What I'm calling the first wave of hardcore encompasses the period of 1979 through 1983 or thereabouts. Its invention is usually attributed to southern California, though the scene in DC was virtually simultaneous. The pioneers in socal were the Germs and Black Flag. The latter, along with Minor Threat, provided the paradigmatic sound for the style. It is often said that hc is the essence of suburban disaffection as applied to teenagers; the nihilism sweeping over Orange or Montgomery County. This is more or less true. But it's more complicated: hardcore was a critique of that nihilism too, a treatment for it, and eventually it led to some pretty serious radical politics. In DC you have to talk about the Teen Idles (the first band of both Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins), Bad Brains, and finally Minor Threat. Let's throw in the Dead Kennedys from San Francisco, who also started in '79, and maybe the Dicks from Austin. Each of these bands was unique, of course, but what they had in common was, first, a commitment to revive the dissipated energy of classic punk a la Ramones and Pistols. But they were infinitely more furious, playing short songs at an insane pace - often, esp at the beginning, not terribly well - while the, um, vocalist, bellowed and howled more or less tunelessly. That maybe makes the style sound pretty obnoxious. It was. But on the other hand there were many good things about it. Anyone could make a hardcore band, and there were thousands by 1981. And the energy at the shows was insane. I grew up in DC, and though I was a couple years older than MacKaye and Rollins, we all grew up in the same neighborhood. Early gigs by Minor Threat, the Faith, or GI, for example, were incredible collective experiences: slamming, stage diving: the closest I've ever come to a complete loss of individuation. And actually there were many people who were or quickly became excellent musicians: the DKs were certainly serious. The Bad Brains were virtuosi. Each scene, too, had its own sensibility. LA was decadence and degradtion, emblematized by the miserable wretch Darby Crash of the Germs. DC quickly mutated into very serious liberatory politics and into "straight edge" ("don't drink; don't smoke; don't fuck: at least I can fucking think"). The New York scene had a neo-Nazi undertow. Austin mustered a strange variety of cross-dressing large men.
The book by Steve Blush linked below is about as good a history of hardcore as it is possible to imagine. i have both reviewed and taught it. the seconf here is a history of dc punk, maybe a bit too exhaustive and focused on leftist politics, nbut nevertheless incredibly informative.
bands:
bad brains
seminal on many levels, out of suburban dc. "pay to cum" is a good candidate for first hc single. they were black, which is rare rare in this genre. they were fucking unbelievable. everywhere they
went kids tried to imitate them: few have ever played so fast so well. the guitarist, doctor know, has never been surpassed as an hc player. one bizarre thing is that pretty soon they also played roots reggae. i saw them in a church basement in silver spring in 80 or 81,
and they were just alternating between screeching hc and mellow, excellent skank (jah calling). it made for a perfect gig, if you ask me, because an hour or 2 of straight hc will leave you feeling like you've been
bludgeoned. obviously they hated the nazi types, but they developed their own apocalyptic version of rastafarianism as time went on and manifested deep intolerance (and indeed insanity; the singer, hr, was eventually hospitalized with paranoid schizophrenia). blush's book describes some of the
conflicts between the brains and people in the pretty gay austin hc scene.
black flag
probably the most famous and, with minor threat, most influential hc band. they went through a number of personnel changes (whereas the harDCore pledge was that a band could not be changed
without being broken up). they were the center of the la scene, and i've got to say from the get go a smart, provocative as well as roughandready outfit. they made no bad records until late
in their life, and even then they played well and henry rollins could usually be counted on to be interesting. it's the pre-rollins work, however, that did so much to define the form. raymond pettibon's flyers for black flag
are the definitive expression of punk visual style. white minority, fix me
circle jerks
it'll tell you something about how fast these people were living and playing that in 1980 ex-members of black flag (keith morris) and red kross had already
formed a new band. after bf, the model of a slam band: hard, fast, basic, reprehensible. i've got the world up my ass
dead kennedys
jello biafra is one of the smartest people around and right from the start - though they thrashed in a pinch with the best of them (nazi punks fuck off) - the dks were social commentators; for one thing they
commented continually on the hardcore scene itself and the music industry. but things like "holiday in cambodia" did a bunch of things simultaneously: satire, political philosophy and just some damn good
music. biafra's singing can be a bit hard to take: he sounds like some maniacal cartoon character. i saw them in the early eighties and i don't think i've ever seen anyone put out
as much energy as jello onstage; "maniacal" is right. but the guitar work was great, in an almost surf vein, and there were real songs that were well-written on every level. for awhile their
label, alternative tentacles, were doing in frisco what dischord did in dc. sadly the whole thing has ended up with lawsuits about owns the dks' music. jello has gone on to be a radical leftist lecturer and
spoken-word artist. but they left behind immortal shit: "kill the poor," power is boring.
the dicks
some version of the dicks was very early in austin. but even in 1980, the austin music scene as a whole was remarkably diverse, with a lot of people who could really fucking play, and the dicks were competing
for gigs. anyway, they did more than howl: the songs are smart, political; the playing is good. gary floyd is a pretty central hc singer. the thing is: gary was way gay. and calling the scene
in la or dc at that point macho and homophobic would be too kind. anyway, he was a man of real courage and a unique performer.the stuff has a political edge from the first single: "dicks hate police." i still
remember my little bro adam (same age as mackaye and rollins in dc) with a dicks hate police t-shirt. i am still trying to grope with various possible interpretations of that sentence.
fear
fronted by lee ving, fear was one of the earliest and strongest socal hc acts. it was extremely hard to tell where they stood: they certainly played around with nazi imagery and spat a lot of racist and
sexist stuff. but, most of it was hilarious, and you couldn't tell whether they were endorsing or ridiculing their own right-wing positions. they played great: i mean hard and strong: they are one of the best
bands i've seen live. "new york's alright if you like saxaphones" and "more beer" are among the exemplars of the classic lee ving canon. i love livin in the city
the germs
I'm not entirely comfortable calling the Germs hardcore, but any way you look at it, they were a transition from the downtown-la punk scene of x, the gogos, etc., to the vicious hardcore that emanated from the suburbs, like circle jerks
or social distortion. Their one actual studio album, produced by joan jett, was remarkably listenable. darby crash had his moments as a lyricist, and did a by-then classical iggy pop onstage: cutting himself or taking a leak etc. mostly he was just
an incredibly fucked-up lout, and the fact that he was beyond caring what he sounded like at his gigs (lexicon devil) helped shape the hc aesthetic of absolute roughness. pat smear was in the band, and he went on to everywhere (currently playing with foo fighters).
mdc
"millions of dead cops" or "misguided devout christians" or "male dominated culture." they originated in texas in the late 70s and eventually settled in the bay area.
they were very, very political in an extremely leftwing sort of way, but also they were funny (the classic john wayne was a nazi).
minor threat
for me mt=hc; it's what i hear when i think about the style. they evolved out of the teen idles (i drink milk), featuring henry garfield (=rollins) and ian mackaye. their early gigs in dc were ecstatic riots. ian mackaye bellowed words you couldn't understand over thrashing instrumentation. their song straight edge gave birth to
a movement (problematic, to be sure: some christian youth groups have tried to appropriate it etc). before too long mackaye became disgusted by the violence at mt gigs and the exclusion of women from the whole scene. this is reflected in
his further development: he actually intentionally tried to make music no one could slam to (serious, get a bunch of friends and try slamming to a fugazi album). he matured in a remarkable way as an artist and as a businessperson. dischord records
has run all these years as a library of interesting dc music: often cutting edge sounds. it's still a small operation and not exploitative: it doesn't market a whole shitload of "gear" for example. fugazi still plays all-ages shows and the tickets
are inexpensive. now, if you were looking for a hero, mackaye would say look somewhere else. but you do much, much worse. they made an album's worth of tunes. the second thing listed here is an amazing overall history of dc punk. stepping stone
rites of spring
this band, featuring guy picciotto and brendan canty, later of fugazi, came right at the end of the first stage of harDCore, and are included here because, first of all, they were a great hardcore band, and second,
because they anticipated a bunch of later developments. i think the terms "emocore" and "emo" were actually coined first to describe rites of spring (and perhaps mackaye's band of the same time, embrace). but it wasn't whining sensitive boys. it was piccioto putting it all on the line emotionally,
as if you were seeing into his heart every time he started singing. amazingly, heartrendingly earnest and sincere. they also added melody to the hc formula, though it is definitely still hc (deeper than inside). i wish i had seen them; i left dc befofre they played a now-famous gig at the chevy chase
community center, where i'd spent much of my youth. they must have been amazingly intense.
social distortion
A very strong and early orange county hc band fronted by mike ness. they played with a little less mere fury and a little more finesse than black flag (turn around) mike ness proved to be a oner: he is an amazing country artist these days,
running the whole thing through a punk sensibility. ring of fire etc. why not, for heaven's sake? the original alt.country motherfucker.
tsol (true sounds of liberty)
ok. they were uberjocks and anarchists (? abolish government). in a way the antithesis and in a way the apotheosis of hardcore. they were, by all accounts, an incredible - and incredibly aggressive -
band on stage. the early recordings have stood the test of time. they went through an almost unbelievable set of stylistic contortions as time went on, sounding kind of "new wave" with keyboards or trying to mutate into a hair rock band, while trading out all members, etc.
