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Burning Fight - Ninetees hardcore
posted: 2009-05-19
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Johan
Reflections
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For those not in-the-know, Revelation Records published a new book called “Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution In Ethics, Politics, Spirit, And Sound” and there’s actually only one thing to say about it: Go get it!
For me personally, this was the time in hardcore that (even though many argued back then, that there weren’t any really good bands… but that’s something of ALL times anyway) most likely ‘formed’ and ‘shaped’ me the most. I definitely don’t want to be: “Man the old times were so much better and it all sucks now”, cause that’s simply not true, but that time in hardcore was when bands started to explore new fields. Metal, something that was ‘not done’ in punk/hardcore started to infiltrate the sound of bands, but most and for all, bands were exploring different lyrical topics. In that era, bands started to write about ‘heavier’ subjects. Spirituality was ofcourse, one of the things that many bands brought in the ninetees. And not just the ‘obvious’ bands like Shelter and 108 with Krishna Consciousness, but Christian hardcore was at an absolute peak then as well. And then there were all the bands who not necessarely ‘choose’ a certain religious direction but didn’t fear writing about those subjects either. Inside Out is a perfect example… or how about Endpoint? Or Falling Forward?
Looking back at that time, hardcore has never been more serious either. I remember going to a fest in the USA (while being on tour with Mainstrike) where there were more different workshops and ‘meetings’ than bands! We walked in and fell in the middle of a discussion on “the myth of the femal orgasm”! (no kidding!) How about that at a hardcore show? Things got quite absurd sometimes… I remember kids going through eachothers kitchen to see if there weren’t any non-vegan ingredients.. and oh boy if they found something! And it didn’t stop there! We once had someone over at our place and when I said he could get something to drink out of the fridge, all I heard was: “hmmm.. Coca Cola. The big evil!”… hahaha, indeed, things were sometimes pushed a little TOO far!
So, if you want to read stories like this… And read about people who still are as serious as back then, or others who have luckily lighten up a liitle, you simply gotta go check it out.
Besides this little piece I might write down my version of that period someday as well. reading the book brought back a lot of great memories. Cause no matter if you were that vegan-straight edge-hardline-krishna conscious hardcore kid or not, it surely was an exciting time that changed a lot of people’s lives.
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