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Burning Fight (Revelation, 2009), by Chicago-area hardcore punk veteran Brian Peterson, features dozens of recollections and analyses of mid to late ’90s hardcore. The book is something of a defiant response to American Hardcore
Though he writes eloquently about the issues and the music, Peterson leaves much of the explaining to band members and scenesters of the day. From straightedge to PC, you learn what it was like to live through that era. It’s nostalgic and informative. The bands featured include the obvious (Earth Crisis and Integrity), to the questionable (Guilt, Undertow, and Threadbare — I love Threadbare, but did they really alter the shape of hardcore to come?). Peterson admits his personal preference in the bands selected, and his account is by no means complete. For instance, Snapcase, one of the most popular bands of the time, are not featured.
Some participants echo Blush’s sentiment: hardcore is dead. In its stead is a pusillanimous version of what was once an anti-establishment movement with teeth. They’d surely disparage the current teen mutation of crunkcore. But are the youth of today in neon shirts and shutter sunglasses so different than Burning Fight’s protagonists in oversized pants and Tulasi beads?
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i really wanted to like this book considering that was the time frame i was immersed in HC, but the book came out really really flat. too many of the same photos that were used a lot back then and some of the bands were head scratchers to say the least. i got about 10 pages in and then just thumbed through the rest.
I'll have to take a look at this since I too was immersed in the hardcore scene through that time. Thanks for the heads up.
Undertow was really important and influential along the West Coast. Kind of weird thinking about how much the internet has changed the way that "scenes" work and how things aren't regional in the way they used to be, but if I bang on about this stuff I'll just feel old.
Seeing as I read this blog almost every day, it blew my mind to see my old band Threadbare with a track here. Casey, I was as surprised as anyone else to be included in this book and the subsequent release shows, since we were a short-lived band that never toured outside of the midwest and east coast. It has definitely been fun to relive some of that energy from 15+ years ago and catch up with other friends from that era. Thanks for the post.