California,
and Los Angeles in particular, have always been considered the motherland of
Hardcore.
First because, guess what!, that's were this concept of making music was born.
Later, when this new movement took over in all the US and abroad, California
maintained its first rank position because its bands had a higher chance to
tour, its fanzines had a worldwide distribution, its labels released the largest
number of copies and its venues were the most desired, even by foreign groups.
But when today we, that didn't live that scene, listen to the records that have
been chosen by some high-quality critic as the most representive of the Hardcore
California, we ear a diverse music, more similar to punk rock, not so tight
as what they played in DC almost in the same years. Back then, the term Hardcore
didn't define a musical genre, but the confrontational attitude of the kids
and the bands that combined speed and melody, politics and humour in different
proportions.
But if you pay attention, you can notice a common thread among many of those
bands: they were trying to increase their musical impact adding speed, pace
changes, harder sounds, screaming vocals... Coming from a violent form of punk-rock,
the LA and SF kids were giving birth to a new genre made according to their
taste and not to the audience or the critics; this process was being Hardcore
and only those that took active part in it should be labelled hardcore bands,
now.
Sure, this is only one point of view to recompose the Californian scene of those
years, but probably it is the most important: it represented the most innovating,
proposing and entertaining aspect, the one that had a major spreading in the
world and that still now doesn't suffer the passing of time.
- Preface written by MickG to introduce "his" HardCore California
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