Harder Than The Rest

THAT WE should wish our ears to bleed. That we should wear earrings of distortion and put to our temples pump-action feedback. That some of us should love this hardcore thing is a proud indication of how fucked up this human species is. Is there another animal that searches out pain? Is there another animal whose brain is as twisted and turned and mangled as our brain is?
So is harcore about ugly things? Actually no, hardcore is about release from ugly things. Hardcore is about screaming at the things that crush you. Hardcore communicates about aggression, oppression, liberation, terror and hate. We spend our lives pretending that the animal in us has been tamed. When we can get away with it, we say that the animal has gone away for ever; that it was never even here. But, in our chests, in our fists, in our minds, deep within, the animal huddles, conserving its strength, waiting. Hardcore releases the animal. It remembers and expresses how we were before we paid the historians to call us civilised.
Hardcore is a brutal, battering journey through a mental asylum of ferocious, humping bass; guitars whose riffs fight for supremacy with feedback and distortion, speeding like cars with wreck fixations; drums that crawl up a hill of beats and hurtle down on rhythms that make a hip shiver and a knee bone twist; vocals that are demented, psychotic, greedy to kill a word and rip it open and lick its entrails, spitting the waste into our ears.
Hardcore is a head on a block. Hardcore is a kick in the balls. Hardcore is X-rated feeling. Hardcore is a release. Hardcore is fun. Hardcore is controlled violence.
Then again, hardcore may be none of the above, because hardcore, more than anything, is an attitude; an attitude which looks at the system and sneers and then fucks off and does its own thing.
Hardcore didn't begin in any year, with any group, because the feelings hardcore tries to reach were always there. Robert Johnson was hardcore. John Lee Hooker is hardcore. My favourite hardcore is the second side of The Velvets' *White Light/White Heat*. *I Heard Her Call My Name* made my mind split open. I had never, ever heard anything so hard, brutal and shiveringly intense. To this day that track is as hard as I've ever heard. And Sister Ray. Well what can you say about that seventeen-minute tour through the black pits and tunnels of where all the primitive and dark thoughts reside? *Too busy sucking on my ding dong . . .She shot him dead/Right down there on the carpet/Don't you know you shouldn't do that?/Don't you know you'll stain the carpet.*
Hardcore is Iggy and The Stooges, with Iggy jumping off stage and into the waiting fists of a bunch of bikers, ending up in hospital with broken bones. It's Iggy singing: *I've been dirt and I don't care.* Hardcore is Patti Smith laying it on the line that *Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine.* Hardcore is the Dead Kennedys - what a name! - with Jello telling us about a *Holiday in Cambodia*: *It's time to taste what you most fear/Right Guard will not help you here.* ; and *California Uber Alles*: *You will jog for the master race/And always wear a happy face* ; and *I Kill Children*: *God told me to skin you alive.*
Hardcore is Lou Reed on *Street Hassle* telling us: *Some people have no choice/And they can never find a voice/To talk with that they can really call their own/So the first thing they see/That gives them the right to be/They follow it/Do you know what it's called?/Bad luck.*
Hardcore is Nick Cave and The Birthday Party. I will never forget buying their *Mutiny 12* and hearing *Mutiny in Heaven*: That bat-like, rat-like, hell-like scream from Nick to introduce things, and the repeated lines: *If this is heaven I'm bailing out; Rats in paradise* and *I was born/And was dumped into some icy font/Like some great stinking unclean/From slum church to slum church/I spilled my heart to some fat cunt behind a screen* Hardcore is Henry Rollins and Black Flag trashing through deepest and blackest despair. It is Sonic Youth taking their guitars to the limits. It's Lydia Lunch introducing *Death Valley 69* with a vomiting scream and Kim Gordon whispering: *You kill him and I'll kill her*. It's Thurston Moore telling us that* *My violence is a dream/A 'real dream', a skinny arm/A crush on living skin.* Hardcore is P.J. Harvey singing *Sheela Na Gig.*
Hardcore is the Crusty Movement in Britain; people going back to the land, pushing against the system, with groups like New Model Army, The Levellers, Radical Dance Faction and Back To The Planet strumming the caravans on their way.
Hardcore is a hell of a lot of rap: Public Enemy, Ice-T, Ice Cube, BDP . . . In fact, you may not know this but there were quite strong links between the early punk/hardcore and rap scenes in New York. Grandmaster Caz, an important figure in the old school rap scene explain: *See the thing was that rap music and new wave music was coming from the same thing . . . see rap was our music, and new wave, punk music was the young white crowd's rebel music. So that was what we had in common. So it was only natural for them to like what we were doing, because it was not mainstream. That's how we merged. And the merging continued, with Africa Islam getting together with The Clash, Afrika Baambaatta getting together with Johnny Rotten and Jello Biafra getting together with Ice T.*
Hardcore is music made for pain not gain. Hardcore is music that would never exist if mega record companies controlled everything. Hardcore is not commercial, although that doesn't mean it can't and doesn't sell well. (Nirvana are hardcore - I hear purists puke. Fuck purists!) Hardcore makes war with melody. (Some hardcore makes war on melody and anything else worth warring with.) Hardcore reached parts of me I never knew existed. Sometimes I wish it hadn't woken them - the neighbours, that is - at three in the morning with music that to them must sound totally fucked up. Which it is. Fucking up and out, blasting into smithereens the fuckometer. We all have dark feelings and I have mine. Hardcore lets them in. It's the sheer fucking diseased madness of it, making you want to do damage, making you want to scream. It's exorcist music I suppose, only the primary exorcism I wanted from it was to rid myself of a diseased Catholic upbringing.
Hardcore is conscious, aware. It will not go gently. It is a revolt. It knows that systems love order, quiet. That's why it tries to make as much chaotic, crazy noise as possible. Most hardcore I love has a sense of justice. It is music by and for the oppressed and repressed. Hardcore is a release. Hardcore is anti-state and pro-individual expression. That's what I think hardcore is. All the above and some others. Those who like hardcore will disagree. And if they don't, then they're just not hardcore.
What about hardcore in Ireland? Well, we had the Boomtown Rats. They were a sort of hardcore for a while. As Sir Bob said: *I'll step on your face, on my mother's grave/Never underestimate me, I'm nobody's fool.* (The first two Rats albums are brilliant: *The Boomtown Rats*, *Tonic For The Troops*.). Stiff Little Fingers were and are (they've reformed) hard hardcore. They were Ireland's Dead Kennedys, and fucking brilliant job they did too. All their early albums are priceless. Great tunes, great conscience, great sense of humanity.
Moving Hearts were hardcore. Christy Moore is hardcore. The Radiators were hardcore. The Virgin Prunes were weirdcore, vitalcore and brilliantcore; one of the best things to happen to Ireland. Sadly, because they were genuinely different, they were hardly noticed, and if they were, derided and sneered at. The Pogues, when that mad, endearing genius, Shane MacGowan, was with them, were as hardcore as you'd ever want. MacGowan is a songwriter equal to any, with a totally wild and pagan spirit: *And now I am lying here, I've had too much booze/I've been spat on and shat on and raped and abused/I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg/For some money to take me from the Old Main Drag.*
Back to the present. Therapy? are hardcore. Whipping Boy are hardcore - the best Irish hardcore I've seen in the last few years. Rollerskate Skinny are hardcore. In fact, the last couple of years have seen an explosion in hardcore popularity here, and also in groups prepared to drive nails of feedback through these welcoming head-bangers. Flexihead, Swamp, Crossbreed, Flaming Hercules, Pet Lamb, Wheel, Hellvision, Stigmartyr, Groundswell, In Motion, Lazergun Nun, Golden Mile, Lice Woman, The Peccadilloes, Brawl, are just some of the nail drivers.
However, Irish hardcore seems to be of a specific variety. Hardcore has a history of being highly political: Dead Kennedys, Crass, New Model Army, Fugazi, Rage Against The Machine, Consolidated and so on. In the interviews I did with Flexihead, Pet Lamb, Swamp, Crossbreed, Wheel, Hellvision (Decko, ex-Paranoid Visions) and The Peccadilloes, I got some predictably Irish head-in-the-sand, head-up-our-arses responses, when that word politics was mentioned. Wheel, Swamp and Hellvision see what they're doing as having some sort of political context, but the others seem to have some hidden terror that anybody might remotely label them as 'political'. Personal politics, yes, but macro politics, no fucking way. *We're just in it for the music.* *We just want people to have fun, fun, fun, fun.* Those were the stock responses.
Maybe I'm wrong (Ha! Ha! Of course I'm not) but in my opinion the best music, by at least a couple of light years, is coming from America at the moment. And much of it is extremely political. Ireland - outside of folk - hasn't one remotely political group at present. Now I'm not saying you have to be political to be good - Cave and the Velvets aren't - but in 1993 being political requires a certain amount of intelligence and bravery. Unfortunately, intelligence and bravery are two attributes almost entirely missing from Irish pop music.
Ice-T was hardcore with *Cop Killer*, but where's an Irish 'Pope Killer'? Perhaps Irish hardcore is just another case of bored, middle-class, spoilt little kids expressing their teenage angst? You see, a lot of the hardcore I've heard smacks of imitation. Therapy?, for all their talent, are imitators. American samples, put-on American accents, their sound is almost American. They don't carry much depth or substance, I'm afraid. Whipping Boy, while being dangerous live, don't pose too many threats on vinyl. There's something that indicates that there's more there than shout and feedback. (Even though they made a point of telling me they wanted nothing to do with politics.) I like Swamp too. There was a bit of decent madness in them.
See, hardcore is about risk. It doesn't want to play along with the system; it wants to undermine it, blow it apart, whether the system is a personal relationship or something larger. A hardcore ethic is something like: 'Fuck this! I've had enough! I'm going to change this or die trying.' With so much poverty and unemployment, child abuse and rape in Ireland, not to mention the Catholic fucking Church, the whole Northern situation, business scandal after scandal, the fact that hardly any Irish groups are dealing with these issues is a sad and pathetic reflection of a puny and cowardly Irish youth. (It wouldn't be too bad if they were making great poppy funfunfun music. But they're not. They're not!!)
Although I'm still waiting to hear an Irish group that breaks real hardcore ground, there are many enthusiasts prepared to lay the ground for that hopeful future ripening. The wonderful Hope Promotions make you feel that the homo sapien has certain positive attributes, after all. Run on a non-profit basis, it seeks to put on good gigs at reasonable prices. It started with a couple of people saying: *Wouldn't it be great if Fugazi played in Ireland?* So they rang around and finally got to Fugazi and Fugazi said *yeah*. (The last Fugazi gig at the SFX was only $4.50.) Hope Promotions *Free - Not for Material Gain* fanzine, React , constantly encourages you to get out there and do things for yourself, whether organising gigs or whatever. (Other fanzines worth checking out are Catharsis, Nosebleed, Prototype, Riot, Eco runes, Choc-a-Block, Swedish Nurse, Faith. A mega American fanzine - seventy-four A4 pages - is MAXIMUMROCK'N'ROLL. Great read. For info on subs, contact MRR, PO Box 59, London N22, UK.)
Another promoter doing trojan work to keep a lashing of spit, rage and fire in Irish music is Decko and his FOAD (Fuck Off And Die) organisation. Decko very much sees hardcore as being the son of punk. Hardcore groups for Decko would be Discharge, Crass, Anti Pasti, Exploited, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Poison Girls, Flux of Pink Indians. In his opinion what defines a hardcore group is a certain commitment to idealism and a down to earth attitude. *I reckon Ice T is probably more hardcore than anything. Because he's confronting issues. I reckon any band which is confronting the status quo or the system, and believes in what they're saying, is not doing it for money, is hardcore. The Crusty scene would be very hardcore, 'cause a lot of them are actually living out the lifestyle.* Decko would also see the House/Techno group Spiral Tribe as having the hardcore ethic.
So, for Decko, hardcore is more a philosophy than a particular form of music: *It's using music as a form of expression to instigate people to change and to make themselves independent of the status quo. Make them think for themselves. Make them live a lifestyle that doesn't oppress or exploit. It's to educate, agitate and to show people that there is an alternative to living within the confines of the system. It could be anything from funk to folk to punk to reggae. Every Saturday night at hardcore - in every sense of the word - pub, Mulligans, Hill Street, you can hardcore yourself about, slam dance and do the Mohican, to your Doc Martins' content to some live and dangerous music.*
Other promoters doing a good and decent job are: Belfast Gig Collective, One Two Ten Collective and MS Promotions. Labels and Distributors with the hardcore hearts are: 321 Distribution, Hope Distribution, King Mob, Nothing But Flowers, Watzone, FOAD, Blunt Records, MS Records, Wallcreeper. International labels and distributors worth watching out for would be: Alternative Tentacles, Touch ... Go, Discord, Sub Pop, SST Records, Epitah, Elemental, SMR Records, Words of Warning.
Did I say hardcore is generally for 'hard' white men. Certainly if you want to get near the front of a gig, strong muscles and a hard head is required. Stage diving originated at hardcore gigs and the body movements of those 'dancing', resembles quite closely - I'm told - those of a bunch of cavemen after having beaten the living shit out of a baby dinosaur, celebrating the fact that they'll have meat for dinner after months on berries. However, groups like Fugazi and Consolidated have repeatedly stopped their gigs in an attempt to stamp out the slam dancing/stage diving monsters. Still, the slam dancer and his controlled violence is really only doing what the music bids him.
Soft, it ain't.

DISCOGRAPHY
There follows a selection of albums - compiled by myself, Hope Promotions, and Decko, which are worth checking out if you are interested in getting into the raging heart of hardcore. They're in no particular order, and the list does not in any way claim to be definitive. In Dublin, the best place to look for these albums would be Freebird, Comet and Borderline. Dip in . . . and get your ears sawed off!
Robert Johnson - everything; John Lee Hooker - *It Serve You Right To Suffer* (plus everything else); The Velvets - everything; Iggy Pop and The Stooges - *Funhouse* (everything); Dead Kennedys - *Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables* (everything); Sonic Youth - *Evol*, *Sister* (everything); Nick Cave/Birthday Party - *Junkyard*, *Tender Prey* (everything); Boogie Down Productions - *Edutainment*; Public Enemy - *Fear of a Black Planet*; Ice T - *Original Gangster*; Minor Threat - *Out of Step*; Fugazi - *Margin Work*; Patti Smith - *Horses*; The Pogues - *Rum, Sodomy and the Lash* (everything); Nirvana - *Bleach*; Bad Religion - *No Control*; The Minutemen - *What Makes a Man Start Fires?*; Crass - *Penis Envy*; New Model Army - *The Ghost of Cain*; Blaggers ITA - *United Colours of the Blaggers*; Linton Kwesi Johnson - *Forces of Victory*; Black Flag - *My War*.