Welcome to week 2 of the ‘Rock Rant’. This week we talk about the ‘hardcore’ scene. Is hardcore a music genre or is hardcore more of a fashion statement at the moment? When we announced this topic we had a lot of people with some strong views and we had to limit how many opinions to include. It seems to be a controversial topic.
If you go to any ‘hardcore’ show (or in fact most alternative shows) you’ll more than likely see a large number of people roaming around with various band t-shirts and other stereotypical ‘hardcore’ fashion accessories. Are these fashion items a good thing helping you to identify other like minded people who may be into similar things to you and a way of expressing your likes and feelings. Or are these fashion items a way of trying to seem ‘cool’ or to attract certain types of people?!
Check out some of our writers views below! And make sure you let us know your views.
James Matthews (Rock Writer/ Columnist)
To say that hardcore is a dying scene would be absolutely ridiculous. it is bigger and more competitive than it ever has been. However, unfortunately there is a vast percentage of people who seem to think that the whole ethos of ‘hardcore’ revolves around the fashion and the popularity contest.
For example… I went to download this year and saw a girl wearing a Bad Brains t-shirt, and a guy wearing a Minor Threat shirt. When I asked them about their shirts, and politely talked to them about the bands asking them about what their favourite song was… the guy said “that straight edge song, I don’t know any others”, and the girl said “I don’t know… i like the design though!” At this point I decided to lecture them about how they are a bunch of pretentious wankers, and told them to get an education.
For anyone who just does not have a fucking clue about what the whole point of hardcore punk is… read ‘American Hardcore : A Tribal History’, and ‘Our Band Could Be Your Life’. Get educated, and stop being a cunt with your lack of substance.
Luke Davis (Rock Writer)
It will live and die like everything does. Over-saturated, tedious, the beigest form of fashion. It’s unfortunate that it has had to turn out this way, it’s no longer a music genre, or just a trend or fashion, it’s a form of acceptance. In addition, the shows are almost like some sort of youth club, giving the cult kids a chance to vent their artificial frustrations towards other ‘fans’ through the means of manufactured violence.
With ‘Hardcore’ comes all number of sub-cultures, including veganism and teetotalism that dates back as far (and probably further than) the Minor Threat, Youth Of Today years. I have no issue with any kind of veganism/vegetarianism or teetotalism whatsoever (being vegetarian myself), but yet again, trends appearing with ‘hardcore kids’ as young as 16/17 claiming ‘straight edge’. If you are familiar with the term ‘straight edge’, you will immediately understand the falsity.
The close-mindedness of ‘hardcore’ fans is another feature of this poster-child, the acceptance of each other is rife as is the willingness to welcome every band with four chords, a shit name and a beat-down but when it comes to genres and music fans outside of said boundaries, it becomes a dick measuring contest.
In short, it is no longer about the music, it is about the image and the ‘lifestyle’ (or lack of) and before I go off on one, red in the face and smash my head into a window through utter exasperation, I am going to listen to Baroness and drink ginger beer.
Amber Carnegie (Rock Writer)
Scott Vogel, frontman of Californian hardcore veterans Terror, is more or less the personification of Marmite. The scene seems to be split – half of hardcore fans can’t stand him, and the rest think he’s the resuscitated Jesus of mosh pit etiquette. His quotes, known as ‘Vogelisms’, are becoming pretty legendary in their own right; if you’ve never heard of them, here’s a popular one:
“Hardcore is meeting a kid from halfway across the world for the first time and feeling like you have known him or her for all your life. Hardcore is driving eight hours when you are flat broke to see a band most people would say that can’t play their instruments and that you can’t understand their singer. Hardcore is knowing that your phone bill will kill you. Hardcore is road trips, touring and meeting people. Hardcore is a teacher. Teaching we are all equal, that colours or sexual preferences don’t matter. Hardcore teaches that animals are not ours to kill and to open your mind and question everything.”
According to Vogel, hardcore is being accepted as an equal into a scene; with hardcore, you don’t need to be an individual or go out of your way to be quirky or weird as you’re already part of the family. To fans of hardcore, it’s a way of life – but has the modern hardcore scene developed into a fashion statement?
A fashion statement is defined as “a piece of clothing or object that you own and wear in order to attract attention and show other people the type of person you are”. Fashion and tattoos/body modifications represent your personality, what you wear represents how you want other people to judge you and especially in music scenes, your clothes can speak volumes about the music you listen to and what you believe in. All you need to do is go to any hardcore show in the UK and you’ll find a sea of kids in a uniform of oversized band t-shirts with whatever is cool to be into at that moment in time with a windbreaker of another equally popular band, along with rolled up shorts/tight jeans, some keys jangling on a key hoop, and a beanie hat balancing on the back of their heads with a complete disregard to the weather outside.
There are exceptions of course (camo shorts and hoodies of crucial bands you’ve never heard of), but the general vibe is one of “I don’t care what you think of me, I’ll wear what I want” – even though everyone looks exactly the same at any given time. Kids feel the need to look cool all the time. After seeing what other people are wearing on Tumblr and deducing that they need to look like that too, it kills off any sense of individuality and slowly turns a scene renowned for its acceptance of misfits into a warped fashion contest – with the pit now hosting a catwalk showcase of merch from heaviest band they heard someone else talk about two weeks earlier.
And that’s fine – there has always been a kind of ‘standard’ to alternative apparel, a dress code considered normal for people who, well, aren’t normal. But it’s time to worry when clothing becomes a priority over the music, and it’s certainly time to panic when how you look is apparently more important than what the scene has based itself upon: after all, it is all about the music… right?
Louisa Smith (Rock Writer)
To be honest with you, whatever genre you fancy you can always find a fashion sense to match. Glam rock fans may be found in cowboy boots and skinny black leathers inspired by Motley Crue and Turisas fans could be found in war paint carrying swords and spears. But then there’s people who just wear whatever they feel comfortable in. You can pretty much tell what kind of genre someone likes by what clothing they are wearing, but sometimes you might be surprised. Either way, isn’t it nice to be recognized by your music taste? like you belong to some elicit club? Some might say that’s just stereotyping. But for me, i think it’s just a nice way of showing where you belong.
James Power (Rock Writer)
Hardcore is a strange genre to me. While finding myself at one point rooted within the scene; I always found myself detached from the majority of those accompanying it. Hardcore is just a word. A genre defined at its loosest terms within in worlds of dance, rock and pornography. The word itself is meaningless. It’s the feeling, emotion and imagery that you attach to the word that define its meaning. It’s never going to be the same to you as it is to someone else. Having grown up seeing the UK hardcore scene, thrive, dive and prosper – I’ve seen a lot of trends come in and out. Some good, a lot bad.
Fashion is one thing that has no place in music. It creates a discrimination that I know all too well. It was the only thing separating me from those who would victimize me and kids like me at school for liking something different to them. Fashion changes you at first glance from a blank canvas, to a painting waiting for those around you to pass criticism and judge – It’s something that separates ‘you’ from ‘them’. I made friends based on fashion, I judged based on fashion and I still make judgments based on fashion. At a young age the aesthetic differences between ‘them’ and ‘you’ is as simple as black and white. It’s not till you get a little older you start to see the shades of grey separating those spectrums.
UK hardcore over the last 5 years or so has been immersed in a world of expensive brand names, 5 panel hats and properly trimmed haircuts. That’s not to say fashion wasn’t a thing when I was younger, why else would I have a blonde fringe, skinny jeans and skin tight t-shirts? The difference is, my outfit cost me £40, and now kids wear T-shirts that cost more than that. While this doesn’t in anyway affect me or my life, I do find it sad that kids these days will be going to shows too worried about how they look and whether the clothing they’re wearing is cool enough to be accepted by their friends.
It’s not acceptable for someone to spend over £80 on a band t-shirt on eBay, but this has become normality, and for what? So people can see you with an ‘exclusive’ t-shirt? What does that get you? How long does that sense of achievement and acceptance even last?
How and why did hardcore get this way? I’m not sure who is to blame. When I was around the age I started going to gigs, British culture wasn’t as consumer focused and obsessed as it is now. My phone was a shitty 3310 with scuffs all over it; my clothes were from H&M, Primark and Topman at their most expensive. I didn’t really care about brands, just so long as I fit in with the crowd, as sad as that is.
But since consumerism has had a real rise in recent years, it would seem that the fashion market of the alternative scene is thriving. That 3310, is now an iPhone 5. Those clothes are made by Obey, Stussy and Supreme. I can’t even imagine how I would afford those things when I was 15 years old, how the hell are kids affording it?
That’s never what the UK live scene was about. It was about the outcasts having somewhere to go to feel accepted, and not feel judged; but now school ground dynamics seem to have reared their ugly faces, and it’s a crying shame that people once again can no longer be who they are and be liked for that and feel like they have to hide behind expensive merchandise, fashion labels and stupid dance moves (don’t even get me started on that) to fit in.
Let us know your thoughts on the matter!
