Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre 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 New York punk rock and early proto-punk. New York punk had a harder-edged sound than its San Francisco counterpart, featuring anti-art expressions of masculine anger, energy, and subversive humor. 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."
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles. With other independent American labels such as Twin/Tone, Touch and Go Records, and SST Records, Dischord helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the 1980s indie-rock scene. These labels presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging.
Alec Empire is a German experimental electronic musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot, as well as a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ. He has released many albums, EPs and singles, some under aliases, and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the digital hardcore genre, and founded the record labels Digital Hardcore Recordings and Eat Your Heart Out Records.
Digital Hardcore Recordings (DHR) is a record label set up in 1994 by Alec Empire, Joel Amaretto and Pete Lawton. Most of the music is recorded in Berlin, though the label is based in London where the records are mastered and manufactured. The funds for setting up the label came from the payment which Atari Teenage Riot received for their aborted record deal with the major UK record label Phonogram Records.
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic death metal, grindcore, industrial metal, power metal and black metal bands, as well as tribute albums. It also distributes and promotes two post-hardcore/metalcore labels, SharpTone Records, focused on American scene, and Arising Empire, focused more on European bands.
Hardcore is a subgenre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands and Germany in the 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.
Jade Tree International, Inc. is an independent record label formed by Darren Walters and Tim Owen in 1990 in Wilmington, Delaware.
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 initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. 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 and Jawbox that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. In the 2000s, post-hardcore achieved mainstream success with the popularity of bands like My Chemical Romance, AFI, Underoath, Hawthorne Heights, The Used, At the Drive-In and Senses Fail. In the 2010s, post-hardcore bands like Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil achieved success and bands like Title Fight and La Dispute experienced underground popularity.
Paul Roger Elstak is a Dutch hardcore/gabber and happy hardcore DJ and record producer. He used to use his full name to create happy hardcore and DJ Paul for hardcore gabber, but when he started Offensive Records in 2001, he started using both names for gabber.
ROIR, or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper.
Raining Pleasure is an indie/rock band originating from Patras, Greece, often credited with spearheading the newest wave of Greek bands with English lyrics. The band was formed in September 1990 under the name "Rest in Peace". A year after their formation the band started appearing live locally. In 1992, they changed their name to Raining Pleasure and started touring Greece. In 1994, the band self-recorded and released a demo of their work ; since then, most of its songs have been rerecorded and included in their studio albums. For two more years, the band continued touring Greece and, in 1996, had three of its songs released through Pop & Rock 's magazine compilation Dytiki Akti '96.
Cursed was a Canadian hardcore punk band formed in 2001 and dissolved in 2008. It featured members of various other Canadian DIY bands such as Haymaker, Left for Dead, The Swarm aka Knee Deep in the Dead, Acrid, Ruination, The Black Hand, Countdown to Oblivion, At the Mercy of Inspiration, Shallow North Dakota, Crux of Aux, Quest for Fire and Burning Love.
Marc Trauner better known by his numerous aliases including Marc Acardipane, Mescalinum United, The Mover, Pilldriver, Marshall Masters and Resident E, is a DJ and producer based in Frankfurt, Germany.
Ensign is a hardcore punk band from New Jersey, USA. It was formed in 1995 and signed to Indecision Records in 1996. They signed to the larger label "next door", Dexter Holland's Nitro Records in 1998 and finally came to rest at Blackout Records in 2003 after a brief sortie back to Indecision in 2000.
Rise and Fall is a Belgian hardcore punk band from Ghent, formed 2002 by members of the Deal and Kingpin. They are among a few European bands currently signed to American hardcore label Deathwish Inc. Rise and Fall have been influenced by bands such as Black Flag, Converge, Neurosis, Tragedy and Entombed.
Darren James Mew, better known as Darren Styles, is an English record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter from Colchester, England. Originally a member of the breakbeat hardcore group DJ Force & The Evolution, Styles found success during the 1990s as one half of Force & Styles. The duo were pioneers of happy hardcore and wrote several well-known songs such as "Heart of Gold", "Pretty Green Eyes" and "Paradise & Dreams".
Indianola Records is an American independent record label that mainly focuses on hardcore punk.
Kill Your Idols was a hardcore punk band from Long Island/New York City, New York. The band was active from 1995 through 2007. They were signed to SideOneDummy Records.
Good Fight Entertainment is a business conglomerate that was founded in 2010. The company consists of a record label, band management, sports management, a clothing line and an art studio. Good Fight was founded by Paul Conroy and Carl Severson who have previously worked for Ferret Music and Warner Music Group. Carl Severson is also known as a longtime member of hardcore act NORA.
