Another State of Mind (1984)

Youth Brigade was a California punk band whose leader, Shawn Stern, was also founder of Better Youth Organization, which promoted low-cost, non-profit punk rock shows on the West Coast and tried to encourage positive community activism within the punk rock scene. In hopes of spreading the word about both Youth Brigade and BYO, Stern organized an ambitious United States tour in the summer of 1982, booking 30 dates in 35 days with co-headliners Social Distortion. Stern bought an old school bus, the bands fixed it up, and they set out to conquer America on a low budget. As you might expect, things didn't go quite as planned; the bands got stiffed on payment for several shows (at one gig, their fee came in the form of rolls of pennies), the bus often broke down, the punishing schedule and low pay was more than most of the musicians could deal with, and the tour broke down at about the halfway point, with most of the participants hopping a Greyhound back to California following the bus' final meltdown in Washington, D.C. A camera crew tagged along for the tour, and Another State of Mind captures this noble folly on videotape. Along the way, Youth Brigade and Social Distortion play several numbers (complete with subtitles if you can't understand the vocals), the bands visit a punk rock house in Calgary (complete with its own skateboard ramp), they meet up with D.C. punk legends Minor Threat (who also perform onscreen), and end up spending the night at a Christian youth hostel for wayward punks. Youth Bridage broke up not long after Another State of Mind was completed, but they reformed in the 1990s and released several new albums, while Social Distortion eventually signed to a major label and became one of the biggest bands on the American punk scene; Minor Threat frontman Ian McKaye would also go on to bigger things as guitarist and singer with Fugazi. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi