What exactly is hardcore?

joemaconmovies - 8-14-2005 at 05:31 PM

As a whole, I know what hardcore music is and can recognize it. I have some questions though. I'm not the biggest hardcore fan but have found that some bands I really enjoy either contain that quality or have been referred to as mixing hardcore in (course, with the way people throw genres around, that can happen easily). Some of the bands I'm referring too, and most of these if not all are Boston bands so I don't know how well you guys will know them, are The Trouble, :30 Over Tokyo (two bands that I felt had a punk sound but more hardcore then otehrs, maybe I'm wrong), The Unseen (read somewhere that they mixed hardcore with street punk, though I don't like the term street punk much), and Dropkick Murphys. I dont' just saw DKM because Al Barr sings for them but for some songs I've heard. Now I may be right or wrong with these bands, no clue. What I'm curious about though, and since this is a primarily a hardcore label it seems or most people on this board are big hardcore fans, is how exactly do you guys define hardcore? I know that's a tough one but...what exactly makes it hardcore? Or..in terms of combining sounds, what would make a punk band have a punk mixed with hardcore edge. I'm aware hardcore is based off of punk somewhat, but...there tends to be a difference. Curious as to what you guys thought and any insight that could be given.

forsaken - 8-14-2005 at 06:47 PM

hahaha i have no idea how it's defined, i dont think it needs to be.

I call 100 Demons a hardcore band even though they obviously play metal, so i'm no authority on the matter.

cary thrasher - 8-14-2005 at 06:48 PM

christ man, you're from massachusetts and you are unsure of what hardcore is?

GabeTexasGAMC - 8-14-2005 at 07:28 PM

i feel sad for you.

defstarsteve - 8-14-2005 at 07:28 PM

watch the live GB broadcast

this is hardcore...

not clothes, not hair, not metal, not punk, not records sales or which limited edition vinyl you have...
not about straight edge, or drunk
it's not about how you dance, or don't dance...
you don't even have to know the words to all the songs
or have to sing along at all

it's about friends, and family...
who you would go to mat for and would do the same for you
work hard, play hard, and live life hard
it's in you
it can't be bought at the mall, or learned on a messageboard

we are the outcasts, those who were never picked first to play football, or did the best in school, or had a stable home life, or money to even buy records

we made this for ourselves, when we had nothing else...
it's cool it's gotten so big
but the new kids will never know what it was like
and it's too bad, cause they missed a lot

joemaconmovies - 8-14-2005 at 08:54 PM

i know what hardcore sounds like. with all the fucking genre defining that goes on, i'm curious how people would define it or what characteristics make it hardcore. for example, what makes the unseen "street punk" with a mix of hardcore. so...i'm curious. i don't hear any hardcore from the unseen.

don't feel bad for me either. since i'm not a giant hardcore fan, it doesn't bother me.

JawnDiablo - 8-14-2005 at 10:25 PM

hardcore is getting fucked with a lawn chair....

blackoutnyhc - 8-15-2005 at 02:09 AM

this is pretty good as far as "quantitative" history of HC goes. Although all of these things always seem to gloss over NYHC and merely write off the fact that AF, CroMags, and Murphys Law were just as "big" as Bad Religion (if not bigger in certain places) during the 80's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_punk

joemaconmovies - 8-15-2005 at 04:23 AM

Is Bad Religion considered hardcore? I haven't read that yet and probably should but...just curious from the way your brought them up.

Now, what about hardcore today? How would you define it (and by that I mean what makes a band hardcore today? What characteristics do they need to have?) Stuff like being indie or not being about how much vinyl you have (this is for the guy who posted before you) doesn't define hardcoree. That's more about scenesters and there are scenesters in every genre of music, especially punk, hardcore, and indie.

DeathByForce - 8-15-2005 at 04:47 AM

old Bad Religion was hardcore.

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was a straight up hardcore cd.

JawnDiablo - 8-15-2005 at 05:43 AM

hardcore to me is just something that is just over the top
not so much as in what is being discussed
the first time people heard hendrix 36 years ago they probably thought "shit thats hardcore"
same coul dbe said for godflesh, beastie boys in their best days, as well as black flag, sheer terror.....i dont even know why i responded o this because i am having trouble typing out what im thinking....

Voodoobillyman - 8-15-2005 at 06:46 AM

"Hardcore" in it's purest form does not exist anymore, and it never will again. The lines that seperated have been permenantly blurred. I can tell you this much...........what you see on headbangers ball is "hardcore" to some and not to others, it's all relative. I mostly see aging scenesters who talk about the good old days before commercialism ruined it and who are quick to lash out at young kids who are "ruining" what they hold so dear. Big deal. Music is what it is, does not matter what genre, if you like it good, if not, good. I will say I am not impressed with some of the latest trends creeping up in the "scene" (I hate that word) especially the black hair dye and girlie pants, but who am I to judge??? Alot of the older crowds who brag about "in my time" say Blood for Blood is the only recent band to really capture what was once considered hardcore. Rob Lind has said before, he does not play hardcore music, he plays rock and roll. Hardcore was different in different areas, what was going on in Boston in the eighties is totally different from what was happening in New York, but they were both called hardcore, the west coast had it's own thing and DC had it's own thing.............go figure
You're from Boston, then you should know who sam Black Church is, and honkeyball, Tree and almost all of those Wonderdrug bands of the nineties, when I was in my "angst" years, that was hardcore to me.

DeathByForce - 8-15-2005 at 09:51 AM

I don't know.. I found a lot of the early bands had a similar sound. Very raw and very fast music.

From Black Flag and Circle Jerks
to
Bad Brains and Minor Threat
to
DYS and The Freeze
to
Agnostic Front and Gorilla Biscuits

then things started to shift.. a lot of the scenes started experimenting and growing older blah blah blah..

that lead to the seperation of the original hardcore fury.

from thrash to crossover to youth crews.

people always have to ruin something!

DeathByForce - 8-15-2005 at 09:52 AM

by the way, i was just being an ass about the ruin statement..

GabeTexasGAMC - 8-15-2005 at 10:37 AM

im sleepy.

JawnDiablo - 8-15-2005 at 11:03 AM

hardcore is i girl taking on 5 dudes

John Bulldog - 8-15-2005 at 03:22 PM

Quote:

Origineel gepost door defstarsteve
watch the live GB broadcast

this is hardcore...

not clothes, not hair, not metal, not punk, not records sales or which limited edition vinyl you have...
not about straight edge, or drunk
it's not about how you dance, or don't dance...
you don't even have to know the words to all the songs
or have to sing along at all

it's about friends, and family...
who you would go to mat for and would do the same for you
work hard, play hard, and live life hard
it's in you
it can't be bought at the mall, or learned on a messageboard

we are the outcasts, those who were never picked first to play football, or did the best in school, or had a stable home life, or money to even buy records

we made this for ourselves, when we had nothing else...
it's cool it's gotten so big
but the new kids will never know what it was like
and it's too bad, cause they missed a lot

XnMeX - 8-15-2005 at 06:34 PM

He's gonna ruin our cover by figuring out that hardcore doesn't exist!

JawnDiablo - 8-17-2005 at 05:50 AM

hardcore is eating a 6 pack of taco bell tacos with extra hot sauce and washing it down with a glass of metamucil

clevohardcore - 8-17-2005 at 11:55 AM

Hardcore is shitting for 10 days because you drank the water in the Domican Republic.

DeathByForce - 8-18-2005 at 02:05 PM

Hardcore is being a guy being taken on by 5 chicks and living to tell about it!

joemaconmovies - 8-18-2005 at 05:07 PM

Beautiful guys.

Gooch - 8-18-2005 at 05:23 PM

THIS IS HARDCORE...

Discipline - 8-18-2005 at 07:09 PM

SHIT YEAH!!!!

joemaconmovies - 8-19-2005 at 10:13 AM

there was actually some video online someone had shown me that was like that "how to be emo" video that kind of mocked hardcore kids. not real kids into hardcore but the kids who are in it cause it's a trend or something.

clevohardcore - 8-19-2005 at 11:05 AM

Is that Raybeez and Jimmy G?

THats some funny shit. That would make a great T shirt or poster.

Gooch - 8-19-2005 at 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by clevohardcore
Is that Raybeez and Jimmy G?

yep.