Bennett Kobos

April 18, 2015

UWRT 1102
Final Reflective Essay

Hardcore music and the surrounding subculture face the same issues as
almost any cultural movement that goes against the accepted status quo. The
extremity that holds somewhat central to the core tenets of hardcore culture
provide an even more polarizing aspect than many subcultures or groups deal with.
The resulting divide draws large amounts of unwarranted judgement and malice
towards members of the community, often fueled by a large swath of
misunderstandings, assumptions, and misconceptions. Much like any culture, one
cannot truly appreciate the hardcore music scene from an outsiders perspective,
which tends to be highly skewed in this case by the abrasive screaming in the music
itself. Hardcore music and the surrounding subculture remains so highly ostracized
due to how starkly different the popular styles and musical trends are from
mainstream culture, making it difficult for an outsider to ever breach the gap
between judgement and understanding. Certain subcultures are less difficult for the
outsider to appreciate due to the slight deviation from the norm, but hardcore
culture prides itself on contrasting the mainstream as much as possible. The biggest
insight I have gained as a result of my personal research on hardcore culture comes
from the light it sheds on the cultural divides that define our world and how they
impact individual perceptions. Judgement comes as a manifestation of preconceived
perceptions of a culture and the hardcore subculture provides a prime example of
that being the case.

The first thought an individual has when hardcore music comes to mind
almost always involves the screaming vocals that are somewhat trademark to the
genre as a whole. These vocals can be defined as loud, abrasive, and aggressive
typically, thus most individuals dont ever allow themselves to even begin to
develop an appreciation as the vocal styling provides too much of a cognitive gap to
bridge. However, as I researched it came to my attention that the screaming in
hardcore music truly didnt begin with the genre itself. The Who, a classic rock band,
used certain screaming-like vocals in a few of their songs, yet nobody would
consider them a hardcore band. Many other musical groups have used vocal styles
similar as a part of their song, the only true novelty of screaming in hardcore comes
from using them as a primary vocal technique rather than only for brief parts of
songs. Once I began to look further into things I came to realize screaming truly
isnt as weird or obscure as my initial viewpoint had led me to believe. Its a louder
vocal style that provides an alternative for emotional release, something music is
used for almost universally. Even more interestingly, I found that screaming vocals
used in hardcore music are not simply an individual yelling loudly whatsoever, and it
requires a skillful manipulation of throat muscles and airflow in order to produce the
guttural sounds exhibited by hardcore vocalists. Similarly, Buddhist Monks perform
an odd variety of throat singing, and opera singing certainly breaks the mold
compared to the standard manner of vocalization found within music, thus the
screaming in hardcore doesnt seem all too strange once you find yourself able to
overlook the shrill sound of the screams themselves.
Screaming, due to the sound of the act itself being rather loud and
aggressive, has created misconceptions regarding hardcore music not only in the
legitimacy of the musical style itself, but in the themes and ideas presented in the

music. The majority of individuals believe hardcore music focuses on violence and
aggression to match the screaming and fast paced vocals of the music, while others
associate the genre with witchcraft, drug abuse, and general delinquency. Ironically,
an increasingly popular subsect of the hardcore movement, known as straightedge, entirely rejects any substance abuse, including alcohol. Like any genre of
music, there are some songs or bands that focus on more violent or dark topics, but
my research enlightened me to the truth regarding hardcore musics deeper
themes. One article I found in the New York Times followed multiple bands and
explored some of their lyrics for deeper meaning, bringing to light a display of
emotional openness on a variety of topics. The association of witchcraft within the
hardcore community finds itself entirely laughed off by those that consider
themselves hardcore fans due to the complete lack of association between the two.
Yet again, the judgements the general population has regarding hardcore music and
culture are all driven my misconceptions and a lack of factual information. Simply
educating oneself allows the veil between the assumptions and realities of a topic to
be lifted.
The association the public eye draws between hardcore fans and violence or
drugs results from the typical attire donned by those within the hardcore scene.
Hardcore fans often wear an outfit consisting heavily of black clothing, tight jeans,
and graphic band t-shirts. The overuse of the color black draws a wary eye due to
the negative connotation that darkness typically holds. The popular t-shirts are
often riddled with obscure designs and the logos or names of their favorite bands. I
was guilty of judgement regarding the clothing, as I tend to lean towards a more
standard style of dress, and had to alter my view to appreciate the style of the
hardcore fans. Tattoos and piercings are extremely popular within the hardcore

community as well, including a larger ear piercing known as a gauge that creates a
large hole within the ear. The gauge piercing draws comparison to African tribes
that use bodily modification as a focal part of their cultural identity. Having a tattoo
of my own, I was able to readily appreciate the popularity of them among hardcore
fans and almost everyone I met within the community was interested in hearing the
story behind mine and sharing their own. Much like any other culture, there are
certain styles that are considered ideal to those that subscribe to the hardcore
culture, similarly to the trends regarding saggy pants in urban communities or suits
within the corporate environment. Style proves a much more diverse and expansive
spectrum than I had originally viewed it as. What is considered appealing
aesthetically comes as a result of an individuals personal views regarding style,
rather than a simplistic structure of what is and is not stylish. Thus, style serves as a
means of self-expression and the clothing worn by hardcore fans are not indicative
of any sort of darker meaning, but rather the same patterns of following trends that
find themselves repeated across any culture.
Another facet of the hardcore culture that often draws criticism, typically from
those somewhat educated on the hardcore scene, comes from the intricate
dichotomy of subgenres that fall under the veil of hardcore. The subgenre divide
relies on musical subtleties that would lack distinction to an individual who had
minimal exposure to the music itself, but to an avid fan these slight differences hold
vast significance. Individuals define themselves by their choices of subgenres and
their musical taste and are typically very critical of others within the culture with
clashing preferences. Initially, I thought the subgenre gap proved somewhat childish
as well as lacking significant basis for the emphasis placed upon it, but as I delved
deeper into what makes one subgenre, such as metalcore, different from another,

such as screamo, I began to truly appreciate the distinctions. Each subgenre allows
an individual to more accurately display their preferences, whether it be simply due
to style, sound, or the emotions explored by the songs. The strict divide of
subgenres cannot be used as a criticism for just hardcore, however, as it is a
common feature of almost every culture to divide itself into subcultures based on
minor distinctions. Rap, for example, has different breeds of music, such as dirty
south rap and west coast rap. Less similarly, but still portraying the same
concept of minimal differences causing larger divides manifests in the religion of
Islam, split entirely over the choice of the first successor to caliph into the Sunnis
and Shiites. In all cultural groups, musically based or not, factionalism exists in the
same manner with which subgenre preferences pervade throughout the hardcore
scene. The subgenre divide proves yet another judged facet of hardcore culture
that, once explored, proves difficult to truly judge based on the almost universality
of the issue among other well respected cultural groups.
These judgements manifest themselves most cruelly and directly on the
outsiders view of the fans and participants within the hardcore culture. The
judgmental looks and assumptions that enter the average onlooker when they see a
hardcore fan in all black with holes in their ears and a tattoo sleeve can hardly be
denied. Judgement provides heuristic shortcuts to defining individuals from an
outside perspective, but as my research has shown, judgement often finds itself
based on misconceptions. I expected the individuals I met within my exploration of
the hardcore scene to present themselves as extremely different or out there, but
was pleasantly surprised at how little distinction I could truly find between hardcore
fans and the general population. Aside from musical taste and clothing style, the
hardcore fans and musicians I met were very much the same as any other person. I

got along with the band whose practice I attended very well, even though my
clothes made me stick out like a sore thumb. They laugh at the same jokes, have
the same goals, and feel the same feelings as everyone else, yet society develops
different negative stereotypes to place on these individuals as a punishment for
their individual tastes pushing the envelope of what has been deemed acceptable.
The hardcore fandom cannot be generalized as simply as the outside world would
like, they dont all act in any specific manner that would be unique to the hardcore
scene. Drugs are no more prevalent than in mainstream culture and violence is no
more common than outside of the culture as well. Violent hardcore fans exist and
those that partake in illegal substances exist, but football players are arrested for
assault and drug abuse and hardly anyone believes all football players are drug
addicted Neanderthals. The public eye enjoys putting down the hardcore culture for
its differences and attributing negative qualities to prop up the superiority complex
of mainstream culture, but the reality remains that hardcore fans are no different
from any other member of society aside from musical and stylistic taste.
Hardcore culture appears to be one of the most obscure subcultures from an
outside perspective, but from a more educated point of view it seems to be one of
the most misconceived. The abstractions and extremities that make hardcore
unique and appealing to its fans draw excessive criticism from the general public,
but once explored in depth they seem much less different than their initial
perception may lead one to believe. Screaming, dark clothes, tattoos, and mosh pits
all draw negative opinions, but none of these facets of the hardcore scene are truly
that outlandish. Different styles of expression are one of the definitive features of
any culture, and the hardcore scene simply developed as another subculture
ostracized for the differences that it places so starkly in the forefront of its image.

My research has led me to a series of insights into hardcore culture as well as an

appreciation for the music and the fans themselves, but the insights hardly hold
true for the hardcore scene alone. Each individual chooses a specific style and has
different tastes, some less deviant from the status quo than others, but the specific
interests of an individual hardly define their character on any level aside from their
interests. Judgement placed on cultures and the individuals in different cultures
comes from an outgroup bias and an individual desire to confirm oneself through
the idea that anything other than oneself must be wrong, thus making oneself more
cemented in their own confidence of their tastes or opinions. This creates cultural
divides and barriers that not only facilitate misunderstanding, but uses that as a
means of justifying ones own group. Hardcore culture has been given an
undeservingly negative reputation and the individuals that associate themselves
with the culture receive judgement on a daily basis due to the misunderstandings
created by a lack of outsider knowledge that few do anything to remedy. Perhaps
the stark differences highlighted by hardcore culture draw excessive criticism due to
the degree to which they deviate themselves from the mainstream, but those
differences prove really not so different at all.