The Hardcore (punk) Thread

[howl]

figured i'd start a thread. get some Hypesters talking about good hardcore music that deserves recognition.

been listening to the new Oathbreaker a fair bit. goes good.
Deathwish rarely disappoints.

 

[Heffer Wolf]

My favorite band ever is Most Precious Blood. I'm getting old (turning 26) and when I go to shows I don't want to get smashed up front or hit the mosh pit at all anymore, but I'm pretty sure when I get to see these guys, I'll just go nuts.

 

[howl]

noice one. yeh, i'm 26. haha i was never a fan of the mosh. i'm one of those fools standing centre/back of the room, arms folded enjoy watching a good mosh, except for them young idiots doing their best chuck norris impersonation

 

[howl]

finally got around to listening to the All Pigs Must Die ep. not bad at all. interested in hearing their debut album on Southern Lord. label has been putting out some quality stuff.

 

[howl]

anyone listened to Hour of the Wolf? criminally underrated band.

 

[THANOSRULES]

Agnostic Front was one of my favorites of all time...

 

[howl]

a band i still haven't checked out. i'll have to one of these days.

 

[TakeWarning]

Agnostic Front's not bad--as far as I'm concerned, Minor Threat and Bad Brains are the best hardcore punk groups ever. Youth of Today and OFF! are my definite top 2 modern hardcore bands.

I recommend Cerebral Ballzy, their kind amateurish by professional standards but they sound like pure 80s melodic hardcore, kinda like Government Warning and Classics of Love.

 

[DaveMoral]

a band i still haven't checked out. i'll have to one of these days.

You truly aren't hardcore if you don't listen to Agnostic Front.

Bad Brains, AF, Sick of It All, Warzone, Madball are all regulars in my playlist.

Sheer Terror, Blood For Blood. Judge. H2O, they are a hardcore band I don't care what anyone says... they are in the vein of Gorilla Biscuits. Speaking of which, GB and CIV - Set Your Goals. Always listen to that record, I consider that one basically the third GB lp.

Cro-Mags.

As you can see, I'm a bit of a partisan of NYHC.

Philly-area stuff. Kid Dynamite. My Turn to Win. Punishment. Blacklisted.

Vegan Reich. Raid. Statement. I loves me some Hardline/Vegan Straight Edge classics.

Slumlords.

Wisdom In Chains.

 

[TakeWarning]

You truly aren't hardcore if you don't listen to Agnostic Front.

That sounds a little broad; while I am a fan, their stuff since Victim In Pain hasn't been as top-notch, and their Epitaph years are a little slow for me ( and Cause for Alarm was good, but had a strange touch of metal). In all honesty, when compared to material like Cro-Mags and Government Issue, or even JFA, I just don't really find it as epic.

While this is different from the hardcore we all recognize, my vote for best hardcore-oriented group outside of BB and Minor Threat is the awesome Husker Du. You can't deny the beauty of Zen Arcade and New Day Rising.

 

[THANOSRULES]

Warriors was a pretty good comeback album, I havnt heard much of the new one.

Another Voice...something wrong with his voice on that whole album sounded bad.

The VIctim in pain stuff was OLD SCHOOL..thats real hardcore right there.

Somthings Gotta Give was my favorite ever, at the time purists kinda hated it, and consider it a metal album...whatever.

Riot Riot Upstart, pretty much hate it..but its better than a lot of other crap out there...it was kinda a cash grab, but everybody deserves a shot i guess.

Dead Yuppies was so-so, had its moments.

 

[DaveMoral]

Something's Gotta Give(I can't imagine consider this one metal at all, especially considering the sound that dominated hc at the time. Earth Crisis, Snapcase and all the metalcore. SGG is way more Oi! To me than metal) was my second AF album. Liberty & Justice... was my first. Both classics. Riot Riot Upstart is great IMO while i think Dead Yuppies sucks. Another Voice is boring in a very Hatebreed sort of way. Tried to make a follow up to One Voice and failed, and Roger sounds like he's trying to sound like Rick Ta Life, who is trying to sound like Roger in the first place. My Life, My Way is really really good. It's a good cross section of their metallic and hardcore stuff.

I don't get how Victim In Pain can be distinguished from Cause For Alarm because the style on those is pretty much the same. United Blood is the most pure early hardcore punk they've ever done.

Have you guys heard Stigma's solo record? Good stuff.

How could we be remiss and not mention Black Flag? They should always be mentioned in the same breath as Bad Brains IMO.

As i see it there's a continuity and yet a distinctive wave element in hardcore. A lot of people consider the end of Black Flag, Minor Threat, SSDecontrol and those early bands circa 1983-84 to be the end of hardcore punk. There is a clear continuity though with AF evolvong the sound and the Cro-Mags(who have only one truly classic and epic album to their name, and the most ridiculous drama and fued in hc history), to the Youth Crew into the 90s scene and now... the chain has never broken.

 

[DaveMoral]

I don't go to shows or actively search out new bands these days, but hardcore is still a hugely important part of my life. I live and breathe it in so many ways. My handle originates from a nickname i had from a shortlived hardcore band i did when i was 19(i'll be 32 next month). Much of my politics, and my spirituality all flowed out of my time in the hardcore scene. I'm vegan, I'm straight edge. It's a big thing for me. So many of the cliches that Scott Vogel spits out in Terror are true for me.

What about you?

 

[howl]

You truly aren't hardcore if you don't listen to Agnostic Front.

right you are, i'm definitely not hardcore. metalhead, flesh to bone. doesn't mean i don't listen to it every so often. only recently have i gotten into Discharge, probably the oldest band i've listened to in the hardcore genre, and kicking myself i hadn't checked em out sooner. i'm keen to check out some of the old crust stuff like Amebix, as well as d-beat, being a fan of Discharge and recent Disfear, plus having had a bit of a listen to Tragedy.

 

[DaveMoral]

right you are, i'm definitely not hardcore. metalhead, flesh to bone. doesn't mean i don't listen to it every so often. only recently have i gotten into Discharge, probably the oldest band i've listened to in the hardcore genre, and kicking myself i hadn't checked em out sooner. i'm keen to check out some of the old crust stuff like Amebix, as well as d-beat, being a fan of Discharge and recent Disfear, plus having had a bit of a listen to Tragedy.

D-beat is great. Discharge was a huge influence on tons of metal bands, obviously. Napalm Death not the least of them. Funny thing to me. There's derision by snobs in both the hardcore and metal scenes for each genre and bands that mix the two, but they are so intertwined to me that it's impossible for me to deride a metalcore band as "fake metal" or exclude them from hardcore based in their metal influences. To me Hatebreed has become a metal band nit because of their sound but because of the spectacle that is their stage show. Used to be it was just 5 guys on stage shouting at you, now it's that plus pyrotechnics. Earth Crisis has a more metal sound but a more hc vibe to me.

D-beat is cool because it has a far cliser tie to the old peacepunk stuff lime Conflict and Crass than all the classic American hardcore does. Which i love personally.

 

[THANOSRULES]

Something's Gotta Give(I can't imagine consider this one metal at all, especially considering the sound that dominated hc at the time. Earth Crisis, Snapcase and all the metalcore. SGG is way more Oi! To me than metal) was my second AF album. Liberty & Justice... was my first. Both classics. Riot Riot Upstart is great IMO while i think Dead Yuppies sucks. Another Voice is boring in a very Hatebreed sort of way. Tried to make a follow up to One Voice and failed, and Roger sounds like he's trying to sound like Rick Ta Life, who is trying to sound like Roger in the first place. My Life, My Way is really really good. It's a good cross section of their metallic and hardcore stuff.

I don't get how Victim In Pain can be distinguished from Cause For Alarm because the style on those is pretty much the same. United Blood is the most pure early hardcore punk they've ever done.

Have you guys heard Stigma's solo record? Good stuff.

How could we be remiss and not mention Black Flag? They should always be mentioned in the same breath as Bad Brains IMO.

As i see it there's a continuity and yet a distinctive wave element in hardcore. A lot of people consider the end of Black Flag, Minor Threat, SSDecontrol and those early bands circa 1983-84 to be the end of hardcore punk. There is a clear continuity though with AF evolvong the sound and the Cro-Mags(who have only one truly classic and epic album to their name, and the most ridiculous drama and fued in hc history), to the Youth Crew into the 90s scene and now... the chain has never broken.

The somthings gotta give era was basically me, earth crisis, madball, Skarhead, Blood for Blood...i was big into Pro-Pain as well. I tended to straddle the hardcore/metal grey area.

Yeah that early 80s stuff was just too "brief " for me. I never really got into the :30 second songs. I saw that HC documentary and , while it was cool...it wasnt really my scene...even though some of the bands were bands i would come to like.

HC is notorius for snobbery, and I think in some ways your right..that was "almost" a different scene. But those guys kinda talk about like they wish it wasnt the same unbroken chain. Guys like Ian Mackaye, could be such tools.

It's all good **** to me though, hell i was just listening to a spin doctors song with my baby daughter. (although I was fairly snobby back then)

 

[DaveMoral]

I've grown to really dislike Ian McKaye. The whole idea that hc died in 83the really means that's when those guys got burnt out. The scene was different in those days from what I'd come to know, but the passion was the same. Is the same for the new generation even if i hate the **** they are into now. Nostalgia is a funny thing, because i realized i reflect on that brief period of time i was really actively involved in any hc scene in any capacity like old hippies reflect on the 60s. I'm about to turn 32 and i reflect on my early 20s like it was decades ago. It's crazy.

Somethings Gotta Give... that era was cool for me. I was in my senior year of high school and i remember listening to that record and H2O - Thicker Than Water at a swimming/diving meet and probably ExC. Those were good times. I met my wife through hc and most of my tightest friends.

Hardcore is very snobby, but simultaneously it's about way more than music. It really is about the scene and the politics and all of that. American Hardcore is a good film and the book is too. Far more relevant to me, though is Burning Fight... all about the 90s scene. I caught the tail end of wave and for me it was glorious.