As much as the Noisey/NPR/Burning Fight crowd would like you to believe that PROPAGHANDI, FUGAZI and REFUSED were the torchbearers of 90s hardcore, that’s just not true. There is one and only one truly defining face of 90s hardcore, and that is VICTORY RECORDS. Like it or not, nobody else put out more influential or popular hardcore records than Victory, and in this post I will set the record straight about the only 90s hardcore label that REALLY mattered by breaking down their roster into two categories: the bands people cared about, and the ones nobody cared about (note, this may shatter the image of 90s hardcore that 19 year olds on instagram seem to have in their heads).
THE BANDS PEOPLE CARED ABOUT
This group can basically be summed up in the lineup of “The California Takeover,” a live album that Victory put out in 1996, recorded at the Whiskey. These are “the big three,” period– although as you will see from some of these videos, when I say that “people cared about these bands,” I am talking about a very small group of people. 90s hardcore was just not a big community, and I am sure 80s hardcore was even smaller. In any case, here are the big dogs, ranked in order of their popularity at the time:
I have mentioned this before, but I think it’s weird how Kids These Days don’t care about SNAPCASE. They were the biggest hardcore band of the 90s, a good margin bigger than EARTH CRISIS from what I could tell. More accessible, no politics, and the guys in the band weren’t nearly as weird. That said, note that the “show” in this video is literally in a bowling alley (note the wood panelling) and that there are probably 75 people at most there. In any case, this 7″ fucking rips and has one of my favorite snare tones of all time.
And in the #2 spot we had EARTH CRISIS, who have actually remained pretty relevant after all these years. And good for them: great guys, great records, and I still think this song is awesome. For my money “Destroy The Machines” is the better record, but you really can’t underestimate the impact that this 7″ had on hardcore– they literally invented the chug breakdown as we know it today.
And coming in at #3, Los Angeles’ STRIFE. I think it’s kind of weird that kids now aren’t more into this band, because not only are they still active but their new shit DESTROYS– exactly the same style as their 90s material but better in ever way (check out “Witness A Rebirth” if you like Real Hardcore– nobody does it better than STRIFE).
The #4 slot belongs to BLOODLET, who are imo probably the single most under-rated 90s hardcore band. It is baffling to me that people don’t absolutely worship this band, especially the Decibel/Vice/etc crowd who should be totally into this. In addition to being waaaaaaaay ahead of the curve in terms of doing the “weird sludgey stoner shit” thing, they were on a totally different level than any other 90s band as musicians. Charlie King is one of my favorite drummers of all time, and the drum sound on this record is absolutely perfect.
And in #5 there is INTEGRITY. They were pretty popular in that people were stoked on “Humanity Is The Devil,” but they hardly ever toured so that kind of held them back. Again, note how tiny the crowds are in this video– and we can assume that they cherrypicked the most IMPRESSIVE crowds they could for this (probably at the old Peabody’s, where Integ played like once a year).
THE BANDS NOBODY CARED ABOUT
You will see a lot of bands who are Instagram-popular with Real Hardcore/Fake Real Metal kids on this list. And please note, I am not saying these bands are bad by any means (most of them rip), it’s just that at the same, nobody really cared about them. To put it in perspective, they were probably about as popular in their prime as CITY LIGHTS were in 2009.
The perfect example of “instagram-popular band in 2014 that nobody gave a shit about in the 90s” was BURIED ALIVE. As you can see from the turnout at this show, they were pretty much just another local/regional band (I like the kid with the mohawk who probably came to see his friend’s awful local punk band open the show). Now don’t get me wrong, their album and demo are sick, but they were not popular at all as I am certain Vogel would tell you today.
See also ALL OUT WAR. Also a great band, also met with indifference by the scene. Here they are playing on the floor of a sub shop in Toledo or something terrible like that. I remember booking a show at a VFW hall with AOW, OVERCAST and CANDIRIA in like 98 or 99 and maybe 25 people came. I think CANDIRIA wanted a $400 guarantee which we thought was absolutely ridiculously high.
You probably don’t know it, but DEADGUY are the missing link between 90s hardcore and modern metalcore. They invented the style of weird, chuggy discordant riffing that is basically the foundation of today’s metalcore, NORMA JEAN ripped them off, and presto, a whole generation of bands was born. And as Ben Weinman will tell you, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN was founded as an attempt and doing DEADGUY better than DEADGUY. But outside of a few weirdos in the NJ/NY/PA area, nobody in the 90s really gave a shit about them. Doesn’t seem like kids now do either, which is a shame.
And of course HATEBREED. It’s really not quite accurate to say nobody cared about them, because this album sold really well and they did have a following, but even BLOODLET was more popular than HATEBREED in the 90s. Also, if ur one of those “im only 19 but i think 90s hardcore is the best and ‘Satisfaction’ is the best HATEBREED album” type, please kill urself now. Signed, a guy with a “SMASH YOUR ENEMIES” tattoo.
And last but not least, let’s all enjoy a laugh at the expense of BABY GOPAL, who were maybe the single lamest bands in all of 90s hardcore. They were a Hare Krishna alt rock band fronted by Ray Cappo’s wife, and the results were as bad as you would expect. Actually, this is somehow even worse than I remembered it being. The kind of stuff that makes the bad SSD and DYS albums seem positively dignified by comparison.
Well there you have it– your comprehensive guide to the REAL heart of 90s hardcore, VICTORY RECORDS! Thoughts??
