Melodic hardcore | |
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Other names | Melodic punk |
Stylistic origins | Hardcore punk |
Cultural origins | Early 1980s, California and Washington, D.C., United States |
Derivative forms | |
Local scenes | |
Other topics | |
Melodic hardcore is a broadly defined subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melody in its guitar work. It generally incorporates fast rhythms, melodic and often distorted guitar riffs, and vocal styles tending towards shouting and screaming. Nevertheless, the genre has been very diverse, with different bands showcasing very different styles. Many pioneering melodic hardcore bands (such as Bad Religion and Descendents), have proven influential across the spectrum of punk rock, as well as rock music more generally.
Melodic hardcore is broadly defined, however generally incorporates fast rhythms, melodic and often distorted guitar riffs, and vocal styles tending towards shouting and screaming. Many notable bands, such as Dag Nasty and Lifetime use minor interval chords on guitar, such as minor ninth and seventh chords, as well as fifth or ninth harmonies on vocals. Many groups also drop tune their instruments. Tempos commonly range from 180 to 210 beats per minute, with very few bands ranging outside of a 4/4 time signature.
Many modern melodic hardcore bands are incorporating elements of melodic hardcore and emo, relying more heavily upon melody than their hardcore punk predecessors. [1] [2] There are also bands that take influence from post-hardcore and melodic metalcore. [3] [4]
The earliest melodic hardcore emerged from the Californian hardcore punk scene by the early 1980s. This includes Descendents, who formed in 1978. Their earliest work was simple, pop-influenced punk rock, but they went on to mix this melodic approach with hardcore, inspiring both melodic hardcore and pop punk groups. [5] Bad Religion, who formed in Los Angeles in 1979, played in a somewhat similar vein, but their approach was more "angry" and politically charged. [6] They recorded their debut album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? , in 1981. [7]
The Faith's 1983 EP Subject to Change is thought of as one of the first melodic hardcore records, as significant as the music of Bad Religion or the Descendents. [8] On the release, the band added and moved away from the more straightforward hardcore punk of their earlier work towards a more complex, textured, and melodic sound, accompanied by introspective lyrics; the release is notable for its influence on post-hardcore. [9]
Dag Nasty are a key melodic hardcore band [10] that formed during the mid-1980s as part of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, with Brian Baker (ex-Minor Threat) on guitar. In 1988, the band All formed, featuring three members of The Descendents. The band made music in a broadly similar vein to the Descendents, and were initially fronted by Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty. [7] Gorilla Biscuits came out of the late 1980s New York hardcore scene, and played a melodic form of the hardcore subgenre known as youth crew. Youth crew itself takes a lot of influence from 7 Seconds, who ventured into melodic hardcore on albums such as The Crew. Turning Point, a New Jersey hardcore band, also emerged from the youth crew movement, but their later material moved towards melodic hardcore, with more complex music and introspective lyrics. [11]
In 1994, H2O formed, mixing melodic elements of Washington D.C., with New York and California hardcore punk. Lifetime was a notable emo group whose sound drew heavily on pop punk and melodic hardcore. [12] Along with other melodic hardcore groups, they had much influence on subsequent pop punk, including bands such as Fall Out Boy and Saves the Day. [13] [14] When Lifetime broke up, some of their members formed Kid Dynamite. [15] During the 1990s, the "Epi-Fat" sound (a variant of skate punk named after the labels that housed its key bands, Epitaph Records and Fat Wreck Chords) was popular, and key bands such as NOFX, Pennywise and Strung Out bordered on melodic hardcore influenced by the likes of Descendents and Bad Religion. [16] [17] [18] [19]
The mainstream success of pop-punk in the 2000s led to an increase in commercial success of other melodic styles of punk, including melodic hardcore. This was prominent with Chicago band Rise Against, who formed in 1999, and achieved significant mainstream radio play and MTV coverage, with the release of their major label debut Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004). Additional bands in the genre to benefit from this were Strike Anywhere, Kid Dynamite, the Movielife and the Suicide Machines. [20]
With their 2001 debut album Background Music , Boston hardcore band American Nightmare pioneered a new style of melodic hardcore, which callbacked to the 1980s punk-based style of hardcore, while also embracing the influence of the dark lyrics of gothic rock. [21] American Nightmare's influence was apparent promptly leading to a wave bands including Ceremony, Ruiner, Modern Life Is War, the Hope Conspiracy and Killing the Dream. [22] [23] A reaction against American Nightmare's negative melodic hardcore sound soon took place, beginning with Mental, who were quickly followed by Have Heart. [24] Have Heart's success led to the rise in popularity of other positive hardcore groups like Champion, Verse and Sinking Ships. [25] [26] Other prominent groups playing these styles included the Carrier, Ruiner, This Is Hell and Comeback Kid, many of which are housed by key hardcore labels Bridge 9 Records and Deathwish Inc. [10] In western Australia, this sound become one of its most commercially successful exports, with Break Even and Mile Away. [27]
Between 2005 and 2009, groups including Defeater, Touché Amoré and Being as an Ocean morphed Bridge Nine and Deathwish's melodic hardcore style into what Alternative Press writer Brian Kraus termed "melodic, emotional hardcore". [10] By the 2010s this sound evolved into the experiment movement the Wave. Typified by emotional lyrics, concept albums and the revival of elements of 1990s emo, screamo and post-hardcore, the movement was originally fronted by Touché Amoré, Defeater, La Dispute, Pianos Become the Teeth and Make Do and Mend. As the movement continued into the 2010s, it also came to be embraced by Tigers Jaw, Title Fight, Balance And Composure and State Faults. [28] [21]
In the late 2000s, a wave of groups cross-pollinating the influence of melodic hardcore, like Killing the Dream, and metalcore bands like Shai Hulud and Misery Signals began to gain traction. This wave often made use of serious, solemn lyrics and sometimes clean vocals in addition to the commonplace screams. Music commentators including Stuff You Will Hate , Alternative Press and Bradley Zorgdrager of Exclaim! used the name "serious hardcore" or "srscore" to refer to this style. [29] [30] Groups in this wave included Hundredth, the Ghost Inside, Counterparts [30] and Stick to Your Guns. [31]
Through the 2010s, the melodic, emotional hardcore style grew an underground following in Wales, fronted by Casey and Holding Absence. [32] By the time of Casey's 2023 reunion shows, they had entered a level of cult status which Noizze writer Ethan Young stated made them "one of the most notable melodic hardcore groups of the decade". [33] Australia too developed a prominent scene in the genre, with Vacant Home and Ambleside gaining some international success. [34] [35] At this time, the YouTube channel Dreambound was one of the most prominent sources for finding bands, uploading music videos for many prominent bands. [36]
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, some underground hardcore bands to revive the sound of 2000s Bridge 9 melodic hardcore bands. This movement included One Step Closer, Mil-Spec, Ghost Fame, No Longer At Ease and Time and Pressure. [21]
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".
Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.
AFI is an American rock band from Ukiah, California, formed in 1991. Since 1998, it consists of lead vocalist Davey Havok, drummer and backing vocalist Adam Carson, bassist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Hunter Burgan, and guitarist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Jade Puget. Havok and Carson are the sole remaining original members. Originally a hardcore punk band, they have since delved into many genres, starting with horror punk and following through post-hardcore and emo into alternative rock and gothic rock.
Pop-punk is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes. It is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, hip hop, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.
Skate punk is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a more melodic genre of punk rock in the 1990s similar to pop punk. Since then, it has predominately featured fast tempos, lead guitar playing, fast drumming, and singing. Occasionally, skate punk also combines the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore with the catchy hooks of pop-punk.
Screamo is a subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego–based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.
Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, that originated in the late 1980s. Metalcore is noted for its use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages conducive to moshing, while other defining instrumentation includes heavy guitar riffs often utilizing percussive pedal tones and double bass drumming. Vocalists in the genre typically perform screaming; more popular bands often combine this with the use of standard singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. However, the death growl is also a popular technique within the genre.
Youth crew is a music subculture of hardcore punk, which was particularly prominent during the New York hardcore scene of the late 1980s. Youth crew is distinguished from other punk styles by its optimism and moralistic outlook. The original youth crew bands and fans were predominantly straight edge and vegetarian.
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Initially taking inspiration from post-punk and noise rock, post-hardcore began in the 1980s with bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. The genre expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with releases by bands from cities that had established hardcore scenes, such as Fugazi from Washington, D.C. as well as groups such as Big Black, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period.
The Illusion of Safety is the second studio album by American rock band Thrice. It was released on February 5, 2002 through Sub City Records, who the band had previously reissued their debut studio album Identity Crisis (2000) through. They wrote new songs at a rate of two per month, prior to recording in July 2001. Sessions were held at Salad Days Studios with producer Brian McTernan. The Illusion of Safety is a melodic hardcore and post-hardcore album, with a reoccurring topic of death and religious references.
Government Issue was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. active from 1980 to 1989. The band experienced many changes in membership during its nine-year existence, with singer John Stabb as the only consistent member in an ever-fluctuating lineup that at various times included notable musicians Brian Baker, Mike Fellows, Steve Hansgen, J. Robbins, and Peter Moffett. Government Issue originated from the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene but added elements of heavy metal, new wave, and psychedelic rock on later records. Though this has caused the band to be sometimes overlooked in relation to other Washington, D.C. hardcore acts, their stylistic diversity made them influential to later punk rock groups. Government Issue performed occasional reunion shows in the 2000s and 2010s with various lineups, until Stabb's death from stomach cancer in 2016.
Emo pop is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop has its origins in the 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Weezer and the Promise Ring. The genre entered the mainstream in the early 2000s with Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American, which included its song "The Middle". Other emo pop bands that achieved mainstream success throughout the decade included Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. The popularity of emo pop declined in the 2010s, with some prominent artists in the genre either disbanding or abandoning the emo pop style.
Punk jazz is a genre of music that combines elements of jazz, especially improvisation, with the instrumentation and performance style of punk rock. The term was first used to describe James Chance and the Contortions' 1979 album Buy. Punk jazz is closely related to free jazz, no wave, and loft jazz, and has since significantly inspired post-hardcore and alternative hip hop.
Nintendocore is a broadly defined style of music that most commonly fuses chiptune with various hardcore punk and/or heavy metal subgenres, most often metalcore and post-hardcore. The genre is sometimes considered a direct subgenre of post-hardcore and a fusion genre between metalcore and chiptune. The genre originated in the early 2000s and peaked around the late 2000s with bands like Horse the Band, Karate High School and Sky Eats Airplane pioneering the genre.
Title Fight was an American rock band from Kingston, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. They released three studio albums – Shed (2011), Floral Green (2012) and Hyperview (2015) – gradually shifting from a hardcore punk-oriented sound towards shoegaze and indie rock. Hyperview was released through Anti-, a record label to which the band signed in July 2014.
The emo revival, or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and flourished until the mid-to-late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third-wave emo, with Pennsylvania-based groups such as Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing eschewing that era's mainstream sensibilities in favor of influence from 1990s Midwest emo. Acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater drew from 1990s emo and especially its heavier counterparts, such as screamo and post-hardcore.
Whenever, If Ever is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, released on June 18, 2013, on Topshelf Records.
Midwest emo refers to the emo scene and/or subgenre that developed in the 1990s Midwestern United States. Employing unconventional vocal stylings, distinct guitar riffs and arpeggiated melodies, Midwest emo bands shifted away from the genre's hardcore punk roots and drew on indie rock and math rock approaches. According to the author and critic Andy Greenwald, "this was the period when emo earned many, if not all, of the stereotypes that have lasted to this day: boy-driven, glasses-wearing, overly sensitive, overly brainy, chiming-guitar-driven college music." Midwest emo is sometimes used interchangeably with second-wave emo. Although implied by the name, Midwest emo does not solely refer to bands and artists from the Midwestern United States, and the style is played by outfits across the United States and internationally.
Greg W: When we formed the band Mental, it was a reaction to bands in our area like American Nightmare and Panic. We wanted to do something that was different to what was going on at the time. Luckily, the older people who got me into hardcore as a kid put me onto classic New York hard-core. I could never connect to any of that baggy-pants Victory Records stuff too much. The guys in Mental and I were so into old New York and D.C. hardcore. We worshipped it, and we wanted to bring that style of music back...
Chris Wrenn: I saw Have Heart picking up the straight edge torch afte Mental. Bands like American Nightmare and No Warning only had black T-shirts. When Bridge Nine Records started working with Have Heart, Pat's only concern was that we didn't make black T-shirts for the band, and I don't think we ever did; red and royal blue definitely, but not black.