Washington, D.C., hardcore, commonly referred to as D.C. hardcore, sometimes styled in writing as harDCore,[ citation needed ] 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[ clarification needed ] in the United States. [1]
Punk in Washington, D.C., found its origins in the district's former centers of 1960s counterculture.[ dubious ] Georgetown University became a key location due to its heavy student population and student radio station, WGTB. The station was run under little supervision from the university administration, and therefore became a voice in the early 1970s for cultural radicalism that had faded since the end of the 1960s. Dupont Circle, becoming more known for its diverse and LGBT-inclusive community, also became important, as well as socially-restless Adams Morgan. [2]
Washington, D.C., first saw touring punk bands such as the Ramones in 1976. D.C.'s punk scene emerged[ clarification needed ][ citation needed ] that year with groups like the Slickee Boys and Overkill, who were soon joined by the Look, the Controls, the Razz , White Boy, Urban Verbs, the Shirkers, the Penetrators, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs, and others. [3] [4] Limp Records, run by record producer and record store owner Skip Groff, released several of the earliest D.C. punk singles, as well as the compilation, :30 Over Washington, all of which helped lay the foundation for the larger scene to come. [4] Also crucial to the scene was the founding of Inner Ear Studios by recording engineer Don Zientara. The studio would soon produce records for both the Look and Urban Verbs. [2]
The Atlantis, located in the rear room of the Atlantic Building's ground floor at 930 F Street NW, was a short-lived venue, but was significant in the development of the punk scene. The first D.C. venue to host primarily punk and new wave bands, the Atlantis' first punk concert featured the Slickee Boys, Urban Verbs, and White Boy on January 27, 1978. [2] By early 1979, the Atlantis had closed, but the space would reopen under new ownership on May 31, 1980, as the Nightclub 9:30—soon known as 9:30 Club—and serve as an important part of the D.C. punk scene's foundation.
Among the earliest Washington, D.C., punk bands formed in the early 1980s were Iron Cross, the Velvet Monkeys, Bad Brains, the Teen Idles, the Untouchables, Minor Threat, S.O.A. (fronted by Henry Rollins), Chalk Circle, Void, the Faith, Youth Brigade, Government Issue, Scream, and Marginal Man. [3] [1] Bad Brains, who were the first hardcore punk band to form on the east coast of the United States, would influence a wave of new, more aggressive sounding bands in the city. [5] One such band was the Slinkees. Despite the Slinkees only performing live once, three of their members would go on to form the Teen Idles in September 1979. The Teen Idles' 1980 EP Minor Disturbance was the earliest non-single release in the D.C. hardcore scene. [6] The group broke up in November 1980, and band members Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson quickly formed Minor Threat, who debuted in December 1980.
Minor Threat profoundly influenced the hardcore punk genre, their contributions to the music, ethics, aesthetics, and ethos widely acknowledged by other hardcore bands. [7] The band used faster rhythms and more aggressive, less melodic riffs than was common at the time. Minor Threat inspired the straight edge movement with its song "Straight Edge", which spoke out against alcohol, drugs and promiscuity. [8] [9] MacKaye and Nelson ran their own record label, Dischord Records, which released records by D.C. hardcore bands, commonly referred to as harDCore. The Flex Your Head compilation, released in January 1982, was a seminal document of the early 1980s D.C. hardcore scene. The record label was run out of the Dischord House, an Arlington, Virginia punk house. Henry Rollins, who would come to prominence as lead singer of the California-based Black Flag, as well as his own later Rollins Band, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was influenced by the music of Bad Brains and the bands of his childhood friend, Ian MacKaye. [10]
The tradition of holding all ages shows at small D.I.Y. spaces, has roots in the early Washington, D.C., straight edge movement. It emerged from the idea that people of all ages should have access to music, regardless of if they're old enough to drink alcohol. [11]
When the Faith (with Alec MacKaye) put out the EP Subject to Change in 1983, it marked a critical evolution in the sound of D.C. hardcore and punk music in general. [12] AllMusic writer Steve Huey described their music as "hint[ing] at what was to come, softening the standard-issue hardcore approach somewhat with better-developed melodies and a more inward-looking perspective" [13]
Amy Pickering of Fire Party, who worked at Dischord records, proposed a concept to a number of musicians, which would entail a "re-birthing" the D.C. hardcore scene in the mid-1980s. This took shape under the name "Revolution Summer" in the summer of 1985. [14] This movement was led by bands associated with Dischord Records. According to the Dischord website: "The violence and nihilism that had become identified with punk rock, largely by the media, had begun to take hold in DC and many of the older punks suddenly found themselves repelled and discouraged by their hometown scene," [15] leading to "a time of redefinition." [15] During these years, a new wave of bands started to form, including Rites of Spring, Lunchmeat (later to become Soulside), Gray Matter, Mission Impossible (with Dave Grohl who later joined Scream), Dag Nasty (formed by Brian Baker of Minor Threat with members of Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Shawn Brown later in Swiz), Beefeater, and Embrace (with Ian MacKaye and members of the Faith). [1] [12] [16] [17] Rites of Spring has been described as the band that "more than led the change", [15] challenging the "macho posturing that had become so prevalent within the punk scene at that point", and "more importantly", defying "musical and stylistic rule". [15] Journalist Steve Huey writes that while the band "strayed from hardcore's typically external concerns of the time –namely, social and political dissent –their musical attack was no less blistering, and in fact a good deal more challenging and nuanced than the average three-chord speed-blur", [18] a sound that, according to Huey, mapped out "a new direction for hardcore that built on the innovations" brought by Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade . [18] Other bands have been perceived as taking inspiration from genres such as funk (as in the case of Beefeater) [19] and 1960s pop (such as the example of Gray Matter). [20]
According to Eric Grubbs, a nickname was developed for the new sound, with some considering it "post-hardcore", but another name that floated around the scene was "emo-core". [14] The latter, mentioned in skateboarding magazine Thrasher , would come up in discussions around the D.C. area. [14] While some of these bands have been considered contributors to the birth of emo, [21] [22] [23] with Rites of Spring sometimes being named as the first or one of the earliest emo acts, [24] [18] musicians such as the band's former frontman Guy Picciotto and MacKaye himself have voiced their opposition against the term. [14] [25] [26]
The second half of the 1980s saw the formation of several bands in D.C., which included Shudder to Think, Jawbox, the Nation of Ulysses and Fugazi. [16] MacKaye described this period as the busiest that the Dischord Records label had ever seen. [16] Most of these acts, along with earlier ones, would contribute to the 1989 compilation State of the Union , [27] a release that documented the new sound of the late 1980s D.C. punk scene. [28] Fugazi gained "an extremely loyal and numerous global following", [29] with reviewer Andy Kellman summarizing the band's influence with the statement: "To many, Fugazi meant as much to them as Bob Dylan did to their parents." [29] The band, which included MacKaye, Picciotto, and former Rites of Spring drummer Brendan Canty along with bassist Joe Lally, issued in 1989 13 Songs , a compilation of their earlier self-titled and Margin Walker EPs, which is now considered a landmark album. [30] Similarly, the band's debut full-length album, 1990's Repeater , has also been "generally" regarded as a classic. [29] Fugazi garnered recognition for their activism, cheaply priced shows and CDs, and their resistance to mainstream outlets. [29] On the other hand, Jawbox had been influenced by "the tradition of Chicago's thriving early-'80s scene", [31] while The Nation of Ulysses are "best remembered for lifting the motor-mouthed revolutionary rhetoric of the MC5" with the incorporation of "elements of R&B (as filtered through the MC5) and avant jazz" combined with "exciting, volatile live gigs", and being the inspiration for "a new crop of bands both locally and abroad". [32]
Dischord Records, owned and run by Jeff Nelson and Ian MacKaye, both formerly of Minor Threat, is responsible for the distribution of a multitude of D.C. hardcore records, both early and current. As a result of Dischord's prominence, very few D.C.-based bands who were not on Dischord have received much attention from outside of the D.C. metro area. [33]
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitarist Lyle Preslar to form Minor Threat. They added a fifth member, Steve Hansgen, in 1982, playing bass, while Baker switched to second guitar.
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label, and the frontman of hardcore punk band Minor Threat and post-hardcore band Fugazi. MacKaye was also the bassist for the short-lived band the Teen Idles, and frontman for Embrace, and Pailhead, a collaboration with the band Ministry. MacKaye is a member of The Evens, a two-piece indie rock group he formed with his wife Amy Farina in 2001 and in 2018 formed the band Coriky with Farina and his Fugazi band mate Joe Lally.
Out of Step is the only studio album by American hardcore punk band Minor Threat. It was released on 45 RPM vinyl in April 1983 through Dischord Records. Although Out of Step has only been released on CD in limited quantities, it has been repressed on vinyl as recently as 2010. All tracks from the album are available on Minor Threat's 1989 compilation album Complete Discography.
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.
Fugazi was an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consisted of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transcending music, DIY ethical stance, manner of business practice, and contempt for the music industry.
Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1983. Along with Embrace, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene.
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. Hampton and Hanson had also previously played together in S.O.A. The band played their first show on July 28, 1985, at Food for Thought, a former restaurant and music venue located on Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle; their ninth and final show was held at the 9:30 Club in March 1986. The only recording released by the quartet was their posthumous 1987 self-titled album, Embrace, being influenced by the Faith EP Subject to Change.
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. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Initially taking inspiration from post-punk and noise rock, 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, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period. The genre also began to incorporate more dense, complex, and atmospheric instrumentals with bands like Slint and Unwound, and also experienced some crossover from indie rock with bands like The Dismemberment Plan. In the early- and mid-2000s, post-hardcore achieved mainstream success with the popularity of bands like At the Drive-In, My Chemical Romance, Dance Gavin Dance, AFI, Underoath, Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, the Used, Saosin, Alexisonfire, and Senses Fail. In the 2010s, bands like Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil achieved mainstream success under the post-hardcore label. Meanwhile, bands like Title Fight and La Dispute experienced underground popularity playing music that bore a closer resemblance to the post-hardcore bands of the 1980s and 1990s.
State of Alert was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C., in October 1980, and active until July 1981. S.O.A. was fronted by Henry Rollins, then using his original surname Garfield.
Skewbald/Grand Union, also known as 2 Songs, is the eponymous archival EP featuring the only studio recordings by American hardcore punk band Skewbald/Grand Union.
Beefeater was an American post-hardcore band from late 1984 until late 1986. Along with Embrace, Gray Matter, and Rites of Spring, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene.
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.
The Faith was an early American hardcore punk band, from Washington D.C., with strong connections to the scene centered on the Dischord label. Along with Minor Threat, the Faith were key players in the early development of hardcore, with a (later) melodic approach that would influence not just associated acts like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Fugazi, but also a subsequent generation of bands such as Nirvana, whose Kurt Cobain was a vocal fan.
The Untouchables were an American hardcore punk band that arose from the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band existed from October 1979 until January 1981 and released four tracks.
Dischord Records is an independent record label specializing in the punk rock music of the Washington, D.C., hardcore 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.
Rozzlyn Rangers was the name taken by the 5 original members of the Dischord House in Arlington, Virginia in October 1981: Ian MacKaye, Jeff Nelson, Rich Moore, Eddie Janney, and Sab Grey. Dischord House housed Dischord Records. Despite its terribly low ceiling, many DC punk bands practiced in its basement over the years: Minor Threat, Skewbald, Iron Cross, The Faith, Second Wind, Rites of Spring, Embrace, Three, Fugazi, Beefeater, Fidelity Jones, Happy Go Licky, Kingface, One Last Wish, The Evens.
Revolution Summer was a phrase coined by an employee of Dischord Records in an effort to revive the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. during the summer of 1985.
Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980–90) is a documentary written and directed by Scott Crawford. Released on December 19, 2014, the Kickstarter-funded film features early pioneers of the Washington, DC hardcore punk music scene over a decade (1980–1990) including Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Government Issue, Youth Brigade, Teen Idles, Rites of Spring, and others.
Holy Rollers was an American punk band that formed in 1988 in Washington, D.C. The band initially was composed of guitarist/vocalist Marc Lambiotte, bassist/vocalist Joe Aronstamn, and drummer/vocalist Max Micozzi. Band members alternated lead vocals and Holy Rollers were the first D.C. punk band to incorporate three-part harmonies. Music historians and authors Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins described the band's sound as "kinetic punk-funk" with "passionate, message-driven songs." Holy Rollers were a part of new trend in post-hardcore artistic diversity that developed within the D.C. punk scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released three albums on Dischord Records, an American punk label that Noisey described as "one of the most respected and revered [record labels], punk or otherwise, in the world." As AllMusic declared, "[w]ithout being an arena act or coming off with the aggrandizing air of one, the Holy Rollers still make big music that can inspire and go beyond simple post-hardcore approaches."
Drawing from funk as much as punk, Beefeater cooks up a groovy combination on their debut album.
The recordings, which revealed the influence of early-D.C. punk ('Gray Matter', 'Caffeine Blues'), also warned about the dangers of punk nostalgia ('Retrospect') and featured a surprising cover of the Beatles' 'I Am the Walrus' was the first hint of the band's strong pop streak.
Well, first of all, I don't recognize that attribution. I've never recognized 'emo' as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that – what, like the Bad Brains weren't emotional? What – they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me.