EPTI will be posting youtube videos of bands who pretty strongly define a certain sub-genre to give you a full of picture of how this genre that is called hardcore-punk has evolved. I will not write or post straight up punk bands because I'm not too into old punk. I won't go into emo or some other genres either that aren't that central.
wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_punk
Hardcore punk, often just called hardcore, is a subgenre of punk rock that originated primarily in North America (though, early examples could be found throughout the world) in the late 1970s. The new sound was generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock.
Hardcore spawned several fusion genres and subgenres, some of which experienced mainstream success, such as melodic hardcore, metalcore, post-hardcore and emo.
Two early example of hardcore punk are:
Black Flag
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Bad Brains
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In the 80's the mecca of hardcore became primarily New York and "New York Hardcore" became a term describing the vast number of bands emerging from the big apple. They were a mixed bunch of people preaching everything from Straight edge values,hare krishna, and the harder bunch singing about the rough daily life in compromised New York neigbourhoods.
Straight edge in the 80's:
Youth of Today
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The "definition" of New York Hardcore:
Agnostic Front
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Sick of it all
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In the nineties Hardcore music experienced quite big popularity and Staight edge grew into a well-known phenomenon with militant american bands like Earth Crisis, and Vegan Reich at the frontlines. There are so many bands to mention in this period of time that it's almost impossible but I'll try to bring out a few important ones.
Wikipedia:
By the end of the 1980s, hardcore became more diverse, branching off into two sounds: one traditionally punk-based, referred to as old school hardcore and the other evolving into something heavier, slower, more technical and more intense, influenced by heavy metal, known as new school hardcore, metalcore or metallic hardcore.
The sound of the recordings and the quality of musiscianship also became markedly better in this decade.
Hardcore bands in the 90's:
Sick of it all
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Madball
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So this is where metalcore first becomes known as a sub-genre of hardcore.
Metallic Straight edge hardcore:
Earth Crisis
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Metallic hardcore in the 90's:
Biohazard
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Integrity
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Strife
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Hardcore has influenced alot of other genres of music, for example trash metal. Bands to mention are Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Machine Head.
Wikipedia:
The San Francisco-based thrash metal bands Metallica and Slayer incorporated the compositional structure and technical proficiency of heavy metal with the speed and aggression of hardcore. The new heavy metal genre became known as thrash metal. Slayer are also known for their love of hardcore punk, and have released an album of hardcore cover versions called Undisputed Attitude.
To not make this blog too long which would be easy because there are SO many shifts in hardcore and related genres to cover, I will jump to the year 2000 and post some newer metalcore bands to end this blog.
Unearth
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As I lay dying
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Parkway drive
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Hatebreed
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Phew, that was hard. I have forgot to mention so many bands. I haven't gone into emocore, mathcore, deathcore or other more recent sub-genres but I think I did a decent job of showing how hardcore has gone from Bad Brains and Black Flag (hi Henry Rollins) to contemporary metalcore bands like Parkway drive and Unearth.
Why do I like hardcore? It's not about how good the musicians are or how good the sound is but it's the songs, the attitude, the intense emotions, the intensity, the adrenaline. The overall feeling basically. Also the rebellion, the "I will speak my mind" and the social commentary are important parts of why I like hardcore.
It's all a matter of taste and I'm a fan. I also love alot of metal but there are so many metalcore bands that started off as hardcore bands and moved over to metalcore when it started to seriously become a big genre of music. You can probably guess who some of these "trendy" bands are (cough cough Attack attack! for instance).
Comments are welcome! Thank you.
