The Hardcore Music Scene: A Phase for Many

Whether it's through an amp or a pair of headphones almost everyone who isn't living in a cave has been engaged in some form of musical conversation. Even the cave has exceptions as the Tuvans in Siberia utilize caves as a musical instrument to amplify their guttural singing. In fact, many groups use their natural environment for music whether it is humming a catchy tune in a dank cave or gathering the masses in a valley-or in modernized places, a hall of some kind-to celebrate the beautiful and diverse language known as music. Music's vernacular changes on a culture-to-culture basis, but the strange truth in a world where truth is often obscured is that every culture on the planet (even dirty rotten cannibals) has some way of speaking through music.

In New Jersey (The Garden State for you cave dwellers) the music scene varies by whatever town you find yourself in. It is a state that is a cultural smorgasbord allowing all kinds of musical slang to find a home and a place where it can be appreciated by those who get chills whenever they hear that right note. Being an inhabitant of a town that falls on the county border of Sussex and Morris county I find myself running into a certain breed of person-the hardcore/punk/metal kid. Technically the town of Hopatcong falls under Sussex county rule, but we understand we are an outcast town that doesn't need a county for representation. Hell, our reputation supersedes any county label and that is an achievement in itself.

With an outcast town comes an outcast style of music. The hardcore/punk/metal genres have become increasingly popular throughout the nation and even the world. With roots dating back to the 80's it has been a long and arduous road that hasn't changed much in the sense of the struggle to make any kind of living in the scene, but as far as the actual scene itself there have been extreme image alterations. Originally you would be able to spot a hardcore kid by his seemingly disheveled look consisting of loose band shirts and loose jeans. Now the method of spotting one of these moshing scoundrels is to look for tight band shirts, tight jeans and straightened hair. Even the style of moshing has gone through an evolution, as it were. From the days of floor punching and two-stepping to an array of ninja kicks, flips, cartwheels and all kinds of stylish acrobatics that are frowned upon by scene elders. But there is a revolving door for scene elders as there is a certain age where one stops attending shows as a means to prevent being "that creepy old dude in the corner". The actions that are frowned upon change based on what period of the scene a person grows up in.

For me it was the transitional stage when the 'old school' floor punching, two-steppers were on their way out while the spin kicking, tight-panced kids were on their way in. So as you can imagine my pants were neither tight nor loose and my moves in the pit were a mix of both styles-I was bastard child of strange and hybrid nature. But as someone who booked shows starting when I was 15 I often ran into people from both generations. Like Sweden I remained neutral but I never really cared how people dressed or moshed. I was still hanging onto the old punk/hardcore traditions of unity and musical community. Unfortunately those days have been long gone, which is why I no longer attend shows. I have finally stepped out of that revolving door and no longer have an affiliation to the "scene".

Thanks to an increase in violence at shows a lot of venues shut down or stopped doing shows. Even potential venues refuse to do shows due to the negative reputation and I can't blame them. Insurance is expensive enough and why would any level-headed person risk increasing their bill? When I first began booking shows there was a great communal atmosphere where people were willing to work hard in order to keep their scene clean of anything that would be detrimental to the community, but now it has evolved into small cliques of kids who are the last to put any effort into maintaining their scene but the first to complain about the lack of venues and bands not touring in their area.

During my time spent as a hardcore kid I worked damn hard to try and get something going, but after awhile it is hard to keep caring when people obviously don't. Call me jaded, but it was fun while it lasted and I still have good friends because of it, however, in the end it was just another phase in my life. I'm sure I am not the only person who feels this way about the Hardcore scene and maybe one day their will a resurgence, at least in New Jersey, where people take a more active stand against all the negative elements that are its downfall.