New York hardcore (also known as NYHC) is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle associated with that music. The scene established many aspects that are fixtures of hardcore punk today, including its simplified name "hardcore", its hardcore skinhead and youth crew subcultures, the moshing style hardcore dancing, its association with street gangs and its prominent influence of heavy metal.
The scene experienced many distinct waves and deviations in style: early 1980s bands who directly outgrew the earlier punk scene including Agnostic Front, Reagan Youth and Kraut began the scene. In mid–1980s, the Cro-Mags, Leeway and Stormtroopers of Death embraced the influence of the nascent thrash metal genre, helping to pioneer crossover thrash. In mid-to-late 1980s, a reaction against this metal influence saw Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Bold established the youth crew subculture, which revived hardcore's punk–based roots. However, by the end of the decade, thrash metal's influence permeated the scene again establishing a new form, tough guy hardcore, played by Sick of It All, Breakdown, Madball and Killing Time. During the 1990s, the sound of New York hardcore largely diversified: Helmet, Quicksand and Life of Agony helped to establish the alternative metal genre, while Bulldoze (band) and 25 ta Life pioneered beatdown hardcore and Merauder All Out War and Vision of Disorder becoming prominent forces in metalcore. Furthermore Biohazard, Cro-Mags and Skarhead embracing influences from hip hop and H2O and CIV creating music indebted to pop music.
The origins of New York's punk rock scene can be traced back to such sources as late 1960s trash culture and an early 1970s underground rock movement centered on the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village, where the New York Dolls performed. [1] In early 1974, this early punk scene began to develop around the CBGB club, also in lower Manhattan, featuring groups and musicians like Television, [2] Richard Hell, [3] Patti Smith, [4] the Ramones [5] the Heartbreakers [6] and Jayne County [7] The New York hardcore scene particularly grew of out of the section of this punk scene that was documented on the 1982 New York Thrash compilation, with groups like the Stimulators, the Eliminators and the Mad. [8]
After the breakup of the Eliminators, the band's bass player Vinnie Stigma formed Agnostic Front. [9] The band soon became the godfathers of New York Hardcore and one of the scene's most crucial bands. [10] Around the same time the term "hardcore" started being used instead of "punk rock". Roger Miret of Agnostic Front asserts that "We started using the term 'hardcore' because we wanted to separate ourselves from the punk scene that was happening in New York at the time ... We were rougher kids living in the streets. It had a rougher edge". [11] The scene emerged around 1981, when members of Agnostic Front, Cause for Alarm, Kraut, Murphy's Law and Antidote began to spend time together on Avenue A and performing at A7 in Manhattan. [12] Rock clubs like Max's Kansas City, the Ritz and CBGB's also quickly became crucial spots for this newly formed scene. [8] [12]
Early in the decade, many bands were inspired by the British anarcho-punk scene. Beginning as a part of the larger New York hardcore scene, bands like Reagan Youth, False Prophets and Heart Attack [13] made use of a similar musical style and mentality to their British counterparts. [14] This scene split from New York hardcore as the decade progressed. [13] Nausea were a key figure in the scene during this period, helping to cultivate a new scene in the city based around politics and squatting. [15]
After the release of Metallica's 1983 debut album Kill 'Em All , New York hardcore bands began embracing elements of heavy metal music, especially thrash metal. This event caused the scene to expand, with the average attendance at shows jumping from around 100 to over 400. [16] One of the earliest New York hardcore bands to embrace heavy metal influences was NYC Mayhem. [17] In the following years many crossover thrash bands began to form within the scene, notably Leeway, Crumbsuckers, Nuclear Assault [18] and Ludichrist. [19] New York metal bands like Anthrax and Carnivore began attending and performing at hardcore shows, [20] and many original NYHC bands became increasingly heavier and harder in sound as the metal influences grew stronger, consequently some NYHC bands who were previously skinheads started growing their hair and adopting metal looks. Agnostic Front released the crossover album Cause for Alarm in 1986, which led many in the scene to deride them as sell outs. [16] Writer Freddie Alva stated in a 2014 article that "[Cause for Alarm's] combination of heavy metal precision and hardcore energy created a landmark for the crossover sound". [18]
The Cro-Mags released the crossover album, Best Wishes in 1989, which also heavily impacted the scene. The album was cited as a major influence by much of the 1990s New York hardcore scene, particularly Biohazard, Merauder and Candiria. [20]
Youth crew was a movement that began in the mid-to-late 1980s as a reaction against the metal influences being embraced in New York hardcore. Youth crew bands began playing a sound that called back to earlier punk rock–leaning hardcore acts. [21] The movement was fronted by Youth of Today, who coined the name on their 1985 song "Youth Crew". Gorilla Biscuits and Bold were also prominent bands in the style. [22] Straight edge and vegetarianism were also defining features of this movement, [21] however this led to many older members of the scene rejecting the movement. Because of this, New York youth crew became an isolated entity separate from the wider hardcore scene. From within the youth crew scene, emerged bands like Sick of It All and Warzone, who did not necessarily adhere to all of its elements but would prove influential to many subsequent hardcore bands. [23] Later youth crew bands, namely Judge, began to take heavily from metal, helping to lead to the development of heavy hardcore. [21] New York youth crew began to decline in popularity and prominence following the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot and 1990 departure of Ray Cappo from Youth of Today. [23]
As the scene progressed many bands began to emerge that took significant influence from heavy metal and hip hop. Some musicians in the New York hardcore scene cultivated a "tough guy ethos" through use of aggression, criminal violence and gang mentatilites. [24]
Over time, many of these bands began to develop a unique style that was based more around rhythm and less around the influence of punk. The palm muting guitar technique was a key aspect of this sound, [24] as well as gang vocals, heavy guitar riffs and heavy breakdowns. [25] According to writer Tony Rettman, in his book NYHC (2015), Yonkers, New York band Breakdown, formed in 1987, were one of the first bands to define tough guy hardcore. The same year Judge released their debut EP New York Crew, which Crack magazine described as the record that took New York's "tough guy mentality to new heights". [26] Other bands pushing this sound at the time included Sick of It All, Sheer Terror and Killing Time. [27] [28] Madball, formed in 1988, were credited by Riverfront Times as the band that defined tough guy hardcore, [29] and by Stereogum as "an archetypal tough-guy hardcore band". [30] During the 1990s, they become of the most prominent bands in New York hardcore. [31] [32]
Gradually, tough guy hardcore became so ubiquitous of the New York hardcore that the style became popularly known as simply "New York hardcore". [33] Through the 1990s and 2000s, the sound was expanded upon by groups from outside of New York, including Blood for Blood, Death Before Dishonor, Terror and Trapped Under Ice. Ultimately, tough guy hardcore became a more dominant sound in the hardcore scene than its original punk-based sound, becoming what is thought of "when you say 'hardcore'". [34] It influenced the development of beatdown hardcore, [35] brutal death metal, [36] slam death metal [37] and deathcore. [38] [39]
During the 1990s, the sound of New York hardcore bands diversified, with the influence of thrash metal and death metal becoming increasingly common groups like Biohazard, Madball, Skarhead and 25 Ta Life were became influenced by hip-hop music, an influence which permeated through most of the mid to late 1990s NYHC scene. [40] [41] Biohazard's merger of hip hop and tough guy hardcore, in particularly, was widely successful, [42] with their 1992 single "Punishment" gaining significant airplay on MTV. The band's 1993 collaboration with rap group Onyx on the remix of "Slam" was certified platinum [43] and the band would go on to be cited as an influence by nu metal pioneers Korn. [44]
At this time, members of New York hardcore bands began to form new bands which played alternative metal including Shelter, Quicksand, [45] Orange 9mm [46] and Helmet. [47] The Cro-Mags third album Alpha Omega (1992) saw the band lean further into their metal influence, while incorporating conventional singing and experimenting with rap metal on "Eyes Of Tomorrow". [48] Life of Agony were one of the most prominent, [49] the vinyl edition of their debut album River Runs Red (1993) peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums chart, [50] and in May 2005, being inducted into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, the fourth album overall to be featured. [51] Furthermore, many New York hardcore musicians began to pursue more pop–influenced styles, including. H2O, [52] CIV and nearby Lifetime. [53] Concurrently, the scene was primarily based around the Bond Street Café on Bond Street, Manhattan. By 1993, Brownies, Coney Island High and the Wetlands Preserve became frequented venues, and CBGB recommended hosting Sunday matinees. [12]
In the mid-1990s, the New York hardcore scene expanded outward into much of the New York metropolitan area and New York state, which gave rise to Vision of Disorder, Crown of Thornz and No Redeeming Social Value. [12] Bulldoze, whose members were from both Irvington, New Jersey and New York City, pioneered the beatdown hardcore subgenre. Their 1996 album The Final Beatdown giving the style its name. [54] [55] Originated from the earlier tough guy hardcore sound, [56] Bulldoze, along with Terror Zone, created the genre bu merging the sound with lyrics of gang activity and heavy breakdowns to set the template for the genre. [57] In their wake followed groups like Neglect, Confusion [58] and 25 Ta Life. [59]
New York City's Merauder released their debut album Master Killer in 1996, merging the sounds of metalcore, earlier New York hardcore and the newly emerged beatdown hardcore style. Of the album, Revolver writer Elis Enis stated "any self-proclaimed 'metallic hardcore' band of the last 25 years is indebted to Master Killer's steel-toed stomp." [60] Along with All Out War, Darkside NYC and Confusion, Merauder were a part of a wave of bands defining a newer, increasingly metallic style of hardcore in New York that had long been one of the epicentres of metalcore. [61] Long Island's Vision of Disorder were also a prevalent band in the scene, being one of the first bands to incorporate clean singing into metalcore, which would soon become a staple, as well as incorporating elements of nu metal. [62] In a 2005 article by Billboard magazine, writer Greg Pato stated that "with seemingly every local teen waving the VOD banner circa the mid/late '90s, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before VOD would become the band to take 'metalcore' to a massive audience". [63]
New York originated "hardcore screws". Sociology academic Edgar M. Peralta defined crews as being people involved in hardcore scene who unify "based on reciprocal ties and varying interests, including non-criminal elements such as music or sports, but also including some criminal elements, which often include violence and graffiti", specifically originating as a means to oppose the white supremacist currents in their scenes. [64]
The most prominent crew in New York City is DMS (Doc Marten Skinheads) from the Lower East Side. [65] Formed in the early 1980s by Jere DMS, the crew's embrace of elements of hardcore, hip-hop, graffiti, motorcycle, skinhead and skateboarding culture, and multi-ethnic membership led to it including members who would go on to form bands including Bulldoze, Madball and Skarhead. [64]
The Sunset Skins was New York hardcore screw established Sunset Park, Brooklyn in 1987. Largely made up of Stateside Puerto Ricans, it included members who played in Merauder, All Out War, Direct Approach and Brute Force. It had largely disbanded by 1993, by which time the members of Merauder had joined DMS as their Brooklyn chapter. [66]
Beginning with Cro-Mags and inspired by the spirituality of the Bad Brains, [67] many New York hardcore musicians are followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism religious organisation the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Although some hardcore punk bands had already made references to Krishna Consciousness in the 1980s, the religion was most prominent through bands established in the early 1990s by the bands Shelter and 108. [68] One of the first members of its scene to adopt Krishna Consciousness was John Joseph of the Cro-Mags. [69] New York bands Antidote and Cause for Alarm were among the first that began to explore Krishna Consciousness in both their creative and personal lives, [70] [71] The main influence to on many musicians to embrace ISKCON was the Washington D.C.'s hardcore band the Bad Brains which, despite being Rastas, they "grafted fervent spirituality onto an otherwise nihilistic and antitranscendental genre." [72]
The "New York hardcore logo" is a symbol attached to the scene which features the letters "NYHC" within the quadrants of an X shape. The symbol was created by the Abused vocalist Kevin Crowley. [73] According to Harley Flanagan, the use of the X was inspired by the crossed hammers on the logo of the English Football firm the Inter City Firm, which he witnessed when in London in the late 1970s. [74]
Since its early stages, New York hardcore has been heavily associated with hardcore skinhead culture (unrelated to neo-Nazi skinheads), gang ideology and tattoo culture as well as squatting. In the mid to late 1980s, youth crew ideology and graffiti culture started to make an impact on the scene and had a long-lasting influence on the genre. Critics and observers have also noted an inspiration and influence from gritty, urban and/or dystopian films such as Death Wish , Taxi Driver , The Warriors , and Escape from New York . [67] Historically, political stances in New York Hardcore have been varied and sometimes controversial.
During this time, the New York hardcore developed early slam dancing into what is now understand as slam dancing. In their distinction, participants may stay in one position on their own or collide with others, while executing a more exaggerated version of the arm and leg swinging of California slam dancing. [75]
As fans of heavy metal began to attend New York hardcore performances, they developed their own style of dancing based on New York hardcore's style of slam dancing. Beginning around 1983, metalheads began to refer to the slower sections of hardcore songs as "mosh parts", while hardcore musicians had called them "skank parts". [76] It was this group, particularly Scott Ian and Billy Milano who popularised the word "moshing". [77] Ian and Milano's band Stormtroopers of Death released their debut album Speak English or Die in 1985, which included the track "Milano Mosh". This led to the term being applied to the style of dance. The same year, moshing began to incorporate itself into live performances by heavy metal bands, with one early example being during Anthrax's 1985 set at the Ritz. [78] The term was then further popularised by Anthrax's 1987 song "Caught in a Mosh". [79]
With the popularity of tough guy hardcore came increased violence during performance. [28] To the extent that in the late-1980s, many clubs, namely CBGB began to refuse to book hardcore bands to perform, due to the increasing violence and gang behavior that was present at them. This also led many long time members of the scene to depart. [12]
Some of the mid-1980s NYHC groups were aligned with right-wing ideology and had strong stances on immigration and patriotism, all the while openly condemning racism and nazism. Similarly, leftist groups associated with the scene such as Born Against and Nausea also exist within the scene. [67] Naturally, conflict can sometimes arise between the two groups.
Sam McPheeters argues that:
What early New York Hardcore bands lacked in distinctive output, however, they more than compensated for in sheer menace. As the scene coalesced in Reagan's first term, the New York Hardcore scene—known in the shorthand of graffiti and knuckle tattoos as NYHC—injected class into the subculture in a way that no other city could. It was a world marinating in poverty and violence. [67]
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".
Anarcho-punk is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcore punk, folk punk, and other styles.
Moshing is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other. Taking place in an area called the mosh pit, it is typically performed to aggressive styles of live music such as punk rock and heavy metal.
Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre.
Warzone was an American hardcore punk band formed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1983. The band helped develop the New York hardcore sound, the hardcore skinhead style and the youth crew subgenre. During the band's 14 years and many line-up changes, their primarily hardcore sound was flavored by influences ranging from Oi! to traditional punk rock to heavy metal. Their fan base was diverse, with their concerts usually attended by skinheads, straight edge teens, metalheads, and punks of all ages. Vice has written that "one could argue that [Warzone] spearheaded the second and larger wave of hardcore bands that erupted in the NY scene in 1986–1987".
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.
Boston hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Boston. Beginning the early 1980s, bands such as SSD, DYS, Jerry's Kids and Negative FX formed a nascent hardcore scene in the city that was notably captured on the compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. (1982). By 1986, many of these bands had either disbanded or departed from the hardcore genre, instead beginning to play heavy metal. During the 1990s, the influence of extreme metal became prominent in the scene with Overcast, Converge, Cave In and Shadows Fall becoming prominent figures in the metalcore genre. However, a reaction against this metal influence quickly took place, which led to the mid-1990s youth crew revival of In My Eyes, Bane and Ten Yard Fight. By 2000, the youth crew revival had declined, and in response to its lyrical positivity, bands including American Nightmare, the Suicide File and the Hope Conspiracy began making music influenced by its music but centred on darker and nihilistic lyrics. In the following years, a reaction also took place against this lyrical style, which led to the rise of positive hardcore bands Mental and Have Heart. The 2000s also saw mainstream successful of Boston melodic metalcore bands including Killswitch Engage, All That Remains and Shadows Fall.
Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre is primarily derived from thrash metal, but played in slower tempos, and making use of rhythmic guitar parts. It was pioneered in the late 1980s by groups like Exhorder, Prong and the Bad Brains, and then popularized by the commercial success of Pantera, White Zombie, Machine Head and Sepultura. The genre went on to be influential in the development of the new wave of American heavy metal, nu metal and metalcore, and continued to gain traction in the 2000s with Lamb of God, DevilDriver and Five Finger Death Punch, and 2010s with Killer Be Killed and Bad Wolves.
Madball is an American New York hardcore band. Originated in the late 1980s as a side project of Agnostic Front, the band developed after Agnostic Front's vocalist Roger Miret would let his younger half-brother Freddy Cricien take the microphone and perform lead vocals during Agnostic Front shows. Following Agnostic Front's 1992 disbandment, Madball became the members' main project and many became a part of the band who were never in Agnostic Front. They have released nine studio albums and four EPs.
Murphy's Law is an influential American hardcore punk band from New York City, formed in 1982. While vocalist Jimmy Drescher remains the only founding member of the band, the line-up has consisted of numerous musicians who have performed with a diverse selection of musical acts across multiple genres, such as Skinnerbox, Danzig, The Bouncing Souls, Mucky Pup, Dog Eat Dog, Hanoi Rocks, Agnostic Front, Warzone, Cro-Mags, D Generation, New York Dolls, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, The Slackers, Thursday, Skavoovie and the Epitones, White Trash and Glen Campbell.
Murphy's Law is the second album from American rock band, Murphy's Law.
Don't Forget the Struggle, Don't Forget the Streets is the first full-length album from New York hardcore (NYHC) band Warzone.
Breakdown is an American hardcore band formed in Yonkers, New York, in late 1986. The band emerged from the mid-1980s New York hardcore scene, where they helped to pioneer the sound of beatdown hardcore.
Crossover thrash is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the mid–1980s, when hardcore punk bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies, Cryptic Slaughter, Corrosion of Conformity and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, began to incorporate the influence of thrash metal. At this time, the genre was particularly prominent in the New York hardcore scene, where groups including Agnostic Front, Leeway, Cro-Mags and Stormtroopers of Death were widely influential.
Drew Stone is an American film director, producer, film editor, author and musician. His works include music videos, commercials, documentary films and television.
Tough guy hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk with prominent influences from thrash metal. It makes use of groove-driven, palm muted guitar riffs, breakdowns, lyrics discussing hatred, personal struggles, unity, and a vocal style influenced by hip hop and oi!.
Beatdown hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk which incorporates elements of thrash metal and hip hop. The genre features aggressive vocals, heavy, palm muted guitar riffs and breakdowns. The genre has its origins in late 1980s tough guy hardcore bands such as Breakdown, Killing Time, and Madball, and was pioneered in the mid-1990s by bands like Bulldoze, Terror Zone, and Neglect. The definition of the genre has expanded over time to incorporate artists increasingly indebted to metal, notably Xibalba, Sunami, and Knocked Loose. Later acts also feature slam death metal riffs.
Craig Setari is an American musician who is the bass player of the hardcore punk band Sick of It All. He has also worked with many other hardcore bands, including Youth of Today, Straight Ahead, Rest in Pieces, Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags. Alongside Dan Lilker, he recorded the Noise for Noise's Sake demo tape under the name Crab Society. This demo tape inspired Lilker's band S.O.D. to record their 1985 demo album titled Crab Society North.
Straight Ahead was an American straight edge hardcore punk band formed in Queens, New York City in 1984 by drummer and vocalist Tommy Carroll, guitarist Gordon Ancis and bassist Tony Marc Shimkin.
Steve Wishnia: At some point there was a split between what would be considered the peace punks - us, Reagan Youth, Heart Attack, No Thanks, A.P.P.L.E - and the skinhead bands like Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Todd Youth: The whole peace-punk political thing didn't have anything to do with our world. They were all trying to be British peace-punk bands and do the Crass-type thing.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Nausea was definitely a catalyst in 1985 for forging an alternative to the CBGB hardcore matinees. Their brand of highly politically charged punk had antecedents in NYC with documented groups like False Prophets and Reagan Youth, and the unknown ones like Sacrilege and Counterforce. But Nausea had a connection to the squatter movement that spoke to people who felt disconnected from the NYHC scene of the day.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Tough guy hardcore has been around as long as I have. An impressive act here and there have combined circle pits and gang vocals with elements of Metallica-type thrash, but none in recent years have pushed that hybrid to the brink quite like Dallas, Texas' Power Trip.
Breakdown is considered one of the first "tough guy" bands to come out of New York. When Breakdown started playing, the Sick of It All demo had just come out a few months earlier. Sheer Terror was still slogging it out with demos, trying to make a name for themselves. The Krakdown demo had just come out, along with Leeway's Enforcer demo, plus Rest in Pieces and stuff like that. Some of the original NYHC bands were slowly disappearing, like Major Conflict, Reagan Youth, and Antidote. Around 1986 and 1987 a whole new wave of bands emerged that were influenced by the original New York bands but added something different.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)I really soured on hard New York hardcore bands. I started avoiding shows with bands like Killing Time, Burn and Sick of It All, bands that I really liked. As the tough guy sound got more and more popular in the 1990s, the violence just got worse.
For anyone who wishes modern tough-guy hardcore music had more to offer than suburban chest-beating, look no further than Sunami. This band brings beatdown hardcore back to its source
Thought deathcore may cause purists to cringe, multiple listens should convince doubters that a band can find a middle ground between tough guy hardcore and destructive death metal.
Ein besonderes Subgenre des Metallic Hardcores oder New School Hardcores ist der "Mosh Style", überwiegend auch als "Beatdown" bezeichnet und von Gruppen wie Insurgence und Undertow vertreten. Mosh-Core zeichnet sich durch einen langsameren Tempo Beat, Groove- Orientierung und harte Breakdowns mit Tempowechseln aus, die die Menschenmenge vor der Bühne zum "Moshen" animieren sollen. Als die Begründer des Beatdown Hardcore wird häufig die New Yorker Band Bulldoze genannt. Einige moderne Beatdown-Gruppen fügen ihrer Musik mittlerweile auch Rap-Parts hinzu.
Als Begründer oder zumindest als Namensgeber gilt die New Yorker Hardcore-Band Bulldoze mit ihrem Song "Beatdown" von ihrem 1998 veröffentlichten Album The Final Beatdown.
For anyone who wishes modern tough-guy hardcore music had more to offer than suburban chest-beating, look no further than Sunami. This band brings beatdown hardcore back to its source
Heavy hardcore: Throughout the following couple decades the newer style became just as predominant as its faster cousin. Prominent bands include 25 ta Life, Vision Of Disorder, 100 Demons, All Out War, Neglect, Shattered Realm, Death Threat, Next Step Up, E-Town Concrete, Hoods, Subzero, Sworn Enemy, Breakdown, Knuckledust, Mushmouth, Settle The Score, Angel Crew, and The Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza who became infamous for their unpredictable and chaotic live sets.
Actors within the field may often refer to the crew scene as 'beatdown hardcore', 'thugcore', or 'tough guy hardcore'. The third and most common of these phrases is often taken to be demeaning by those involved with the scene. By employing 'crew scene hardcore' as a descriptor, this study aims to avoid imposing what may be considered a demeaning phrase upon actors in the scene...DMS formed in the early 1980s around New York's Lower East Side as 'Doc Martin Skins', which is a reference to a type of boot popular amongst skinheads at the time. Skinheads in punk and hardcore scenes, despite popular connotation, are not a unified faction of racists. The complex racial ideology that has accompanied hardcore, especially in its early days, exceeds the limits of this paper and deserves further research. The DMS crew, as one member informed, does not adhere to racist ideology and has dropped allusions to the skinhead scene. Now the acronym is more likely to mean 'Dirty Money Syndicate', or 'Drugs Money Sex'. The FSU crew started as 'Friends Stand United', and has been also referred to as 'Fuck Shit Up', or 'Forever Society's Underdogs'. The pliability of crew names will be addressed later in the article.
It's [been] rumoured that Harley from one of America's top Hardcore bands that's an American heavy punk sound not unlike British Oi! – 'nicked' the crossed-hammers I.C.F. logo he saw on a visit to London back in the late Seventies to invent the now world-famous New York Hardcore cross. Steve Whale from The Business recently asked Harley if this was true... and he confirmed.
Much like slamdancing was a modification of the pogo, moshing emerged in the mid-1980s as a variation on slamdancing...
In contrast to slamdancing, moshing lacks the elements, such as circular pit motion, which promote unity in the pit. The development of moshing in New York City in the 1980s even saw the partial breakdown of the convention of picking up fallen dancers, as pit violence increased. New York City straight edge shows became legendary for their brutality...
Moshers keep their bodies more bent over and compacted, and they swing either both arms or just one (usually the right) arm around across the body in a move that one of my interviewees called 'the death swing'. This swinging of the arm(s) in moshing is far more theatrical and exaggerated than in slamdancing. If a mosher swings only one arm, the non-swinging arm is kept ready to provide some guard against collisions with other moshers. The dancers often stand in a stationary position while performing these moves, but sometimes they run into other people inside and on the edge of the pit. To do so, dancers generally just move to where there are other dancers clustered and colliding with each other and join in the collision. This run-and-collide style of moshing can be distinguished from the style of slamdancing which also involves running and colliding by the more exaggerated body movements in moshing. Moshers do not move in counter-clockwise group motion...
Compared with slamming, the fundamental body movements of moshing, such as the more violent swinging of the arms, the more violent body contact, and the lack of group motion place even greater emphasis on individual territoriality over community. Whereas the bodily motion of swinging arms and high-stepping legs has remained the traditional motion of slamdancing since it first emerged, moshing has seen the introduction of new moves such as jumping karate kicks.
Mike Schnapp (NYHC scene): In 1985, I started hearing a new word: Moshing. It was a Metal word from Billy Milano and Scott Ian of S.O.D., and was a new term for a similar thing I knew as slamdancing in the Punk world. Some of the Metal kids showing up at the Hardcore shows didn't understand the nuances of the scene. They saw kids banging into each other and just joined in. So some of the Hardcore crew didn't like the Metal crowd at "their" shows. You took your life in your hands if you were one of the lone longhairs at a CBGB's matinee. That's when things got rough, and the violence really messed things up. People lost focus. It used to be about the bands and the music. It started one way and ended another"
Then," says Martin, "the metal clowns started calling them 'mosh pits', the slow parts where everybody would dance harder in hardcore songs. When I was playing in Agnostic Front and I would write a slow part or whatever, those guys would be like, Oh, that's a good skank part. And then the metal people started calling them mosh parts." The word emerged into common New York parlance around '83/'84.
Alternatively the term may have been coined by Anthrax or SOD (Stormtroopers Of Death), an Anthrax affiliated project whose 'Milano Mosh' was an influential track. New York rock publicist Trevor Silmser recalls: "What made the word popular was in '85 this group SOD put out a record and had a song called 'Milano Mosh' and that was a pretty big crossover record, basically getting tons of metal kids into hardcore." Billy Milano from SOD says that although there was a certain period during which people stopped calling it slamming and started calling it moshing, it was SOD and not Anthrax that actually started it.
Scott Ian of Anthrax, who also plays in SOD with Milano, gives the credit to the more commercial of his two bands: "The first time I saw moshing at a metal show was when Anthrax played the old Ritz in early '85 and a pit opened up. So yeah I can definitely say, as far as I know, we definitely brought it out into the world of heavy metal. Sadly I would have to take some responsibility for that.