No movement springs up overnight, and as tied to the
eighties/nineties as the Queercore scene seems to be, there had been rumbles
for decades in the films of Kenneth Anger and John Waters, Flaming Creatures, The Rocky
Horror Picture Show, Jayne County, Buzzcocks, and the fashions of Vivian
Westwood. However, according to Yony Leyser’s 2017 documentary Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution, it
was Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Jones’s button-pushing ’zine J.D.s that gave form to the movement and inspired a gang of young
punks to give it a sound. And so came Tribe 8, Pansy Division, the spectacular
Team Dresch, and a host of groups willing to actualize J.D.s vision… and often make it more specifically political.
While Queercore is
superficially a rock doc, it makes a much wider point about a movement with
nothing but disdain for limitations. Queercore was a philosophy that reached
into all corners of art, and for a lot of people, it was a way of life. It
wasn’t just a way to stand apart from straights in the “not-gay” sense of the
term. It was a way to stand apart from any limitation conservative society—gay
or not gay—considers acceptable. So Queercore culture didn’t just embrace the
favorite music of straight boys—Rock & Roll—but it might also embrace such transgressions
as porno, violent imagery, and the stereotype of predatory homosexuals while
gobbing in the face of assimilation. What’s punker than that?
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is highly
educational, studying the genesis of an important though rarely discussed
tributary of rock history as well as exploring how it grew, flourished, and
lives on today. It’s also a shitload of fun as we see and hear the bands in
action, and view clips of some pretty hilarious short films that sprung from
the movement. Aimee Goguen’s ’zine-like animations convey the spirit of the
topic with wild flair.
One strange move was to cut Jayne County’s crucial (and
really, really funny) talking head out of the discussion, especially since Leyser
filmed her discussing gay artists of the original NYC punk scene, which is a
topic barely touched on in the film. Fortunately, that twenty two-minute
interview is included among the bonus interviews on the new blu-ray edition of Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution.
Extra interviews with John Waters (delightful as always), Dennis Cooper, Kim
Gordon, and Don Bolles from The Germs round out the supplementary features.
