The true origin of the term hardcore in relation to old school 70's punk rock is lost in a haze of time, distance, and quite likely drugs and alcohol.
Like the British punk wave of 1976-1978, American hardcore was an initially tight knit movement that evolved into an enduring genre. The sound takes elements of bands such as The Ramones, Wire and Sham 69. Bands like The Germs, Middle Class and Fear were among the pioneers of the musical genre. Outside of California , D.O.A. from Vancouver and Bad Brains from Washington D.C. were very important to the scene. Certain media like radio shows (such as Rodney on the Roq, on Los Angeles' influential KROQ radio) and zines (such as Maximum RocknRoll) made it popular around the U.S. The hardcore scene quickly became associated with violence almost from the start. During the first wave of hardcore (1980-1984), notable hardcore bands included L.A.'s Black Flag and Boston's S.S. Decontrol. Minor Threat, particularly in their emphasis on speed, were heavily influenced by D.C.'s Bad Brains. In 1980 to 1981, Minor Threat combied a tight knit organized sound with the more loose experimentalism of the "first generation" punks of the 70's. Black Flag, released their 1981record Damaged, which pretty much defined hardcore as a genre. S.S. Decontrol, which started out as a straight edge band, soon struck a cord with the darker more agressive libertarian side of the nation's youth and quickly pioneered the trend of expanding the boundaries of hardcore punk toward an all encopassing form of hard rock music. In 1985, New York's Storm Troopers Of Death released their landmark album Speak English Or Die. It bore similarities to Trash Metal, such as heavy guitar and fast drumming but was different than Thrash because there were nearly no guitar solos and heavy use of crunchy chord breakdowns known as "mosh parts". Other bands like DRI, played music similar to that of Storm Troopers Of Death, eventually resulting in what is known as Crossover. Grunge music was heavily influenced by the hardcore genre, which ultimately resulted in renewed interest in American Hardcore in the 1990's. Bands like NOFX and Bad Religion acheived varying levels of mainstream success, though both bands had been around since the early 1980's. They added catchy melodies and anthemic choruses to the hardcore template whilst removin a lot of the anger and agression that was the genre's trademark. Bands that retained the agression of the 80's hardcore into the 90's include The Distillers, The Dwarves and Anti Flag.
In the U.K., bands like The Exploited and The Anti-Nowhere League played music that, at times showed a social conciousness like that of the hardcore bands, but they were actually more influenced by Sham 69, but they were not as agressive.
Discharge, even though they were often thought of as British hardcore, were most influenced garage punk. In much the same way, Anarcho-punk bands have little in common with hardcore other than an uncompromising political philosophy and limited commercial success. Even though American Hardcore is thought of as a product of 80's REAGANISM, many bands have continued to play an aggressive form of punk rock, similar to that of hardcore well into the 1990's and even into the new millenium.
