what the straight edge ?

What exactely does Straight Edge mean in it’s original definition?

-no consume of alcohol, no consume of tabacco and renunciation of any other
drug
-no promiscuity (= sex with often changing partners)
As an addition the majority of Straight Edgers started to feed
themselves vegetarian or even vegan. Especially in Europe you will only
find few Straight Edgers who are not nourishing themselves
vegetarian or even vegan, the Straight Edge lifestyle normally makes people
turn away quite fast from a meat based diet.

Where does Straight Edge come from?

Late 70ies, USA, Washington D.C. - the local punk scene is bigger than ever, but as time goes by many punks just turn into weird dressed colourful junkies. Normal shows can only be accessed from people older than
21 years to protect minors from the dangers of alcohol abuse. The only
exception are so called “all ages” shows. At these shows minors will receive
an X on the back of their hands, painted with a black magic marker, to exclude them from
getting alcohol (through this X they could easily be identified as minors at the
counter).

Some of the teens were quite unsatisfied with the way the scene developed
back then, with all its drug abuse and slogans like “no future”,
therefore they took the initiative and founded their own bands, wrote their
own lyrics against drug abuse and the resulting lethargy. They started
to preach other ideals which were much more constructive than the average
punk bands message back then. At that time the hardcore scene was born
out of the cornerstones of the punk scene.
Some punk ideas lived on in hardcore, for example the diy ethic (do it
yourself), some politic ideals and independence, but all the cynic and
destructive elements were replaced by way more positive messages.
One of these lyrics was giving a whole sub culture its name:

"Straight Edge", 1981

I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed
That's something I just don't need
I've got the straight edge
I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
'Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I've got the straight edge

While Minor Threat became more popular many older punks began to paint the X
which was known from all ages shows on their hands to declare their
solidarity with the younger kids and to give up alcohol and drugs with them
together - the whole movement had its sign from that time on. (Note: Even when
most people think that Minor Threat are the founders of the straight edge
philosophy some others believe that the band Teen Idles, something like a
pre-Minor Threat band, expressed these thoughts first without getting so
popular with it).
Within the next years Straigt Edge bands were founded all over the USA,
shortly after that the idea received more attention in Europe and found the
first followers (Benelux countries, Germany and southern Europe first).

Where does the name “Straight Edge” come from (often abridged: sXe, SE, XXX…)?

Well, it is almost impossible to give a secured answer on this topic,
therefore we’ll keep it short: Allegedly the drummer of the aformentioned
band (who was one of the first people to preach a drugfree lifestyle)
designed a poster for one of their shows for which he took a ruler. After he
had drawn a right ankle (or straight edge) on the poster he declared this as
a symbol for their new born lifestyle. After that the lyrics to straight
edge were written, at least that’s what the legend says… As mentioned above
noone will ever find out the truth about this, another story says that he
drew nothing but a straight line, and that this was the reason for calling
it straight edge…

Where do all these „rules“ about straight edge come from?

The basic principles were defined through a songtext while all the other
facettes that straight edge stands for nowadays are a development from many
years from many scenes from all parts of the world:

Out of Step (with the world), 1981

Don't smoke
Don't drink
Don't fuck
At least I can fucking think
I can't keep up
Can't keep up
Can't keep up
Out of step with the world

These principles simply stand for respect for your own mind and body as well
as for the opposite sex and your fellows.
Songwriter Ian McKaye was not thinking about some strict set of rules to
create more healthy humans who feel as something special, these principles
should not exist to end in yourself (note: the editor of these lyrics
probably never thought about starting some youth subculture, because nobody
could imagine to start something like this with his own personal opinion…).
On the contrary of this - a clear mind should allow humans to perceive the
world around them better and to recognice and to fight against deplorable
states of affairs in their social surroundings. This can be of ethic-moral,
ecologic or politic nature or can simply include problems from your very own
personal surroundings.

To broaden your horizon on this set of rules and to use your head is the
task for every straight edger. There is no sxe-legislative that sets rules,
everyone is creating his own rules, of course without ever loosing sight on
the basic principles. (also see below: personal widenings)

Some of the most common misunderstandings about Straight Edge:

Although the majority of all straight edgers is nourishing themselves at
least vegetarian in the meantime, which is something very desirable but still not imperative. The original meaning of the concept as it was formed
beginning / middle 80ies was only relating to a life without drugs and the
renunciation on sex with often changing partners, but:
- Straight Edgers are not giving up sex. The only thing that is disapproved
is promiscuity (=sex with frequently changing partners, the “follow your
dick around” thing, that typical college behaviour: "who is getting the most
girls?")
- straight edge itself has nothing to do with intolerance or violence against people thinking different

Is Straight Edge = Drug Free?

Yes and No! If you take the definition given above it should be clear that
beeing straight edge includes a drugfree living, but: In the USA the word
“drugfree” has another meaning, sometimes people who consume beer or
cigarettes call themselves drugfree, only because they have
nothing to do with hard drugs like cocain, speed or heroin. Tabacco and beer are
no drugs after this definition. Of course this view on the straight edge
idea is kind of half-hearted and almost wrong. Every Straight Edger is
living drug free but not every person who lives drug free is serious
about this and lives straight edge. But drug free patches and stickers stand
at least here in Europe for the right thing, you will find the difference
here only seldom, and that is a good thing…

How popular is Straight Edge?

The popularity of straight edge is always swaying, as well as the activity
within the hc scene itself (on which the straight edge idea is
(unfortunately) still limited). While there was a definitive high in the
activity of the scene as well as for straight edge in New York City in 1988
people disagree today if straight edge is getting more popular, if its
popularity decreases or if it stayed almost the same for the last 20 years.
Sometime you can recognize regional motions:
- While Straight Edge was really popular in the US in the middle of the
90ies (e.g. Earth Crisis gave interviews on MTV, many so-called lifestyle
magazines published (often bad) reports) you can notice a similar
development in Europe in the last 2 years. The scene is more active again,
and the media started to find interest in this topic. But the results were quite
sad here as well most of the time…
- In the USA the actions within the scene around Salt like city (one of the
cities near the most active area of the Mormons (is that a coincident?))
obtained some sad fame, the kids over there took the straight edge ideal
over the top and received much attention through actions like Xes carved
into the back of non-straight edgers with a broken bottle, some kind of
gang-mentality and the violence resulting of this. Of course this was exactely what the media was waiting for... Luckily excesses of this kind remained exceptions, after
many ups and downs the popularity and the activity within and outside of the
scene is somehow regulating itself.

How and why do I become Straight Edge and how long should I stay Straight
Edge?

- How: This is no club and no political party where you have to join, a
simple decision if you are willing to accept the ideals should be enough to
call yourself straight edge. Of course it would not be a good idea to show
up the next day with drugfree patches everywhere and to preach the truth to
all who are unworthy, this is not looking very convincing. Take your time
while you discover beeing straight edge. Often exactly the people who are
digging in it that fast are the ones who are gone first.
- The reasons for becoming straight edge are already discussed above:
Obtaining self control, take more consideration on your surrounding, bail
out of the normal way of life, people in your personal / familiar
surrounding who you want to keep on distance are only some reasons. This
list could be enlarged as you like, many ideals of straight edge are really
desirable. Everyone should discover this for himself…

How long should I stay straight edge?

Well, the decision to become Straight Edge should normally last a
whole life, at least that would be the ideal case. In reality people often
turn away after some years beeing straight edge while new faces show
up, only few remain as stable as it should be. It is not excluded that you
find again to straight edge after you once “lost the edge”, it may be that
you are even more stable then, but: Normally you should not let it come
this far…

What means „personal widenings“ of the original idea of Straight Edge?

As written above the exact definition of what straight edge is and means to
people differs from individual to individual. While the foundation always
stays the same every straight edger discovers some details over the time
that are important for himself beeing straight edge. Hardline (see below) was
only a small part of this, and it was already one of the major modifications
that could be found. In the USA for some straight edgers strict continence
is the last consequence in becoming straight edge, but this is only a small
minority. Often these modifications of and additions to the straight edge
idea are causing some turmoil, some agree, some disagree and other are
revolting against it.
You may also meet straight edgers who are claiming that their life is
affected by straight edge almost everywhere, e.g. I once met a person who
told me that he was showing more consideration in road traffic after
becoming straight edge. Of course straight edge influences your
relations to other people, at least at most straight edgers, some others take
it that far that they feel their life in school or in their job changed to the
better. As mentioned above, the line where these personal aspects of
straight edge begin and where they stop should be discovered by everyone
himself, discussing this topic would be superflous and almost philosophic,
everyone should discover for himself how far straight edge affects his life.
Only the foundations should be the same.

A few details from from the history of Straight Edge:

Over the years STRAIGHT EDGE developed many varieties that were sometimes
very different from the original idea:

HARDLINE:

One of most discussed and most controverse splinter ideas of straight edge
is probably the HARDLINE-thought that is besides dealing with a sometimes
militant anti-drug position and the equally militant animal-welfare
spreading an anti-abortion message. Through many actions, from which most took
place in north america, these people received some headlines. Besides the at some
places welcome militant anti drugs / animal rights position the abortion
aspect is one of the most discussed topic within the whole HC scene, especially at
the beginning / middle of the 90ies it was responsible for some serious
division within the scene between pro lifers (against abortion) and pro
choicers (for the right of the woman to decide over her own body). To get
deeper into this very complex subject would be too much for this room…

KRISHNA:

At the beginning of the 90ies a whole wave of Krishna HC bands came over to
Europe which was able to win a considerable following. In the centre of this
idea stood a label (Equal Vision) and the band from a former straight edge
allstar, Shelter, with its frontman Ray Cappo (Youth of Today), who were
preaching the ideals of the Krishna religion besides their still present
straight edge ideals. It was quite simple to arrange the characteristic
features of this religion (e.g. the vegetarian food is one of the main
ideas) with the drug- and promiscuity-free ideals of straight edge. But after
some time it was clear that this movement was rather shortliving and that
the majority of the people noticed that it was quite difficult to put
straight edge / hardcore / punk together with the conditions of living as a
religious person…

CHRISTIANITY:

Well, but not at all, because in the middle of the 90ies there was another
strange thing happening: Straight edge was suddenly connected to
christianity, this time a remarkable number of christians went to adapt the
straight edge and hardcore idea. Again the center of this movement was a
label (Tooth & Nail), again this idea had its origins and again it was over
(at least as a scene that developed in a noticable way) quite fast.
People from “the outside world” often say that straight edge itself has some
of the structures an organized religion has. It is easy to contradict those
people, perhaps there are some religious straight edgers and maybe you can
find some philosophies of some religions in straight edge (see above), but the
straight edge idea itself is still not having similar structures like an
organized religion, there is no church and nothing like the bible to refer
to. (To think further about lyrics = bibletexts / and concerts = divine service
which was tried many times before would again be too much for this here..).
Furthermore you should never forget the atheistic ideals the hardcore scene
took from the punk scene in its beginning, but however, there are always
exceptions.

Are there nazi straight edgers?

Every now and then, every good cause gets abducted by morons who would like to take a peaceful idea to radical proportions, trying to promote ideas that couldn´t be more contrary. There have been isolated incididents of individuals trying to link the straight edge to right wing ideology. However, if you carefully examine any of those attempts, you will find that any source, particulary websites, promoting such a mix will rarely feature a proper imprint or any contact information at all. Any band claiming such philosophy would have an extremely hard time to get any stage time outside events that are intended for a racist audience anyway. Compare it to entering stage on a Quaker-Festival and announcing your invention of "quake edge", you would hardly find anyone protesting. It is safe to say that any attempt to put the straight edge, the hardcore scene or punk itself in the wrong corner usually results in very strong reactions from the community.

straight edge was spawned by a leftwing subculture called hardcore punk, straight edge itself is political, considering that any action you take to improve yourself and your surrondings is an act of politics. straight edge is about positive, non violent improvement, which of course also embraces cultural and ethnical diversity. Considering this, you might as well think of "right wing straight edge" as an ongoing running gag.

Where can I learn more about Straight Edge?

Besides the fanzines that are published all over the world the internet (you guessed it) is one of the best ressources if you wanna know more about straight edge. Every search engine, be it national or international, will give you uncountable links to related sites (onlinezines, labels, bands, personal sites…) on which you can find even more links. Sometimes the usenet is helpful, too, e.g. alt.punk.straight-edge, alt.music.hardcore or alt.lifestyle.substance-free to name but a few are places where this topic is dicussed quite often. But remember: A good records collection is always the best foundation for your knowledge…

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history

Hardcore punk

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Hardcore punk
Stylistic origins	Punk rock, Heavy metal music
Cultural origins	Late 1970s, United States
Typical instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, drums
Mainstream popularity	Low with some exceptions
Derivative forms	Thrash metal, crossover thrash, metalcore, rapcore, post-hardcore
Subgenres
Christian hardcore, d-beat, emo, melodic hardcore, nardcore, powerviolence, skate punk, thrashcore (complete list)
Fusion genres
Grindcore, crust punk, crossover thrash, digital hardcore, punk jazz, horror punk, metalcore, rapcore, sludge metal, grunge, skacore
Regional scenes
Australia - Brazil - Japan - Canada Europe: Italy - Scandinavia: Umeå USA: Washington DC - California - Chicago - Detroit - Minneapolis - New Jersey - New York - Indiana - Boston - Philadelphia
Other topics
Hardcore dancing, straight edge, youth crew, street punk, DIY punk ethic, list of hardcore punk bands, list of hardcore genres

Hardcore punk, best known as hardcore, is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock.^[1] The origin of the term hardcore punk is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81.^[2][3][4]
Hardcore has spawned the straight edge movement and its associated submovements, hardline and youth crew. Hardcore was heavily involved with the rise of the independent record labels in the 1980s, and with the do it yourself (DIY) ethos in underground music scenes. It has influenced several music genres which have experienced mainstream success, such as: metalcore, grunge, thrash metal, emo and post-hardcore.
Hardcore sprouted underground scenes across the United States in the early 1980s — particularly in Washington, D.C., California, New York/New Jersey, and Boston — as well as in the United Kingdom.
While traditional hardcore has never experienced mainstream commercial success, some of its early pioneers have garnered appreciation over time. Black Flag's album Damaged was included in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,^[5] and the Dead Kennedys have seen one of their albums reach gold status over a period of 25 years.^[6] More recently, bands such as Hatebreed, Gallows and Rise Against have achieved commercial success on major record labels.
Although the music started in English-speaking western countries, large hardcore scenes proliferate today in Brazil, Japan, Eastern Europe,^[7] The Middle East,^[8] and Malaysia.

Music and clothing style

The musical style of hardcore has evolved and branched out into countless separate sub-genres over the years. While the exact origins of each style are debatable, early hardcore bands had definitive similar elements of the sound. It differed from the traditional punk rock style drastically. Most early punk rock songs were played with mid-tempo rock beats using simple guitar barre chords in major keys. However, hardcore broke from this format. Like punk, many of the players lacked musical training(with a few exceptions). The DIY aesthetic of shows being held in small venues on the floors of basements, halls, schools, etc, played into the sound. Much of the style evolved to add to the energy of the live show. Experimentation was the norm. Early recordings were of poor quality, though not by design but by budget constraints, and bands such as The Circle Jerks, Reagan Youth, Flipper, Naked Raygun, and Minor Threat recorded only as a means to promote the live show and document the sounds they were making.
Most bands followed the traditional singer/guitar/bass/drum format. The songwriting had more emphasis on rhythm rather than melody. Hardcore vocalists screamed, rapped, chanted and used spoken word poetry. Drummers would play fast D beat one moment and then drop tempo into elaborate musical breakdowns the next. Guitarists were not afraid to play solos, octave leads, and grooves as well as tapping into the various feedback and harmonic noises available to them. The guitar sound was almost always distorted and amplified. With two minutes being considered a lengthy hardcore song, most of the songs were short and rushed.
In critic Steven Blush's description, "The Sex Pistols were still rock'n'roll...like the craziest version of Chuck Berry. Hardcore was a radical departure from that. It wasn't verse-chorus rock. It dispelled any notion of what songwriting is supposed to be. It's its own form."^[9]
This distillation of punk was further emphasized through dress. Hardcore punk fans adopted a dressed-down style of T-shirts, jeans, and crewcut-style haircuts. The style of the 1980s hardcore scene contrasted with the more provocative fashion styles of late 1970s punk rockers(elaborate hairdos, torn clothes, patches, safety pins, studs, spikes, etc). Keith Morris, "the...punk scene was basically based on English fashion. But we had nothing to do with that. Black Flag and the Circle Jerks were so far from that. We looked like the kid who worked at the gas station or submarine shop."^[10]

History

1970s and mid 1980s

Los Angeles

Black Flag performing live in 1984

Michael Azerrad, author of Our Band Could Be Your Life, credits Black Flag as being the "godfathers" of hardcore punk.^[11] Black Flag was formed in Hermosa Beach, California by guitarist and lyricist Greg Ginn, they played their first show in December 1977. Originally called "Panic" they became known as Black Flag in 1978, and made a name for themselves in the Los Angeles hardcore scene.^[12]
By 1979, multiple Los Angeles-area bands were playing hardcore punk in addition to Black Flag, including Fear, The Germs, and the Circle Jerks, which featured Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris. This group of bands was featured in Penelope Spheeris' 1981 documentary film about the Los Angeles punk scene, The Decline of Western Civilization.^[13] By the time the film was released, new hardcore bands had formed in the area, including The Adolescents, Social Distortion, Angry Samoans, Bad Religion, Dr. Know, Ill Repute, Minutemen, Suicidal Tendencies, TSOL, Wasted Youth and Youth Brigade.
While popular traditional punk bands like the Ramones, The Clash, and Sex Pistols were on major record labels, the hardcore punk bands were not (Black Flag was briefly signed to MCA subsidiary Unicorn Records but were dropped because an executive considered their music "Anti-Parent).^[14] Instead of trying to be courted by the major labels, hardcore bands started their own labels and distributed their records themselves. Greg Ginn started SST Records which released Black Flag's first EP Nervous Breakdown in 1979. SST went on to release a number of albums by other hardcore artists, and was described by Michael Azerrad as "easily the most influential and popular underground indie of the Eighties".^[11] SST was followed by a number of other successful artist-run labels — including BYO Records (started by Shawn and Mark Stern of Youth Brigade), Epitaph Records (started by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion), New Alliance Records (started by the Minutemen's D. Boon) — as well as fan-run labels like Frontier Records and Slash Records.
Bands also funded and organized their own tours. Black Flag's tours in 1980 and 1981 brought them in contact with developing hardcore scenes in many parts of North America, and blazed trails that were followed by other touring bands.^[15][16][17] Youth Brigade would also be one of the first bands to tour, chronicling it in the 1984 documentary "Another State of Mind".^[18]
The Another State Of Mind tour was funded by "Youth Movement '82" a show organized by BYO at the Hollywood Palladium that in addition to Youth Brigade featured, TSOL, The Adolescents, Wasted Youth, Social Distortion, and Blades. The show was one of the largest punk shows ever held at the time attracting over 3,500 people.^[19]
Concerts in the early Los Angeles hardcore scene increasingly became sites of violent battles between police and concertgoers. Reputed violence at hardcore concerts was featured in episodes of the popular television shows CHiPs and Quincy, M.E., in which Los Angeles hardcore punks were depicted as being involved in murder and mayhem.^[20]

San Francisco

Shortly after Black Flag debuted in Los Angeles, the Dead Kennedys were formed in San Francisco. While the bands early releases were played in a style closer to traditional punk rock, 1981's In God We Trust, Inc. marked a shift into what is conventionally seen as hardcore. Like Black Flag and Youth Brigade, the Dead Kennedys released their albums on their own label Alternative Tentacles. In addition to Dead Kennedys albums, Alternative Tentacles was responsible for releasing the seminal Hardcore punk compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans!
While not as large as the scene in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area hardcore scene of the 80s included a number of noteworthy bands in addition to the Dead Kennedys including, Blast, Crucifix, Flipper, Kwik Way, and Whipping Boy. Additionally, during this time seminal Texas based bands, The Dicks and MDC, relocated from Austin to San Francisco.

Maximum Rocknroll Issue #1

This scene was helped in particular by the San Francisco club Mabuhay Gardens, whose promoter, Dirk Dirksen, became known as "The Pope of Punk".^[21] Another important local institution was Tim Yohannan's fanzine, Maximumrocknroll, as well as his show on Berkeley, California public radio station KPFA Maximum RocknRoll Radio Show which played the younger Northern California bands.

Washington, D.C.

The first hardcore band to form on the East Coast was Washington, D.C.'s Bad Brains. Formed in 1977, and consisting of all African-American members, their early work often featured some of the fastest tempos in rock music.^[22] The band would release its first single Pay To Cum in 1980, and it would appear on the Alternative Tentacles "Let Them Eat Jellybeans!" compilation.
Bad Brains would prove influential in establishing a D.C. Hardcore scene. Inspired by them, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson started Teen Idles in 1979. They broke up in 1980 and formed the highly influential Minor Threat. Minor Threat played an aggressive, fast music style that was directly influenced by Bad Brains. They became a direct influence on hardcore, incorporating off-beat notes and vocals, faster rhythms, and more aggressive riffs, as well as inspiring the straight edge movement with their song, "Straight Edge", which spoke out against alcohol and drugs.
Like many of the artists in California, MacKaye and Nelson ran their own record label Dischord Records. Dischord would release albums for fellow D.C. hardcore artists such as The Faith, Iron Cross, Scream, State of Alert (which featured future Black Flag singer Henry Rollins), Government Issue, Void, and Youth Brigade (not to be confused with the similarly named Los Angeles band).
Washington was home to one of the most famous punk houses the "Dischord House" where Dischord Records was run out of. The house is featured in the "Another State Of Mind" documentary when Youth Brigade and Social Distortion get stranded in Washington.

Boston

Many of the first wave of Boston area Hardcore bands where influenced by D.C.'s straight edge scene. Members of seminal bands like DYS, Negative FX, Slapshot, SS Decontrol, would form a more militant straight edge crew known as the "Boston Crew". The more militant straight edgers would beat up kids who they saw drinking or doing drugs, bringing violence into the scene. In the late 80s Elgin James would become involved in the militant faction of Boston straight edge, which would influence him to later help found Friends Stand United.
While many of the band espoused straight edge values in their music, others embraced traditional themed hardcore and partook in drugs and alcohol. Gang Green, who were formed in 1980 before the straight edge movement, reacted against the movement by having album covers with their name written in cocaine as well as ones based on the Budweiser logo.^[23][24]
In 1982 This Is Boston, Not L.A., a seminal compilation of the Boston scene was released by Modern Method Records. The album included songs by The Groinoids, Decadence, The Proletariat, The Freeze, The F.U.'s, Jerry's Kids, and Gang Green. In addition to Modern Method, another fan run label, Curtis Casella's Taang! Records was pivotal in releasing material by bands from this era.

New York

Main article: New York hardcore

The New York hardcore scene emerged in 1981 when Bad Brains moved to the city from Washington, DC.^[25][26] Starting in 1981, there was an influx of new hardcore bands in the city, including: Heart Attack, Kraut, Beastie Boys, Urban Waste, Agnostic Front, Reagan Youth, No Thanks, Nihilistics, The Icemen, Crumbsuckers, Murphy's Law, Cro-Mags, and Warzone.
New York's hardcore scene was centered around CBGB, a club that first came to prominence in the mid 70's for booking early New York punk bands like the Ramones and Blondie. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal embraced hardcore punk, and for several years CBGB held weekly hardcore matinees on Sundays. This stopped in 1990 when violence both in and out of the scene led Kristal to refuse to book hardcore shows.
Additionally a number of bands associated with New York City existed in nearby New Jersey, most famously the Misfits. Others included Adrenalin OD, Mucky Pup, and The Undead.
Early radio support in New York's surrounding Tri state area came from Pat Duncan, who hosted live punk and hardcore bands weekly on WFMU since 1979.^[27] Bridgeport, Connecticut had an early show that featured hardcore called Capital Radio, hosted by Brad Morrison on WPKN, beginning in February 1979 and continuing weekly until late 1983. In New York City, Tim Sommer hosted Noise The Show on WNYU.^[28]

Other North American regions

Minneapolis hardcore consisted of bands like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, while Chicago had Articles of Faith, Big Black, and Naked Raygun. The Detroit area was home to Crucifucks, The Meatmen, Negative Approach, Spite and Violent Apathy. JFA and Meat Puppets were both from Phoenix, Arizona, 7 Seconds from Reno, Nevada, while Butthole Surfers, Big Boys, The Dicks, DRI, Really Red, and MDC were from Texas. Hardcore bands in Washington state included The Accüsed, The Fartz, Melvins, and 10 Minute Warning.
D.O.A. formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1978 and were one of the first bands to refer to their style as hardcore, with the release of their album Hardcore '81. Other early hardcore bands from British Columbia included Dayglo Abortions and The Skulls.

Europe

In the United Kingdom where the original punk rock scene had flourished, a hardcore scene eventually cropped up. Referred to under a number of names including "U.K. Hardcore", "UK 82", "second wave punk",^[29] "real punk",^[30] and "No Future punk",^[31] it took the previous punk sound and added the incessant, heavy drumbeats and distorted guitar sound of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands, especially Motörhead.^[32]
Formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, Discharge played a huge role in influencing other European hardcore bands. Their style of hardcore punk was coined as D-beat, a term a number of 1980s by imitators of Discharge associated with.^[33] Another U.K. band, The Varukers, were one of the original D-beat bands,^[34] and Sweden in particular produced a number of D-beat bands during this time period including Anti-Cimex, Disfear, and Totalitär.
Scottish band The Exploited were also influential, with the term "UK 82" being taken from one of their songs. They contrasted with early American hardcore bands by placing an emphasis on appearance with frontman Walter 'Wattie' Buchan's giant red mohawk, and the bands continuance of wearing swastikas a la Sid Vicious. Because of this they were labeled by others in the scene as "cartoon punks".^[35]
Other U.K. hardcore bands from this period included Broken Bones, Chaos UK, Charged GBH, Dogsflesh, Disorder, English Dogs, and Napalm Death

Late 1980s and 1990s

By the mid to late 1980s, many of the most prominent hardcore punk bands had broken up. Others continued to perform but changed their sound to embrace other genres. Both of the big Minneapolis bands, Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, evolved into alternative rock bands, Bad Religion made a progressive rock album with Into the Unknown,^[36] the Beastie Boys gained fame by playing hip hop, while Suicidal Tendencies also gained fame by going thrash metal, and Bad Brains incorporated more reggae into their music, such as in their 1989 album Quickness.^[37] Social Distortion took a hiatus after their first album was released, due to Mike Ness's drug problems, and returned with a sound based more on country music which was referred to as Cowpunk.^[38] Dischord Records and most of the Washington D.C. scene, gave up hardcore and embraced what was known at the time as emo or post-hardcore.

Youth Crew

While hardcore punk was declining in many American cities, New York City was becoming an even bigger epicenter for hardcore, and in particular the youth crew movement. Youth of Today spearheaded the movement, which went further than straight edge by lyrically expressing views against drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex, and views in favor of vegetarianism or veganism.^[39] In the late 1980s, other New York bands associated with youth crew included Bold and Gorilla Biscuits. Shelter, a more metal-based hardcore band featuring former Youth of Today frontman Ray Cappo, led the youth crew movement after Youth of Today broke up in 1990. Cappo's views led him to became a Hare Krishna. Fellow members of the New York scene, John Joseph and Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags also converted, as would new bands embracing youth crew.^[40] Youth crew spread beyond New York to Southern California bands like Chain of Strength and Strife.

Genre heads in two directions

Youth crew, and hardcore in general, branched into two distinct directions. Many newer bands either embraced a traditional style, referred to as old-school hardcore, or incorporated heavy metal influences with a heavier and more technical style, which eventually developed into the subgenre metalcore.^[41][42]
New York hardcore bands like Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, 108, and Snapcase featured hoarse vocals; downtuned guitars and thrashy drum rhythms inspired by earlier hardcore bands; and slow, staccato, low-end musical sections known as breakdowns. While these bands embraced straight edge or youth crew, there were some prominent metal-based New York hardcore bands from this era who did not. Among them were Biohazard, Madball, and Sick Of It All. As a reaction against this, a new-found interest in old-school hardcore had developed, and the scene experienced a revival of bands adopting the sound influenced more by Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today.^[43] Bands that were a prominent part of this movement were Washington D.C.'s Battery^[44] and Good Clean Fun,^[45] as well as Boston's Ten Yard Fight.^[46] Around this time, Ray Cappo formed Better Than A Thousand, which marked his return to the rudimentaries of hardcore.^[47]

2000s

Mainstream

With the increased popularity of punk rock in the mid-1990s and the 2000s, hardcore bands started signed to major record labels. The first was New York's H2O, who released their 2001 album Go for MCA. Despite an extensive tour and an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the album was not commercially successful, and the band was dropped from the label. In 2002, California's AFI signed to DreamWorks Records and changed their sound considerably for their successful major label debut Sing the Sorrow. Chicago's Rise Against got signed by Geffen Records, and three of their releases on the label were certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[48] Rise Against would gradually diminish hardcore elements from their music, culminating with 2008's Appeal to Reason, which lacked the intensity found in their earlier albums in favor of a more accessible sound.^[49][50]
United Kingdom band Gallows were signed to Warner Bros. Records for £1 million.^[51] Their major label debut Grey Britain was described as being even more aggressive than their previous material, and the band was subsequently dropped from the label.^[52] Los Angeles band The Bronx briefly appeared on Island Def Jam Music Group for the release of their 2006 self-titled album which was named one of the Top 40 albums of the year by Spin magazine.^[53] They appeared in the Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret, playing the members of Black Flag.
In 2007, Toronto's Fucked Up appeared on MTV Live Canada, where they were introduced as "Effed Up".^[54] During their performance of their song "Baiting The Public", the majority of the audience were moshing, which caused $2000 in damages to the set.^[55]

Underground

However with the aforementioned exceptions most Hardcore music still exists outside of the mainstream in regional scenes. The Boston scene has continued to produce a number of modern bands like Death Before Dishonor, Embrace Today, Give Up the Ghost, Have Heart, The Hope Conspiracy, No Trigger, and Reach the Sky. New York has also stayed active with bands like Awkward Thought, Full Blown Chaos, Most Precious Blood, and This Is Hell.
The East Coast United States hardcore scenes continued to attract attention due to violence, often associated with Friends Stand United, a militant crew that has been classified as a gang.^[56] Members of FSU were involved in releasing the "Boston Beatdown" DVDs, which document fights inside and outside of gigs.^[57] FSU was featured in profiles on National Geographic, the History Channel's Gangland series and in a Rolling Stone article which referred to it as a "Punk Rock Fight Club".^[58]

Influence on other genresAlternative rock

Some hardcore bands began experimenting with other styles as their careers progressed in the 1980s, becoming known as alternative rock.^[59] Bands such as Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, and The Replacements drew from hardcore but broke away from its loud and fast formula. Critic Joe S. Harrington suggested that the latter two "paraded as Hardcore until it was deemed permissible to do otherwise".^[60]
In the mid-1980s, Washington State bands such as Melvins and Green River developed a sludgy, "aggressive sound that melded the slower tempos of heavy metal with the intensity of hardcore", creating an alternative rock subgenre known as grunge music.^[61] One of the most popular grunge bands Nirvana was particularly influenced by a number of hardcore bands, with band members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear being recruited from Scream and The Germs, and singer Kurt Cobain listing numerous hardcore albums among his top 50 favorites.^[62]

Emo and post-hardcore

The late 1980s saw the development of post-hardcore, which took the hardcore style in a more complex and dynamic direction, with a focus on singing rather than screaming. The post-hardcore style took shape, in Washington, DC within the community of bands on Ian MacKaye's Dischord Records with bands like Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses, and Jawbox.^[63]
Similarly emo's origins also trace back to lates 80s Washington, D.C. Minor Threat fan Guy Picciotto formed Rites of Spring in 1984, breaking free of hardcore's self-imposed boundaries in favor of melodic guitars, varied rhythms, and deeply personal, impassioned lyrics dealing with nostalgia, romantic bitterness, and poetic desperation.^[64] Other D.C. bands such as Gray Matter, Beefeater, Fire Party, Dag Nasty, also became connected to this movement.^[65][66] The style was dubbed "emo" or "emo-core".^[67]

Metal

The Melvins, aside from their influence on grunge, helped create what would be known as sludge metal, which is also a combination between Black Sabbath-style music and hardcore punk.^[68] This genre developed during the early 1990s, in the Southern United States (particularly in the New Orleans metal scene).^[69][70][71] Some of the pioneering bands of sludge metal were: Eyehategod,^[68] Crowbar,^[72] Down,^[73] Buzzov*en,^[70] Acid Bath^[74] and Corrosion of Conformity.^[71] Later, bands such as Isis and Neurosis,^[75] with similar influences, created a style that relies mostly on ambience and atmosphere^[76] that would eventually be named atmospheric sludge metal or post-metal.^[77]
Metalcore is another metal-based fusion genre which combines hardcore ethics and heavier hardcore music with heavy metal influences. It has been used to refer to bands that weren't purely hardcore and weren't purely metal such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity.^[78]
Metallica and Slayer, pioneers of the heavy metal subgenre thrash metal, were influenced by a number of hardcore bands. Metallica's cover album Garage Inc. included covers of two Discharge and three Misfits songs, while Slayer's cover album Undisputed Attitude consisted of covers of predominately hardcore punk bands. In turn, hardcore bands such as Corrosion of Conformity, Suicidal Tendencies, and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, started to incorporate thrash metal into their own music to create a style that DRI coined as crossover thrash.^[79]

Thrashcore

Often confused with crossover thrash and sometimes thrash metal, is Thrashcore.^[80][81] Thrashcore (also known as fastcore^[82]) is a subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s.^[83] It is essentially sped-up hardcore punk, with bands often using blast beats.^[82]
Thrashcore spun off into Powerviolence, another raw and dissonant subgenre of hardcore punk.^[81][84]

Politics

Punks burning a United States flag.

Many bands took left wing political stances and were vocally against Republican US President Ronald Reagan, who served in office from 1981 to 1989. Reagan's policies, including Reaganomics and social conservatism, were common subjects for these bands.^[85][86] Shortly after Reagan's death in 2004, the Maximumrocknroll Radio Show composed an episode made up of anti-Reagan songs from the 80s including material by Dead Kennedys, Government Issue, DRI, Youth Brigade, Crucifucks, Wasted Youth, Dayglo Abortions, Reagan Youth, TSOL, The Fartz and others.^[87]
Similarly during the 2001-2009 presidency of George W. Bush, a number of bands actively espoused anti-Bush stances. During the 2004 United States presidential election artists and bands including Brian Baker, Jello Biafra, Mike Watt, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Ensign, Rise Against, Sick Of It All, The Unseen, Western Addiction, and Youth Brigade, involved themselves with the anti-Bush political activist group punk voter.^[88]
A minority of hardcore bands were relatively conservative, such as The FU's, The Undead, and Antiseen.^{[citation needed]}
Ebullition Records, founded in 1990 by Kent McClard in Santa Barbara, California, often released albums by bands that criticized the American political and economic system, paying less attention to personal issues. Anarchist ethics seeped their way into the work of many hardcore punk bands, most notably Aus-Rotten, who were also popular in the crust punk genre. On the east coast of the United States, bands such as Rorschach and Born Against also played a similar left-wing form of metallic hardcore.^{[citation needed]} Hardcore dancing

Main articles: Mosh and Hardcore dancing

The early 1980s hardcore punk scene developed slam dancing and stage diving. A performance by Fear on the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live was cut short when slam dancers, including John Belushi and members of other hardcore bands, invaded the stage, damaged studio equipment and engaged in some profanity.^[89][90] These slam dancers included John Joseph of The Cro-Mags.^[91]
In the second half of the 1980s, the thrash metal scene adopted this form of dancing, with bands such as Anthrax popularizing the term mosh with the metal scene.^[92]

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