Generally unheralded at the time, the early-80s Hardcore Punk Rock scene gave birth to much of the rock music and culture that followed. There would be no Nirvana, Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers were it not for Hardcore pioneers such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat.

Hardcore was more than music — it was a social movement created by Reagan-era misfit kids. The participants constituted a tribe unto themselves — some finding a voice, others an escape in the hard-edged music; some sought a better world, others were just angry and wanted to raise hell.

AMERICAN HARDCORE traces this lost subculture, from its early roots to its extinction. The film is based on Steven's book AMERICAN HARDCORE: A Tribal History (Feral House), which detailed the scene's rise and fall, and came out in 2001.

AMERICAN HARDCORE is a testament to the power of youth, and an exploration of an unheralded subculture. Hardcore punk rock was more than just loud, fast music — it was a way of life. Bands featured in American Hardcore include: Adolescents, Agnostic Front, Articles Of Faith, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Battalion Of Saints, Big Boys, Black Flag, Channel 3, Circle Jerks, C.O.C. (Corrosion Of Conformity), Cro-Mags, D.I., Dicks, Die Kreuzen, D.O.A., D.R.I., DYS, The Faith, Fartz, Flipper, The Freeze, Gang Green, Gwar, Heart Attack, Iron Cross, Jerry's Kids, McRad, Marginal Man, MDC (Millions of Dead Cops), Middle Class, Minor Threat, Minutemen, The Misfits, The Mob, Mr. Epp, Murphy's Law, Necros, Negative Approach, Negative FX, Nig-Heist, Poison Idea, Really Red, The Replacements, Scream, 7 Seconds, S.O.A., SS Decontrol, Suicidal Tendencies, Teen Idles, TSOL, Undead, Unseen Force, Vatican Commandos, Wasted Talent, Wasted Youth, White Cross, Void, YDI, Youth Brigade, and Zero Boys.