Catalyst Records

I know there's a lot of "older" people that check out this board, so i wanted to get some opinions on the subject.

What do you see differently than you did when you first started getting into the music/scene? Has your involvement and/or perceptions of how you want to be involved changed? Do you see it as a good thing? Do you expect different things from hardcore now than you did in the past? DO you still identify it as primarily a youth culture?

be cool to see what people think.
xvx

What's changed? Well for one thing, I don't really pay mind to the concept of a "scene" anymore. I have realized growing up there's bigger issues in my life and in the world than the scene but similarly it was through hardcore that many of these important world issues either came to my attention and/or brought me deeper insight into them. Regardless, the music to me was only a vehicle and at that merely a catapult towards other matters in life itself.

To me hardcore will always be associated with that purpose of enlightening people to the greater picture, however I don't feel that aspect is very prominently reflected in the music today as it was in the 90's when I was first introduced to hardcore.

Do I still love the music? Absolutely. Do I care about "the scene" ? Never really have to be quite honest. Do I long for what seemed to me to be the "halcyon" days of hardcore? Occasionally, but now a days I feel hardcore has served it's purpose...there's greater potential to realize elsewhere now.

Now it's time for phase 2, The Revolution

at 32 years old, i still go to a fair amount of shows, still play in bands and still tour about once a year. i've been playing in bands non stop for 16 years. i love writing music and will most likely never stop doing that.

i'm definitely not 'invested' the same way i was back in the 90s in the scene, the people, or the music. perhaps it's just 'adult' priorities or perhaps i was just burnt out. i have my ideas, my convictions, etc, and (as bad as it sounds) i would much rather just surround myself with like-minded people who provide an accepting, safe environment than engage in confrontation (which was so prevalent in the 90s) with people who will aggressively go out of their way to offend me.

in the mid 2000s i stopped doing shows. an overall sense of apathy and nihilism seemed to be in style. mainly i wasn't interested in providing an audience for a bunch of irresponsible boys who were using punk as a vehicle to not take accountability for their actions. it got tiresome to see bands on tour who had nothing to say and who were really just on tour to get wasted/hook up with girls. at my age i just have no patience for juvenile behavior. i'm not certain if this was the case in the 90's, but bands just seemed more politically conscious back in the day.

every now and then a band tours that i am excited about (most recently, run with the hunted). but those bands are few and far between. when a band that i feel is on point with their music and ideas i will go out of my way to make sure they can play a show in my town.

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Well I'm 31 and at least in my case I think Hardcore will always be a part of my life in one way or another. I think it's unlikely to be immersed in any given trend for half of your life and suddenly or gradually make a clean cut from it. Many of my views and opinions stem from HC/Punk related stuff, and while some have deployed having that as a starting point and evolved onto something else, others remain more or less the same. I think for most of us it helped shape and define the person we are today.

I still go to shows whenever I can, I still buy music and keep up with new stuff and I'm still interested in making/playing music. All my old friends are from the scene, I guess I have started to make friends with people not in the scene in the last couple years because as you grow old you realize more and more how different you are from all the younger kids and want to connect with older people who are sort of on the same level in life as you are. Also because some of these people seem to one much more interesting, especially when you notice how they have arrived at a similar place as you have, only from a completely different background. Which again seems to expand the gap between you and all these kids constantly yapping about petty scene politics.

But a lot is the same, I still feel alienated from most of what goes on in most people's heads and from the way they live their lives, their pastimes, their priorities... I guess I am just more open to the idea that there are kindred spirits to be found outside the scene.

As for the current state of affairs in HC... not to give in to the cliche, but yeah, I miss the good old times. Nothing has felt as passionate or defiant as growing up in the 90s Hardcore scene. These days it pains me when I notice the same absent minded, lost stare of kids at shows as I remember seeing in young coworkers when I used to work at a factory that manufactured car parts... they are still looking for something meaningful that they can relate to, but there is just little to no substance in most current bands, it is as if one were staring at a barren land which once was exuberant and bountiful.

It feels as if not only the scene has become stagnant, but that stagnation has begun to cripple its potential and we are functioning within an apparatus which is long overdue for an evolutionary leap.

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"I have just one serious and, hopefully, chop-busting question."

I'm still young and can't fit in this thread.

so, just will give you think link - http://pissinmatch.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... -punk.html

i definitely have some issues with a lot of the "back in the day things were golden" talk, BUT there can be no denying that what we call hardcore has changed drastically since the 80's and 90's, in numerous ways.

it's often hard to separate out the purely jaded perspectives from the rational critiques that take this into account. it seems that most are going to think the time they were involved as the "real scene" or as more important than what is happening now.

i think the hardcore scene (in the US at least) is much less distinct as a subculture than it was in decades past, possibly due to the successes of people coming out of the 90's scene who spread their fashion, art, and music into mainstream cuture.

beyond that i think it may be important to look at things from a more human psychological and sociological perspective. in every human culture young males separate into tribal groups (and this is even seen in other primates). i have a feeling that this drive to belong to a distinct group (a sports team, a gang, an underground music scene) may diminish as they grow older.

anyone ever think of things in that way?

Hm, that's an interesting point, and I've thought about this as well. However it doesn't seem like this drive diminishes with age, necessarily; it may take on new forms, but it still seems to be an ever present need whether it be an ideology, religious denomination, or a pick-up basketball team comprised of middle aged men. Or are you talking about more cohesive and intimate clicks among males rather than an adherence focused more on the ideal that is further reaching and profound than minor tightly knit groups (that is, if there can even be a difference drawn between the two)?

i think i'm talking more about B rather than A. but i also think it's a little dependent on the individual in question moving to a state (emotionally and mentally as well) where strict divisions into subgroups are no longer seen as that important, and where belonging to a strictly defined group or tribe doesn't give the same reward that it once did. i have a feeling that when people are young strict definitions and separations of "us against them" are pretty integral to building both a sense of self and of confidence and self-esteem. i feel this is especially true in our overriding mono culture, primarily because it has gotten to be so big that it has stopped providing these functions and leaves people looking for other avenues to fulfill the need for a "in-group" or tribe to belong to.

i think most cultures inherently provide for this part of human psychology, and if not it will still end up expressing itself, like every other fundamental aspect of culture (dance, music, language, dress, etc).

The funny thing is, it already feels like it's been decades for me, and not necessarily in a good way. I have that feeling of "the good ol' days", when the good ol' days were 5 years ago (at most lol), so I realize it's pretty much all in my head, it's all basically how hard I tried to dig into the scene before realizing there was no need. What I'm trying to say is I'm only 20, and I got into hardcore when I was about 15, but I feel the same way most of the other people that have posted in this thread seem to feel, that the "scene" isn't much of one anymore to us. I guess it's a natural progression, when you start getting into it, it's wanting to be part of "the scene", but it slowly degrades into the heart of what it's all really about, the ideologies and lifestyles behind it.

I'll check back with you guys in 10 years when I have a real perspective on it as well!

If anyone who is xvx would be interested in writing commentary on this subject I am interested in posting it. Pm or email me theveganpoliceradio@gmail.com

I could get really long-winded (which I did on my Facebook), but it's kind of confusing if you don't know the circumstances leading up to my writing, so I won't bother.

I summed it up in a few paragraphs on my blog at pathtomisery.blogspot.com ... but even that is kinda lengthy and boring.

Long story short, I've realized I am not compatible with hardcore in this upcoming decade. I've put in 10 years of solid dedication and will no longer be attending shows. My personality is in direct conflict with 95% of the shit that happens at shows, whether it's the sexism, homophobia, senseless violence, bullying, or just plain old unintelligence. I fought to keep this out of Pittsburgh essentially since the day I started booking shows and being extremely involved in the scene, and I won the war for nearly 10 years. Things have gotten to the point of being like any other scene in the US now and it's no longer worth my time.

I still love the music and the history behind some of this shit, so I'll still be "involved" in the sense of running my blog, writing music and talking shit online from time to time ... but I need to physically distance myself from the morons who attend shows these days. I know it's not worth the physical and verbal altercations I had been getting into on a daily basis while simultaneously refusing to back down from the injustices I would constantly see happening. Just my time to step down.

Timex in a digital world.