In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. Hardcore punk, hip hop, country, and heavy metal have all appeared in California. Furthermore, new genres of music, such as surf rock and third wave ska, have their origins in California.
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
Tribe 8 was a LGBTQ punk rock band from San Francisco, considered one of the first queercore groups. The band took their name from the practice of tribadism, with "tribe eight" being a play on the word tribade, a sexual practice sometimes also known as "scissoring."
Pansy Division is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, United States, in 1991 by singer-songwriter Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman.
Limp Wrist is an American punk rock band, who formed in 1998. Featuring members of Los Crudos, Hail Mary, Devoid of Faith, By The Throat, and Kill the Man Who Questions, the band plays short, fast hardcore music, and covers themes concerning the gay community in their live performances and lyrics. They identify as part of the "queercore" punk subculture: referring to their style of music, the band declared in Frontiers magazine, "We put the 'core' back in 'Queercore'". The band are featured on the cover of My Brain Hurts, Liz Baillie's comic about queer teenagers in New York City.
Phranc, is an American singer-songwriter whose career began playing in several bands in the late 1970s Los Angeles punk rock scene. Her musical style later shifted during the 1980s as a solo artist, into a self-proclaimed "All-American Jewish lesbian folksinger."
Team Dresch is an American queercore punk rock band originally formed in 1993 in Olympia, Washington. The band made a significant impression on the DIY punk movement queercore, which gave voice through zines and music to the passions and concerns of LGBT people in the punk scene. All of Team Dresch's members are open lesbians.
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch that is devoted to Queercore bands. The label is in Portland, Oregon.
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.
Agitprop! Records is a 'revolutionary hardcore and hip hop' independent record label based in Boston, US, founded by Angela Tavares. The name comes from the term Agitprop, a genre of political propaganda from Soviet-Russia.
Sta-Prest is a queercore band from San Francisco that was active in the 1990s.
Mr. Lady Records was a San Francisco-based lesbian-feminist independent record label and video art distributor. Artists on the label included Le Tigre and The Butchies. OutSmart magazine noted that Mr. Lady was "queercore's strongest label."
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
Leslie Mah is an American musician and performer.
Best Revenge was a queercore punk band from Los Angeles. They were active as a studio and live act from the beginning of 1998 until December 2002.
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.
Martin Sorrondeguy is the singer of hardcore bands Los Crudos and Limp Wrist, the founder of the DIY record label, Lengua Armada Discos, documentary film director and a prominent figure in both the straight edge scene and the queercore scene. He currently does vocals in the band Needles.
Chris Freeman is an American bassist, best known as a member of the band Pansy Division.
Jon Latimer Ginoli is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the band Pansy Division, which was founded by Ginoli and Chris Freeman in 1991. Pansy Division is known as one of the founding examples of the queercore genre of punk rock. He is openly gay.
Fagatron was a short-lived but influential punk rock band in the Queercore movement which gained a small cult following for its emphasis on radical politics and queer identity. It was formed in 1996 by Abe Miner and Jeremy Ogg of Lincoln, Nebraska.
