Brian Peterson - Burning Fight (book)

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, whose author Steven Blush pronounced the death of hardcore by 1986. This reflects the common process wherein aging members of a subculture believe that it begins and ends with their participation. Not so, according to Peterson.

Threadbare – Feed

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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