Out of hard-core's most famous bands, which one is your favorite.

Hüsker Dü have abandon the typical HC sound after their debut and it's not what they are most well known for, Minutemen who are often lumped together with HC bands never sounded anything like other hard core bands to me, Die Kreuzen (unfortunately) never got as popular as those bands from the title...

Dead Kennedy's are the only one who arguably didn't start off hardcore but gradually went that way. So they're out of this race for me, still amazing.

It's hard for me cause I don't really like hardcore and I love all of these bands.

Bad Brains invented it. Minor Threat perfected it. Black Flag expanded it. So.... 3 way tie all the waffles.

Dead Kennedys. All these bands had innovative playing and love or hate vocalists. DKs were the most consistent with the former, and despite plenty of WF, I’d rather hear what Jello has to say than Ian or Hank. Poor HR’s mind had been shot out for years, and he said a decent amount of dumb shit when he still had his faculties.

I agree with the non inclusion of Die Kreuzen, Husker Du and Minutemen. I could see The Freeze making the list, since they also had/have an interesting weirdo frontman and their own sound within the hardcore punk parameters, but they had nowhere near the influence of these four.

jason from volo wrote:This may get me ostracized from this board, but I am just not a fan of Dead Kennedys or Minor Threat.

You and me both. Hard to get past Jello's voice. And Minor Threat can feel like a sanctimonious boyscout yelling at me, plus the music lacks the eccentricities of the other three bands.

Flag, up to and including My War, takes the cake.

If Bad Brains had quit after Rock for Light, they might win this. But they did not, so they're a close second. They shot themselves in the foot too many times to win.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd call any of these bands true "hardcore" except for Minor Threat. Flag and Bad Brains basically invented and preceded the genre. Thus, they were always one step ahead of it and also doing some things that were well outside of it (sludge rock and metal in Flag's case; jazz fusion, reggae, and metal for Bad Brains). DKs were more of a fast, political punk band that were incredibly influential to hardcore but not necessarily of it. Check that twangy guitar.

Circa 1981 I think these bands would have all been called hardcore. Nowadays the term would be hardcore punk, since hardcore has meant midpaced groovy pickin up change stuff since the Cro-Mags.

Bad Brains made the best 'hardcore' album ever so they win for me.

All of these bands made crap too.. well, Minor Threat more meh towards the end than full on crap.

biscuitdough wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 12:36 pm Circa 1981 I think these bands would have all been called hardcore. Nowadays the term would be hardcore punk, since hardcore has meant midpaced groovy pickin up change stuff since the Cro-Mags.

Very true and I agree completely. Growing up, all of these bands got filed in the "hardcore" section of the local hippie-run indie record store. (Then again, so did Sonic Youth and Big Black, for whatever reason.)

But three of those four bands were already making music, even releasing records in some cases, in the 1970s, before "hardcore" even existed. And that music didn't necessarily sound like hardcore. (Nervous Breakdown EP is too slow; first DKs single is both slow and quirky; Bad Brains demos have some reggae.) It was all just under the umbrella of American punk until the '80s got rolling and "hardcore" got codified. Flag also resented being categorized like so and weren't necessarily huge fans of what they spawned. The DC and Boston bands seemed like the first self-identified hardcore. The beginning of all that youth-crew polka-beat stuff, which is what I tend to think of as hardcore. But definitely, DKs, Flag, and especially Bad Brains planted the seeds.

If you're gonna include the DKs (who weren't hardcore to begin) or Bad Brains & Black Flag (who both moved away from it after establishing it) I don't see how you can't include Huskers or Die Kruezen. I think the Huskers run from Land Speed->Metal Circus (and even the faster bits on Zen Arcade) are just as essential as the ROIR tape or Damaged.

But of this list, for me it's Bad Brains by a hair, Minor Threat and Black Flag more or less tied, and DKs several rungs below that.

tallchris wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 1:02 pm If you're gonna include the DKs (who weren't hardcore to begin) or Bad Brains & Black Flag (who both moved away from it after establishing it) I don't see how you can't include Huskers or Die Kruezen.

I explained why.

boilermaker wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 1:09 pm

tallchris wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 1:02 pm If you're gonna include the DKs (who weren't hardcore to begin) or Bad Brains & Black Flag (who both moved away from it after establishing it) I don't see how you can't include Huskers or Die Kruezen.

I explained why.

I mean, Huskers made three albums (okay two LPs and, one mini-album, and one 7" EP) that would qualify as hardcore. That's as many releases as DK.