American Hardcore- A Tribal History (Steven Blush)

“We lived like fuckin’ knuckleheads” – Mike Watt (Minutemen)

“It was fast and angry” – Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat)

“Everything it set out to be in terms of independence and freedom quickly became a formula and a book of rules” – Jesse Malin (Heart Attack)

”One of the things that people get wrong is they try to classify Hardcore as one big social movement. It was just a bunch of jerks. We were for anarchy because anarchy was fun” – Jack Grisham (TSOL)

The saddest part of the perception that there’s a “Golden Age Of Hardcore” is the people who believe it- especially the ones that were there and should know better” – Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

In 2010 it might be hard to imagine back to the pre Hot Topic days of the early 80’s when being Punk was not considered “cool”. It was a declaration of real disaffection; as well as extremely dangerous. Wearing a Ramones shirt, or having torn jeans was an invitation to take grief from everyone: parents, fellow kids and the police.

Around 1981, the cartoon punk spirit of bands like The Ramones and The Dickies as well as the political agit-prop of bands like The Clash were fading and a new American brand of Punk was gaining speed. This “movement” Hardcore (likely named due to DOA’s classic Hardcore ’81 album), eschewed major label signing and mass acceptance. Hardcore was DIY, very youth oriented (many of the bands were High School or College aged) and violent. Very violent. The now clichéd moshing and stage diving were developed during hardcore and it’s impossible for kids these days who involve themselves in these rituals to understand how truly dangerous it used to be. The lyrics could be incisive (Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys) or goofy (Meatmen, Misfits). But the one common denominator was pissed off fury.

The second edition of Steven Blush’s book AMERICAN HARDCORE – A Tribal History is an exhaustive oral document of the bands, people and events that comprised the “scene” (from roughly 1980 through 1986).

Blush was part of the era, promoting shows in Washington DC and knew many of the key players in Hardcore’s history. Despite this, he paints an extremely clear-eyed view of the times; often very negative in describing the violence, anti-feminism and anti-gay elements that occurred.

I was somewhat involved in the early 80’s punk and hardcore scene in NY (and have the scars to prove it!) and was glad to see the author not romanticizing the past. He takes great care to mention the brilliant moments and bands as well as the idiotic characters and poor decisions made. The scene collapsed into a parody of itself with-in a few years, as bands grew musically more adventurous and rejected the Hardcore label or dissolved into the usual drug/personality/money conflicts. The problem with Hardcore was the dogmatism… eventually the scene got so rules oriented that it literally had a closed door policy. I would say that Blush is extremely balanced in his perspectives. In fact, one might take his view of the times as more negative than positive.

Blush has comments from virtually everyone who was involved in the scene, from the West Coast bands (DK’s, DOA, Black Flag) to the Midwest (Necros, Husker Du, Big Boys) to the East Coast (Cro-Mags, Minor Threat, SSD). The Big Takeover’s Jack Rabid is also featured in the book.

This new version of the book adds many bands and stories; as well as a section with flyers and band logo’s. There is also an indispensable 50 page discography that lists every bands recorded output (including compilation albums). There are bands from New York that I remember and cannot believe that anyone else remembers, much less wrote about. But they all get at last a paragraph.

American Hardcore is THE definitive statement on the Hardcore scene. Whether you were part of it; or late to the party, you’ll find a lot of value with-in it’s pages.

PS- Also highly recommended is the movie of the same name!