enframed wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:06 pm BB was pure distillate, MT was really rough whiskey.

Apt, and humorous, analogy.

Also, I’m a huge fan of Plastic Surgery Disasters. It’s my go-to when I want to play drums as an aerobic activity.


If we are going outside the big 4 here, I’m gonna add Jerry’s Kids Is This My World? which is a record that takes hardcore beyond just “sped up punk” (I do think BB/MT/BF/DKs were similarly transcendent) and explores psychedelic and free jazz elements.

Would add Poison Idea and Articles of Faith as well, if we were expanding to top 10 American hardcore bands.

Years ago I got in a fight on a message board with a guy who ran a little record label who was going to put my bands album out because I said I thought Husker Du's Land Speed Record was my favorite hardcore album over Minor Threat, he got so pissed he didn't put out our record. This still cracks me up.

I heard Fugazi first, and all the PUNK dudes were like, if you like that, check out Ian's old band Minor Threat, it will blow your mind! It was underwhelming after hearing Fugazi who was way more my thing. Don't get me wrong, I dig MT and put that album on a couple times a year, but it never blew my mind or anything, honestly I'd put on the Rites of Spring LP more often.

Bad Brains, I think I appreciate more than I actually like. I get it, but I never find myself wanting to listen to it.

DK I am actually warming up to more as an adult, I like Jello's voice, but I think the real HC albums that they put out pale in comparison to any other band on this list.

Black Flag man, what can I say, I pretty much like all of it.

As I get older, I find it’s unfair to criticize (not saying anyone here is doing that) anyone for whatever music inspired them in their youth, as so much has to do with what era you were from, what your friends were listening to, etc. and if you were pre-Napster, you really had to pick and choose and maybe your first exposure to Hüsker Dü was Warehouse or something. It’s kinda more interesting to me to learn why, contextually, punk/HC bands inspire people, rather than trying to “objectively” compare bands (not that that’s bad either).

^ I'm into this, if for no other reason than the fact that I was 15 in 1997. If I were to make you a mixtape then it would definitely contain BF, MT and DK. It would also feature Guttermouth, the Vandals, and Pennywise. How were these things created equal in my adolescent ear holes?

jason from volo wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:27 am
I'm guessing for most of us in the pre-internet days that weren't part of a scene but managed to find good music, a lot of what we found (and therefore ended up compiling as influences) was completely random.

College radio stations. For me KFSR, Fresno State radio. Used to record straight from certain shows directly to cassette. I had DK's Frankenchrist months before it was released because the radio station played the album in its entirety on a Sunday night and I recorded it.

Aside form that, yeah, word of mouth, the "import" section at the local Tower Records, and indie record shop, Stagedive Records, run by Dale Stewart of Fresno hardcore band Capitol Punishment.



The singer, Ralph, was at the time a professional golfer and golf instructor. Fresno's finest. I had a close friend back then, Paul, who drove Jello Biafra back to SF from a Capitol Punishment/DK show at the local Knights of Columbus Hall.

Krev wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:42 pm I'm probably in the minority in that my favorite Black Flag releases are In My Head and The Process of Weeding Out. I have picked Bad Brains because I think they achieved the greatest heights musically.

Yep, word for word.

Bad Brains - Black Dots only
Black Flag - everything up to about '85, then I'm out. Some skipping around with the Rollins tracks, but all of My War is fine.
Minor Threat - first two EPs only
Dead Kennedys - none of it, literally none of it

Bad Brains, no contest. Not even close. No W.

This is a tough rabbit hole to go down though. I feel like honorable mention needs to go to middle class for being arguably the first “hardcore” sounding band, and negative approach probably is the best example of “pure“ hard core that stays true to form.

Bad Brains: the Icarus of punk. They flew so high and then crashed hard.
DK: the most formative band for me but I'm more likely to listen to BB these days.
Minor Threat: great band, no slouch, I just like the first two better.
Black Flag: I don't listen to much past Damaged. I'll listen to three different versions of the same song before I'd even consider listening to three albums of theirs.

I kinda feel like the misfits are missing from this list.