The Other F Word – A Movie About Aging Punk Rockers and What Fatherhood Means to Them, By Holly Homan

On Thanksgiving Eve I ventured out to Seattle’s University District to Landmark Theater’s Varsity Theater to view The Other F Word. The movie is a documentary about punk rockers (mostly from California) and what it’s like for the ultimate rebels to be fathers.

The movie begins with Art Alexakis (Everclear), Fat Mike (NOFX), Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) and others defining what punk is, from going against the grain to doing whatever the hell you want.

Jim Lindberg is shown describing how he played a show in DC, flew home at midnight, then flew out to Hawaii to vacation with his wife and three daughters. He is then shown packing for a tour and having to tell his daughters they packed too many Barbies in his bag and that Barbie might not be a good fit on the tour. She’d get in trouble on the bus.

Almost all the punk rockers interviewed described how they had no fathers, no male role models. Many of their fathers split early in their lives and were never seen nor heard from again and what affect that had on them. That being said, they all have used that experience to become the fathers they never had. All described how they were outcasts growing up but found camaraderie in the punk scene. Interspersed with these statements are clips of the original punk rockers like The Ramones and Sex Pistols.

The movie is often humorous with Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 describing how he never dreamed he’d have to go out and buy the clean versions of his CDs. Another memorable quote was from Bad Religion’s Greg Hetson, “Maybe punk wasn’t supposed to grow up, but it did.” Then there’s Mark Hoppus who claims that after making videos of themselves running around naked, the expectation bar for being a father was set pretty low. There was also a scene with champion skateboarder Tony Hawk teaching his son to skateboard in a giant backyard skateboard “rink.”

Aside from the humorous bits, there was also the poignancy with Pennywise singer Jim Lindberg claiming that having kids changed his priorities. Kids need medical insurance and a roof over their heads, which results in him becoming part of the system he’s fighting against. This also means long stretches away from home. With the onset of free internet downloads of their records, money isn’t made off records any more and they must earn money by constantly touring. Lindberg laments the first days of school or Halloweens he’s missed.

The film ends with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers tearing up while claiming he never subscribed to the philosophy of I gave you life and I can take you out. Rather his kids gave him life.

This movie was humorous, poignant, had a great soundtrack and was very real and I give it two thumbs up.

– Holly Homan