Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 00s
The East Coast post-grunge quartet Good Charlotte is just barely distinctive from the likes of corporate alternative rockers blink-182 and Third Eye Blind, but the fresh five faces composing this quintet from Maryland first started off in 1996, practically shy of strumming a chord. Vocalist Joel Madden and his twin brother, guitarist Benji, who... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
Coral Springs, FL, punk-pop band A New Found Glory formed in the summer of 1997, comprising vocalist Jordan Pundik, guitarists Chad Gilbert (ex-Shai Hulud vocalist) and Steve Klein, bassist Ian Grushka, and drummer Joe Moreno. Longtime drummer Cyrus Bolooki replaced Moreno following their initial EP's release. Renowned for their energetic live... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
A suburban thrash foursome from New Jersey, Adrenalin O.D. debuted on a 1982 compilation from ROIR Records which also included Bad Brains and the Beastie Boys. The group, including guitarists Paul Richard and Bruce Wingate plus bassist Keith Hartel and drummer Dave Scott, signed to Buy Our Records the following year, releasing an EP and their... [+] Read More
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
In many ways, Black Flag were the definitive Los Angeles hardcore punk band. Although their music flirted with heavy metal and experimental noise and jazz more than that of most hardcore bands, they defined the image and the aesthetic. Through their ceaseless touring, the band cultivated the American underground punk scene; every year, Black... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s
A member of the first edition of Black Flag circa 1981-1982, guitarist Dez Cadena moved on after the band temporarily broke up in 1983 due to contract squabbles with Unicorn/MCA. By 1984, he had recruited two veterans of the L.A. hardcore scene (Paul Roessler and Jeff Dahl) to form DC3, a band which pointed back to the roots of hardcore by... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
Purveyors of revved-up, tastelessly funny trash-punk, the Didjits were an atypically straightforward part of the Touch & Go stable, as well as an utterly manic live band. Their sound was mostly speed-blur garage-band punk with a dash of AC/DC-esque hard rock, but their true inspirations were rock & roll wildmen like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
One of the few first-wave punk bands who not only survived to the end of the century but did so with their original sound and focus intact, Fastbacks were formed in Seattle, WA, by three high school friends, Kurt Bloch, Kim Warnick, and Lulu Gargiulo. Bloch and Warnick began playing guitar in high school while Gargiulo took lessons in classical... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
Along with Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, Fear helped define the sound and style of L.A. hardcore. Although they actually formed during the first wave of punk back in 1977, Fear didn't release an album until five years later, by which time they'd honed a blistering, thrashy attack that, for all its fury, was surprisingly tight and sometimes... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s
More than any other hardcore band, the Minutemen epitomized the free-thinking independent ideals that formed the core of punk/alternative music. Wildy eclectic and politically revolutionary, the Minutemen never stayed in one place too long; they moved from punk to free jazz to funk to folk at a blinding speed. And they toured and recorded at... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
Hardcore punk's answer to the Shaggs (or maybe Jordy), Old Skull were a novelty coup in their original incarnation: a trio of nine-year-old boys who played their own instruments (more or less), and screamed out profanities and social protests with bratty aplomb. If their musicianship wasn't exactly precocious, some of their lyrical topics were,... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 00s
Formed in 1974, N.Y.C.'s Dictators were one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth. Alternately reveling in and satirizing the wanton excesses of a rock & roll lifestyle and lowbrow culture (e.g., wrestling, TV, fast food), the Dictators, whose worldview was defined by bassist/keyboardist and former fanzine... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
A great deal of the groundwork for the mid- to late-'90s explosion of ska and ska-metal was laid by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who were one of the first bands to cross high-energy ska with hardcore punk and heavy metal and also helped shift its tone toward testosterone-filled party music. The Bosstones built up a devoted cult following... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
Led by the other one from Generation X (not Billy Idol or Tony James, but guitarist Bob "Derwood" Andrews), Westworld also included American vocalist Elizabeth Westwood and drummer Nick Burton. Named after the 1973 Disneyland disaster film, the trio applied pop sensibilities to the punk and post-punk forms Andrews had been immersed in, and hit... [+] Read More
