Hardcore punk is a punk rock subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by Washington, D.C., and New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically charged lyrics".
Crucifix was an American hardcore punk band from the San Francisco Bay Area, active from 1980 to 1984. They were among the most popular acts of the San Francisco punk scene of the early 1980s. Fronted by Cambodian-born singer Sothira Pheng, Crucifix were distinct among American underground bands for their strong D-beat musical characteristics and anarchist lyrical content and graphic design. The band's debut 1983 full-length album Dehumanization on Crass Records‘ offshoot Corpus Christi Records, is considered by many critics and fans to be a cornerstone of political punk music. After their breakup, Crucifix’s members went on to form the bands Loudspeaker and Proudflesh.
Judge is a New York hardcore band formed in 1987 by Youth of Today guitarist John "Porcell" Porcelly and former Youth of Today drummer Mike "Judge" Ferraro.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.
Flipper is an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. The band influenced a number of grunge, punk rock and noise rock bands. Their slowed-down, bass-driven and heavily distorted style of punk is considered to have inspired bands such as the Melvins and Nirvana, whose bass player Krist Novoselic played with the band in the 2000s.
Matthew Pike is an American musician best known as the guitarist of stoner metal/doom metal band Sleep and the frontman of High on Fire. With High on Fire, Pike won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Electric Messiah".
Ludicra is an American heavy metal band from San Francisco. They originally formed in 1998 as a quartet and later expanded to five members. In 2011, the band announced on their official website that they had disbanded, but they reunited in 2022.
Septic Death was an American hardcore punk band active in the 1980s. The foursome from Boise, Idaho was a major influence for the development of grindcore, thrashcore and "speedcore".
Plaid Retina was an American punk rock band from Visalia, California, formed in 1986 and active until 1996.
Attitude Adjustment is an American crossover thrash band from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album, American Paranoia, is considered to be an early "crossover" between hardcore punk and thrash metal.
We Be the Echo is an American instrumental rock band from San Francisco. They play a blend of math rock, brutal prog, punk, jazz and heavy metal with dub influenced bass lines. The band's sound is based on melodic and rhythmically challenging short songs that often incorporate shred guitar. They formed in 2003 from the remnants of the Bay Area experimental band Bm Relocation Program.
The Extra Action Marching Band is an American musical group loosely based on the American marching band construct. The instrumentation is entirely brass, drums and one modified bullhorn. At performances, provocatively flamboyant cheerleaders with pom-poms and flags engage the audience.
"There's really no need to introduce the Extra Action Marching Band: The Bay Area institution has been crashing parties, invading bars, and blowing minds with its signature "high school marching band on acid" punk-meets-Sousa bombast for years now. The tuba players, flag team, and percussion section take perverse delight in twisting the staid conventions of their respective forms, and it can be downright disorienting to spot a sexy trombone player." - Hiya Swanhuyser – SF Weekly 2005
“… performance at the… Hollywood Bowl… Not bad for a bunch of temperamental weirdos who were once paid in gift certificates to a sex toy shop [payment for playing at the opening of Good Vibrations vibrator store for women]” –SPIN Magazine, Feb 2006
Bellavista is an indie rock/shoegaze band from San Francisco, California. The current lineup includes guitarist/vocalist Rex John Shelverton, bassist Jeremy Bringetto, and drummer Cary LaScala. Shelverton is also known for being a co-founder of the band/duo Tamaryn.
The Idoru is a post-hardcore band from Budapest, Hungary. It was formed in 2003 by ex-members of the Hungarian hard-core and metalcore band Newborn. The original line-up consisted of Tibor Szalkai (guitars), Gábor Nagy (guitars), Mátyás Mohácsi (bass), Denis Valach (drums) and András Bödecs (vocals). However, three of the original members left the band in 2009.
Austrian Death Machine is an American thrash metal side project from San Diego, California, founded by As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis to be a parody of and tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger's films.
Graf Orlock was an American hardcore punk band formed in 2003 in Los Angeles, California, United States. They were named after Count Orlok from the 1922 film Nosferatu. The band consists of members of the hardcore punk bands Greyskull, Arctic Choke, Dangers and Ghostlimb, and employs audio snippets and script dialogue from action films such as The Terminator, Aliens and RoboCop in all their songs, which has led to the band being jokingly described as "cinema-grind". The band formed after guitarist Jason Schmidt and drummer Alan Hunter along with bassist Sven Calhoun and vocalist Kalvin Kristoff begun releasing EPs and split albums. In 2006, they started the Destination Time trilogy based on a screenplay that Schmidt and Hunter had been working on in university; the second instalment was the 2007 EP Destination Time Tomorrow which was listed at number 16 in Decibel Magazine's top 40 releases of 2007. Their latest album Crimetraveler was released in 2016 through Vitriol Records, a label run by members of the band and also featuring Ghostlimb, Robotosaurus, Owen Hart, Teeth, Dangers, Birds in Row and Totalt Jävla Mörker.
The Angry Samoans is an American punk rock band from the first wave of American punk, formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California, by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders, his sibling lead guitarist Bonze Blayk and Gregg Turner, along with original recruits Todd Homer (bass) and Bill Vockeroth (drums).
Landscapes was a British melodic hardcore band based in Somerset, England. Formed in 2009, the band released one EP and two albums. They played at Hevy Music Festival and toured throughout Europe several times.
Cries Hannah is an American post-hardcore band that emerged from Southeast Missouri in the early 2000s. Known for their intense energy, emotional depth, and dynamic blend of melodic and hardcore elements, Cries Hannah quickly made a name for themselves in the underground music scene.
Bosse-de-Nage is an American band from San Francisco, California, United States, composed of four anonymous members. Considered a part of the blackgaze scene, the band performs an experimental black metal style that draws from post-rock, shoegaze, post-hardcore, screamo, and indie rock, with influences from Slint, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. AllMusic critic Gregory Heaney wrote that the band "crafts a sound that's as comfortable expanding outward as it is contracting into a suffocating mass of needling guitars and frantic drumming." The band's lyrics touch upon various subjects, such as sex, filth, bodies, perversion, and death. Their name is taken from French symbolist Alfred Jarry's book Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician; it is the name of a monkey which may or may not have been a hallucination of the narrator.
