Punk Music

Punk

Punk is a musical genre known for its aggression, rawness and simplicity. The roots of punk can be found in the Proto-Punk and Garage Rock of the 1960s, but it emerged fully a decade later with the success of Punk Rock. Ever since, the genre has expanded in many directions, such as the more extreme Hardcore Punk as well as fusions with other styles, including Electronic, Metal or Ska.

Anarcho-Punk

As a reaction to and continuation of the commercial breakthrough of Punk Rock in the late 1970s, anarcho-punk sought to distance itself from the bands that it already considered to have become too glossy and commercial. Between the years of 1978-1984, anarcho-punk bands like Crass, Conflict and Subhumans sought to hold punk to its roots by largely disregarding the verse/chorus structures that 'mainstream' punk had displayed, creating DIY record venues labels like Crass Records and by playing with a purposeful rough sloppiness, allowing the shouted vocals that railed against societal and governmental injustices to become the primary 'instrument' on display. Other topics related to anarchism like feminism, animal rights and environmental justice are also common lyrical themes. Often played as loud and fast as the band's skills allowed, the intent was to create sounds that were just as extreme as the message they tried to convey. Anarchic philosophies also lead to a great deal of experimentation with Post-Punk, Art Punk, Spoken Word and other genres among anarcho-punk bands like Poison Girls, and Zounds. Also at that time there was a great deal of crossover between the anarcho-punk and so called "positive punk" Deathrock movements with groups like Rudimentary Peni and The Mob. Anarcho-punk bands often lived the anarchist lifestyle they extolled by living in squats or communes, participating in direct actions and practicing vegetarianism or veganism.

Although anarcho-punk primarily refers to a group of bands from the UK from 1978-1984, there have been notable anarcho-punk movements worldwide. In the early 1980s a subsect of the punk scene in the San Francisco Bay Area were highly influenced by the original anarcho-punk of the UK and were dubbed "peace punks". The peace punk movement spawned such notable US anarcho-punk acts as Crucifix and A State of Mind. The 1990s saw much crossover between anarcho-punk and crust punk with acts like Aus-Rotten and Nausea.

Anarcho-punk has been one of the main musical, aesthetic and ideological influences for many punk subgenres including Crust Punk and D-Beat. Anarcho-punk influenced subsequent punk movements musically by showing punk music could be experimental and interesting without betraying its democratizing simplicity and rough edge. Aesthetic influences can be seen in the countless emulations of the militaristic, sparse black and white art on original anarcho punk albums. Perhaps most importantly, anarcho-punk showed that punk politics were more substantive and thoughtful than the likes of Sex Pistols lead many to believe.

Art Punk

Despite the genre having no clear definition or singular style, groups perceived as "art punk" are generally those that combine the stripped-down rock and roll style of punk rock with "arty" elements of Minimalism, instrumental interplay, elements of Traditional Folk Music of various cultures (as exemplified by the Afrobeat influence in Talking Heads' later music), experimentation with Jazz or Funk-inspired rhythms, dissonance, and noise experimentation (concepts largely originating in varieties of "art music" such as Modern Classical music, jazz, and Jazz Fusion).

Ideologically, art punk is similar to the Art Rock and Progressive Rock styles of the 1960s and 1970s in that it is ultimately rock music with a higher level of artistic ambition; however, due to punk rock's innately minimalistic nature, this artistic ambition usually leans in the direction of more modern and experimental art music rather than the older European classical structures that inspired progressive rock (as exemplified by composer Glenn Branca, who worked with and supported members of the New York No Wave art punk scene of the late 1970s, and created works himself that were part of its canon).

Beatdown Hardcore

(also known as Tough Guy Hardcore)

A version of Hardcore Punk that tends to be much slower, heavier and have more breakdowns. It also known as 'moshcore' because of its sole intent of being mosh-friendly and getting crowd involvement on the live front. The style mainly had its roots in the New York Hardcore scene of the 1990s, with bands like 25 ta Life and Bulldoze (who also named this new style 'beatdown') paving the way for future acts.

The style is closely linked to Metalcore as well, with many modern-day beatdown bands such as Hatebreed also being classified as metalcore. However, what separates the two genres ultimately is that beatdown/moshcore is more close to traditional hardcore rather than metal and it is also not uncommon for bands involved in the scene to have some Hip Hop elements either.

Celtic Punk

(also known as Paddybeat, Celtcore, Jig punk, Rock and Reel)

Celtic punk is a style of Folk Punk that specifically infuses the sounds of Celtic Folk Music into punk rock. Celtic punk can run the spectrum of punk with small accents of Celtic folk to pure Celtic folk played with the intensity of punk. While Irish Folk Music is the predominant Celtic influence, there are groups that borrow from Scottish Folk Music (The Real McKenzies), Breton Celtic Folk Music (Les Ramoneurs de menhirs) and other forms of Celtic folk music.

The genre was first popularized in the 1980s by The Pogues who blended the speed and aggression of Punk Rock with traditional Irish folk music. It commonly uses standard punk instrumentation with the addition of traditional Celtic instruments such as fiddle, accordion, tin whistle and bagpipes. Lyrics typically center around labour movements, politics, the Irish diaspora and drinking. Lively covers of traditional folk songs are also popular.

Prominent regional scenes exist in the British Isles, North America and Australia, especially in cities with large Irish populations. The importance of Celtic punk in the larger punk genre can be seen in the tremendous successes of Boston's Dropkick Murphys who came to be one of the biggest punk bands of the 2000s. Other important Celtic punk bands include Flogging Molly, The Tossers and The Mahones.

Coldwave

Coldwave is a style of Post-Punk music that originated in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is known for its generally dark, gloomy (thus "cold") atmosphere and heavy reliance on synthesizers. It was popular predominantly in continental Europe (especially in France, Poland, and Belgium) and consisted largely of bands that were heavily influenced by British post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees (and these British acts are sometimes referred to as coldwave in those countries).

Whereas Polish coldwave bands such as Siekiera were more directly influenced by guitar-driven post-punk music, French and Belgian artists such as Clair Obscur and Siglo XX incorporated more synths and electronics and crossed over heavily with Minimal Wave and Minimal Synth. Due to the frequent genre-bending nature of these bands, it can be sometimes difficult to classify bands as strictly coldwave, post-punk, or minimal synth, but all of the artists in the coldwave scene shared a dark, cold, and metallic atmosphere and incorporated both guitars and synths.

Cowpunk

(also known as Country Punk)

Cowpunk, or country punk, is a type of Punk Rock music that mixes together Country, Rockabilly, and Contemporary Folk music with the familiar punk rock sound. The genre has its roots in the late 1970s in the United Kingdom with bands like The Mekons, and gained momentum in the 1980s, especially in Los Angeles, with bands such as The Beat Farmers, The Blasters, Green on Red, and X (who, although not cowpunk, have influenced the sound with their rockabilly and country mix of punk).

Famous artists in the genre include Meat Puppets, Jason & The Scorchers, Rank and File and Hank Williams, III.

Crossover Thrash

Crossover Thrash is a fusion of Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk which started in the 1980s. Even though thrash metal itself is already influenced by hardcore punk, crossover thrash bands employ elements from hardcore punk much more overtly, especially in the shouted vocals. The recordings are also often sloppier than that of thrash metal. On the other hand, typical thrash metal elements are also present, most notably in the riffs. Some notable crossover thrash bands are S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I..

This genre should not be confused with Thrashcore, even though bands like D.R.I. started as thrashcore. Crossover thrash however is different because of the lack of blastbeats and extremely high tempos. It also leans more towards thrash metal, resulting in generally longer song durations.

Crust Punk

(also known as Crustcore, Stenchcore)

Crust punk is a metallic form of Hardcore Punk that grew out of the Anarcho-Punk movement in the mid-1980s, pioneered by the bands Amebix and Antisect. The genre initially drew influence from Discharge, who fused the heavy Speed Metal sound of Motörhead with anarcho-punk's political messaging. Crust bands often evoke apocalyptic imagery, painting scenes of environmental destruction, post-industrial decay, war-torn landscapes, and a return to a primitive, nature-based way of life. Over time the dark sound and aesthetic of early Black Metal has had a growing impact on the genre.

Approaches to crust range widely. "Crustcore" bands like Doom and Anti-Cimex employ a relatively straightforward, raucous style closely related to D-Beat. Crust bands that incorporated Thrashcore into their sound, like Electro Hippies, were a key influence on Grindcore. On the other end of the spectrum, brooding, atmospheric "neocrust" bands like His Hero Is Gone and Fall of Efrafa often use extended song structures, thick, sludgy guitars, and sometimes incorporate acoustic instrumentation to give the music an earthy, melancholy quality. A third notable approach to crust is that of the especially metallic "stenchcore" bands like Hellbastard and Deviated Instinct, who have proved very influential in extreme metal.

Cybergrind

Cybergrind is the combination of the standard conventions of Grindcore taken to an even more discordant and rapidfire extreme, with the added Electronic dimensions of computer generated noises and drum machines. Generated sounds are created through the use of programmed synthesizers or MIDI files. Cybergrind began in the US of the late 90s. Agoraphobic Nosebleed is its most well-known practitioner, though the style is a decidedly underground phenomenon.

D-Beat

(also known as Discore, Kängpunk)

D-beat is a sub genre of early 1980s Hardcore Punk named after the UK band Discharge. The term is used to describe a number of bands playing in the same Metal-influenced punk style as Discharge with a firm attachment to the recognizable d-beat drum pattern and its derivatives. D-beat generally has shouted lyrics and is stylistically and thematically similar to Anarcho-Punk.

Dance-Punk

Originating in the late 1970s, dance-punk mixed the energy of Punk Rock and Post-Punk ethos with the danceable rhythms of Funk and Disco. It was mainly prominent in New York City's punk music movement and many dance-punk artists, including Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Liquid Liquid, had close associations with the late 1970s No Wave scene. A seperate but smaller scene also originated from the United Kingdom's post-punk scene with bands such as A Certain Ratio and Gang of Four.

Following the rise of Post-Punk Revival in the early 2000s, bands such as Death From Above and LCD Soundsystem brought the genre much more into the public eye. This led to the 'new rave' scene, which gained huge popularity in the mid to late 2000s in the United Kingdom. Spearheaded by Klaxons, the scene mixed dance-punk with Indie Rock influences.

Deathcore

A fusion of Death Metal and Metalcore. A notable characteristic is the general focus on breakdowns and blast beats, along with growled or screamed vocals, sometimes shifting between one or the other. The 'pig squeal' vocal style, as popularized by bands such as Despised Icon, is also frequently employed. Deathcore players usually utilize simplistic chord progressions, relying on power chords, open strings, and palm mutes. Deathcore bands employ a variety of styles, such as bands who play a more melodic style, like As Blood Runs Black and All Shall Perish, bands whom play a heavier, more "brutal" deathcore, like Thy Art Is Murder, and Suicide Silence. Some bands are also known to merge the "melodic" and the "brutal" styles, like Carnifex and Hester Prynne. Other bands merge Metalcore with Grindcore, like The Red Chord and Animosity. Bands are also known to merge deathcore with Djent (The Contortionist, Veil of Maya) or Mathcore (See You Next Tuesday, Dysphoria).

Deathgrind

Deathgrind fuses Death Metal with Grindcore. The genre was originated in the late 1980s with bands like Terrorizer and Macabre. Other well known bands are Brutal Truth, later-Napalm Death, Exhumed and Misery Index. Deathgrind often uses both low guttural vocals from death metal and high pitched screams from grindcore, whilst also possessing the technicality of death metal and the intensity of grindcore. The song structures often have breakdowns unlike most grindcore bands and the songs are in general quite short, but not as extremely short as in grindcore.

Deathrock

(also known as Death Punk, Gothic Punk)

Deathrock is a Punk Rock subgenre that draws heavily from the sound and aesthetic of Gothic Rock. Like other punk genres, deathrock is guitar-driven but usually uses scratchy or echoing guitar effects instead of heavy distortion. Prominent bass lines are common with the bass guitar sometimes serving as the melodic lead instrument. Drumming can be very punk-oriented or have a decidedly tribal sound. Use of other instrumentation is common, especially synthesizers. Lyrical subject matter has varied among different deathrock scenes but is always dark and macabre.

Deathrock initially formed as an offshoot from the early Southern California punk rock scene of the 1970s and early 80s with bands like Christian Death, 45 Grave and Kommunity FK. Many of the early California deathrock bands started as punk bands or were composed of musicians from other punk and Hardcore Punk bands. The punk roots can easily be heard in early deathrock.

In the UK an analogous dark and gloomy punk scene, at the time called ‘positive punk’ took hold. The positive punk sound was highly influenced by the darker side of Post-Punk and often featured tribal drumming, scratchy, screeching guitar, high-pitched vocals and prominent bass guitar. There was a great deal of overlap between the Anarcho-Punk and positive punk movements with bands like Rudimentary Peni and Rubella Ballet bridging the two. Another brand of UK deathrock, 'batcave music', took its name from London's Batcave club and was highly influenced by glam rock is typified by acts like Specimen and early Alien Sex Fiend. Many acts, notably Cinema Strange, incorporate theatrical Dark Cabaret elements for an even more flamboyant sound.

For much of the 1990s the gothic music scene was dominated by Electro-Industrial and popularity in guitar driven deathrock waned. There have been, however, significant deathrock revivalist movements most notably the G-beat movement which came into its own in the early 2010s with bands like Deathcharge, Arctic Flowers and Belgrado. G-beat is a tongue-in-cheek play on D-Beat and pays homage to the anarcho-punk-leaning positive punk acts of the 1980s.

Deutschpunk

Deutschpunk is a specific Punk Rock variant that evolved in the early 1980s in German-speaking countries, partly as a reaction to the commercialization of the German new wave/punk movement (Neue Deutsche Welle). It is characterized by breakneck speed, consciously basic songwriting, crude musicianship and often production, and radical leftist German lyrics and attitude. It evolved parallel to and has many similarities to Hardcore Punk (but lacking its occasional technical proficiency) and Anarcho-Punk (but keeping up standard song-verse structures). Due to these characteristics, the term "Deutschpunk" term does not apply to any and all punk music from Germany.

Among the defining and classic deutschpunk bands are Slime, Canalterror, EA80, Daily Terror, and Chaos Z, as well as the Soundtracks zum Untergang sampler and Keine Experimente samplers. Some late 1970s pioneers like The Buttocks are also often counted as deutschpunk. The genre has continued up to present days with bands like ...But Alive, Muff Potter, Boxhamsters or Turbostaat, partly mixing it with Melodic Hardcore, Post-Hardcore and Emo elements.

The main labels releasing deutschpunk records were and/or are Aggressive Rockproduktionen, Mülleimer Records, Rock-O-Rama Records (before they went Nazi punk), and Weird System Recordings.

Digital Hardcore

A high-tempo fusion of Hardcore Punk and Electronic, which combines the harsh vocals and electric guitars of the former with electronic instruments such as synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines common in Hardcore [EDM] and Breakbeat Hardcore.

The genre name was coined by the Digital Hardcore Recordings label which issued recordings of the influential Atari Teenage Riot who defined the genre. Following their footsteps, most digital hardcore bands take far left and anarchist political stances in their lyrics, which is a commonplace in hardcore punk, but somewhat new to Electronic Dance Music and rave culture.

Easycore

(also known as Popcore, Softcore)

Easycore is a subgenre of Pop Punk which combines the pop choruses, high-pitched vocals, and playful nature of pop punk with heavy, metallic breakdowns and occasional unclean vocals akin to Metalcore and Post-Hardcore. The vocals and production take more influence from pop punk bands such as New Found Glory rather than earlier pop punk bands, as the mixing is clean without many rough edges and the melodies are more boyish.

The genre kickstarted from the aforementioned New Found Glory's "Easycore Tour", which honed in the genres sound. Other influences from the late 1990s and early 2000s pop punk scene include Sum 41 and The Wonder Years. The genre finally came into it's own when bands such as Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, Four Year Strong, and A Day to Remember came into the scene as heavy-hitters. These bands took inspiration from all of the aformentioned pop punk bands, but also had an appreciation for metalcore and post-hardcore music. The lyrics were often playful and non-serious and the music was a mixture of clean and unclean. This is when the genre got major recognition in the pop punk scene, positive and negative.

Though the genre has waned in popularity over the years, there are still dedicated followers of the metalcore and pop punk hybrid. Many bands still continue to bring playful heaviness to easycore such as Knockout Kid and FACT.

Emo

Emo, originally short for "emotional hardcore", has undergone many changes both stylistically and in the public perception of what exactly the term means. While the genre has many interpretations, the main factor that defines it is the sincere expression of personal emotions as the forefront theme, both lyrically and musically.

Emo grew out of the Washington, D.C. area Hardcore Punk scene, as former punk rockers looked for new forms of expression and formed bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace. The early Emo sound (also known as Emocore) featured mid-tempo, rock based guitar with an occasional flourish riff, and punk vocals that were sung rather than yelled. The largely underground scene grew out of D.C.-based Dischord Records and then quickly spread across the United States.

The 1990s ushered in a new wave of Emo bands. While retaining the genre's punk rock background, new elements were added. The quiet/loud dynamic became popular, as well as catchy riff based songs featuring octave chords, pop song structure, and cleaner vocals. Many consider Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary as the breakout Emo record, which went on the influence the rest of the scene – including bands like Texas Is the Reason and Mineral – and spawned Midwest Emo later in the decade.

The 1990s also saw a number of other styles develop. Bands like Braid, Jawbreaker, and Cap'n Jazz incorporated Post-Hardcore into their music and made punkier music with harsher vocals and louder and faster riffing. The late 90s and early 2000s involved the inception of Emo-Pop; bands like The Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, and Jimmy Eat World paved the way for the wildly popular genre which peaked with chart topping hits in the mid 2000s.

After a decade of declining interest, the early 2010s ushered in the so-called "Emo revival" scene. Record labels like Run for Cover Records and No Sleep Records gave a new platform to bands such as Tigers Jaw, Balance and Composure, and Modern Baseball. This new crop of bands took influences from musical developments in the previous decade, incorporating Indie Rock, Post-Hardcore, Midwest Emo, and Pop Punk and creating a new wave of renewed interest in the genre.

Emocore

(also known as Emotional Hardcore)

Emocore is a style of Post-Hardcore that emerged primarily in Washington D.C. in the summer of 1985, as a reaction against the by then stagnant Hardcore Punk scene. Most of the bands were composed of former hardcore musicians, and they used that genre as a basis for the new emocore sound. The shouted vocals and fast distorted guitars of hardcore punk were set to midtempo songs that focused more on melodies and dynamics than aggression and speed, and the lyrics were often introverted and emotional which had previously been uncommon in the punk rock scene. Prominent bands of the genre include Rites of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty and Moss Icon, and many of these bands were in some way connected to the independent label Dischord Records.

Emo-Pop

Emo-pop is a style of music that had its origins in the Midwest Emo movement of the 1990s. Taking cues from artists such as The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring, and Jimmy Eat World (Bleed American in particular), emo-pop took the sentimental crooning of Emo and crafted it into a sound with more mainstream appeal. As a result, the songs are more pop-oriented than those of earlier movements associated with emo, utilizing such elements as high production values, reliance on hooks, simple structures, and high-pitched melodies and singing. The simplistic and youthful nature of Pop Punk also played a huge role in crafting the sound of emo-pop. In addition, the genre distances itself from the hardcore-based Emocore movement of the 1980s, both musically and philosophically. Lyrics tend to be confessional in nature, often delving into topics such as heartbreak and love.

The genre achieved mainstream success in the early 2000s with the release of such albums as Tell All Your Friends and The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most. Since then, several artists associated with the genre have gone on to release platinum-certified albums, including Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects. Emo-pop reached its commercial peak in the mid-2000s, with many artists being prominently featured on MTV, but the genre has since declined in popularity. Other popular artists commonly associated with the genre include Saves the Day, Something Corporate, and Senses Fail.

Emoviolence

(also known as Emo Powerviolence)

Coined by In/Humanity, emoviolence came out of the burgeoning Screamo and Powerviolence scenes, building upon the volatile approach taken by early bands such as Honeywell and Makara. The primary innovators in the emoviolence scene are generally regarded as Orchid, pageninetynine, and Jeromes Dream, who all took an extremely aggressive approach even by the standards of screamo. Songs were shortened to the point that they rarely surpassed three minutes, unconventional methods of screaming were utilized, and blast-beats were often used. These changes marked a profound influence from the Californian powerviolence and Grindcore scenes. Artists like Reversal of Man and Combatwoundedveteran, both from the vibrant Florida screamo scene, bridged the gap between the two genres, foregoing a fusion and instead swapping approaches on releases and tracks. Nowadays the genre is not as prevalent as it once was, however there is a revival taking place, often fusing with elements of scenes such as Queercore and taking a confrontational, more hardcore-influenced approach.

Folk Punk

Folk Punk describes Punk Rock with any kind of Folk influence. The most common influences are Celtic Folk Music (Celtic Punk), Romani Folk Music and Balkan Folk Music (Gypsy Punk), but folk punk in general is not limited to any specific regional style. The instrumentation of folk punk can either be as varied as its influences, ranging from traditional and acoustic instruments to a more typical punk rock set with electric guitars, bass, and drums.

The genre emerged in the early 1980s in the UK, most notably with the early releases of Billy Bragg and the Irish-British band The Pogues, who mixed traditional Irish songs with the aggressiveness of punk music. Due to the influence of Irish culture and a big Irish minority in some parts of the US, their Celtic style of folk punk was later adopted and expanded by Irish-American and American bands such as Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. Other non-Irish minorities have had its impact on the development of folk punk in the US as well. Formed in NY in 1999 by a Ukrainian-born leader Eugene Hütz, the band Gogol Bordello has seen a couple of line-up changes, including musicians with Israeli, Romanian, Russian, Belarusian, Scottish, Ethiopian, Ecuadoran, British and Chinese descent, as well as several American artists. The multicultural background of folk punk has helped it spread throughout Europe, attracting more and more diverse regional folk punk hybrids.

Another branch of folk punk developed in the 1980s in the US. Violent Femmes are commonly cited as a big influence on the development of this style. Unlike the Pogues in the UK, they did not base their sound on a fusion of traditional music with punk, instead creating a style that was closer to Contemporary Folk-influenced Folk Rock. This mix of acoustic instrumentation and punk rock was not much different from the Country-related genre of Cowpunk. The American style of folk punk continued to develop in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A scene centering around the Bloomington, IN based Plan-It-X Records began releasing material from bands such as Defiance, Ohio and early Against Me!. These mostly Midwestern bands were influenced by 1960s folk revival protest songs and 1990s Pop Punk. Many of these bands began with a very acoustic sound with minimal electric instrumentation, but later become much more electrified, sometimes abandoning the folk punk sound. Lyrics from this wave of folk punk bands tend to feature empowering anarchist philosophy informed by the likes of CrimethInc. The lyrics and vocal style of this brand of folk punk are often similar to the quirky, whimsical, childlike style of Anti-Folk, which partially retains the edginess, rebelliousness and simplicity of punk rock, but it does not normally use the typical punk rock instrumentation. One of the most successful artists to combine anti-folk and folk punk is AJJ.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, a new folk punk sound emerged in the Western United States. West Coast bands like Blackbird Raum were more heavily influenced by Anarcho-Punk and Crust Punk than the Midwestern folk punk scene. These Western bands developed a much darker, dissonant sound. They tend to use exclusively acoustic instrumentation, sometimes calling their music "acoustic punk" rather than folk punk. Their lyrics are generally very bleak, often dealing with police oppression, squatting, ecological destruction, nature, fantasy, mythology, and/or the occult.

Garage Punk

Garage Punk combines the raw fuzztones of the original Garage Rock bands of the '60s with the tempo and attitude of Punk Rock. Garage Punk is often used to determine the difference between modern bands with a more '60s revivalist sound and modern Punk bands indebted to the path-breaking of the '60s Garage Rock without the same stylistic deference. Garage Punk can also include elements of Post-Punk, such as the use of synthesizers or more angular guitar tones, as well as roots elements, both musically and lyrically. Most Garage Punk bands prefer to issue their music on 7" singles rather than LPs and nearly all Garage Punk bands record for independent labels.

Glam Punk

Glam punk refers to a style of Proto-Punk or Punk Rock that blends in elements of sound and style from Glam Rock. Glam punk contrasts a snotty, nihilistic and combative attitude of punk with the fey theatrics and flamboyance of glam rock. The New York Dolls typified glam punk in its early days. New York Dolls guitarist, Johnny Thunders, would eventually become a seminal figure of the genre. Later, bands like Redd Kross and Turbonegro would incorporate more obvious punk elements into the bombastic glam punk sound.

Goregrind

Goregrind deviates from typical Grindcore in three aspects: the persistent use of very low pitch shifted vocals; the willingness to employ more mid-tempo rhythms rather than rampant full throttle speed; and an almost exclusive lyrical obsession with medical terminology, pathological conditions, and violence upon the human body. These themes are chosen largely for shock value, and are often conveyed in a purposely over-the-top fashion. In return, some see this as the predecessor to Deathgrind.

The early work of Carcass is considered a prime example of this style.

Gorenoise

(also known as Vomitnoise)

Gorenoise is an extreme variant of Goregrind that combines and subverts its goregrind and Grindcore elements with brash Noise music (typically utilising intense Harsh Noise). The style first began to take place in the late 1990s as goregrind was pushed to its extreme limits by bands such as Last Days of Humanity and Anal Birth.

As within goregrind, the vocals are heavily pitch-shifted down, often to the point of sounding like gargling or bubbling, or to imitate vomiting and other bodily functions. The drums are typically digitally programmed, chaotic, and at a high tempo; this often makes the sound comparable with Cybergrind.

Much like its goregrind roots, gorenoise musicians often utilise medical terminology in their band and song names, as well as using graphic and gory medical imagery in their cover art. Though mostly indecipherable due to the editing techniques used, gorenoise lyrics tend to focus on typical grindcore topics, with graphic violence, death, and bodily functions being the general focus.

The style became more notable in the 2000s, with bands specifically taking to and innovating the style directly. The mid-to-late 2000s saw the work of Bobby Maggard (an artist with several hundred gorenoise projects) and Phyllomedusa both further help define and develop the sound of the genre through their hundreds of releases.

Gothic Rock

(also known as Goth)

Gothic Rock is a style of rock-based music focusing primarily on 'gothic' music and imagery. Typical aspects of the sound include synths, moderate-to-heavy employment of chorus and echo effects and "twangy" rhythm guitar. It developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s as an offshoot of Post-Punk, and was initially applied to artists such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure, who had begun to introduce darker elements into the sound.

A harder, more punk-influenced style of the music, known as Deathrock, was pioneered in the U.S. in the early '80s by bands such as Christian Death and 45 Grave. Around the same time, a lighter, more 'ethereal' style known as Ethereal Wave, focusing on atmospheric guitar soundscapes, was pioneered by Cocteau Twins in the UK.

Grindcore

(also known as Grind)

Born out of the British Crust Punk scene, the original incarnation of grindcore, most notably embraced by the bands Napalm Death and early Carcass, incorporated elements from Thrash Metal and Thrashcore and raised them to new levels of extremity and aggression. A lightning fast tempo of distorted chromatic guitar riffs played over relentless blast beats accompany vocals that consist mainly of unintelligible shrieks, growls, and barks. Grindcore songs typically attack in short, ultra-violent blasts of noise, in some cases lasting only a matter of seconds, with no readily apparent song structures. Grindcore bands attempt to represent the nihilism and decay that they sense in society through this extreme music, and angry lyrics that commonly speak of social and political issues.

Modern grindcore has expanded to include influences from Industrial Metal, Death Metal, and Noise, in the styles of well-known bands like Pig Destroyer, Nasum, and Cephalic Carnage. Though it has always been a niche within a niche, grindcore maintains a steady and enthusiastic following.

Gypsy Punk

Gypsy punk is a style of Punk Rock music with strong Eastern European music influences, especially various kinds of Romani Folk Music and Balkan Folk Music as well as Klezmer. The name was coined by Eugene Hütz, the leader of New York based Gogol Bordello, founded in 1998 by immigrants from several countries from different parts of the world. At about the same time Balkan film director Emir Kusturica (and his band, The No Smoking Orchestra) made a smooth transition from Balkan music (popularized by Goran Bregović, who had been writing music for Kusturica's films since the late 1980s) to a more punkier and less traditional sound, giving a strong impact on the development of the genre as well. Other notable and influential Gypsy punk artists include Kultur Shock, Norwegian Kaizers Orchestra and Moldavian Zdob şi Zdub, but aside from a few bands the genre remains an underground phenomenon.

Hardcore Punk

Hardcore Punk (often referred to as simply Hardcore) is a derivation of Punk Rock that appeared during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Hardcore initially borrowed much from Punk's original music framework and energy and made it faster, heavier and more aggressive, while retaining Punk's anti-establishment image and DIY ethics/practices. Other common characteristics include an extensive use of yelling and/or screaming, a stripped-down style of production (also inherited from many earlier Punk acts) and the prevalence of short-length songs.

Hardcore Punk has been associated with the releases of independently-run record labels such as Dischord Records, SST Records, and Alternative Tentacles, and acts such as Adolescents, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Fear, The Germs, Minor Threat, and Scream. While in its beginnings the genre was mainly a phenomenon rooted in the American underground music circuit, the term has also been applied to the works of non-U.S. bands from this era. These include D.O.A. from Canada; Discharge, G.B.H. and Rudimentary Peni from the United Kingdom and a Japanese Hardcore scene represented by groups like G.I.S.M. and The Stalin.

The genre would eventually splinter into other subgenres and derivative forms in a similar manner as Punk Rock did, some of which still remain rooted in the original Hardcore style. The interest of several Hardcore Punk musicians in various Metal genres played an important role in the creation of various new styles, exemplified by Crossover Thrash, Crust Punk, Grindcore, Metalcore, and New York Hardcore. The dissatisfaction of various Hardcore-rooted and associated musicians by the constraints of the genre and their growing attention for diverse forms of music (including Jazz, Experimental Rock, Dub, Funk and Post-Punk) derived in the creation of Post-Hardcore, which sought to experiment with the Hardcore template and dynamics. The focus given by some bands to melodic exploration would result in Melodic Hardcore. Beatdown Hardcore would be the result of much more slower tempos and increased breakdowns.

Although Hardcore Punk has mantained cult status for most of its existence, it has been seminal for the development of several other (and more popular) genres, many of them outside of Punk Rock. Examples include Grunge, Pop Punk, Sludge Metal, Riot Grrrl, Alternative Metal and Thrash Metal (itself an influence for several Hardcore Punk styles).

Horror Punk

(also known as Horror Rock)

Horror Punk is a horror movie themed genre of Punk Rock typified by Misfits. The horror punk aesthetic is decidedly nostalgic and campy, hearkening back to low budget science fiction and horror B-movies from the 1950s-60s and Novelty horror acts like Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers. Horror punk often incorporates elements of Rock & Roll, Rockabilly and Doo-Wop from the 1950s and 60s, adding the nostalgic feel. The punk in horror punk can range from Hardcore Punk (early Misfits) to Pop Punk (Zombina & The Skeletones). With this intersection of genres and themes, the lines between horror punk, Deathrock and Psychobilly are often blurred and many bands play a hybrid of the genres. Other notable horror punk acts include Balzac, Blitzkid, Calabrese, Frankenstein Drag Queens and Wednesday 13

Japanese Hardcore

Japanese hardcore is the basic term for Hardcore Punk from Japan. Most Japanese bands play a style of music that is far more abrasive and noisier than their western counterparts, and in the 1980s Japanese hardcore acts were instrumental in the creation and propagation of the Grindcore and Thrashcore genres. Japanese hardcore acts are also known to employ D-Beat and Noise Rock elements.

Könsrock

Könsrock is a genre at the outer reaches of Punk Rock, inspired by Post-Punk, but with a more bizarre atmosphere, strange distortion on the guitars, strange and rather unusual or comic vocal techniques and frequent use of drum machines. Lyrics are always controversial in an extreme way (mostly about the handicapped, sex, addictions, criminality and feces). The name itself translates as "genital rock".

The style was born in the late 1970s by the Swedish group Onkel Kånkel which has reached cult status in Sweden.

Mathcore

Mathcore is a rhythmically-complex subgenre of Metalcore that originated in the mid to late 1990s. Metalcore artists such as Deadguy, Candiria and Coalesce were incorporating unconventional time signatures, erratic metric shifts and syncopated and dissonant riffs to the original Metalcore sound. The Mathcore movement gained underground popularity in the late 1990s to early 2000s with acclaimed and influential releases from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch and Converge that became staples of the technical yet aggressive sound.

Although early Mathcore groups did contain elements of Hardcore Punk and Noisecore, later Mathcore groups began to experiment and further combine their sound with different genres including Grindcore, Post-Hardcore and Electronic music.

The name originated from combining the name of the also rhythmically-complex Math Rock with Metalcore, but Mathcore has much more in common with Metalcore than Math Rock; although they share the trait of rhythmic complexity, Mathcore is much more aggressive and heavy in sound, more often than not with shouted vocals.

Melodic Hardcore

Melodic hardcore is a style of Hardcore Punk that emerged in the USA in the early to mid-1980s, placing emphasis on melodic vocals and technical guitar riffs rather than raw aggression.

The primary development of the genre came in California and Washington, D.C., with the blueprints laid by Descendents' highly influential Milo Goes to College in 1982. Later on in the decade came other milestone releases Dag Nasty's Can I Say and Bad Religion's Suffer that helped further shape and define melodic hardcore.

From the 1990s onwards, melodic hardcore became more diverse, incorporating a greater variety of influences and sounds, including Post-Hardcore, Emo and more recently, Metalcore. The modern use of the term Skate Punk refers to bands such as Bad Religion, NOFX and The Offspring who bridged the gap between melodic hardcore and Pop Punk.

Metalcore

(also known as Metallic Hardcore)

A combination of Hardcore Punk and Metal that began to take shape during the mid 1990s. What differentiates metalcore from other combinations of metal and hardcore punk, such as Crossover Thrash, is the emphasis on breakdowns and greater use of dissonance.

The term 'metallic hardcore' is used to describe the style of the 'first wave' of metalcore bands which shared their hardcore punk and metal influences fairly equally such as Integrity and Earth Crisis. Converge continues to play this style.

The metalcore bands from the early and mid 00s that brought the genre to a more mainstream audience are said instead to play Melodic Metalcore, because of the increased influence of Melodic Death Metal and frequent use of clean vocals.

Midwest Emo

(also known as Indie Emo, Post-Emo Indie Rock)

Midwest emo emerged as a style of Emo in the mid-1990s. Its advent is usually credited to Sunny Day Real Estate, who combined elements of their native Seattle, WA's Indie Rock scene with the Post-Hardcore music propagated by Washington, D.C.-based Dischord Records. The music tends toward alternating loud and soft dynamics; off-key, strained or "whiny" vocals with little screaming; and "twinkly" arpeggiated guitar parts. Other prominent artists in this genre include Mineral, The Promise Ring and Texas Is the Reason. Artists such as The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World, whose earlier output can be described as Midwest emo, helped to lay the foundation for what would become Emo-Pop.

The genre's name stems from its high prevalence in cities such as Chicago, Madison, Kansas City and Cleveland, but the style is in no way limited to the Midwest, as exemplified by Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas is the Reason.

Neue Deutsche Welle

Neue Deutsche Welle (new German wave, abbreviated NDW) was a music scene in late 1970s and early 1980s Germany. Primarily associated with New Wave, it is also heavily associated with, and influenced by Punk Rock, Post-Punk, Synthpop, Synth Punk and Industrial music.

New Romantic

New romantic was popularized in the UK between 1979 and 1984. The style is a particular niche of the New Wave and Synthpop genres. The music is characterized both by its lush and ornate sound and its heavy use of synthesizers. The genre has also significant importance in fashion, which played a big role in categorising artists as new romantics, the look was often flamboyant and eccentric. Bands like ABC and Spandau Ballet defined the new romantic sound as far less confrontational and more Pop-oriented than some of their new wave peers.

New Wave

New wave is a genre that appeared in the late 1970s, influenced by Punk Rock and Electronic music. It's characterized by agitated and busy guitar melodies alongside jerky rhythm guitars, an heavy reliance on synthesizers, "stop-and-go" composition structures, and a typical use of intricated percussive sections, sometimes with the help of drum machines. This intricated beat is an important feature of new wave, beat-oriented music like Afrobeat and Disco also had a big influence on the movement. Power Pop is also associated with the shaping of the new wave constellation, (e.g. through the Mod Revival sensibility) and participated of the separation from the punk roots, a detachment which became clearer with the 1980s synth-lead acts represented by a new wave sub-genre called New Romantic. The punk rock influence of new wave make it a close cousin of Post-Punk, the two genres evolving from punk rock at about the same time. However, the Pop leanings of new wave, in particular toward Pop Rock and Synthpop, makes the genre distinct from the experimental, abrasive, angular angriness of post-punk. Overall, besides post-punk, new wave is also ethically, historically and aesthetically close to a lot of subgenres from related subcultures in the 1980s, such as punk rock, power pop, synth pop, 2 Tone, Alternative Dance, etc.

Talking Heads and Elvis Costello are among the most well-known new wave acts, and their fashion styles promoted the nerdy, suburban stereotypes of new wave artists. A number of new wave acts, especially New Romantic ones like Japan and Ultravox, lean toward a flashy and flamboyant aesthetic somewhat closer to what can be found in Glam Rock while keeping an overall arty and sophisticated image. Other significant new wave bands include Duran Duran, Blondie, The Cars, New Order and Devo, ranging from synth pop-oriented New Romantic style, to power pop, to post-punk.

New wave music is also known for its numerous and various scenes, especially in Europe. Some of the best examples are Coldwave in Poland and France, Neue Deutsche Welle in Germany, La Movida Madrileña in Madrid and Novi val ("new wave") in Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia. Like the UK and US scenes, these scenes were quite varied, and included not only new wavers, but also a lot of musicians from related subcultures and subgenres, such as post-punk, power pop, punk rock, disco, pop/rock, synth pop etc.

New York Hardcore

(also known as NYHC)

New York hardcore describes the sound propagated by Hardcore Punk bands from New York City from the 1980s and onwards. Musically, the early NYHC artists such as The Mob, Warzone and Agnostic Front set themselves apart from the rest of the country with their intake of British Oi! influences blended in with the DC sound, and with the main aim of creating a type of hardcore punk that was more mosh-friendly than the sound being played elsewhere.

Thematically, most songs are about togetherness, brotherhood (especially in a communal sense rather than specific interpersonal friendships), everyday struggles of the working class (much of the New York hardcore audience was comprised of skinheads, typically SHARPs/anti-racist skinheads), and straight edge. Most to all of New York hardcore towards the late 80s is fast-paced, places little emphasis on guitar solos (if there are any at all) and incorporates significant Thrash Metal influence - many songs include metallic breakdowns and gang vocals. Examples of this period are Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today and Judge.

This style of Hardcore ended up being a big influence on the Metalcore and Beatdown Hardcore groups that sprung up in the mid-late 90s, and many NYHC artists of the 90s played a big part in the creation of those sounds, as proved by the likes of Madball, Merauder, Vision of Disorder and Indecision.

Noise Rock

Noise rock is a genre that encompasses a wide range of bands and artists that favour dissonance, wild feedback, and extreme distortion in the context of Rock music. Unlike Noise, noise rock usually retains the song structures and coherence of conventional rock music.

While the style was predicted in the late 1960s and early 1970s by bands such as the The Velvet Underground, Monks, The Stooges and Les Rallizes dénudés, noise rock came to its own in the 1980s, following the advent of Punk Rock and Post-Punk. The No Wave movement was another important early influence. Pioneering bands include Sonic Youth, The Birthday Party, The Butthole Surfers, Flipper, and Swans.

Noisecore

Noisecore is a derivation of Hardcore Punk. The songs are usually short blasts of noise, accompanied by screamed, growled, or shouted vocals. While there is some instrumental variation (some groups use drum machines, others use completely non-musical noise sources), noisecore acts tend to use a guitar and/or bass guitar.

Earlier releases tagged as "noisecore" tend to be a raw, chaotic, and lo-fi form of hardcore; artists in this style include Tranquilizer, Kuolema, and Brigada do Ódio. Napalm Death's "You Suffer" is generally considered the blueprint for most later noisecore, being approximately one second long. Typical noisecore releases (whether singles or LPs) can contain forty or more songs, with some releases claiming to contain thousands of tracks.

Lyrical content varies from highly political (Seven Minutes of Nausea, Fear of God) to the gross/offensive (later Anal Cunt, Gore Beyond Necropsy) to the absurd/surreal (Sore Throat, Minch); some acts (early Anal Cunt, Genital Masticator, The Gerogerigegege) use wordless vocal sounds. More recent acts include Kusari Gama Kill, Beip, Gorgonized Dorks and Nihilist Commando.

Note that "Noisecore" is sometimes used as an interchangable term with Mathcore and/or Metalcore by the press. It is rarely if ever used by these bands to describe themselves. "Noisecore" is also sometimes used to refer to Noise Rock with hardcore influences.

No Wave

No Wave was a short-lived movement in New York City in the late 1970s which took the ethics of Punk Rock but discarded melody and catchiness and replaced them with such features as extreme noise, distortion, feedback, angular rhythms, stream-of-conciousness lyrics, psychotic vocals, minimalism, abnormal tunings, dissonance and other unusual factors. The original movement essentially lasted from 1976-1979 and featured bands like Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Mars, DNA and James Chance & The Contortions. The most well-known document of the era is the Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation.

While not part of the original movement, numerous bands have arisen which were influenced by the original movement and have themselves been labelled No Wave, such as Sonic Youth, The Birthday Party and Liars.

Oi!

Oi! is a sub-genre of Punk Rock that developed in the late 1970s in the United Kingdom, as a rejection to the burgeoning Art Punk genre. Steve Kent of notable oi! band The Business described such music as being made by "trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic... and losing touch." The name originates from the Cockney Rejects song "Oi Oi Oi", and the compilation it was taken from, Oi! The Album. This release showcased a lot of prominent early oi! bands, such as the above Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, and The 4 Skins.

Musically, oi! is more simplistic when compared to those newer Punk bands. Usually it returns to the original roots of punk rock, whilst adding catchy melodies, football chants, and sing-along or drinking song styled choruses. They drew influence from early punk rock bands, 1960s British Rock bands, English Folk Music, and Glam Rock bands. Early bands such as Cock Sparrer and Sham 69 developed the style, before it was named accordingly.

The ideology of the original oi! movement related to the working class. The lyrics dealt often with unemployment, oppression by authorities, violence, and - on a lighter note - subjects such as drinking or football. Whilst in general most oi! bands played for their class struggles, on the far right, the scene was a haven for white nationalist bands who sung fascist and racist songs. The series of concerts called "Rock Against Communism" - which later developed into a scene of the same name - was a breeding ground for far right oi! bands such as Skrewdriver, No Remorse, and Skullhead. This rise in Neo-Nazi oi! bands in the mid-1980s made it difficult for other bands in the scene, who are still to this day lumped together with the fascist acts, even though anti-fascist bands such as The Oppressed were openly against such ideologies.

Oi! was not strictly a British scene, as it was eventually exported and picked up by bands worldwide. With the misconceptions about the genre's overall political connections leading to riots, violence, deaths, and property damage, the scene in the United Kingdom became more underground. Overseas nations developed their own oi! scenes around the mid-1980s, especially in the United States, with notable acts like Iron Cross and U.S. Chaos leading development of the local sound. These early acts were noted as being a partial influence on the various Hardcore Punk scenes that grew in the 1980s. Street punk and UK82 both took influence from the original oi! sound, and grew as genres within the 1980s. Due to this rise in similar styles, around the 1990s, oi! was brought out of the underground in the United Kingdom, and early bands returned to releasing music.

Pop Punk

(also known as Punk-Pop)

Pop punk is a genre that blends the loud, fast-paced and sometimes sloppy sound of Punk Rock with the catchy sound of Pop music. Pop punk has existed since the inception of punk rock and has thus covered a lot of sonic and lyrical ground, so is often hard to define. For instance, many pop punk bands embrace a fun, light-hearted image, where as others adopt the opposite, an overly melancholic and serious sound.

The earliest pop punk band is often considered to be Ramones. Other bands from the 1970s to embrace a more pop-influenced sound include Buzzcocks and The Undertones. Pop punk became more of a defined sound in the 1980s with the growing Melodic Hardcore and Skate Punk sounds. Bands from this era include Screeching Weasel and The Queers. Pop punk began to break through into the mainstream in the 1990s with bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, and The Offspring. In the mid 2000s the mainstream success of pop punk began to wane and was eventually subsumed by the rising popularity of Emo-Pop. In the 2010s, bands like The Wonder Years and Joyce Manor ushered in a new wave of pop punk with Emo influences.

Post-Hardcore

Following the emergence of Punk Rock in the late 1970s, bands began to expand upon its aesthetic of 'loud, hard, and fast' musical and vocal technique. Mixing together elements of their forebearers from Hardcore Punk (largely Black Flag and Dead Kennedys), Experimental Rock bands like The Velvet Underground and The Residents, with a helping of the sounds of its close cousins in Noise Rock and Emo, Post-Hardcore has undergone a continual expansion and shifting in what constitutes its musical identity.

Post-Hardcore can be considered to have begun in earnest in the mid-'80s. These bands were based on Hardcore Punk's aggression and dynamics, but many of them expanded it through longer and more complex arrangements with an ebb and flow of building tension and release both in the music and vocals. Notable bands of this early era are Big Black, Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. It should be noted that many of these bands were simply called Hardcore bands in the '80s and the term post-hardcore emerged later.

Soon after, a second wave of Post-Hardcore emerged. In addition to the traditional influences, this owed an equal debt to the addition of Post-Punk bands like Television and Wire, with a sprinkling of Dub, Funk, or Jazz-Rock. Some bands, Fugazi for instance, have straddled both styles.

Post-Hardcore today encompasses both of these previous incarnations, and has incorporated what can be considered a third-wave set of artists who took cues from first-wave bands, and added an aggressive mix with Emo, known as Screamo. Envy and Off Minor are good examples of this style.

Post-Punk

With its roots in the mid to late 1970s, post-punk emerged alongside the initial Punk Rock explosion in the United Kingdom. While retaining punk rock's focus on trimming away excess, post-punk tends to place more importance on creating atmosphere and usually has more complex songwriting than punk rock. Musicians tend to be much more experimental, often incorporating influences from Dub, Funk, Krautrock, Art Rock, Experimental music, and Electronic music. Unlike New Wave, its more pop-based counterpart which emerged around the same time, post-punk often deals with more serious subject matter.

Stylistically, the genre has a general backbone consisting of a prominent, pulsating sound and rhythm section of bass and drums. On top of this arrangement are atmospheric, spiky, interweaving lead guitar lines commonly described as "angular", creating a cold and melancholic tone with extensive use of minor key melodies. Vocals tend to be menacing, monotone and in some cases, even robotic.

Public Image Ltd, formed after the implosion of Sex Pistols, are often heralded as the first post-punk band, although artists in the New York punk scene like Television had been much earlier playing an experimental style of punk rock that would later be classified by some as post-punk. Other (mostly British) bands followed, including Joy Division, Talking Heads, Gang of Four, and Wire and the genre came into its own in the late 70s, reaching its underground peak in the early to mid 80s.

Post-punk's underground popularity helped create many offshoots. Its sorrowful atmosphere was merged with increasing theatrics and influences from Glam Rock to create Gothic Rock, which bands like The Cure and The Sisters of Mercy leveraged to great chart success in the late 80s and helped form the pervasive Goth subculture. The bouncy syncopation and overall funkiness of post-punk bass is exploited to its maximum in Dance-Punk which saw mainstream popularity in the mid 2000s. Coldwave, popular in continental Europe and especially France, was a colder, more methodical affair which took influence from the avant-garde and science fiction. No Wave was a New York-based movement which took influence from post-punk and punk rock but focused on experimentation above all else. Post-punk's first wave saw a decline in underground popularity after the mid 80s as it was subsumed by new wave, gothic rock, Alternative Rock, and Alternative Dance, all genres which took heavy influence from the original post-punk movement.

After a period of declining interest in the 1990s, a mainstream Post-Punk Revival emerged in the early 2000s centred around the New York City scene, with bands like The Strokes and Interpol spearheading a movement which took influence earlier post-punk bands but had an increased focus on indie rock and pop song structures. This approach allowed the revival to quickly spread worldwide, with bands outside New York joining the fray, including Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. The movement was incredibly successful with multiple bands obtaining chart hits and was heralded by publications such as NME as a "new rock revival", although it ultimately proved to be short-lived as other strains of indie rock took over by the mid 2000s. An underground resurgence of interest in the genre developed in the early 2010s with bands like Preoccupations and Protomartyr eschewing the earlier revival's focus on accessibility and returning to the punk and experimental ethos of first wave post-punk.

Post-Punk Revival

(also known as New Wave Revival)

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, indie rock bands started to incorporate musical and other aesthetical elements (such as fashion and mood) of Post-Punk into their appearance and sound. Usually The Strokes are credited as the pivotal point between the original post-punk styles (Talking Heads, Gang of Four, Joy Division and Television are frequently cited influences) and the post-punk revival. The genre is often set in relation to Garage Rock Revival as they originated around the same time in New York City.

The relatively coherent sound of the post-punk revival picks up characteristic elements from post-punk bands: emphasis on melodic basslines, a dominant 'live' drum sound, occasional use of synthesizers and often elaborated, interlocking guitar work. It differs from post-punk as the acts usually make use of clean, modern production instead of maintaining the do-it-yourself ethics of post-punk and experimental tendencies are virtually nonexistent, which seperates the revival from original post-punk. The revival added the gloomier sound of post-punk to pop-oriented indie rock. Due to the pop elements and influences from New Wave as well, the Post-Punk revival is occasionally labeled New Wave revival.

Unlike original post-punk, the revival drew considerable commercial appeal, seen in the success of bands such as Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party and more new-wave influenced bands such as The Killers. After reaching a commercial peak around 2005, the revival notably flattened and merged into indie rock and mainstream rock music.

Powerviolence

(also known as PV)

Powerviolence is an underground music scene that appeared across California in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although the genre was not strictly limited to this area, it seems the majority of the most influential artists were rooted there. Powerviolence takes the blueprints of Hardcore Punk and Grindcore, with the addition of wildly fluctuating tempos within a single song. Often a song may appear to have a similar runtime and brutality as grindcore track, but then suddenly slow down and develop Sludge Metal-style riffs, and then speed back up into fast grindcore. Powerviolence can often be mistaken as a crossover between grindcore and hardcore punk, as the blastbeats and short song lengths are similar to grindcore, yet the riffs and shouty vocals are more similar to hardcore punk. Key bands of the subgenre were often signed to the label Slap a Ham Records, created by Chris Dodge, the frontman of another Powerviolence band, SPAZZ. Key artists include No Comment, Infest, Gasp, Man Is the Bastard and Crossed Out. Some of these split up before even releasing a full-length album, leaving behind highly influential EPs, demos and complete discography compilations.

Crossed Out's "Lowlife" and No Comment's "Downsided" are typically known as landmark songs that define the Powerviolence sound. Additionally, bands such as Man Is the Bastard pushed the boundaries further, adding long, drawn-out Ambient, Electronic and Drone sections inbetween the short grindcore outbursts. Gasp also added lengthy psychedelic guitar jamming and Power Electronics, weaved in and out of grindcore and hardcore punk sections.

The scene seemed to die out in the early to mid 1990s, as most of the influential bands of the movement split up or took their sound in different directions, leaving the original releases (often only released as vinyl singles) much sought-after. However, throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s, many Powerviolence revival bands started to crop up, such as Charles Bronson, Bucket Full of Teeth and Hatred Surge. Additionally, Powerviolence went on to influence some later grindcore and hardcore punk artists, such as Insect Warfare.

Proto-Punk

Proto-punk is a fairly vague term used to describe music that either influenced or resembled Punk Rock before the commercial breakthrough of punk in 1976. Common characteristics include provocative attitude, use of noise or abrasiveness, wild, untamed energy and stripped-down simplicity.

Sometimes the line between proto-punk and punk rock is blurred – even artists who belonged to the CBGB punk scene of the early-to-mid 1970s have been labelled proto-punk simply because they predate the commercial breakthrough of Sex Pistols.

Psychobilly

Psychobilly music is the cross-pollination of Punk Rock and Rockabilly. Inspiration for the style can be traced to U.S. acts The Cramps and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, though the first fully accredited Psychobilly band is generally considered to be The Meteors, who formed in the U.K. of the early 80s. It combines the energy and rhythm of Rockabilly tradition, the outsider world-view and confrontational nature of the Punk aesthetic, and a good dose of lurid observation and humor. Though past its heyday, Psychobilly maintains a vital underground scene internationally.

Punk Blues

Appearing after the punk explosion of the late 1970s, punk blues fuses the instrumentation and scales of Blues Rock with the energy, rawness and noise of Punk Rock, along with inspirations from 1960s' Garage Rock/Proto-Punk artists. One of the earliest examples of the genre is The Gun Club's 1981 record, Fire of Love. Further developed through the 1980s by artists including Nick Cave and The Scientists, it has attained moderate success in the succeeding decade with groups such as The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and The Gories.

Punk Rock

Punk rock is a genre formed in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia in the mid-1970s in response to commercial and sentimental rock music. While it has its roots in 1960s America with Proto-Punk and Garage Rock along with groups such as The Stooges, MC5, and Monks, it didn't fully take off and become what is known as punk rock until the mid-1970s with groups such as Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash. Although punk rock mainly had mainstream success in the United Kingdom in its earliest days, there were a few exceptions and it had a huge underground and cult following worldwide.

Punk rock is characterized by fast tempos, loud and distorted riffs, simple songs, frequent use of power chords, and shouted vocals. Many groups feature variations on these characteristics, but most early groups retained them. The genre takes heavy influence from Rock & Roll, Garage Rock, and Surf Rock with lesser influence from plenty of other genres. Punk rock lyrics are typically very aggressive and confrontational, and deal with topics considered taboo in mainstream music. Anti-establishment attitudes are a large part of punk lyrics. Although many groups frequently include light-hearted or comedic lyrics, the anger experienced by many punks is the main focus. While the punk aesthetic is stereotyped by mohawks, piercings, leather jackets, and jeans, it is actually extremely diverse and ranges from the minimalistic look of skinheads to the androgynous Patti Smith, and to the aforementioned stereotypical look.

Ever since the beginning of punk rock, the genre has morphed into several different sub-genres and movements as diverse as Oi!, Psychobilly, and Riot Grrrl. The most notable sub-genre would probably be Hardcore Punk, which is a much more primal, violent, and aggressive genre that has an entire movement of its own, which later evolved into Post-Hardcore among many other sub-genres. A revival of Pop Punk in the 1990s with groups such as Green Day, The Offspring, and Blink-182 finally brought mainstream success of punk music to America, and punk rock has remained a strong commercial force since. The punk scene also had a large influence on genres and movements such as Post-Punk and New Wave. The vast array of punk genres, movements, and cultures prove that it is an important genre that still has relevance today.

Queercore

(also known as Homocore)

Queercore is a subgenre of Punk Rock, mainly distinguished for its lyrical content expressing the viewpoints of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as promoting queer pride and unity.

The roots of the genre can be traced back to the mid '80s. In 1985, the original term for the scene, "homocore" (which was later changed to "queercore" to be more diverse and inclusive), was coined by the fanzine J.D.s, founded by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce. The fanzine sent out a cassette tape called J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape in 1990 with one of its issues, which soon prompted a fast-growing scene of Queercore bands to pop up. They had also published an article in 1985 called "Don't Be Gay", with its contents attacking both the Hardcore Punk scene the movement grew out of and (at the time) the exclusive gay communities. This rant, republished by another fanzine in 1989 called Maximum RocknRoll, inspired fanzines and labels to pop up, including Chainsaw Records and Outpunk. Coverage of the scene took off when Green Day invited Pansy Division to play with them on their 1994 Dookie tour.

Lyrically, queercore admonishes the homophobia and transphobia of both the hardcore punk scene and society at large. Much like Riot Grrrl, Queercore is highly critical of modern concepts of gender roles as well as the exclusive attitudes within the gay community. Common queercore themes also deal with religious and political oppression, queer lifestyles, and an emphasis on the experience of the individual (occasionally referencing the artists' own life experiences).

Although queercore is considered more of a scene than a genre, there is still emphasis on the music, which is a specific offshoot of punk rock. However, it is not limited strictly to punk influences, having borrowed elements from genres such as Industrial Music, Indie Rock, No Wave, and Experimental Rock. Representative bands from the genre include Team Dresch, God Is My Co-Pilot, Pansy Division, and Tribe 8.

Riot Grrrl

(Riot Girl)

Riot Grrrl began as an underground USA feminist musical movement in the early 1990s, emerging in Washington, DC, and the Pacific Northwest.

It was often performed by all-female groups, and was lyrically focused on female empowerment and tackling controversial issues such as domestic violence, discrimination and rape. Musically, riot grrrl typically featured the customary Rock instrumentation of electric guitar, bass guitar and drums, whilst the style was rooted in Punk Rock and took cues from Grunge, Post-Hardcore and Noise Rock. Trademarks include shouted female vocals which are usually chaotic, sneering and confrontational; loose, abrasive distorted guitar; and short, concise track times and song structures. The subsequent sound produced is raw, strident, aggressive, perfunctory, and often ramshackle or disjointed.

Notable acts include Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear, Bratmobile and early Sleater-Kinney. Several riot grrrl artists adopted the musical style, but were often not considered part of the wider political movement (or disassociated themselves from the label), for example, Babes in Toyland, 7 Year Bitch and early L7 and Hole.

Riot grrrl as a scene went beyond solely being a style of music: it spawned an entire lifestyle, which included political activism and a DIY culture.

Screamo

(also known as Skramz)

Screamo is an intense offshoot of Emo that began in the early 1990s. It merges the emotional lyrics and melodicism of emo with the intensity, aggression and speed of Hardcore Punk. Similar to Math Rock, screamo tends to be complex in structure, often featuring many changes in tempo and rhythm.

The earliest forms of the genre dates back to the California hardcore scene in the early 90s with bands like Heroin and Honeywell. These bands took the aggression of Powerviolence with the structures of Post-Hardcore. Even though these bands did not gain strong enough attention at first, they are considered very important and influential to future screamo bands.

At the turn of the 21st century, screamo evolved into a worldwide underground phenomenon; Europe saw a number of newer artists, such as La Quiete, Daïtro, and Raein, reaching relatively higher levels of popularity within the genre.

Many bands have been introducing new stylistic elements to the genre, Gospel and Circle Takes the Square have blended in the progressive technicality of math rock & Mathcore respectively, Envy and City of Caterpillar have incorporated the lush atmosphere of Post-Rock, and Lvmen, Celeste, & Rinoa have mixed in the heaviness of Sludge Metal. Upon further blending of genres, bands like Orchid & pageninetynine helped to pioneer Emoviolence, a sub-genre fusing screamo with powerviolence.

Since the early 2000s, the term "screamo" rose into the mainstream and has controversially been used by many publications and listeners to describe modern post-hardcore and Melodic Metalcore bands. The term "skramz" was thus created to avoid confusion with bands commonly mislabeled as screamo.

Although interest in screamo had declined during the 2000s, the success of bands such as Touché Amoré & Pianos Become the Teeth have helped it to regain popularity.

Ska Punk

Ska punk is a fusion genre that combined Ska with the speed and aggression of Punk Rock. It developed in the early 1980s as a continuation of the then growing Third Wave Ska movement. Starting primarily in North America, bands utilised the styles found in the British 2 Tone movement in new and harder ways. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Operation Ivy were early examples of American bands pushing this 1970s ska sound into new territory, and were vital to the development of the fusion sound.

Although it began as an underground style, by the mid-1990s ska punk had achieved mainstream Rock success. Bands formed under the influence of the third wave during the late 1980s to the early 1990s, most notably Rancid, Sublime, Goldfinger, No Doubt, and Reel Big Fish, all of which hailed from California. Less Than Jake brought the sound to the east coast of the United States, and were another notable band to bring radio success to the genre.

As British bands pushed the third wave into fusions of 2 tone and Oi!, North American bands also went in a harder direction, mixing Hardcore Punk with ska to create skacore. Other acts continued to perform in the popular standard ska punk style, and others mixed in elements of Alternative Rock to further develop a unique sound.

Skate Punk

Skate punk can refer to two distinct styles of Punk Rock. The contemporary use of the term skate punk describes a style which combines the speed of Melodic Hardcore with the catchiness of Pop Punk.

The original bands of the early 1980s to be labeled as skate punk were Hardcore Punk and Crossover Thrash bands with a large skater following, such as Suicidal Tendencies, JFA, Big Boys, The Faction and Gang Green. While the popularly accepted definition of skate punk has changed, some modern crossover thrash bands, like Bones Brigade and Skate Korpse, are still referred to as skate punk.

The modern incarnation of skate punk is strongly rooted in the style of melodic hardcore characteristic of Bad Religion. This interpretation of skate punk blends melodic hardcore with the catchiness and youthful fun of pop punk. The majority of skate punk bands have two guitar players to create a fuller sound. Skate punk songs are often characterized with guitar leads through out the whole song, ranging from octave progressions, complex muted riffs and guitar solos played in harmony. Tempos can reach speeds of up to 270bpm, mainly focusing on upbeat drums. Vocals can be clear or somewhat abrasive and are often sung in harmony. Bands like NOFX, The Offspring, Millencolin, Face to Face and Pennywise helped this style of punk rock develop and gain in popularity in the early to mid 1990s. Skate punk saw another, even larger boom in popularity around the turn of the millenium with the huge commercial success of acts like Blink-182 and Sum 41.

Both styles of skate punk are often used in soundtracks of skateboard videos and are prominently featured in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game series soundtracks.

Sludge Metal

Sludge metal combines the slow, dark instrumentals and atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggressive, harsh screams and shouts credited to Hardcore Punk. A typical sludge song places heavy emphasis on guitar feedback, groovy riffs, and angry, pained vocals. It also isn't uncommon for songs to engage in occasional quick bursts of speed and technicality attributed to more traditional forms of hardcore. Lyrical themes borrow both from the angry social and political commentary of punk and from the sad and melancholic themes of doom metal. This amalgamates into music that can best be described as frustrated and embittered, often either at society or at oneself.

The term "sludge" is a metaphor referring to the slow and dingy atmosphere this blend of metal and punk invokes. While Black Flag and Flipper are often considered to be the first bands to experiment with Doom-esque riffs in punk music, the first bands to truly play sludge include Melvins, Acid Bath, Crowbar, and Eyehategod.

Since its founding in the early to mid 1990s, many sludge artists have sought to experiment with influences from both punk music and metal music. This includes Mastodon (Progressive Metal), Soilent Green (Grindcore), and Dystopia (Crust Punk), among many others. A large following of bands combined the harsh qualities of sludge metal with the psychedelic aspects and repetitive riffs of Stoner Metal; the most notable artists in "stoner sludge" are Melvins, Bongzilla, and Boris.

Many bands have also used the vocals and tempos of sludge with textures and stylings of other atmospheric genres like Post-Rock, giving rise to Atmospheric Sludge Metal. Sludge is also considered to be a major influence on modern Powerviolence.

Surf Punk

Surf punk is Punk Rock that incorporates elements of Surf Rock. Some surf acts from the 1950s and 1960s were clear precursors to punk rock: Link Wray's 1958 "Rumble" was the first hit to make use of the power chord, whilst Dick Dale was notorious for blowing out speakers and his raucous live shows.

While numerous punk rock bands, notably Ramones, were heavily influenced by the Vocal Surf of The Beach Boys, surf punk bands generally draw more inspiration from the original instrumental surf rock of artists like Dale.

Early pioneers of the genre include Agent Orange and East Bay Ray of Dead Kennedys. Many 1980s pop acts that were peripherally associated with Punk, such as Go-Go's, The B-52's and The Barracudas also drew significant influence from surf rock. The explosion of Garage Punk in the 1990s came with a new found interest in surf rock and spawned surf punk and surf rock revival acts like Man or Astro-Man?, The Turbo A.C.'s and The Trashwomen.

Synth Punk

(also known as Electropunk)

Synth punk appropriates the harsh elements of Punk Rock but replaces the predominance of guitars with synthesizers and drum machines. The genre can be traced back to bands such as Suicide and The Screamers and borrows elements from Krautrock, No Wave and the experimental tradition. Synth punk differs from music that may be termed Dance-Punk in that it is often dissonant and lo-fi, rather than the more upbeat, dance-floor ready feel of dance-punk.

Thrashcore

(also known as Fastcore)

A more extreme subgenre of Hardcore Punk distinguished by even faster tempos, briefer song structures, and the occasional use of blast beats. Progenitors of the genre include American bands D.R.I. (particularly on their Dirty Rotten EP), Septic Death and Siege, as well as Dutch band Lärm. Contemporary thrashcore bands include Limp Wrist (who are also associated with Queercore) and Das Oath. The genre is often seen as a predecessor and influence on the Grindcore and Powerviolence genres. What differentiates thrashcore from these genres is grindcore emerged out of the British Crust Punk scene and incorporates growled vocals, a greater use of dissonance, as well as extreme Metal elements, while powerviolence employs odd time signatures, jarring tempo changes, and incorporates elements of Noise Rock.

The "thrash" in thrashcore is derived from an obsolete term for what is now commonly known as hardcore punk. Thrashcore shares elements with but should not be confused with Crossover Thrash, which is a fusion of hardcore punk and Thrash Metal and is distinguished by a greater use of guitar solos and metal riffing, as well as a general use of longer, more varied compositions. Adding to this confusion is the fact that D.R.I., one of the pioneering thrashcore bands, later released albums in and became heavily associated with the crossover thrash genre.

UK82

UK82 was originally used as a term that refers to the Hardcore Punk of the early 1980s who were the second generation of Punk Rock.

UK82 bands like G.B.H and The Exploited had the sound of Punk but added the heavy drum beats and distorted guitar sound that NWOBHM bands had, thus creating the first genre that is a hybrid of Metal and Punk Rock. In fact, UK82 originated years before the development of Crossover Thrash.

Definitions courtesy of rateyourmusic.com

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