Urgh! A Music War (1982)
Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Magazine, The Go-Go's, Toyah Willcox, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, X, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, 999, UB40, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Police. These were many of the most popular groups on the New Wave scene; in keeping with the spirit of the scene, the film also features several less famous acts, and one completely obscure group, Invisible Sex, in what appears to be their only public performance.
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Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Good start, but then it gets ruined
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
I think this rates higher than the collective score, but that's just my opinion. The previous comments from The Police fan aside, this is a great collection of live performances. I like The Police, but if it weren't included on URGH! it would be fine by me. It does look dated, but so do performances by Elvis and The Beatles and nobody complains about that. It's worth looking at again if you've seen it and seeing for the first time if you haven't. If you like the New-Wave-Post-Punk world of the early 80's I think you will rate it higher. The Fleshtones, Echo & The Bunnyman, Wall of Voodoo, Devo, Gary Numan and OMD are favourites of mine. The Cramps are a must see. I've seen them live and they are ultra weird and great performers. From what I remember, the soundtrack has more songs than the movie did, but I may be mistaken.
Although it may seem dated now, in its time this was a collection of some of the best bands that were "out there," the most commercial being the Police and the Go-Go's. It also offers a very rare insight into seeing XTC live [which hasn't occurred since this video was released.]Sadly impossible to find now, it was really worthwhile to see in the early 1980's. Maybe someone like Rhino will pick up on this and release it again...
From London to La, we are treated to some of rock's all-time greatest bands performing , unfortunately, one song each, during a great time in rock music: the post-punk era of the early '80s. You'll love some and you'll hate some, but you definitely won't be bored. Watch out for X, the go-gos, Echo and the Bunnymen, Oingo Boingo, Joan Jett, Cramps, Alley cats, Magazine, Au Pairs, Police, Wall of Voodoo, Fleshtones,999,XTC, Surf Punks and on and on and on. Great!
By that time, my friends were listening to ugly music like Styx or Emerson Lake and Palmer. They thought I was kind of crazy to listen to X and the Cramps. I had also the big chance to have this film on tape. I also got the double LP of the music. Some of this stuff is still good to listen to (Wall of Voodoo, X, Fleshtones, Police, Cramps) but to see this film is also an incridible experience. See zany John Otway! But for me, the Cramps performance of Tear it up is one the greatest moment of pure rock and roll catch on film. And who was that strange girl of the Alley Cats? Who were the Alley Cats? Their song is amazing! Seems like all these people have a lot of fun back then.