Post-hardcore is a genre of music that is derived from and has origins in the
hardcore punk music genre, itself an offshoot of the broader
punk rock movement. Like
post-punk,
post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups. Many
emerged from the hardcore punk scene, or took inspiration from hardcore,
while concerning themselves with a wider degree of expression.
Characteristics
Hardcore punk typically features very fast tempos, loud volume, and heavy bass levels,
[3] as well as a
"do-it-yourself" ethic.
[2] Music database
Allmusic
stated "these newer bands, termed post-hardcore, often found complex
and dynamic ways of blowing off steam that generally went outside the
strict hardcore realm of 'loud fast rules'. Additionally, many of these
bands' vocalists were just as likely to deliver their lyrics with a
whispered croon as they were a maniacal yelp."
[2]
Allmusic also claims that post-hardcore bands find creative ways to
build and release tension rather than "airing their dirty laundry in
short, sharp, frenetic bursts".
[2]
Jeff Terich of Treblezine stated, "Instead of sticking to hardcore's
rigid constraints, these artists expanded beyond power chords and gang
vocals, incorporating more creative outlets for punk rock energy."
[4] British
post-punk of the late 1970s and early 1980s has been seen as influential on the musical development of post-hardcore bands.
[2] As the genre progressed some of these groups also experimented with a wide array of influences, including
soul,
dub,
funk,
jazz, and
dance-punk.
It has also been noted that since some post-hardcore bands included
members that were rooted in the beginnings of hardcore punk, some of
them were able to expand their sound as they became more skilled
musicians.
[
Origins
Ryan Cooper of
About.com states that the genre began with "the actual hardcore bands themselves",
[5] remarking how as acts like
Black Flag "began to bore with the formulaic constraints of hardcore, more experimental sounds began to appear in their music".
[5] Groups such as
Saccharine Trust,
[6] Naked Raygun,
[7][8][9] and
The Effigies,
[9] which were active around the early 1980s, are considered as forerunners to the post-hardcore genre.
Chicago's Naked Raygun, formed in 1981, has been seen as merging
post-punk influences of bands such as
Wire and
Gang of Four with hardcore,
[10] while author Steven Blush notes the band's use of "oblique lyrics and stark post-punk melodies".
[11] Similarly, The Effigies, who also hailed from the Chicago scene, released music influenced by the hardcore of
Minor Threat and the British post-punk of bands like
The Stranglers,
Killing Joke, and
The Ruts.
[9]
During the early to mid-1980s, the desire to experiment with
hardcore's basic template expanded to many musicians that had been
associated with the genre or had strong roots in it.
[2] Many of these groups also took inspiration from the '80s
noise rock scene pioneered by
Sonic Youth.
[4] Some bands signed to the independent label
Homestead Records, including
Squirrel Bait[12] (as well as
David Grubbs-related
Bastro and
Bitch Magnet[13]) and
Steve Albini's
Big Black (just as his subsequent projects
Rapeman[8] and
Shellac[8][14]) are also associated with post-hardcore.
[4][9] Big Black, which also featured former Naked Raygun guitarist
Santiago Durango,
[15] made themselves known for their strict
DIY ethic,
[4]
related to practices such as paying for their own recordings, booking
their own shows, handling their own management and publicity, and
remaining "stubbornly independent at a time when many independent bands
were eagerly reaching out for the major-label brass ring".
[15] The band's music, punctuated by the use of a
drum machine, has also been seen as influential to
industrial rock,
[15]
while Blush has also described the Albini-fronted project as "an
angst-ridden response to the rigid English post-punk of Gang of Four".
[11] After the issuing of the "
Il Duce" single (and between the release of their only two studio albums,
Atomizer and
Songs About Fucking), Big Black left Homestead for
Touch and Go Records,
[15]
which would later reissue not only their entire discography, but would
also be responsible for the release of the complete works of
Scratch Acid, an act from
Austin, Texas described as post-hardcore,
[16]
that, according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "laid the groundwork for
much of the distorted, grinding alternative punk rockers of the '90s".
[16]
Outside the United States, the genre would take shape in the works of the
Canadian group
Nomeansno,
[17] related with
Jello Biafra and his independently run label
Alternative Tentacles, and that had been active since 1979. A reviewer noted that the group's 1989's release
Wrong was "one of the most aggressive and powerful opuses in post-hardcore ever made
Moderate popularity
According to Ian MacKaye, the sudden interest in underground and independent music brought by the success of
Nirvana's
Nevermind attracted the attention of major labels towards the Dischord imprint and many of its bands.
[54] While the label rejected these offers, two Dischord acts, Jawbox and Shudder to Think, would sign deals with major labels.
[54] The former's signing to
Atlantic Records would alienate some of the band's long-term fanbase,
[42] but it would also help with the development and recording of the 1994 release
For Your Own Special Sweetheart, considered by Andy Kellman as "one of the best releases to come out of the fertile D.C. scene of the '80s and '90s".
[42] The subsequent tour for the album and the
MTV
rotation of some videos would introduce the band to a handful of new
crowds, but ultimately the album would remain "unnoticed outside of the
usual indie community".
[42]
Likewise, out of the Dischord label,
Interscope Records would sign Helmet after a reportedly "ferocious" bidding war between several major record companies,
[77] and while MTV would air some videos by the group, which by the time of the release of their major-label debut
Meantime, was considered then as "the only band close to the
Seattle grunge sound" on the American East Coast
[78]
and would be hailed as "the next big thing", these expectations would
"never be fully realized" in spite of the record's later influence.
[77] In another notable case, Hum would sign to
RCA in 1994, selling approximately 250,000 copies of their album
You'd Prefer an Astronaut fueled by the success of the album's lead single "
Stars",
[79]
and while the band had established by this point a strong underground
fanbase, this would prove to be "the pinnacle of Hum's media attention",
as its follow-up, 1998's
Downward Is Heavenward would sell poorly, resulting in the decision of RCA to drop the band from their roster.
[79]
2000s
Record producer
Ross Robinson, who was credited for popularizing
nu metal with bands like
Korn,
Soulfly and
Limp Bizkit in the 1990s, helped post-hardcore achieve popularity during the 2000s.
[80][81] Mehan Jayasuriya of
PopMatters
suggested that Robinson's sudden focus on post-hardcore was his "pet
project" designed to redeem himself of "the 'Nu-Metal' scourge of the
late '90s".
[82] Robinson recorded
At the Drive-In's
Relationship of Command (2000),
Glassjaw's
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (2000) and
Worship and Tribute (2002), and
The Blood Brothers'
...Burn, Piano Island, Burn (2003); four albums that are said to "stand as some of the best post-hardcore records produced" during the 2000s.
[82] In John Franck's review of
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence for Allmusic, he stated: "Featuring extraordinary ambidextrous drummer
Sammy Siegler (of
Gorilla Biscuits/
CIV
fame), Glassjaw has paired up with producer/entrepreneur Ross Robinson
(a key catalyst in the reinvention of the aggro rock sound) to take you
on a pummeling ride that would make
Bad Brains and Quicksand proud."
[83]
2010s
Post-hardcore has garnered even more "mainstream" attention at the beginning of this decade with bands such as
Sleeping with Sirens, whose third album
Feel (2013) debuted at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 chart, making it the highest charting post-hardcore album by any band to date.
[84][85][86] Pierce the Veil's second album,
Selfish Machines (2010) and their third,
Collide with the Sky
(2012), have also received much attention. The beginning of this decade
has also seen the emergence of independent post-hardcore bands like
The Men,
Cloud Nothings and
METZ, described as moving closer to the dynamics and aesthetics of earlier acts, whilst diverging deeper into external influences.
[87][88][89][90] Reviewers have also noted the incorporation of a diversity of elements like
krautrock,
post-rock,
sludge metal,
shoegaze,
[87] power pop[89] and
no wave[91] in addition to previous
hardcore,
noise rock and
post-punk sensibilities.
Thanks To :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-hardcore
