It pains me to say this, but I have to get it off my chest. In no other scene is there as much self-delusion as there is in the hardcore scene. The term thrown around like its gospel is ‘the message.’ Hardcore music began when a bunch of pissed off kids who couldn't play their instruments particularly well got together and raged. The lyrics were about whatever the singer wanted them to be about - sometimes they made sense, a lot of the time they didn't. The notion there’s a righteous, meaningful message inherent in hardcore music just because you call it hardcore is bullshit. That's not to say there aren't bands who really do have a sincere agenda and notable integrity, whether it be straight edge or animal rights or what have you, but the majority of lyrics if you stop to actually read them are vague and ambiguous constructed to fit the image of the band. That’s fine, but please, stop taking yourselves so fucking seriously. I find something extremely irritating about seeing in virtually every photo from a show the audience members pointing their fingers at the vocalist and screaming the lyrics like they’re fighting a holy war and the lyrics are their prayers. Look no further than the prevalence of song and album names like Keepers of the Faith, Honor Never Dies, etc. to see the emerging trend of being a mindless acolyte to whatever the hardcore gods say is cool.
What attracted me to heavy music and the hardcore scene in the first place was that you could express whatever you wanted to. The riffs aren't particularly interesting and complex, the song structures are mostly the same and the lyrics are rarely poetic or carry any real meaning. That doesn't matter to me. I wanted to have fun.
These are mostly middle class white kids angry at their parents (hey, guilty as charged) with first world problems who want to live out a fantasy of being part of something underground, rebellious, and in an ironic and deeply hypocritical way exclusive. For a scene which expounds so vehemently the virtuousness of individuality and fighting the bully mentality, rarely will you find more followers and pack-mentality types than at hardcore shows. God forbid you don’t have a few shin or forearm tattoos or the latest “totally underground” local hardcore bands new t-shirt. Don’t forget the latest trending hat and air maxes or whatever the fuck else is popular at the moment.
I base my criticism on personal experience through years of participation and observation of the hardcore scene. The main reason I disengaged is the fact that I’d end up leaving a show more pissed off than when I got there. At a metal show, the average concert goer has enough self-awareness and good-naturedness to take the outing with a healthy grain of salt. Everyone is there to have a good time with their fellow metal heads. I get a true sense of kin ship and comradery at metal shows which seems blatantly absent at hardcore shows, even though that’s exactly what hardcore fans pride themselves on being about - family. Hardcore seems more about going to shows with your posse, checking out who’s wearing what like a fucking fashion parade, standing around with your arms crossed with a grimace on your face and waiting until a beat down comes so you can run around swinging your arms like a tough guy screaming the lyrics in hopes you’ll have a nice cover photo for your Facebook on Monday.
I don't care if I offend some sensibilities, as a hardcore fan at the least you can respect my opinion (then again you probably can't and would punch me in the face if you met me in real life-another hallmark of most stupid hardcore fans.) I’m not sorry about how disdainful my tone is. Undoubtedly those in the glory days of the hardcore scene and its inception are just as disillusioned as I am and for a genre which feels like it should be a sibling of metal, hardcore is like the narcissistic stupid older brother who you don’t like because their head is so far up their own ass if they ever saw the light of day they’d go blind.
What attracted me to heavy music and the hardcore scene in the first place was that you could express whatever you wanted to. The riffs aren't particularly interesting and complex, the song structures are mostly the same and the lyrics are rarely poetic or carry any real meaning. That doesn't matter to me. I wanted to have fun.
These are mostly middle class white kids angry at their parents (hey, guilty as charged) with first world problems who want to live out a fantasy of being part of something underground, rebellious, and in an ironic and deeply hypocritical way exclusive. For a scene which expounds so vehemently the virtuousness of individuality and fighting the bully mentality, rarely will you find more followers and pack-mentality types than at hardcore shows. God forbid you don’t have a few shin or forearm tattoos or the latest “totally underground” local hardcore bands new t-shirt. Don’t forget the latest trending hat and air maxes or whatever the fuck else is popular at the moment.
I base my criticism on personal experience through years of participation and observation of the hardcore scene. The main reason I disengaged is the fact that I’d end up leaving a show more pissed off than when I got there. At a metal show, the average concert goer has enough self-awareness and good-naturedness to take the outing with a healthy grain of salt. Everyone is there to have a good time with their fellow metal heads. I get a true sense of kin ship and comradery at metal shows which seems blatantly absent at hardcore shows, even though that’s exactly what hardcore fans pride themselves on being about - family. Hardcore seems more about going to shows with your posse, checking out who’s wearing what like a fucking fashion parade, standing around with your arms crossed with a grimace on your face and waiting until a beat down comes so you can run around swinging your arms like a tough guy screaming the lyrics in hopes you’ll have a nice cover photo for your Facebook on Monday.
I don't care if I offend some sensibilities, as a hardcore fan at the least you can respect my opinion (then again you probably can't and would punch me in the face if you met me in real life-another hallmark of most stupid hardcore fans.) I’m not sorry about how disdainful my tone is. Undoubtedly those in the glory days of the hardcore scene and its inception are just as disillusioned as I am and for a genre which feels like it should be a sibling of metal, hardcore is like the narcissistic stupid older brother who you don’t like because their head is so far up their own ass if they ever saw the light of day they’d go blind.