I’m glad that I have always been a music nerd, because it means that in addition to taking part in my local scene, I have also watched scenes grow from afar. This is exactly how I got into New York Hardcore early on. I would go to my local bookshop and comb through the Village Voice every week and see what bands were performing at the CBGB’s matinees. Then I would go to my local record shop and pay them to record on to cassettes the latest Reagan Youth, KRAUT, Cause For Alarm, Murphy’s Law, The Mob, and many more.
Today I want to share this rad video essay that focuses on the community that was the 1980s New York Hardcore Punk scene. I want to send love to all of the ones we have lost along the way! The impact of this youth movement is still being felt by the youth of today!
You ended up on the streets of the Lower East Side when you were a kid in the early 1980s – what was that like?
That was a safe haven for me, believe it or not. You look at these pictures and you look at everything and you’re like “what the fuck.” It looked like hell. It was definitely living in hell amongst the criminals and people that had mental issues, physical issues, junkies, everything. It was just crazy. It was hell, but a safe haven. I found people like me that had similar journeys, similar backgrounds. We were a bunch of misfits and rebels, a bunch of hooligans, but we all found each other. We found each other through music and we started to hang out. It felt like this real constant buildup of a family. We became a tribe. We became a force within ourselves and we protected ourselves. So living in the Lower East Side in those squats, in those abandoned buildings, we always lived like a hardcore community. It felt safer than being at home. It’s bizarre. We were all growing up in these buildings, in these places, and we felt safest together.
– Roger Miret of Agnostic Front
Cause For Alarm
CRO-MAGS
KRAUT – Live CBGB 12/11/82 NYHC opening for UK Subs
GORILLA BISCUITS – Spaichingen 1989
Underdog – Troy, NY – 1987
Leeway – CBGB – 22 May 1988
URGENT FURY
Beastie Boys – Cookie Puss Live 1983
TOKEN ENTRY
ANTIDOTE – Live At CBGB’s 1984
MAJOR CONFLICT
Urban Waste – CBGB’s 1983
YOUTH OF TODAY
Heart Attack – Live @ Sportsmans Hall, Sun Valley, California 3-11-1984
OUTBURST NYHC
Reagan Youth – Live in Tompkins Square – NYC – 1988 – New Red Archives
Crumbsuckers – Bullshit Society
BOLD
Agnostic Front introduce Madball at CBGB, 1988
Murphy’s Law – Community Education Center (C.E.C) Philadelphia 18.2.84
FALSE PROPHETS Rock Against Racism NYC 1988
