There’s a treasure trove of goodies to be found on [link]player.bfi.org.uk/collections/other-grooves[/link] - “an eccentric excursion to the furthest fringes of youth culture and alternative lifestyles, as captured in archive film and TV.”
The most essential from an Irish perspective is probably Shellshock Rock, John T. Davis’ seminal 1979 punk doc which features well-known acts like The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers alongside the less well-remembered Parasites, Victim and Rhesus Negative.
As Rudi mainman Brian Young points out, “The question stopped being ‘Catholic or Protestant?’ and became ‘The Clash or the Sex Pistols?’”
Aging spiky-hairs will also enjoy Punk Can Take It, an early 1979 run out for Julian Temple whose just shot The Original Of The Species with some young whippersnapper by the name of Keith Richards for BBC4.
Some of the footage is behind a paywall but, hey, let’s not be tight here!