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The Philadelphia punk scene refers to the vibrant punk rock scene created in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2018) |
The Philadelphia punk scene refers to the vibrant punk rock scene created in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Because of its location, Philadelphia was an easy place for bands from New York City and Washington, D.C. to play concerts. Venues such as the Elk's Center, Love Hall, Long March, Community Education Center (CEC) and Abe's Steaks, a small hoagie shop, regularly held hardcore punk shows during the 1980s. WEL Records played a role with their relentless promotion. Other notable sites such as the Starlite Ballroom, [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] BYO Hall, East Side Club, West Side Club, which was actually Jeff Jenkins' basement in West Philadelphia, The Kennel Club, and Buff Hall were hosts of shows by well known hardcore bands. Together these venues hosted shows not only by local hardcore punk bands but also more well known bands like Bad Brains, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Flipper, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol, and others. The local hardcore scene drew from Philadelphia as well as Delaware County, Pennsylvania; South Jersey, Reading, Allentown, Delaware, and other surrounding suburbs in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and Lehigh Valley.
An important source of exposing the Philadelphia region to this music were the DJs Jeff Jenkins and Steve Lukshides at WKDU, Stockton University's radio station 91.7 FM WLFR, Drexel University's radio station and Eddie "Hacksaw" at University of Pennsylvania's WXPN, 88.5 FM. Music by some of the early Philadelphia hardcore bands were included on the 1983 compilation LP Get Off My Back. [9]
South Street served as the center of the Philadelphia punk scene since the mid to late 1970s, and bars and music venues on the street featured hardcore punk acts in the 1980s. Important bands in the early Philadelphia punk scene include The Dead Milkmen, a band that played an often sarcastic and humorous variant of hardcore punk. Though formed in Los Angeles, the hardcore punk band Fear had considerable connections to Philadelphia during the band's heyday; Fear's frontman Lee Ving was a Philadelphia native, and he notably referenced the Philadelphia South Street punk scene in the 1983 song "I Don't Care About You".
In the 2010s, Philadelphia has been said to have the best punk scene in the country. [10] Venues in the city became a haven for many pop punk and emo bands from other parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, even Boston and Detroit. Some bands credited with keeping the punk scene alive in Philadelphia are The Wonder Years, Modern Baseball, and Cayetana along with others. [11] Notable house venues include Ava House, Terrordome, The Golden Tea House and Pariah.
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 eschews 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.
Washington, D.C., has been home to many prominent musicians and is particularly known for the musical genres of Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, bluegrass, punk rock and its locally-developed descendants hardcore and emo, and a local funk genre called go-go. The first major musical figure from District of Columbia was John Philip Sousa, a military brass band composer. Later figures include jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Rouse, Buck Hill, Ron Holloway, Davey Yarborough, Michael A. Thomas, Butch Warren, and DeAndrey Howard; soul musicians, including Billy Stewart, The Unifics, The Moments, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Van McCoy, The Presidents, The Choice Four, Vernon Burch, guitarist Charles Pitts, and Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul.
Embrace was a short-lived American hardcore band from Washington, D.C., active from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986. Along with Rites of Spring, and Beefeater, it was one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement, and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation. The band included lead vocalist Ian MacKaye of the defunct hardcore punk act Minor Threat and three former members of his brother Alec's band, the Faith: guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson, and bassist Chris Bald.
The Dead Milkmen is an American punk rock band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman, guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro, bassist Dave Schulthise and drummer Dean Sabatino.
Dicks were an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project called Black Kali Ma. In 2004, The Dicks reunited and were active until 2016.
Washington, D.C., hardcore, commonly referred to as D.C. hardcore, sometimes styled in writing as harDCore, is the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. Emerging in late 1979, it is considered one of the first and most influential punk scenes in the United States.
Middle Class were an American punk rock band established in 1977 from Orange County, California. The band consisted of Jeff Atta on vocals, Mike Atta on lead guitar, Mike Patton on bass, and Bruce Atta on drums.
Rodney Linderman, also known by his stage name Rodney Anonymous, is an American musician, journalist, and humorist currently based in Philadelphia. He is best known as the lead vocalist, keyboardist and co-songwriter of the satirical punk rock band The Dead Milkmen.
Planes Mistaken for Stars was an American rock band. The group was founded in Peoria, Illinois in 1997 and later relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1999. Working with several different labels, they released three studio albums and four EPs before breaking up in 2008. While rooted in the post-hardcore and emo scenes of the turn of the century, Planes Mistaken for Stars developed a distinctive musical style strongly influenced by heavy metal and rock and roll. Reuniting for live performances in 2010, they went on to release their fourth album Prey in 2016.
The Electric Banana was a nightclub in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning as a disco in the 1970s, it was a punk rock music venue from 1980 until 2000, and helped establish a place in alternative culture for the city of Pittsburgh.
Plow United is an American punk rock formed in Wilmington, Delaware in 1992. They play fast punk rock with pop, thrashcore and hardcore influences. Their lyrics are sometimes labeled "emo". Band members are Brian McGee, Sean Rule (drums) and Joel Tannenbaum (bass).
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
Marginal Man was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., that formed in 1982. Three of its members—Steve Polcari (vocals), Pete Murray (guitar), and Mike Manos (drums)—had previously played together in the Bethesda, Maryland hardcore band Artificial Peace, a notable part of D.C.'s early hardcore scene, appearing on Dischord Records' "landmark" Flex Your Head compilation. After Artificial Peace disbanded, the trio would join up with Andre Lee (bass) and Kenny Inouye (guitar) to form Marginal Man. The band's first performance occurred on November 19, 1982 at a basement show with Scream, Insurrection, Double-O, United Mutation, and others. According to Polcari, the name 'Marginal Man' referred to the concept of "having friends in two or more groups, but not being part of any individual group. Kind of like 'outside looking in.'"
Flag of Democracy, sometimes abbreviated as F.O.D., is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1982 and originally from Ambler, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.
The Wonder Years is an American rock band from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, formed in July 2005. The band currently consists of Dan "Soupy" Campbell, Casey Cavaliere, Matt Brasch, Josh Martin, Nick Steinborn and Mike Kennedy. They have released seven full-length albums, two EPs, and several splits/compilations. The group is currently signed to Hopeless Records. Their name originates from a paper that Campbell read that was written by one of his after-school educators titled "The Wonder Years."
Youth Brigade was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1980 and disbanded in 1981. They released the Possible EP and appeared on the Flex Your Head compilation, both on Dischord Records. Although active for less than a year, they were nevertheless contributors to the development of D.C. hardcore punk and have influenced many other bands. Several members briefly reunited for performances in 2012 and 2013.
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.
Cayetana were an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band was formed in 2011 by Augusta Koch on vocals and lead guitar, Kelly Olsen on drums, and Allegra Anka on bass. They released two studio albums, Nervous Like Me (2014), and New Kind of Normal (2017), as well as three EPs before breaking up in 2019.
Michael Jason Crain is an American guitarist, singer, producer, and songwriter best known as the guitarist of the bands Kill the Capulets, Retox, and Dead Cross. He has collaborated with Justin Pearson, Ryan Bergmann, Kevin Avery, Dave Lombardo, and Mike Patton among many others.