Hardcore Sound For a Hardcore World, But Not Everyone is on Board

Cover image: @dougalgorman via Instagram

Rolling around to my fourth session at UOW, time comes to think of a topic for another DA. 

Anyone who knows me will know that I’m all about music, I play drums, dabble in guitar and bass, I never don’t have an upcoming gig in my calendar, and my walls are painted with posters, old festival wristbands and setlists. Diving somewhere into the music world as a part of my media niche is a no-brainer for me. 

Earlier this year, I started listening to more music with heavier riffs, harsher vocals (or screaming) and penetrative drums, this has led me to the world of Hardcore Punk or better known as Hardcore. Hardcore draws characteristics seen in the punk, metal and hip-hop genres. I quickly found myself a part of this community, with perceptions of anger and violence being (mostly) torn down rapidly, replaced by a sense of welcoming and vibrancy. I say mostly torn down in relation to context of what the music is, it’s heavy and filled with anger, but as that being the first thing one would think of when someone mentions any sort of genre amidst the rock atmosphere, that’s most likely the conclusion that would be drawn to, rather than taking that extra step and interacting with individuals in a hardcore space, in-person or online. 

The truth is, the history of hardcore demonstrates that most of the drive for anger resides within ethical, political and social disruption, with the nineties era of hardcore further emphasising these characteristics in lyricism (Ambrosch 2018). The paradigm towards hardcore has traditionally been from a naturalism positioning, using words to describe the subgenre as well as its parent genres as “unholy” or “violent”. Hardcore is also characterised by hyper-local scenes, with bands being notorious around their hometowns but obscured beyond.

Image: Sam Jameson

The niche I’m focusing towards is specifically hardcore in Australia, how this community interacts online and in-person, why is the real thing so different to their most common misconceptions, and what makes them resonate with the genre the most?

Taking these misconceptions and questions in stride, I’d love to further investigate this topic and its following for my digital artefact, and learn more about the community I’m already so invested in.

 References:

Ambrosch, G 2018, The poetry of Punk : the meaning behind Punk rock and hardcore lyrics First edition., Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, FL.

MasterClass 2021, ‘Hardcore Punk Music Guide: History and Bands of Hardcore’, MasterClass, 8^th June, viewed 27^thJuly 2023, <https://www.masterclass.com/articles/hardcore-punk-music-guide&gt;.

MetalMusicArchives.com, ‘Hardcore Punk’, viewed 27^th July 2023, <https://www.metalmusicarchives.com/subgenre/hardcore-punk#:~:text=Hardcore%20punk%20is%20a%20punk,their%20music%20(several%20metal%20subgenres&gt;.

bcm, BCM 241, hardcore, hardcore punk, media niche, UOW

Updates:

• 9/9/2023 – Fixed Soundcloud link