Emocore pioneers Rites of Spring at DC’s Food for Thought in 1985. Photograph by Bert Queiroz
It was about 30 years ago that “hardcore”—then a warning about a category of punk or pornography—began to split apart, and its ending, “-core,” became a way to assign authenticity to a host of new musical genres from rock to dance music to hip-hop. But as we discovered grindcore, thrashcore, skacore, breakcore, raggacore, crunkcore, and so on, “-core” lost its hardness—and, in its ubiquity, became a pop-culture wink.
Washington was a crucial stop on the “-core” journey. When punk first thrived here in the late 1970s, musicians like Ian MacKaye, of the bands Minor Threat and Fugazi, and his fellow Glover Park punk Henry Rollins used “hardcore” to set it apart from mainstream punk, which had gone commercial. If you were hardcore (or even harDCore), says Mark Andersen, coauthor of Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital, you were “deeply committed,” to “rage-filled music” and an anti-corporate ethos.
Soon after that came DC’s own “emocore.” During the so-called Revolution Summer of 1985, local bands such as Rites of Spring sought a more vulnerable alternative to hardcore. “Lyrically, it was really introspective and poetic at times,” says Scott Crawford, director of Salad Days, a new documentary on DC’s hardcore scene.
Brian Baker of Minor Threat is often credited with dubbing the new sound “emocore” in 1985; soon thereafter, MacKaye called it “the stupidest thing I ever heard.” Nonetheless, emocore spread worldwide as a descriptor of a style of dress and even behavior. Baker’s original acerbity has been retained—as when Crawford’s kids caution him, “Dad, don’t get all emo.”
It’s the undercutting tone of “emocore” that has come forward to our moment. “Sadcore”—describing the plangent sounds of Joy Division, the film genre mumblecore, and the musical varieties Nintendocore and piratecore—affectionately tweaks its over-serious practitioners. “Normcore” and “slobcore” apply, respectively, to an art-school fashion twist on L.L. Bean jeans and to not showering.
The commercialism despised by DC’s hardcore scene has caught up to “-core,” particularly its use by inventors of expensive fitness classes. Anne Mahlum, owner of Washington’s own Solidcore, says: “ ‘Core,’ to me, means the center and the essence of something or someone.” When she devised the name, Mahlum adds, she was unaware of the word’s harDCore history.
This article appears in our April 2015 issue of Washingtonian.
"-core" Is the Suffix of Our Time
The word form that named dozens of artistic genres has deep Washington roots.
It was about 30 years ago that “hardcore”—then a warning about a category of punk or pornography—began to split apart, and its ending, “-core,” became a way to assign authenticity to a host of new musical genres from rock to dance music to hip-hop. But as we discovered grindcore, thrashcore, skacore, breakcore, raggacore, crunkcore, and so on, “-core” lost its hardness—and, in its ubiquity, became a pop-culture wink.
Washington was a crucial stop on the “-core” journey. When punk first thrived here in the late 1970s, musicians like Ian MacKaye, of the bands Minor Threat and Fugazi, and his fellow Glover Park punk Henry Rollins used “hardcore” to set it apart from mainstream punk, which had gone commercial. If you were hardcore (or even harDCore), says Mark Andersen, coauthor of Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital, you were “deeply committed,” to “rage-filled music” and an anti-corporate ethos.
Soon after that came DC’s own “emocore.” During the so-called Revolution Summer of 1985, local bands such as Rites of Spring sought a more vulnerable alternative to hardcore. “Lyrically, it was really introspective and poetic at times,” says Scott Crawford, director of Salad Days, a new documentary on DC’s hardcore scene.
Brian Baker of Minor Threat is often credited with dubbing the new sound “emocore” in 1985; soon thereafter, MacKaye called it “the stupidest thing I ever heard.” Nonetheless, emocore spread worldwide as a descriptor of a style of dress and even behavior. Baker’s original acerbity has been retained—as when Crawford’s kids caution him, “Dad, don’t get all emo.”
It’s the undercutting tone of “emocore” that has come forward to our moment. “Sadcore”—describing the plangent sounds of Joy Division, the film genre mumblecore, and the musical varieties Nintendocore and piratecore—affectionately tweaks its over-serious practitioners. “Normcore” and “slobcore” apply, respectively, to an art-school fashion twist on L.L. Bean jeans and to not showering.
The commercialism despised by DC’s hardcore scene has caught up to “-core,” particularly its use by inventors of expensive fitness classes. Anne Mahlum, owner of Washington’s own Solidcore, says: “ ‘Core,’ to me, means the center and the essence of something or someone.” When she devised the name, Mahlum adds, she was unaware of the word’s harDCore history.
This article appears in our April 2015 issue of Washingtonian.
Benny B. Peterson is a contributing editor for Washingtonian.
Most Popular in News & Politics
The Missing Men of Mount Pleasant
Another Mysterious Anti-Trump Statue Has Appeared on the National Mall
Muriel Bowser Defends Her BLM Plaza Decision and Looks Back on a Decade as Mayor
Yet Another Anti-Trump Statue Has Shown Up on the National Mall
8 Takeaways From Usha Vance’s Interview With Meghan McCain
Washingtonian Magazine
July Issue: The "Best Of" Issue
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
How Would a New DC Stadium Compare to the Last One?
The Culture of Lacrosse Is More Complex Than People Think
Did Television Begin in Dupont Circle?
Kings Dominion’s Wild New Coaster Takes Flight in Virginia
More from News & Politics
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This July
The Washington Nationals Just Fired the Manager and GM Who Led Them to a Championship. Why Has the Team Been so Bad Since?
FBI Building Now on Track to Leave DC After All, Whistleblower Leaks Texts Suggesting Justice Department Planned to Blow Off Federal Court Orders, and NPS Cuts Leave Assateague Island Without Lifeguards
Families of DC Air Disaster Victims Criticize Army’s Response, Trump Settles His Scores Via Tariff, and Police Dog Kicked at Dulles Returns to Work
This DC-Area Lawyer Wants More Americans Betting on Elections
Trump Threatens DC Takeover, Says He’d Run the City “So Good”; Supreme Court OKs Mass Federal Worker Layoffs; and You Should Go Pick Some Sunflowers
Trump Pledges Support for RFK Stadium Plan, Ben’s Chili Bowl Will Strand Us Half-Smokeless for Months, and Pediatricians Are Suing RFK Jr.
Muriel Bowser Defends Her BLM Plaza Decision and Looks Back on a Decade as Mayor