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 their band 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.
Shudder to Think was an American alternative rock band. Formed in 1986, they released three albums on the Washington, D.C.-based label Dischord Records, and two on Epic Records. Their early work was largely influenced by post-hardcore although they gradually drew upon a wide range of stylistic influences, including pop music and glam metal.
The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 Minor Disturbance EP before breaking up in November 1980. The influential independent record label Dischord Records was originally created with the sole purpose of releasing The Teen Idles Minor Disturbance 7" record. They were an early landmark in the D.C. hardcore movement, and MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk rock outfit Minor Threat.
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. It was 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 early- and mid-2000s, post-hardcore achieved mainstream success with the popularity of bands like My Chemical Romance, Dance Gavin Dance, AFI, Underoath, Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, The Used, At the Drive-In, Saosin, and Senses Fail. In the 2010s, bands like Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil achieved mainstream success. Meanwhile, bands like Title Fight and La Dispute experienced underground popularity.
State of Alert was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in October 1980, and active till July 1981. S.O.A. was fronted by Henry Rollins, then using his original surname Garfield.
Jawbox is an American alternative rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in 1989 by J. Robbins (vocals/guitar), Kim Coletta (bass), and Adam Wade (drums). After the trio released the album Grippe in 1991, Bill Barbot (guitar/vocals) joined as the fourth member. Jawbox released their second album Novelty in 1992, followed by Wade being replaced by Zach Barocas that same year. Jawbox signed to the major label Atlantic Records and released their third album For Your Own Special Sweetheart in 1994, which spawned the band's most recognizable song "Savory". After the release of their fourth album Jawbox in 1996, the band departed from Atlantic, and subsequently disbanded in 1997. They reunited for a brief one-off show in 2009, followed by a full-time reunion in 2019. Barbot left the band in 2021 and he was replaced by Brooks Harlan.
Washington, D.C. hardcore, commonly referred to as DC hardcore, sometimes referred to 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.
James Robbins is an American rock music artist.
Jerry Busher is an American drummer and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his work with Fidelity Jones and Fugazi.
For Your Own Special Sweetheart is the third album by Washington D.C. post-hardcore band, Jawbox. It was produced by Ted Niceley, best known for his work with Fugazi. This would be the band's major label debut, as they had left Dischord Records to sign with Atlantic Records. It is also the first album to feature Zachary Barocas on drums, as he replaced original drummer Adam Wade two years prior. The album was not much of a commercial success, despite being well received by critics.
Flex Your Head is a sampler album featuring early hardcore punk bands from the Washington, D.C. area. It was originally released in January 1982 on Dischord Records, with a pressing of 4,000 copies on vinyl record that sold out within one week; an additional 3,000 copies were released shortly after. In 1982, a third pressing of 2,000 copies was released under license in the United Kingdom by Alternative Tentacles. Each of the first three pressings featured a different front cover.
Void was an American hardcore punk band formed in Columbia, Maryland, United States, in 1980. The group was a pioneering force in the thriving D.C. Hardcore scene in Washington D. C. during the early 1980s, successfully combining elements of punk with heavy metal in a style that was accepted by the scene's otherwise exclusive community. Void's punk metal fusion sound was marked by guitarist Bubba Dupree's innovative guitar work and the "unhinged" vocals of John Weiffenbach, which resonated in the band's chaotic but popular live performances. Like many of their contemporaries, Void had a short-lived recording career—limited to the split-album, Faith/Void Split, with the Faith on Dischord Records—however, they have enjoyed an enduring cult following among hardcore aficionados.
BCore Disc is an independent Spanish record label focused on the hardcore punk DIY culture. It has been active since 1990 and it has released most of Spanish hardcore bands in its earliest period, and through the years it has opened its style range to all indie rock tendencies, from the poppier Les Philippes to the post-rock of G.a.s. drummers passing through Tokyo Sex Destruction's garage, Madee's emo, Standstill's vanguardist post-hardcore, The Unfinished Sympathy's melodic rock and Delorean's electronics.
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the punk rock music of the D.C. scene. The company is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded the label in December 1980. Before founding Dischord, both MacKaye and Nelson were members of the Teen Idles, and the label was initially meant to only foster a single release from the defunct band, the Minor Disturbance EP. By the time Dischord #1 was finished, many new bands had emerged from the same music scene, and like the Teen Idles, also began releasing their records through Dischord.
Gray Matter was an American post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C., United States, who played in the 1980s and 1990s. They disbanded in 1986, but reformed in 1990.
Slowdime Records was a record label started in 1996 by Juan Luis Carrera and Amanda MacKaye. The label was originally started, according to a label bio, “with the intent to document the new inclinations and innovations that began to surface within the Washington D.C. independent music scene,” but it eventually came to release records from bands based in cities all over the world. The origin of the label's name is a reversal of the popular aphorism, "A quick nickel is better than a slow dime."
Office of Future Plans is a studio album by the band Office of Future Plans. It was released on November 21, 2011. It is the band's only album.
The High Back Chairs was a band from Washington, DC. Initially consisting of guitarist/vocalist Peter Hayes, guitarist Jim Spellman, bassist/vocalist Charles Steck, and drummer/vocalist Jeff Nelson, the group released its music on the Washington, D.C. punk record label, Dischord Records. The band eschewed the post-hardcore and hardcore punk sounds that Dischord was known for. Instead, the High-Back Chairs' music was highly melodic indie rock, owing more to power pop and jangle pop than to the band's punk rock roots. This was all the more notable since Nelson was a co-founder of Dischord and had played in the influential hardcore punk band, Minor Threat from 1980 to 1983. "Coming out at a time when grunge held a lot of sway in Amerindie land," Trouser Press later said of the band, "this breezy, supremely melodic, gutsy rock seemed almost noble."
The Capitol City Dusters were an American post hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1996. The group's 1998 debut album combined elements of the hardcore punk movement in D.C., as well as sentiments reminiscent of the first wave of punk music. In 2002, after a brief hiatus, the band released a second full-length, Rock Creek.
