Downtown Detroit’s Cass Corridor, a dilapidated street running parallel to Woodward avenue from the campus of Wayne State University to the Detroit River, is the setting for most of “Dope, Hookers and Pavement: The Real and Imagined History of Detroit Hardcore” – a documentary about the early days of the influential and celebrated Detroit hardcore punk scene. The title is appropriate as the street was known as one of the darkest, most dangerous in the city, rampant with prostitution, drugs, and violence. The film, by Windsor, Canada’s Otto Buj, premiered at the Freep Film Festival, a documentary-centric event in its second run online thanks to the pandemic (see my review of the Suzi Q doc a few months back). It will be available to the public on January 1st, 2020 at www.detroithardcoremovie.com.
The film is a bit of a snapshot of a moment in time – seemingly a few months – centered mostly around The Freezer Theatre – by all counts a dilapidated, concrete dive that served as ground zero for bands like Negative Approach, The Fix, and the Necros to set Detroit as the pioneering spot between the coasts for the genre. It’s a bit dry as documentaries go. There’s a sort of “having a beer in the garage with my old pals” feeling to most of the interviews, lending both an informal but very “Detroit” and very personal angle.
Highlights include extensive memories from Minor Threat’s Ian MacKaye, one of the most prominent figures in hardcore history, who shares vivid stories of his times at the club touring from DC. The star of the film, however, is Negative Approach (later Laughing Hyenas and Easy Action) front-man and Detroit rock institution John Brannon, who’s articulate, animated, and detailed storytelling really makes the movie. It would have been nice to hear from the Necros’ Barry Henssler, and footage from the era is limited to a few camcorder-shot shows, but it’s nonetheless a thorough and inclusive panorama of footage and interviews.
The documentary takes place before my time in the city, but I’ve been hearing these stories since I moved here. The history lesson was invaluable, and as a fan and member of the Detroit music scene for a few decades myself, I really enjoyed it. Today the Cass Corridor, and many other parts of Detroit, are far from the once apocalyptic landscape accurately portrayed in the film. New arenas, restaurants and hip neighborhoods now stand where heads were busted and bands were ripped off 40 years ago. If you’re interested in the earliest days of hardcore punk, Detroit music, or just looking to expand your horizons and get an education about an influential, insane, and powerful music scene that existed for a short time, check it out.
If the Detroit doc was a bit dry, “Crock of Gold - A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan” is the opposite - produced by Johnny Depp (a longtime close friend of Shane’s) and rife with animations, historical footage, and multiple interview settings. Depp appears in and out, hanging with the MacGowans, drinking wine, and reminiscing about the old days.
MacGowan, if you don’t know, was the singer/songwriter for London punks The Pogues, who took traditional Irish music and blended it with punk rock to create a genre all their own that would eventually be adopted and emulated to varying degrees by current bands like the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. They were known for obnoxiously drunk and rowdy, but insanely fun and brilliant shows. They became amazing musicians, which also helped to set them apart, but it was the incredible, raw, visceral, and beautiful songs of MacGowan that was their greatest asset, and ultimately the catalyst to the success that became the albatross that sent them into more commercial directions, and Shane deep into excess, addiction, and resentment as a silent protest.
The film traces Shane’s roots in rural Ireland through his countryside childhood and eventually to the Dark Streets of London where his life changed when, after a stint in a psychiatric hospital, he discovered the Sex Pistols and became Shane O’Hooligan – a prominent figure in the budding punk scene. The early years with the Pogues were the peak; 3 amazing albums cresting with their biggest hit Fairytale of New York, before the decent into the abyss started. Shane slurs candidly about his sacking from the group (“What took ya so long?”), his drug use, his love for his bandmates and friends, and his current creative dry spell, complete with much needed subtitles.
The many faces of Shane MacGowan
Noticeably absent were any contributions from the other Pogues or longtime friends Sinéad O’Connor and Nick Cave, and any discussion of events of the last 25 years. It was probably a calculated decision to leave out the darkest days of an incoherent and comatose MacGowan propped up in front of a microphone for drunken frat-boy crowds across the world to encouragingly enable and laugh at, or an exceptionally scary period where OD’d bodies from within his inner-circle were accumulating before O’Connor had him arrested in a last ditch effort to save his life. A segment about the triumphant Pogues reunion tours during the 00s would have been a good counterpoint to those tragedies, and also could have served as a document of the last time we saw Shane standing upright (he’s now confined to a wheelchair) and performing with any semblance of animation and energy.
In the end, while the high-points were certainly celebrated, it’s a mostly sad look at what a life of unimaginable quantities of drugs and booze have done to one of the most creative, beautiful, and prolific minds of the 20th century. I’ve been a huge fan for a long time – and not all, but a good part of this documentary has been covered in previous films about Shane and The Pogues. Still, it was a must-see for me and a well done, thorough look at an incredibly interesting and unique life.
Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic
