----------
New York Hardcore started somewhere back in the early 80's. It became a revolutionary underground music scene that still exists today. Some of the people that started it are still around, others moved on with their lives. The chronology starts like this.
Part 1
New York City's East Village today has become a commercialized section of French restaurants and boutiques, but back in 1980 it was Dodge City. Whole areas were off limits to white suburban kids unless they went there to cop drugs like heroine or crack cocaine. Alphabet City was the name given to Avenues A, B, C and D — a neighborhood of burnt out buildings and homeboys cruising the streets looking for victims.
Back in the late 70's the Punk Rock scene was winding down. Most bands like The Ramones and New York Dolls had moved on from the area due to their rising fame to become world renowned bands leaving behind a music scene loaded with drug addicted people that stayed in the neighborhood too long. Still, there were plenty of venues to play at. Groups like Johnny Thunders and other "X" bands were appearing at CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, The Mudd Club and dozens of small clubs around the town.
Around the country the NY Punk influenced other scenes to emerge. In California the "surf punk" scene arrived with bands like Dead Kennedys, The Germs, Fear, Circle Jerks, X — all could be found in the movie, "Rise And Fall Of Western Civilization".
One part of the underground scene that emerged was the rise of audience from passive observers to active participants to the music. Gone were the seats in a concert hall. Now folks would "pogo" and "slam dance" — crashing into each other on the dance floor to the music. Soon came "stage diving" which meant climbing up on the stage, running and jumping onto the heads of people. The more aggressive and uplifting the music, the more the urge to react this way. A "pit" would open up near the front of the stage and people would perform their own specialized form of dance called "moshing". I believe the term might have come from the movement of boot stomping as in "moshing" grapes. Some tell me it's a Rasta term. Hence "mosh pit".
Soon, probably due again to fame and drugs, that scene faded. Then another curious scene move occurred. Around 1980 Washington DC became home to the latest underground trend — Straight Edge. SxE bands like Minor Threat and SS Decontrol promoted music and audience without the dampening influences of drugs and alcohol — just pure aggressive energy. This is when the Punk Rock scene became the Hardcore scene. Punk became equated with drug addicted nihilism where Hardcore became about healthy, energetic kids that could mosh and dive all night. Another contribution of the DC scene was the "do-it-yourself" attitude that bands shouldn't have to rely on corporate music and could actually produce and sell their own records to their peers. Dischord Records, headed by Minor Threat singer Ian McKay, set the tone for this movement. Bands now would seek out their own venues to play, like the Wilson Center in DC, where they put on "All Ages" shows where kids under the legal drinking age could go see a band. If the venue were at a club with a bar, underage kids were allowed in but were marked with an "X" on the back of their hands to show the bartender they weren't to buy drinks. Today Straight Edge people wear the "X" as their symbol.
The revolution was underway.
Part 2: History Of NYHC
Groups of us would hop into cars and vans and run down the Jersey Turnpike to catch bands like the Bad Brains and Government Issue down at Wilson Center or the 9:30 Club in DC. One time a roadie from the Brains walked up to us after a cancelled show and asked us for a ride to NY. He said he needed to get out of town. We said sure and he got in. I asked him his name and he said, "Joseph... John Joseph".
A7 was a club on avenue A and 7th (duhh!) that on Friday was Hardcore Punk night for local and out of town bands from Philly, Boston and DC (it's now a bar called Niagara). You had to enter from the side because the front was barricaded. They let you in one at a time through a small door, totally illegal set up, and stayed open till 5am or later if necessary. Dave, the owner, provided the drums and beat up amps to a line-up of 8-10 bands that played in a tight back room all night.
Besides the above bands, local NYC bands started to appear from Manhattan, Queens, New Jersey and Brooklyn areas. The Misfits, The Mob, Reagan Youth, The Eliminators, Kraut, The Beastie Boys, The Young And Useless, just to name a few. Their mission was to create music to mosh by.
Straight Edge kids from Boston and DC wore X's on their hands. NY bands adapted this by adding NYHC around the X that became the New York Hardcore symbol worn by the bands and kids at shows on their clothes or armbands and tagged on walls and subway cars.
Part 3: Style Wars
There were a thousand stories in NYHC, this was through my eyes. Two cultural events occurred in music during the 80's. Hip Hop/Rap scene that came from the infamous South Bronx and Hollis, Queens, with it break dancing and an outlaw art form called graffiti (or bombing, throw-ups, tagging, burners, writing). The music ended up becoming a billion dollar business industry and a major success.
The other was the American Hardcore scene, more specifically the East Coast/New York Hardcore scene, which ended up being kept in the shadows out of the public's eye, a financial disaster for anyone that invested in it. Yet the cultural ramifications are still felt today from fashion (baggy clothes, piercing, tattoos, skateboarding, colored hair, shaved or buzz cut) to rip-offs by major musical artists, and the mosh pit. If someone tells you that loose pants came from the ghetto, don't believe it. Skate punks started that trend years earlier. Yet the fact that it never got above the level of underground attests to its actual success.
The whole idea of the HC scene was to keep it out of the media gawking public eyes. Nothing kills a trend faster than to get "blown-up" into an "alternative" musical scene. The NYHC scene was born out of the audience's need to kick shit in the pit. The only form of applause came during the song with stage diving, shout-outs on the mic and a huge mass of moving, thrashing bodies. When the song was over, the crowd would catch its breath and get ready for the next tune.
While the rap artists hustled to get signed by major record labels, the HC bands put out their own material on vinyl 7" records and LP's and tapes which they sold through small independent labels. Many bands sold their records at shows along with t-shirts and other items to support themselves and spread their band's name. At one Misfits show, they had a small silkscreen of their trademark skull mask symbol doing leather jackets in white for a dollar a pop.
The core of the NYC scene in 1981 consisted on roughly 50-70 people that showed up regularly at shows in downtown Manhattan, which could swell from 500 to a thousand, depending on what major band like the Dead Kennedys, The Clash or Circle Jerks came to town. A lot of these folks took on their own names such as Tommy Ratt, Stewie and Billy Psycho, Bobby Snots, Vinnie Stigma, Willie Frankenstien, Navy Dave, Johnny Stiff, Jimmy Kontra, Andy Apathy, Jimmy Gestapo, John Bloodclot, Joe Nails, English Nick, Pokey Mo, Raybeez, Lil' Chris, Tony T-Shirt, Big Paul, Big Al, Antknee. Others were one-named like, Kabula, Poss, Lazar, Kim, Ditto, Diego, Blue, Frenchie, Charuki, and Boobi. As time went on, these and others came together to form a nucleus in a social network called the New York Hardcore scene.
The Age of Reagan was a time of recession. Jobs at the low end were hard to come by. The word "homeless" crept into the common vocabulary. Young people drifted into New York looking for any opportunity, be it work or a good time. Many came from broken families in search of a new one. The 60's gave us the Hippie generation, the flower children — all about love and peace only to come crashing down with brutal reality in the 70' s. Drugs, at first, were looked at as mind expansion only to end up another social ill. Musical idols died off like flies, then the industry took a nosedive due to the high cost of vinyl. The punk scene rose out of America's winter. Before a person would throw out a shirt with a hole in it; a punk would punch a hole for style. Hair was blown dry and fussed over; Skins would see it as a nuisance and shave it off, others would dump soap and gelatin on it and make spikes and mohawks. Gone were the pacifists, replaced with those that were ready to fight against a wide array of enemies, be it gangs, rednecks, cops, anyone that pointed a finger or made a negative comment. Lots of them looked like they stepped out of the movie "Road Warrior". Leather jackets with nail studs worn for protection from knives, chains from hardware stores served a dual purpose of a belt and a quick weapon. Even a skateboard made a handy shield. Buzzed hair couldn't be grabbed in a fight. Combat boots for a good solid kick, a forty ounce bottle could become a rocket. The whole appearance said, "Don't fuck with me!".
Of course a lot of this was appearance. Many of these kids came from suburbia, not the ghetto, so they had to learn in reverse. Their survival depended on the balance of street smarts and still retaining the better judgement of their former society, not to succumb to drugs like crack or heroine or the violence associated with it like drive by shootings. A few lost their balance, but the majority survived, due mostly because the Hardcore crowd "looked out" for each other through a theme of unity and positive attitudes. Instead of joining a gang, start a band, and that's just what a lot of people did.
Part 4: 1981-1982
By this time the national scene was moving pretty quickly. Bands like Negative Approach from Detroit, Jerry's Kids and the FU's from Boston, Black Flag from L.A. and tons of bands from the Washington DC area started giving shape to a new style punk underground. The band D.O.A. from Canada came out with a total thrash album called "Hardcore" in '81 which is the earliest known reference to the term describing this music I could find to date.
Lagging behind was the NYC scene. Many of the bands around were still doing the punk rock thing which lacked the energy and fury the dozens of mosh hungry crowd found in bands like Minor Threat or the Bad Brains. One exception was The Mob. Ralph, Jack, Jaimie and Jose, being strongly influenced by the Bad Brains, formed The Mob and started doing straight-up mosh with tunes like "101", "Upset The System" and "Z.D.F. (Zomboola Dust Fiend)". A band out of Queens, they started playing downtown clubs like A7 and Jerry Williams 171A. Going "Mob Style" meant big circle pits and individual floor style along with lots of diving and pile-ups at the mic. So, finally, NY had at least one band representing.
One of the bands operating at this time was Vinnie Stigma's The Eliminators with guitarist Kevin. They used to come out dressed in Clockwork Orange outfits. But Vinnie saw the future so he started a new band with people he picked out from the audience. He recruited Watson to do vocals and Diego to play bass and both Robbie Krypt Krasher and Raybeez on drums. Mind you, besides Vinnie, none of them had ever played in a band before, much less even picked up an instrument. But they had heart and attitude and John and Diego were tearing up the mosh pits with their own heavy styling. Diego used to get so carried away he'd throw down his bass in the middle of a song and start dancing down in the pit. They came up with a name right off — Agnostic Front. Needless to say, AF took a while to develop some sound, but lots of people loved the energy behind it. Agnostic Front practiced a few times on Essex Street then played their first show at a club on 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue at a place Dave from A7 opened up called 2+2. The crowd was enthusiastic, but the singer from Social Distortion threw a bottle at the crowd, hitting Vinnie in the knee. He was chased up 2nd Avenue by the whole crowd, got hit by a cab and got stomped by everyone (we took turns). Finally he had to be stashed inside their truck. Typical night. Another band that sprung to life was Reagan Youth — a political anarchy band with Dave, a nice Jewish kid from Corona on vocals that bridged the punk/hardcore sound quite nicely. Lots of kids from Queens came downtown to see them and represent. "We are Reagan Youth — seig heil!" Other notable bands that sprang up were The Abused, Heart Attack, Urban Waste, The Psychos, Kraut, The Beastie Boys, and The Stimulators with a 14 year old drummer named Harley Flanagan. The summer of '82 was the turning point for NYHC, with lots to follow.
Part 5: Clubs, Road Trips And A Crucial Cruise
By the summer of '82 the singer from MDC called NYC "The closest thing to anarchy". There were clubs springing up all over to handle the influx of bands and audience. Max's Kansas City closed its doors after one last show with the Bad Brains and Reagan Youth. Danceteria, 2+2, A7, Gildersleeves and The Ritz (now Webster Hall) all were packing them in. One show at Irving Plaza featured Minor Threat and The Misfits, which unfortunately ended in a brawl. You could see a show in a club almost any night. Abandoned theaters became concert halls. Free shows in Tompkins Square Park. People came to visit NYC and ended up staying — there was too much going on.
At A7 Friday night would pack out. Once when a blizzard hit and dumped 2 feet of snow, the city stopped dead, yet people climbed over giant snowdrifts and still filled the place. Once when The Mob played there I swear I saw people running around on the walls. Jimmy, at 17, was both DJ and security. The motto over the door said "Stay in peace or leave in pieces". Many a Saturday night you'd walk in there to a dark room then leave on Sunday morning to blinding sunlight.
Lots of punks and skins lived in either large share apartments they rented, while others with less funds stayed in "squats", abandoned buildings that they fixed up by tapping lightposts for electricity and fire hydrants for bathing (a pretty cold option during winter). Younger kids came in from the suburbs and outer borough's, riding the subway downtown from places like Astoria Queens, Brooklyn, taking the ferry from Staten Island, or grabbing a ride from NJ. Back in those times club owners were kind of lax about checking ID's so it wasnt unusual to see 16 year olds hanging around shows (of course it also wasn't unusual to see a parent drag their kid out of a club either). In order to survive, some of these "yoots" would pull off small crimes like purse snatching and selling bogus drugs to dimwits looking to cop. Many actually got jobs as roadies or even were recruited to play in bands.
Since there was lots of shows, bands were needed to play these shows. I've been a musician all my life but I've never seen such a wide open opportunity. You could start a band and within a week you would be up there playing at a club at 3am with a beat-up drumset and a half strung guitar and a week later you'd be playing a huge concert hall like The Ritz to a thousand or so people. If you were in an active popular band you could walk in and out of most clubs like you owned the place.
Not everyone joined a band in order to contribute support to the burgeoning scene. Local fanzines started showing up, done by people with access to a typewriter and xerox machine. Artists made flyers and stickers for the bands. Today that's pretty common, but back then people bugged out to get that stuff. The whole feeling and attitude was about building up the scene as a communal enterprise. That's when the phrase "unity" came around.
Soon, bands would form road trips to other nearby states, sometimes bringing other bands along with maybe 20-30 mosh crew. The scene existed up and down the east coast, from Virginia Beach to Boston. So life for a lot of people revolved around the music. Everyday. One time Raybeez organized a trip to Staten Island on the ferry to see the Dead Kennedys. 200 HC punks on the boat was a funny sight. So was the fight at a bar in Staten Island.
Agnostic Front was going through changes. Watson left the band and later became a full-time Krishna devotee while Diego went off to join the Marines. Bands do that a lot.Vinnie tried out a few singers then Roger Miret asked to try out and he got the job. Now AF started sounding serious. Within a few months they released the United Blood 7".
NYHC was starting to rule.
Part 6: Matinee Madness 1982-88
Up to this time most of the Hardcore shows were mostly happening at clubs and bars that lasted late into the night. So Hilly Crystal, the owner of CBGBs, and Connie, who booked the shows there, started booking Saturday afternoons so younger fans of Hardcore could catch all the latest bands coming through NYC. The result was not only good for the out of town bands, but also became a showcase for the new young talent from the area (later it was moved to Sunday's so Saturday night shows wouldn't be affected by the matinees running late). Sunday afternoons at CBs became a weekly ritual for years to come. CBs is located on the Bowery, an infamous skid row area that back in the 80's was lined with flophouses where derelict alcoholics and crackheads could rent a room for $5 a night. So no one particularly cared about the loud music and Punk Rock crowd that hung out in front of the club. More often than not, the cops would just roll by and ignore the mohawks, skinheads and whatnot standing there.
It was sort of like a big picnic. No-Edger's, Straight Edger's and skaters, people selling records, tapes, t-shirts, fanzines. Hanging and networking with other like-minded people, shit-talking, tagging and bombing, hooking up with friends, showing off their latest tattoo work from Mikee's of Bensonhurst, unloading equipment, grabbing drum cases to get past Brendon at the door. Sometimes a fight would break out, but in those days it was usually peaceful (one exception was the Bum Riot). Many a band would be formed on the sidewalk in front of the place. Walking across the street to the deli for some liquid refreshment. For most people Sunday meant church or football. For this group it was matinee Sunday's. Karen Crystal, the owner's wife, would eye everyone to see if they were carrying beer and of course, the bands. For $6 you could see the highest quality Hardcore bands. Each time you went you'd see a headliner like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Youth Brigade, JFA,The Vandals, Flipper, Government Issue, but it was the local talent that eventually became the heart of the NYHC scene.
In chronological order there was:
1982-85: Agnostic Front, The Mob, Reagan Youth, Murphy's Law, The Beastie Boys, Cause For Alarm, Urban Waste, Armed Citizens, NY Hoods, The Cro-Mags, Supertouch, Youth Defense League, Warzone, Major Conflict, The Psycho's, Gilligan's Revenge, Shok, The Doughboys, Ultra Violence, The Crumbsuckers, Mental Abuse, Adrenelin OD, The Numbskulls, Kraut, The Cavity Creeps, Antidote.
Then an amazing second generation evolved:
1985-88: Underdog, Rest In Pieces, Sheer Terror, Sick Of It All, Straight Ahead, Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Raw Deal, Abomanation, Breakdown, Judge, Bold, Leeway, Krackdown, Token Entry, The Icemen, Burn, S.O.D.
The sound system at CBGBs is probably the best one around. In front of the stage had a hole worn into the floor from people demonstrating their mosh stylings. The stage was the perfect height for a dive at the crowd. The audience stretched all the way around and back of the stage. Bouncers Dennis, brothers Frank and James kept things from getting too out of hand, keeping the stage moving and the speakers from collapsing. Usually the band would disappear into a sea of bodies, singing along and then taking a running leap at the front row. Major pile-ups, damaged skulls, skin burned from the heat pipe. The air was always electric as bands like the Cro-Mags or Sick Of It All hit the stage. "Yo,Yo, wus up? Move up, move up!!" At that moment, you KNEW you were at the crucial point.
Part 7: Rock Hotel 1984-1986
A cultural vortex is when elements of people, ideas, trends and conditions come together through a chain of events and luck to form a unique era. But as soon as it comes together is when it starts to unravel. The NYHC scene downtown in the East Village was growing. The crowds got bigger as word of it spread out beyond the local area. People in the record business also started taking notice. Who were these bands that opened for the major acts like Dead Kennedys, Fear, Celtic Frost and Black Flag, end up walking away with the audiences and commanding their loyalty? One person that noticed was Chris Williamson, a promoter with big ideas and big plans. Williamson started his own management company called Rock Hotel Productions and started out to corner the market on the NY Hardcore scene. What he ended up with was a bunch of bands at war with him and each other. The lesson in the end was that to try and put a dollar sign on an ideal and a cause would end up popping the whole balloon.
Hardcore was the true "alternative" music, not that moronic, meaningless term MTV uses today for crap-ola. It was the bastard child of Rock N' Roll. People didn't realize you needed to be a musical prodigy to bang out hard chords on a guitar, that you had to wait for some record company dick to tell you what or when you was to play. People wrote their songs, booked their bands, recorded them with money they earned or with donations and distributed it without any form of permission from any corporation. They depended on the support of the kids that came down to dance and sing in harmony and unity. When you do this you feel a lot closer to the purity of the art. Out of the dozens of bands I knew, only a handful ever got past a year before they broke up and fewer ever really made any cash on their bands. Those that did, if they kept true to their sound, deserve mad props. Those that changed their sound to fit a larger audience, were derided as "sellouts" to the cause. Fair or unfair, that was the way it was.
When one started a NYHC band, the original goal was to just get a show and be part of the movement. Most singers usually were people that moved up from the pit, that had the feeling and wanted to push it further. They knew what it took to get a body moving. After that initial goal was accomplished, where was one to go? Make a demo then a 7 inch? Naturally. Play a few benefits for squatters or hungry kids?No problem. Play a CBGBs matinee with your favorite bands? A dream come true. Become an opening band for a major act? Well that took a few connections. That's when you enter "The Game". That's when you meet guys like Chris.
Chris had access to a ballroom at the Jane Street Hotel on the Westside Highway,11th Ave. Seeing over flowing crowds at the smaller shows, he recognized there was something going on with NYHC and he wanted to be its "Bill Graham" (the promotor of the Fillmore shows during the 60's and 70's). He also had access to The Ritz (now Webster Hall), Irving Plaza, Danceateria and alternated doing shows at these places.
When Murphy's Law first started playing out, we had Harley Flanagan as our first drummer. He told me, "Don't rely on me to stay with the band because I plan to play bass and start my own band, and dude, it'll be the hardest, ball-crushingest band out there". He said,"...and I'm gonna call it The Cro-Mags". In 1985, Agnostic Front put out their first LP "Victim In Pain". It was the first true NYHC hit record. People generaly went nuts over it but it was also the beginning of a new controversy. The cover depicted a Nazi officer shooting a prisoner in the head. Though it was symbolic of victimization, the AF theme, people outside of the scene saw something else — neo-nazi skinhead.
Rock Hotel shows became the place to go on Saturday nights. Crowds would line up around the block. Chris was smart about one thing. He hired Raybeez and Jimmy G. to head up a security force which they put together with people from inside the scene. Before that, bouncers at shows at The Ritz and similar places were pretty much hated by the NYHC crowds. They would throw you out if you jumped off the stage, which was what NYHC did a lot of. One time at a Black Flag show the crowd turned on the bouncers and beat them up, then proceeded out to the streets and caused a true hardcore street riot on 3rd Avenue, overturning cars and getting the NYPD really pissed. So, Rock Hotel Security was born and since it was made up of NYHC folks (usually the biggest ones), the shows were totally respected and peaceful, unless some idiot would step to a security person's face and find the whole crowd on their ass. NYHC started having some real power... or so they thought.
A7 was closed by the cops, Max's and a lot of other clubs had gone, so there was basically CBs and Rock Hotel running the scene. So now Chris upped his situation by signing with Profile Records to create his own sub label, Rock Hotel Records. He started wheeling and dealing the bands. If he wanted your band and you wanted to play his shows, you signed. If you didn't, you got stiffed. Since AF commanded a huge audience, they were exempt and they went their merry way, but the rest were basically stuck. Not only did you have to be on his label but he also expected you to make him your manager. When Murphy's Law balked at this, he said, "Fine! I'll make the Cro-Mags the biggest thing out there!" and proceeded to offer their drummer a job with them since Mackie had had enough and left. Instead, Murphy's Law went on tour with The Beastie Boys "Licence To Ill" tour on Rush Production without any support from their own record company.
Meanwhile, he sent the Cro-Mags out on tour. Within 6 months they'd broken up over God knows what. That was 1987. They still don't speak to each other. They also still hate Chris Williamson.
One day Antknee from the Cavity Creeps was mountain biking through Central Park where he spotted Williamson jogging. Antknee wheeled around past him and hocked a giant luggie in his face.
Part 8: Skinhead Army
It wouldn't be a complete history of the NY scene without mentioning the influence of the Skinhead culture. If you ask ten Skinheads what it means to be one, expect ten different answers. But there are definite rules and codes to being a Skinhead. One is PRIDE. Some refer to pride in being part of the working class, rather than being on welfare or living off others wealth. Others refer to pride of unity amongst their fellow associates, whether drinking in a bar, going to shows, or standing together in a fight. And then there are those whose pride runs with their racial (or racist) beliefs.
"Nazi punks...FUCK OFF!" - Dead Kennedys
Skinhead style started to show itself in the NYHC scene at its beginning. Actually it was the Buddhist monks that first shaved their heads as to renounce worldly materialism. Ironically, the Nazis during WWII never wore shaved heads—that was considered a humiliation to be put upon concentration camp prisoners. The true Oi Skinheads appeared in Britain in the late 60's (rather than explain, look up 'skinhead' on your search engine. Some sites refer to hate groups, others to groups like S.H.A.R.P.). America also had its version of Skinhead with the gangs in the Bronx (The Fordham Baldies actually existed). The first ones I met were at a show at CBGBs in 1978. They were there to see a band called Mike Pardo's Straight Edge (meaning the razor, not the yet to happen SxE). Big, mean looking guys with leather jackets and massive tattoo work, totally impressed this kid.
"Colossal man was a skinhead" -The Psychos
By 1981, a new generation of Skins started appearing at Punk Rock shows. Not much resemblence to the Oi type, more like punks with shaved or buzzed heads. The boots were basic black combat boots, leather or army coats, jeans with torn knees, work gloves, chain belts. It was the Ska followers, more educated in British ways, that brought more of the look into the scene with creepers and Fred Perry shirts, while punks brought in the Oi sounds like The Business, The Exploited, Sham 69, The Cockney Rejects, GBH. The first true Skinhead band I saw was the 4 Skins at some club uptown.
"Skinhead rebel...kick'em in the ass. Skinhead rebel...ain't got no class" -Murphys Law
The Skinhead style wasn't the only one that worked its way into the scene. There was also the Rasta influence and the homeboy look of sneakers and Adidas sportswear, then came the skater street look. NYHC started to become a wide mix of styles. SxE bands seemed to be wearing the look too, so there was a wide cross influence. By 1983 the mohawks started fading out, so most shows became a sea of bald heads and tattooed bodies. Soon the combat boots and chain belts gave way to Doc Martens and braces. Agnostic Front became straight-up Skinhead, American style.
"We gotta stick together.. .punks and skins... united and strong" -Agnostic Front
Up to this point it was just that—style and music. Few actually knew the political storms that followed the Skinhead movement at the time, but soon they found out. Though the scene seemed to be largely white, Catholic school types, there were also Jewish, Black, Latino and Asians in the mix too. I'd guess about a 60:40 ratio, so it could hardly be considered a prejudiced bunch. Of course I can't say what was in the hearts of every individual but racial politics was at the time avoided. There was too much fun going on for that kind of stuff. In fact, it seemed religion was the big question of the day. Besides being a bunch of hell-raisers, there were the beginnings of those whose spirituality led them toward, of all things, Krishna.
"Cro-Mag! Skinhead! Breakout!" -Cro-Mags
Though Harley was a crazed Skinhead kid, John introduced him to the Krishna temple in Brooklyn, along with others. The Krishna's gladly fed them and brought them into the Krishna life. The Cro-Mags then became linked to the faith. It seemed a lot of the scene was headed that way, seeing that the lifestyle worked well with SxE, being about abstaining from things like drugs, sex and alcohol. But it clashed with the beer drinking and sometimes glue sniffing, dust smoking ways of the Oi boys. Plus, the anarchy types hated religion, so a "schism" started to arise—the NYHC scene was splitting into factions.
"Don't forget the struggle. Don't forget the streets" -Warzone
Violence up to this point was mostly sent outwards toward homeboys, bouncers and crazed bums that took on the Skins and punks on Avenue A, Thomkins Square Park, various bars and clubs. If you liked to brawl, hang around long enough and you were in it. But when an EP called "White Power" from the National Front band Skrewdriver started showing up, things were about to turn real ugly.
"The dogs of war are coming for you" -Skarhead
0 comments:
Post a Comment