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Boston Hardcore is the influential hardcore punk scene of Boston, Massachusetts. It evolved due to the city's American working class traditions, large numbers of colleges and art schools, independent record labels and possibly a revolt against the conservative values upon which the city was founded.

Contents 1 Boston hardcore music history 2 Record labels and famous records 3 Scenes 3.1 Kenmore Square 3.2 Other scenes 4 Boston hardcore bands 5 Venues 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

The colleges and universities of Greater Boston offered a favorable venue for non-commercial music to be played. Several schools have their own radio stations, such as WUMB, WMBR and WERS. The colleges also supplied young patrons for the local nightclubs and bars where local hardcore bands had gigs.

First-generation Boston hardcore bands as documented in American Hardcore included SS Decontrol, Gang Green, Jerry's Kids, The F.U.'s, Negative FX, D.Y.S. and Impact Unit.^[1]

Hardcore quickly usurped the existing "alternative" punk scene, which included bands such as Mission of Burma. This created a generation gap-type conflict that could be seen at such events as Mission of Burma's "final show," where members of many leading hardcore bands created a near-riot when, due to the slam dancing supposedly ruining Burma's swan song, Negative FX's sound was shut down.^[2] This militant straight edge group, pioneered by SSD guitarist Al Barile, was known as the "Boston Crew". Their hard-line attitude became a defining characteristic for later bands such as Slapshot, Eye for an Eye, 2004 Red Sox, Ten Yard Fight, Crossface, and Blood for Blood.

When the Boston hardcore scene was later overrun by neo-Nazi skinheads, some Boston hardcore fans created a group called Friends Stand United (FSU), who were credited with getting rid of the neo-Nazis. FSU's claim to fame was targeting weaker skinheads and/or rat-packing one or two people at a time. Their methods were aggressive, and they would attack Nazis by numbers at concerts. They also went after the drunken jocks who would frequent the bars and clubs on Lansdowne Street, just opposite of Fenway Park. They were reported to have attacked kids for drinking alcohol or doing drugs, activities which went against their straight edge beliefs.^[3] FSU has since spread to other cities.^{[citation needed]}

The Boston hardcore scene has been relatively quiet on the musical front in the 2000s, although bands like Death Before Dishonor, For The Worse, and Mouth Sewn Shut keep it going with concerts at venues such as Tigers Den (Brockton), Artspace (Gloucester), and the Central Square Elks Lodge (Cambridge). On the violence front, even though the "crews" are almost defunct because of lack of neo-Nazis, they re-emerged with the DVD release of Boston Beatdown - a self-produced documentation of show violence, which attracted local media and police attention.^{[citation needed]}

Independent record labels like Taang!, X-Claim Records, Modern Method, Bridge 9, Rodent Popsicle, Welfare, Hydra Head, Big Wheel, Rock Vegas, and Deathwish Inc. help to fuel the punk culture in Boston . A highlight of the early New England hardcore era was the This Is Boston, Not L.A. LP, which was a compilation of local artists. It includes the song of the same name performed by The Freeze, who advised: "if you look the same and you act the same, there's nothing new and you're to blame".

As a result of Kenmore Square's now-defunct club The Rathskeller, Captain Nemo's pizza parlor (as well as the Pizza Pad), and its few used record stores, Kenmore became a hangout for skate punks and members of the hardcore scene.

After Boston Red Sox games it was common to see fights break out amongst the punks and the more conservative suburban Red Sox fans, known as "batheads". It is likely that it was at least partially due to this common occurrence that a decision was made by the MBTA to add short spiked fences to the relatively low roofs of the Kenmore T stations, considering how many hardcore kids were apt to spend time sitting atop them and that most Red Sox fans taking public transportation were obliged to appear from below.^{[citation needed]} Mr. Butch was a fixture in this scene, and could often be seen playing air guitar with his dreadlocks swinging. He was a legendary character in Boston hardcore culture.

This neighborhood has changed quite a bit, and the building that held the Rathskeller, Planet Records, and Captain Nemo's along with several other businesses was demolished to make room for the Commonwealth Hotel. With the Rathskeller gone, the scene moved closer to Lansdowne Street, which is a street of clubs and bars on one side, and Fenway Park on the other.

• Harvard Square: The Pit at the Harvard Square subway stop is a longtime punk hangout.

• Allston: The large college population living in Allston continues to fuel the music scene in the area.

• Central Square: Clubs like The Middle East and TT the Bear's are a part of this scene.

26 Beers 40 SLS 454 Big Block A Global Threat American Nightmare (AKA Give Up the Ghost) Anal Cunt Bane Black My Heart Blood For Blood Break It! Bury Your Dead Converge Cancerous Growth The Carrier The Chaos Colin and the Cancer Colin of Arabia Commit Cut Throat Death Before Dishonor Decadence The Deviations The Dilo Confessionals Downhill Fast

Dropkick Murphys D.Y.S. Energy Eye For An Eye The Existants Few And Proud The F.U.'s The Freeze Full Contact Gang Green Give Up the Ghost The Groinoids Guns Up! Hammer Bros. Harder the Fight Have Heart The Hope Conspiracy I Rise If I'm Remembered Impact Unit In My Eyes Jaguarz Jerry's Kids Kill Conrad Lame Excuse

Last Rights Maelstrom Maintain The Message Mental Mersa Milo's Syndicate Morgan Knockers Negative FX Negative Insight The Neon Hookers No Allegiance Nothing But Enemies[1] On the Edge Only Living Witness The Cum Dumpsters The Palantine Campaign The Profit The Proletariat Psycho Think I care Reach The Sky Rejected Society Remains Useless Righteous Jams (Invasion)

Sam Black Church S.B.S. Scatterbrained Shipwreck Six Feet Under Slapshot Sorry SS Decontrol S.T.P. Stranglehold Suburban Decay Suburban Showdown Suckerpunch SuperPower Ten Yard Fight Tongue My Anal Cavitiy The Toy Testers Tommy and the Terrors Toxic Narcotic Tree Wrecking Crew Unearth The Unseen Youth Attack

The following Boston venues have hosted hardcore concerts:

• 1st and 2nd Church - Marlboro Street

• The (Fishtown) Artspace

• Axis - A Gothic night club that would host the occasional hardcore band. Mostly though it was a bunch of kids in fishnet and black eyeliner.

• Bill's Bar - A bar on Lansdowne Street with cheap beer where bands will sometimes play. It is in contrast to the huge dance clubs that surround it.

• The Berwick

• Bunnratty’s

• Cantone's

• Cambridge Elks Lodge - Number one D.I.Y. venue in the greater Boston area, this hall is booked by many different individuals and holds shows nearly every weekend

• Castle Grayskull - A basement in Allston which hosts weekly shows, often hardcore shows.

• The Channel - One of Boston's earliest locations that would allow hardcore bands to play. The Club would headline local bands such as Gang Green, Slapshot and The F.U.s as well as out of state bands like Butthole Surfers, Fallout Boy, Pantera, Waltham, The Carson Daly, Hüsker Dü and The Dead Boys. It was well known for its pit where punks and later jocks who thought they were punks would mosh.
  

• The Club - A Dive in Central Square Cambridge.

• Club Lido

• Gallery East - Art Gallery by day, venue for all-ages shows in the early '80s, it was demolished during the gentrification of the leather district by South Station.

• Great Scott

• Green Street Station - Venue in Jamaica Plain was dirty and rickity with cheap beer and great local bands now closed.

• Harpers Ferry

• Johnny D's

• Karma Club - Landsdowne Street

• The Library [closed]

• The Middle East - Located in Central Square Cambridge they have two venues Middle East upstairs a smaller venue and Middle East Downstairs a larger venue.

• O'Briens Pub

• The Paradise - not to be confused with the gay bar in Central Square (Cambridge), this venue is on Comm. Ave. in Boston, and -- like Axis -- is also a dance club.

• The Rat - Located in Kenmore Square. In the basement was a bar where the music was loud and the sweating concrete floors were always sticky and smelled of stale beer. The bathrooms were quite often frankly terrifying to those that needed to actually use them for purposes more in-depth than re-applying eyeliner (for perspective, The Rat has most often been compared to CBGBs). Many bands got their start at the Rat and it had one of the best jukeboxes in Boston. If a band did not play there they would wind up there for beers later. The club flooded in 1997 during torrential rains and was closed soon after.

• Reflections

• Romans (Tigers Den)

• St. Jean's Church -- hosted by Seth Putnam, and the venue itself later made infamous by defrocked priest Paul Shanley.

• TT The Bears

• Music of Massachusetts
• Hardcore Punk
• Boston Beatdown
• Jonathan Anastas

1. ^ American Hardcore official site
2. ^ youtube video of Negative FX
3. ^ FSU Members Arrested for Weapons, Drugs Outside Local Club - The Stranger]

• http://www.bostonpunk.org