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Youth crew is a sub-genre of hardcore punk that was most popular from approximately 1986 to 1990, primarily in New York City and, to a lesser degree, Los Angeles. The sound was largely defined by a handful of highly-influential Revelation Records releases, including albums by Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Bold, and Side By Side; all of which brought a more metallic sound to hardcore punk than previous bands.

Youth Crew hardcore is also known for a certain fashion sense that made it stand apart from the punk scene even more. The Youth Crew "look", as seen in the wardrobe of seminal straight edge bands such as Chain of Strength and Youth of Today was more reminiscent of what one would expect a fraternity member or stereotypical "preppy" person to look like than someone involved with punk rock. Crew cut hairdos and a clean cut appearance comprised the Youth Crew uniform in what would imagine was an attempt to distance oneself from what early Youth Crew enthusiasts like Ray Cappo perceived at the time to be the nihilistic image of punk. In an interview in 2004's All Ages: Reflections on Straight Edge, Cappo makes reference to the youth crew "look" as being "Tony Hawk meets Beaver Cleaver". Punk rock fanzines of the era such as Maximumrocknroll loved to make fun of this look and commonly characterized all youth crew followers as wearing white hooded sweatshirts and "huge white shoes" (disparaging the tendency for many fans to wear Nike high-top basketball shoes). Some also would bleach the top of their hair. Many were just skinheads who had bands like Warzone, Cro-Mags, and Youth Defense League.

The year 1988 is often considered to be the peak of Youth Crew in general and New York Straight Edge Hardcore specifically. The use of the number 88 in Youth Crew Hardcore circles is meant to reference that year in particular, and is apparently unrelated to the use of that number by Nazi groups. Youth Defense League had a song called "Skinheads '88"; as a result, their connection to the National Socialism Movement and Nazism is debatable.

1997 saw a revival of the sub-genre with bands like In My Eyes, Ten Yard Fight, Floorpunch and Ray Cappo's Better Than a Thousand.

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