Markey's 1991 tour diary
{{Authority control 1992 films Films set in 1991 American documentary films Documentary films about punk music and musicians Alternative rock Grunge Nirvana (band) Sonic Youth 1992 documentary films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films