“Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90)” is a documentary film that examines the early DIY punk scene in the Capital of USA. It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi, and others released their own records and booked their own shows - without major record label constraints or mainstream media scrutiny.

Contextually, it was a cultural watershed that predated the alternative music explosion of the 1990s (and the industry’s subsequent implosion). Thirty years later, DC’s original DIY punk spirit serves as a reminder of the hopefulness of youth, the power of community and the strength of conviction.

This documentary is a comprehensive, honest and insightful look at the DC punk scene from the early 1980s to the decade's end. The film includes exclusive archival photographs, concert footage and interviews with dozens of bands, artists, label owners, zine publishers and others who helped mold and nurture DC's underground community during this inspired decade of music.

The filmmaker:

Salad days Director/writer Scott Crawford is a music journalist, musician and graphic designer. As a teenager in the DC suburbs, he started a fanzine called Metrozine that documented much of what was happening in the DC hardcore punk scene in the 1980s.

In 1985, Metrozine (and WGNS) released a 7? compilation called “Alive & Kicking” that featured unreleased tracks by DC area bands Gray Matter, United Mutation, Marginal Man, Beefeater, Cereal Killer and Mission Impossible (featuring a 16 year old Dave Grohl). He was quoted in both Dance of Days and Banned in DC - the two most definitive books on the early DC punk scene. In 2001, he launched Harp magazine and served as its Editor-in-Chief for over 7 years. Crawford also launched the online music portal Blurt in 2009..