The Post-Hardcore Thread

[Gowienczyk]

What is Post-Hardcore?

To understand the term post-hardcore, it really only takes a bit of digging, digging in a hole that is already dug, but in this land of holes which hole is the right one with the treasure? Gee, that sounds like a sexual innuendo or something doesn't it? Anyway, post-hardcore is pretty common of a word isn't it? You hear it on forums thrown left and right. But what is it, exactly?

Let's look on last.fm for what the users throw under the tag radio for it, then.

At the Drive-In
Alexisonfire
Bear vs. Shark
The Blood Brothers
The Fall of Troy
Fugazi
Glassjaw
Mewithoutyou
Protest the Hero

The clear and obvious thing is; people tag music too quickly on this website! But other than that if you take a listen to what people call post-hardcore you will notice Protest the Hero does not sound like Glassjaw or Fugazi or At the Drive-In. This is probably because the meaning behind the word was lost somewhere between the late 90s and the current timeline.

I blame kids and journalists.

But post-hardcore's true meaning is probably more along the lines of 'hardcore punk that pushes the boundaries and experiments, progresses.' or it was when emotive hardcore bands and experimental punk acts like the Minutemen, Flipper, Rites of Spring and others were coming out in the middle of the 1980s.

By the 1990s emotive hardcore really took off and spread itself furthur into being post-hardcore in itself. Take a listen to a Funeral Diner or Majority Rule record sometime and you'll get what I mean. Very dynamic. But the 90s were probably the most vital movement for post-hardcore in itself; with bands like Refused and ATDI coming out and taking the concept of post-hardcore before them and pushing it furthur. Electronic sampling and experimentation on a punk record is absurd, right? Tell that to Refused when they wrote The Shape of Punk to Come.

...and after that is where it started to get tricky. You know how amazing bands can inspire some awful ones who have no clue at all in terms of genre progression?

Yeah, it happened.

How else can you explain bands like Escape the Fate and Bring Me the Horizon and their label of post-hardcore? Yeah, a big slap in the face to post-hardcore musicians. However, some interesting ideas came out at the same time. The Fall of Troy and others certainty showed they had an idea what they were doing. They are the minority, however.

Movement VS Genre

Then there is the thought of is post-hardcore a genre or a movement? Some say the former, some say the latter, some say both. Personally, I say it's the latter; as a genre has a root sound to link bands together; while a movement has a concept & idea to link bands together, not particularly sound.

It's more of a movement now. Maybe in the eighties it was a genre, but that time has long since passed in my opinion.

Post-Hardcore encompasses many styles, here are some of the subgenres that apply in certain cases:

Experimental Punk (Nomeansno, etc.)
Emotive Hardcore (Funeral Diner, etc.)
Hard Rock (Helmet, etc.)
Noise Rock (The Jesus Lizard, etc.)

Musical Acts

Some bands include:

Alexisonfire
Ampere
At the Drive-In
Bear vs. Shark
Big Black
Black Eyes
The Blood Brothers
Circle Takes The Square
City of Caterpillar
Daïtro
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Drive Like Jehu
Embrace
The Fall of Troy
Fugazi
Funeral Diner
Glassjaw
Hot Cross
Jawbox
Jawbreaker
The Jesus Lizard
La Quiete
Light the Fuse and Run
Majority Rule
Mewithoutyou
Moss Icon
Nation of Ulysses
Native Nod
Orchid
Protest the Hero
Raein
Refused
Saetia
Shellac
Unwound

( please suggest additions if you want them added )

Song of the Week

Refused - Rather Be Dead
Orchid - I am Nietzche
Showbread - The Dissonance of Being Discontent

[afterstasis]

does it say anything about my character if i love almost every band under the first three headings, but despise all but three under the fourth one?

[Gowienczyk]

does it say anything about my character if i love almost every band under the first three headings, but despise all but three under the fourth one?

Depends on the bands you dislike.

[Rev0lver]

Why would you classify The Dillinger Escape Plan or Protest The Hero as post-hardcore? DEP is a mathcore band, while PTH is more of a prog/math/thrashy metal band(unless you are judging by some of the vocals).

[afterstasis]

Depends on the bands you dislike.

i dig refused, early DEP, and early hot water music...
i can also deal with a handful of the blood brothers songs, but was really turned off by seeing them live.

[Gowienczyk]

Why would you classify The Dillinger Escape Plan or Protest The Hero as post-hardcore? DEP is a mathcore band, while PTH is more of a prog/math/thrashy metal band(unless you are judging by some of the vocals).

Mathcore can be easily called a fake genre as a lot of mathcore fits post-hardcore perfectly.

[Gowienczyk]

i dig refused, early DEP, and early hot water music...
i can also deal with a handful of the blood brothers songs, but was really turned off by seeing them live.

and I'm sure I listed some you are indifferent on due to never hearing.

[afterstasis]

and I'm sure I listed some you are indifferent on due to never hearing.

yeah, i've never heard sleeping people, the 30 years war, or mara'akate.

i will be looking them up, though.

[Gowienczyk]

yeah, i've never heard sleeping people, the 30 years war, or mara'akate.

i will be looking them up, though.

I am quite uncertain you've heard Light the Fuse and Run, though!

[afterstasis]

I am quite uncertain you've heard Light the Fuse and Run, though!

actually, a band i was in played with them in virgina.

i wasn't into them personally, but i haven't heard them since that night (i wanna say it was early 2001).