In this post I focus on the sub-genre known as Hardcore. This unlike Thrash Metal which I discussed yesterday is when Punk takes some aspects of metal, but still focuses on the primary punk concepts. Thrash Metal was more about metal taking some punk ideas, bit focusing on metal ideas. This is a cross pollination in the other direction. Some of these bands were mentioned in the previous post on Punk. Hardcore is sometimes called Hardcore Punk.

This continues my series on the Metal family tree. There are a lot of side branches which may or may not be metal depending upon your subjective opinion. They do have a lot of influence on other branches though, so in the interest of thoroughness I am attempting to cover them as well. The original post for this series has links at the bottom to all the previous episodes.

Punk was about rebellion, aggressive music, and not giving a shit about how skilled they are at their instruments. It is raw emotional feverish music. Hardcore extends that and just tends to add a bit more distortion at times, and tends to try to enhance some of those traits.

As with all the posts in this series it was inspired by the Metal Evolution documentary series by Sam Dunn and Banger Films. I saw his poster and it always had names I hadn't heard of, and most of the branches are never explored in the series. I decided I would like to explore these things. This is where the inspiration for this series of posts came from.

Let Us Begin

This particular style of music wasn't something I went out to purchase, but I was exposed to it quite a bit. A brother of one of my closest friends was way into this sub-genre. He would wear massive spiked mohawks fairly regularly. My friend that was his brother would do the same. They would both become roommates of mine during my early college years. I also worked with the brother quite a bit in Crested Butte, Colorado and he exposed me to a lot of this music on a regular basis.

He would likely find it pretty ironic that I am writing this particular post.

Negative Trend

Band First Released: 1978
Nationality: United States of America
This band only released one album, but they are sometimes included in the list of those credited for the Hardcore sound. They also predated the other bands, so if in fact this is "hardcore" then they would be an earlier example than all the other bands making claim to being the first "hardcore" band.
Negative Trend Live 1978 Part 1

Pop Sessions(full) - 1978

Germs

Band First Released:1978
Nationality: United States of America
This is another band that is sometimes pointed at as the origin of "hardcore" and they only released one studio album, but a few singles, EPs, and live albums. They were also known to appear on some compilation albums with many other bands. Their only actual studio album was produced by Joan Jet and they were featured in the documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization.
The Decline of Western Civilization (6/7) Germs perform "Manimal" (1981)

The Germs - GI (Full Album)

D.O.A.

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: Canada
This band is typically credited for creating the "hardcore" punk sound, but there is of course some debate that occurs over the actual credit. You no doubt are aware this tends to be the norm of "credit" in music. This is largely due to their second album Hardcore '81 as being to the first actual reference to the "American punk" sound as Hardcore. It was not exclusively an American sound though by a long shot as should be noted by the other acts in this post.
DOA punk documentary - 1:33:04

Police Brutality

Watcha Gonna Do? (1980)

Smash The State

Angry Samoans

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United States of America
This is yet another band sometimes credited with the creation of the "hardcore" sound though as I have shown there are earlier claimants to that achievement. This band has more albums than some of those other claimants.
Angry Samoans: True Documentary(1995)

Back From Samoa (Full Album) - 1982

Angry Samoans Live L.A. Early 80's

Dead Kennedys

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United States of America
I covered them in the previous post on Punk, so I will not cover the same material here, but instead will link a couple of other videos.
Dead Kennedys - California Über Alles

Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia

Circle Jerks

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United States of America
This is one of the more prolific acts in this sub-genre. They released six studio albums from 1980 - 1995. They are another tact I already covered in the previous post on punk. I will therefore link videos here that are not already in that other post.
Circle Jerks - Live a the House of Blues - 1:00:15

Circle Jerks - Making The Bombs

The Exploited

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United Kingdoms/Scotland
This band is based out of Scotland and had a huge hardcore working class punk audience. They also had a skinhead audience. My friend/roommate listened to these guys quite a bit in a remote corner of Colorado. I was therefore, exposed to them quite a bit.
The Exploited / Documentary Part I

The Exploited / Documentary Part II

The Exploited / Documentary Part III

The Exploited - 25 Years of Anarchy And Chaos part 4

Discharge

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United Kingdoms
I don't recall hearing about this band from my friends, but they seem to be very prolific and have even released an album as recent as 2016.
Max Cavalera (Sepultura/Soulfly) on getting into the band and how they influenced him (official interview)

Realities Of War (EP 1980)

Never Again / Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing / The Nightmare Continues

Hatebomb - 5.8.2016 Rebellion, Blackpool, UK

Charged G.B.H.

Band First Released: 1980
Nationality: United Kingdoms
I remember seeing the GBH logo drawn all over the place, but I never knew when I was listening to them. I do know my friends must have liked them as they were the ones drawing G.B.H. all over the place. They are a very prolific band from 1980 - 2010. They released a lot of material in that time period.
Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne (Full Album)

Give me fire

Live at Stoke-On-Trent 1983 (Full Concert)

Black Flag

Band First Released: 1981
Nationality: United States of America
Black Flag is another band I already covered in the Punk rock post I made in this series. I will link a couple of additional videos here that were not in that post.
Depression - HD 1980

My War (Live 1985)

Minor Threat

Band First Released: 1981
Nationality: United States of America
This was a hardcore punk band from the Washington D.C. area. It is interesting that one of the big hardcore punk scenes in the United States was at the location of the seat of federal power. Rebellion from those that have to interact with the politicians on a more frequent basis than the rest of us?
Another State of Mind - A Punk Documentary - 1:18:16

Minor Threat - Complete Discography Full Album (1989)

Minor Threat - First Demo Tape (1981)

Misfits

Band First Released: 1982
Nationality: United States of America
I mentioned the Misfits earlier in my punk post. I did not go into detail, but they were there. Misfits were influential on bands such as Metallica. They are also where Glenn Danzig (whom I often refer to as the "evil Elvis" with a chuckle) got his start. He founded the bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig.
Dig Up Her Bones

Scream! (Official Video)

Bad Brains

Band First Released: 1982
Nationality: United States of America
Ironically this band is from Washington D.C. With the name of the band and the location it makes me think of the comedy, sci-fi TV series of the same name that came out within the last year. I mentioned Bad Brains already in my other post on Punk, but I didn't say much. I will show different videos here. I will also say these guys are actually quite skilled musicians. They are almost a Progressive Hardcore band. :)
Live at CBGB's 1982 (Full Concert) - 57:56

Soul Craft 1990 (Videoclip) - I remember when this came out and I thought it was pretty bad ass.

Bad Brains - Black Dots (full album) - Hmmm I didn't see this on the Wikipedia page... I guess I need to change this from first released in 1982 to 1978. Actually I don't need to. They referred to themselves I guess as Black Dots then.

Agnostic Front

Band First Released: 1983
Nationality: United States of America
This is one of the bands known for being a crossover Thrash Metal band. They would play both styles of music. I remember encountering this band in my metal magazines and then hearing songs that were hardcore and thinking WTF. These guys played a lot of different styles. It really depended upon when you caught them.
'The American Dream Died' Trailer #1: Hardcore Roots (Official Trailer)

Gotta Go

Never Walk Alone (Official Video)

For My Family (Official Video)

Closing

Punk and Hardcore were never really my thing. I liked the attitude okay, and the rebellious nature. I however, was a guitarist and was striving to actually get skilled at my guitar. I had only been playing for a couple of years as I was exposed to these guys, but I could already play far more challenging pieces of music than this. As I stated though, there is a lot more to this movement and music than skill. It also is not the only case of such a thing occurring. Occasionally, music takes a step back from skill and goes for other aspects of life.

So this music was not really my thing, but I was exposed to it a lot as I had friends, roommates, and coworkers that played it a lot around me.

Steem On!