thumb|Washington, D.C., band [[Bad Brains]]

Washington, D.C., hardcore, commonly referred to as D.C. hardcore, sometimes styled in writing as harDCore, is the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. Emerging in late 1979, it is considered one of the first and most influential punk scenes in the United States.

History

Punk in Washington, D.C., found its origins in the district's former centers of 1960s counterculture. Georgetown University became a key location due to its heavy student population and student radio station, WGTB. The station was run under little supervision from the university administration, and therefore became a voice in the early 1970s for cultural radicalism that had faded since the end of the 1960s. Dupont Circle, becoming more known for its diverse and LGBT-inclusive community, also became important, as well as socially-restless Adams Morgan.

Washington, D.C., first saw touring punk bands such as the Ramones in 1976. D.C.'s punk that year with groups like the Slickee Boys and Overkill, who were soon joined by the Look, the Controls, the Razz , White Boy, Urban Verbs, the Shirkers, the Penetrators, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs, and others. Limp Records, run by record producer and record store owner Skip Groff, released several of the earliest D.C. punk singles, as well as the compilation, :30 Over Washington, all of which helped lay the foundation for the larger scene to come. One such band was the Slinkees. Despite the Slinkees only performing live once, three of their members would go on to form the Teen Idles in September 1979. The Teen Idles' 1980 EP Minor Disturbance was the earliest non-single release in the D.C. hardcore scene. The group broke up in November 1980, and band members Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson quickly formed Minor Threat, who debuted in December 1980.

Minor Threat profoundly influenced the hardcore punk genre, their contributions to the music, ethics, aesthetics, and ethos widely acknowledged by other hardcore bands. The band used faster rhythms and more aggressive, less melodic riffs than was common at the time. Minor Threat inspired the straight edge movement with its song "Straight Edge", which spoke out against alcohol, drugs and promiscuity. MacKaye and Nelson ran their own record label, Dischord Records, which released records by D.C. hardcore bands, commonly referred to as harDCore. The Flex Your Head compilation, released in January 1982, was a seminal document of the early 1980s D.C. hardcore scene. The record label was run out of the Dischord House, an Arlington, Virginia punk house. Henry Rollins, who would come to prominence as lead singer of the California-based Black Flag, as well as his own later Rollins Band, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was influenced by the music of Bad Brains and the bands of his childhood friend, Ian MacKaye.

The tradition of holding all ages shows at small D.I.Y. spaces, has roots in the early Washington, D.C., straight edge movement. It emerged from the idea that people of all ages should have access to music, regardless of if they're old enough to drink alcohol.

Post-hardcore

Origins and Revolution Summer

thumb|[[Guy Picciotto was in multiple pioneering post-hardcore bands from D.C. including Rites of Spring and Fugazi|150px]]

When the Faith (with Alec MacKaye) put out the EP Subject to Change in 1983, it marked a critical evolution in the sound of D.C. hardcore and punk music in general. AllMusic writer Steve Huey described their music as "hint[ing] at what was to come, softening the standard-issue hardcore approach somewhat with better-developed melodies and a more inward-looking perspective"

Amy Pickering of Fire Party, who worked at Dischord records, proposed a concept to a number of musicians, which would entail a "re-birthing" the D.C. hardcore scene in the mid-1980s. This took shape under the name "Revolution Summer" in the summer of 1985. This movement was led by bands associated with Dischord Records. According to the Dischord website: "The violence and nihilism that had become identified with punk rock, largely by the media, had begun to take hold in DC and many of the older punks suddenly found themselves repelled and discouraged by their hometown scene," leading to "a time of redefinition." Rites of Spring has been described as the band that "more than led the change", a sound that, according to Huey, mapped out "a new direction for hardcore that built on the innovations" brought by Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade. and 1960s pop (such as the example of Gray Matter).

According to Eric Grubbs, a nickname was developed for the new sound, with some considering it "post-hardcore", but another name that floated around the scene was "emo-core". with Rites of Spring sometimes being named as the first or one of the earliest emo acts,

Subsequent developments

The second half of the 1980s saw the formation of several bands in D.C., which included Shudder to Think, Jawbox, the Nation of Ulysses and Fugazi. a release that documented the new sound of the late 1980s D.C. punk scene. Fugazi gained "an extremely loyal and numerous global following", with reviewer Andy Kellman summarizing the band's influence with the statement: "To many, Fugazi meant as much to them as Bob Dylan did to their parents." Similarly, the band's debut full-length album, 1990's Repeater, has also been "generally" regarded as a classic. while The Nation of Ulysses are "best remembered for lifting the motor-mouthed revolutionary rhetoric of the MC5" with the incorporation of "elements of R&B (as filtered through the MC5) and avant jazz" combined with "exciting, volatile live gigs", and being the inspiration for "a new crop of bands both locally and abroad".

Wider influence

Dischord Records, owned and run by Jeff Nelson and Ian MacKaye, both formerly of Minor Threat, is responsible for the distribution of a multitude of D.C. hardcore records, both early and current. As a result of Dischord's prominence, very few D.C.-based bands who were not on Dischord have received much attention from outside of the D.C. metro area.

Film

  • Punk the Capital (2019) – documentary directed by James June Schneider and Paul Bishow
  • Salad Days (2014) - documentary directed by Scott Crawford

See also

  • Positive Force, a punk activist organization based in Washington, D.C.
  • Music of Washington, D.C.

References

Further reading

  • Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (2001). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Soft Skull Press. .
  • Blush, Steven (2001). "Minor Threat & DC: Flex Your Head". American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. . pp. 149–176.
  • Follos, Tim; Mohammed, Hussain (Day After Day D.C., 2015). This Was My Night and This Was a Lot of Other Nights: Day After Day D.C. 2005-2013. Second ed., 2016. Esther Mountain Press. .
  • Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). "Wild in the Streets". Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. Oakland: PM Press. . pp. 105–111.
  • Norton, Justin M. (October 17, 2012). "13 Essential DC Hardcore Albums". Stereogum.
  • Knox, Ron (March 14, 2016). "The State Of D.C. Hardcore". National Public Radio.
  • D.C. Punk and Indie Fanzine collection - University of Maryland Libraries
  • D.C. Punk collection - University of Maryland Libraries

;Images

  • Reveron, Sean (July 27, 2012). "Salad Days: The DC Punk Revolution Documentary" (trailer and photo essay). Cvlt Nation.