URGH! A Music War Finally Officially Released on DVD

By Annie Zaleski Wed., Aug. 5 2009 at 9:30 AM

Here's some unexpected news: The legendary punk/new-wave concert film Urgh! A Music War was released yesterday on DVD via Warner Archives. (Thanks to Shiv for the tip.) Up until now, you could only get the flick -- which featured performances from Echo & the Bunnymen, XTC, the Police, X, Klaus Nomi and more -- via bootleg DVD (or, if you could find it, on VHS or by watching it when it aired occasionally on TV). The CD and vinyl versions of the soundtrack are even rarer (and more out of print).

Now, due to rights issues, not every performance has always appeared in every airing of the film. The Amazon listing doesn't have the DVD tracklisting, so I'm not sure if it's the entire un-cut movie or what. However, a post on IMDB's boards says:

The info page lists a 116 minute running time, which is longer than the commercial theatrical release, but shorter than the original VHS release, which suggests that some performances may be cut. Rumor has it that the rights to the Gary Numan performance of "Down in the Park" reverted back to it's director, and has been cut from recent HDNet broadcasts of the film, so that may account for the difference. Supposedly, relations between the former members of Dead Kennedys are so terrible that they would not sign off on any new licensing for previous work, so that may be gone too. I hope there will be a detailed announcement from WB sometime soon on this matter.

Magazine, "Model Worker"