The most obvious fact about Fishbone is also the most fascinating—they were a bunch of black dudes who played music with widespread, sub-cultural appeal without forsaking their blackness. Getting their start in the late 1980s, these South-Central kids wowed punk audiences with their frenetic blend of thrash, punk, ska and funk and influenced a boatload of bands in the process from Primus to Ice T. Their horn section elevated listeners to the clouds, then dropped them into a tense world of sonic madness. Filmmakers Leve Anderson and Chris Metzler have delved deep into the Fishbone archives and meticulously pieced together a grand, sweeping narrative chronicling the band’s struggles with the record business, social strife and mental illness, given voice by Laurence Fishburne.
Fri., Oct. 21, 11 p.m., 2011
