Hardcore Punk

Hardcore punk is what happens when you take Punk Rock and make it harder, faster and more aggressive. Simple.

But also more out-there, and political. It started in North America in the late 1970s. The musicians had (mostly) identical ideologies to the first punk rockers, including the DIY-aesthetic.

Some of the original, first wave of hardcore bands were Black Flag, from Los Angeles, Minor Threat, from Washington DC, and Bad Brains, also from Washington DC. These bands were the beginning of a genre that later branched out into countless different iterations.

New York Hardcore, or NYHC, began in the 1980s with the sounds of bands like Sick of it All and Agnostic Front. Popular bands from the region today are Madball and H20. Bands like Madball were instrumental in the adoption of a "tough guy" sound and image in part of modern hardcore, seen in bands such as Hatebreed. Other bands in New York, such as the Cro-Mags, adopted Krishna Consciousness.

Straight Edge is thought to have been begun by Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat. This was a way of life in which the participant would abstain from the vices of the earlier hardcore scene - usually smoking, drinking, and sometimes promiscuous sex. While this movement was for a time characterized by gang violence, its current day incarnation could be seen to be the "Positive Hardcore" scene of New England, which includes bands such as Have Heart, The Effort and Bane.

In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, a new breed of hardcore band began. The first of these is sometimes thought to be Integrity, who hailed from Cleveland. They mixed thrash metal influences with the fresh flavor of hardcore, and sowed the seeds of a new genre, nowadays known as Metalcore. Other bands who were instrumental in this were Ringworm, Rorschach and Earth Crisis. Converge were a band who formed in Boston, Massachusetts. They took the early sound of metallic hardcore and created an enigmatic mix of extreme metal with envelope-pushing sensibilities. Nowadays, they are seen to be the keystone in the influences of the Mathcore subgenre, which includes bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Architects.

In the early 1990s, hardcore also branched out through the work of bands like Fugazi, Rites Of Spring and Embrace. This was the beginning of Post-hardcore and Emo, which have both strayed from their origins and become difficult to define.

Bands from Southern California in the early 1990s who were influenced by the hardcore sound of Black Flag and the Descendents, such as NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion and The Offspring, were a huge part of the 1990s Punk Revival. These bands also cemented the genre of Skate Punk and played a part in the popularity of Ska Punk and Pop Punk, influencing bands in the latter genre like Green Day and Blink-182

Needless to say, the work of pioneers like Black Flag and Minor Threat have had an extensive influence on the music of today, whether they wanted to or not.

Notable artists and bands in the Hardcore Punk genre include:

Some bands that formed the first wave of hardcore:

Adolescents
AFI (pre-Black Sails in the Sunset)
Agent Orange
Articles of Faith
Bad Brains
Bad Religion
Black Flag
The Circle Jerks
D.O.A.
Dead Kennedys
The Descendents
Flipper
The Germs
Gorilla Biscuits
Jerry's Kids
JFA
Middle Class (Many hardcore musicians claim in interviews that they may be the Ur Example of hardcore)
Minor Threat
The Minutemen
The Misfits
Reagan Youth
Social Distortion
Suicidal Tendencies
TSOL

Tropes used in Hardcore Punk include: