At the same time New Wave was being conceptualized in mainstream rock, a harder, meaner movement sprung up (Greenwald 2003, p. 9). In Washington D.C, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the more nihilistic aspects of original punk culture were adopted by a younger crowd and pushed to their limits. This was mostly an American phenomenon, while New Wave was very popular in England (Skelton & Valentine p.207). The music was wilder, simpler, louder, tougher and was again dominated by white males (Spheeris 1981); it is most commonly called hardcore punk, although this term is also used to refer to music that happened much later.
Hardcore punks had more violent shows, went drug for drug with their predecessors, and made known their hatred for society, culture and national politics. This is the main philosophical difference between hardcore punk and the original punk movement: hardcore punk has a reputation for activism and social commentary (Greenwald p. 9). Jello Biafra, front man for the San Francisco based Dead Kennedys, even ran for office in California during his music career (“Dead Kennedys” 2005). This subculture also had an affinity for independent labels -- they routinely started their own, put out their own records, and refused to sign contracts with major labels (“Independent Record Label” 2005).
Hardcore, like the original punk movement, is a youth movement at the core, and attracted younger members as time went on, which caused it to break away from itself because of a lack of exciting new material and a view that the older was better. twenty somethings who had already established themselves in hardcore culture by going to shows, starting labels or fanzines, etc., held an elitist view towards the younger fans. Of course, the music was also slightly different (styles change as they become established) as it had been in years before. A lack of unity eventually fragmented this scene:
Up until that point, you could just say “Fuck the system! Fuck the system!” but then we were like, “What does that mean?”...to those who made it, the music was over. “When I started hearing bands who were just playing the same thing, that's where it lost its soul to me,” McKaye told Azerrad. Hardcore is a statement, a thrown punch. Once delivered, it can't be undone, and repetition is often pointless. (Greenwald p.11)
This elitism and repetition led to the eventual degration of hardcore music . Bands were not celebrated by the scene anymore because the standards grew higher and higher as the music became more and more obscure.
This, again, led to fragmentation. Hardcore punk's most devoted followers kept to their original sound, which eventually got more violent and grew into an established subculture of its own in the 1990s. Separatists clung even harder to the ideals of this new punk and retreatists reinvented it for a new decade.
As members of the already established punk subculture models grow older and young members continue to appear, more related subcultures follow them; if participants are ostracized from a chosen in-group, it is the logical pattern that they will form their own in the same tradition. In the 1990s, punk culture divided again. Most significant is that all relevant subgroups share a new passion for activism and a defined sense of personal politics; straightedge culture really began to take root in the 90s as well as punk-related feminism and concern for political correctness (Greenwald p. 10).
Feminism was brought to focus primarily by the riot grrl movement, which was started by feminist-focused bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile (Skelton & Valentine p.102). This movement is less of a “scene” because there is no unifying geographical location (p.101). Riot grrl was spread across mostly England and The United States through the use of zines. A zine is like a magazine, but independently produced; zines are known widely for their heavy collaging of popular magazine cutouts to make a layout style (“Zines” 2005). Although Riot Grrl originated in the underground music communities in Olympia, WA and Washington, D.C., the real unifying factor of this subculture is the zine:
This is not to distance zines from music altogether -- many make reference to independent groups and record releases -- but merely to state that they have a broader project. Their content extends beyond music -- addressing a range of topics from racism and queer politics to the narration of personal experiences. Riot grrls create zines which reflect their thoughts and experiences. (Skelton and Valentine p. 105).
Besides Bikini Kill, Bratmobile and Sleater-Kinney, there was not a riot grrrl “scene” in the form of hangouts or shows. It is still significant when talking about punk sub genres because it is the only one to date that has been primarily female and primarily about experiencing the punk subculture as a whole from a confident, feminine point of view (p. 105). There was no eventual downfall of Riot Grrl for this reason; the term is still used and fanzines still circulate, though not at the frequency they did in the 1990s (“Zines” 2005).
