Rockthology 1-Kings of Alternative (1993)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1993
Running Time	109:53
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Kurt Cobain Dave Grohl Dave Mustaine Rob Zombie Perry Farrell Flea Mike Patton Roddy Bottum
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$14.95	Music	Nirvana Faith No More White Zombie

    What we have here is two editions of those old Hard 'N Heavy video magazines, circa 1993, repackaged under a different title. I used to listen to most of these bands back in high school, and some of them I still listen to - Megadeth, Faith No More and White Zombie all remain favourites of mine, so I approached this disc with some interest. While I found some of the interviews mildly enlightening, I was disappointed to find not a single song presented in its entirety, apart from an average live performance by Mother Love Bone.

    The first half of the feature opens with Jane's Addiction mastermind Perry Farrell discussing his recent album Ritual de lo Habitual. He emotionally relays the band's recent management problems and how it has deeply affected his creativity and self esteem.

    Next cab off the rank is Red Hot Chili Peppers, who discuss their Mother's Milk album while making countless anal references. I'm not familiar with this album and I found the mix of rap and rock here to sound very dated. They never were my cup of tea, anyway.

    Another of my favourites, The Black Crowes, show us their video for the song Twice as Hard. Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson discuss their excellent debut album Shake Your Money Maker and how they found their way to American Recordings via the company head Rick Rubin.

    A band who needs no introduction, Nirvana members Krist Novselic, Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain offer nothing but sarcastic responses to the poor interviewer's attempts. Krist Novselic in particular displays his future political direction.

    The highlight of the disc for me, Faith No More members Mike Patton and Roddy Bottum, jerk about with the interviewer, intercutting with the Falling to Pieces video clip. Mike discusses his other project, Mr Bungle and how he manages to juggle the two bands.

    A couple of bands I had never heard of, Chainsaw Kittens and My Sister's Machine, address their Seattle beginnings and the inevitable comparisons with Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

    Finally, a short haired Dave Mustaine and Nick Menza of Megadeth discuss their recent album at the time, Countdown to Extinction, and more specifically the song Symphony of Destruction. There was some controversy behind this video on its release, with MTV refusing to give it airplay due to its depiction of an assassination. Mustaine also heavily discusses the politics of the early 90s George Bush era.

    The second half features more of Nirvana discussing their extensive touring schedule and the Come As You Are video.

    White Zombie members Rob Zombie and Sean Yseult talk about the band's troubled beginnings, in between brief grabs of the Thunderkiss '65 video clip, which was heavily inspired by Russ Meyer's masterpiece Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

    Motorhead's Lemmy Killmeister offers some last minute romance advice, followed by a live performance by Mother Love Bone. Two guitarists from this band, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, went on to form the highly successful Pearl Jam.

Video

    This video transfer is sourced from an analogue videotape, hence the full frame aspect of 1.29:1. The White Zombie video for Thunderkiss '65 is presented in 1.85:1, however there is no 16x9 enhancement.

    There is a consistent wash of grain over the image, with little fine detail or clarity to be seen. Some low level noise is evident in the transfer, as can be seen in the background behind the closing credits.

    There don't appear to be any video compression problems, however there are some slight film artefacts now and then. I also noted a couple of very minor analogue tape errors, which is hardly surprising.

    Most colours are slightly muted, but don't appear too badly rendered. Some slight bleeding can be seen on occasion, however unless you're actively looking for it I doubt it will be a problem.

    There are no subtitles on this single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one soundtrack available; a stereo Dolby Digital 2.0 stream encoded at 448Kb/s.

    The English dialogue is generally audible and doesn't present any major problems. Audio sync is acceptable, but not always perfect.

    I noticed a couple of minor audio dropouts, such as at 35:21 but these were very brief. Given that they occurred during music, they were quite noticeable.

    Music samples are given the full stereo treatment, but lack any real depth or brightness. I compared this DVD soundtrack to a few CDs in my collection - ranging from White Zombie to Nirvana and Megadeth - and found them all to be decidedly lo-fi, in particular the Megadeth sequences.

    There was no surround activity or subwoofer response. I attempted to engage Pro Logic II processing but it didn't do this soundtrack any favours.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

    The video transfer is from an analogue video source, so don't expect too much.

    The audio transfer isn't fantastic, but does the job.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall