Thursday, May 1, 2014

deathtokoalas
it's unfortunate how the term hardcore got co-opted, and these debates never go anywhere, but this old dead kennedys song very succinctly describes how the term was stolen by thrash metal troglodytes, who created the basis of the existing genre - which is 100% metal. to the core.

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Harder core than thou for a year or two
Then it's time to get a real job
Others stay home; it's no fun to go out
When the gigs are wrecked by gangs and thugs

When the thugs form bands, look who gets record deals
From New York metal labels looking to scam
Who sign the most racist queer-bashing bands they can find
To make a buck revving kids up for war


defeater are a lot closer to hardcore in it's legitimate meaning, although you'd have to hyphenate it somehow to appreciate the shift from politics to narratives. not that this is apolitical, in any way. i've recently taken to calling them grunge (which is a subgenre of hardcore, in it's actual meaning). they might not like that, but i think it fits better than "screamo" or whatever else.

i kind of jump back and forth between wondering why the thrash metal types don't just drop it and wondering why punks don't move on. hardcore is a lot like emo in the way it got stolen, i guess. same group of bands, even.

it's like the thrash doofuses got upstaged in the heavy name department. one might suggest that they weren't creative enough to think up such a swell name for themselves, and did what all territorial, testosterone-driven jerks tend to do - they stole it. surprise? no. i mean, it's easy to point out how disingenuous the use of the term is, but then you look your opponent in the face and realize you'd might as well be debating with your dog. at least your dog understands simple requests, and can be trained not to piss everywhere.

so, why don't the punks just think something else up? it'll no doubt be stolen, sure. but i think there's a sort of feeling of injustice. and the fact that they're punks. whose genre? our genre!

the take away is that you should just laugh at people like black projex. if the name wasn't enough of a reason, i guess. from a distance. of course.