A Beginner's Guide to Crust Punk Subgenres

Let’s Start This Shit

Alright, so it’s been a minute since I posted here. It’s just me (one of the twins, Feel) now. Still have this site so figured I’d try stuff out. 

Anyway! Are you ready to dive into the gritty, intense world of crust punk? Fuck yeah you are. Whether you're a seasoned punk veteran or a curious newcomer, this guide to crust punk subgenres will take you on an audio journey through the gritty, crusty underground. From the raw aggression of d-beat raw punk to the emotional and lyrical intensity of neocrust, you’re in for a treat. 

So What Is Crust Punk?

Crust punk is being a cool as fuck dirty kid living in a punk house or hopping trains. That’s it - that’s the guide!

Just kidding. Crust punk emerged in the early 1980s, blending the anarcho-punk ethos of bands like Crass with the heavy sounds of extreme metal. It's characterized by its raw, distorted sound, politically charged lyrics, and DIY aesthetics. 

Why This Guide?

Because I’m broke, still have Google Adsense on this blog, and didn’t find a cool guide of my own. And not gonna lie, the world of crust punk can be overwhelming for beginners. It’s got numerous subgenres and regional variations, so it's easy to get lost in the noise. That's why I’ve created this quick guide to help you navigate the crusty landscape and discover the bands that speak to your inner oogle.

Subgenre Breakdown

Here’s a list of the main subgenres of crust punk, from the earliest to the most recent developments: 

1. Early UK Crust

2. D-Beat

3. American Crust Punk

4. Stenchcore

5. Neocrust

6. Stadium Crust (Melodic Crust)

7. Emo Crust

8. Crasher Crust

9. Blackened Crust

This should be enough to pique your interest and get you started. If there’s interest in this post, however (or if I get the time), I’ll probably follow up with more comprehensive guides that will cover:

- An overview of the style's characteristics

- Essential albums that define the sound

- Key tracks to check out

- Information on the subgenre's evolution and influence

Stay Dirty, Comrades

Whether you're drawn to the apocalyptic sounds of Amebix, the d-beat fury of Discharge, or the emotional intensity of Fall of Efrafa, there's a raw punk path waiting for you. (Unless you’re a fascist - then fuck you.) So crank up the volume, raise your fist, join a DIY community, and blast some sick beats! (A)//(E)

Keywords: crust punk, subgenres, D-beat, Neocrust, Stenchcore, punk rock, extreme music, anarcho-punk, DIY, underground music

Two for One

Aaaaand here's another post!

This one's another music video, but a very good one at that.

I concede, there are other "good" music videos out there with hipsterly dressed band members prancing around on treadmills (which I do like, by the way) but this one is genuinely good, going beyond being a purely aesthetic addition to the song.

You'll see what I mean.

Cheers,

Touch

Music: Classic '77 punk rock--"Kiss my Deadly," by Generation X

 Billy Idol with his mates, playing music because music is awesome

Most of you certainly know the 80's hit, "Dancing with Myself," by Billy Idol. What many of you probably DON'T know is that before he became an embarrassing 80's pop star caricature, he was a member of an AMAZING '77 punk band called Generation X. This band was so amazing, in fact, that Billy Idol flat out stole their songs and re-released them as his own. "Dancing with Myself," in fact, was one of Generation X's most awesome hits before Billy Idol sold out and took all of the credit for it. (The song is also an allusion to masturbation, by the way).

 Billy Idol once he sold out and came out of the closet.

I would highly recommend to anyone that they listen to Generation X's greatest hits, like "One Hundred Punks," "Ready, Steady, Go," "Untouchables," and basically anything else on their band anthology.

"Kiss Me Deadly," however, is is far and above my favorite Generation X song. Why? Because unlike most punk songs, and most of Generation X's own songs, this song connects with you on a deeper, more personal level. You won't exactly get a philosophy lesson out of listening to it (and, truth be told, it would suck if you did), but I have yet to find another song which I feel captures so perfectly the essence of being young and reckless, and not giving a damn about anything else but being alive.

And, without further ado..



Enjoy!

-Feel

Music: Kalashnikov

Because not everything on this blog can be about stumble finds, here's some more music for y'all. So just sit back, relax, and have yourself a cancer stick or two if that's your thing.

Not? That's okay too because at the end of the day it's all a matter of whether or not you read all of the nonsense I'm writing here to take up space anyways.

Smoking kills.

Backtracking to the whole point of this post, Kalashnikov was an old school punk band from Denmark and the song I'm sharing with you is called "Schluter's Kabinet" (about the then Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlüter). In my opinion, this song is one of the best examples of the "UK '82" movement going on at the time; UK '82 personally being one of my more favored styles of punk rock.


For those of you that aren't familiar with UK '82, it is often confused with "hardcore" since both are loud, fast, and usually brief, leading to UK '82 sometimes being (in my opinion) mislabeled as UK hardcore. To be fair, instrumentally there isn't much difference between hardcore and UK '82 but unlike hardcore, for which vocals are characterized by scream-singing, vocals in UK '82 are not yells but (very) loud singing. 


There's a difference. The difference being a melody you can follow.


Now, while I could go into soporific explanation for what melody is, a better rule of thumb to keep in mind is the humming rule. Basically, if you can hum the song, it has melody; if you can't, it doesn't. So applying this to our situation, a "hardcore" song you can hum is actually UK '82.


Anyways, I found this gem on the 1984 punk rock compilation P.E.A.C.E./War, which featured punk bands of all styles from all around the world. If you like punk rock or are just curious,  I can't stress enough how highly I recommend you buy/torrent/steal this compilation, it is golden.

Cheers,
Touch

Music: Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

As you may or may not know, I possess a very wide and varied taste in music. A few posts ago I mentioned a song by Dos Minutos and highlighted some of its key messages (sort of). Likewise, my other half posted a video of Minor Threat and gave a little history on the band and what made them great (if you haven't heard either of the songs I've mentioned I highly recommend you take a listen).

Of course, this doesn't mean I'm a one-genre man. No no no, like Mambo No. 5 I have lots of girls songs lined up waiting for me, hailing from all corners of the music spectrum.

Here's one of them!

-Touch

Do all east coast raves suck?

Turn the clock back a few years before you heard dance, trance, techno, dupstep, house, etc. all over the radio and there was something called PLUR(R). It stood for Peace Love Unity Respect.

Recently, some ravers have added the second R (Responsibility) both in embrace and scorn of the hordes of newcomers that don't follow PLUR, don't know about PLUR, and only go to raves to drop [too much] e and ruin the night for everybody.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

In Southern California--arguably the rave capital of the United States--there is an annual rave festival called the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). Over the course of it's 13-year existence it has grown from a relatively modest one-day event to a full-on two-day extravaganza with carnival rides and over 180,000 attendees. I have personally attended and can attest to its glory but also to its plight. At the most recent event a 15-year-old girl overdosed on drugs she was probably doing for the first time at what may have been one of if not her first rave. Fellow ravers within and without my family agree that though the newfound popularity of raves has shot new life into the scene it isn't necessarily the kind of life they were looking for.

Certainly, new faces are always a delight to the enthusiastically extroverted followers of PLUR, but these new faces haven't exactly been willing to adhere or even learn about PLUR--quite honestly most don't even care and proceed to bing on shoddy pills and brag to their friends that they're now "ravers" with little concern to their own well-being and that of others. Going back to my previous statement, this is why the second R was added.

Responsibility is something that was a bit of an unwritten rule in the rave community. If you Respect yourself and others, you won't be overdosing on drugs nor encouraging others to do so; if there is Unity, you look after one another like you would a member of your family; if there is Love, you accept every newcomer with open arms; if there is Peace--well, you don't get into fights or bring your shit from the real life into the rave life.

Which is something that has been happening with increasing frequency. Case in point, on the weekend of 25/09/2010 my brother and I had the misfortune of attending a New York City rave. This isn't my first east coast rave but I've been debating whether it should be my last. Not only did nobody seem to know about PLUR but everyone stratified into their own groups rather than take the time to meet new people. My multiple attempts to make new friends were often met with awkwardness or outright hostility (especially when the encounter involved a guido douchebag and his bitch).

Now, I'm a generally nice guy and I don't get pissed off easily, but to call these sort of events "raves" is like calling Avril Lavigne punk. Maybe I've just gone to the wrong raves, maybe I just don't get along with the east coast, but as far as I can tell there is no PLUR on this side of the States and the few people that know about it are just asshole posers and drug pushers.

This wouldn't be the first time a subculture of the small but avid few becomes overwhelmed by the much larger and much more ignorant majority. It happens all the time in music, clothes, television, and even in whole neighborhoods (Lower East Side in Manhattan or Williamsburg in Brooklyn, anyone?). Is it only a matter of time before PLUR is nothing more but an empty slogan, and rave music ironically commercialized like the punk rock of old?

Hopefully not. But I think it's inevitable.

Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, and for those newcomers, Responsibility.

-Touch

Music: One of the best--and first--hardcore punk bands, Minor Threat

As we have mentioned in a few of our posts, punk rock was our first love. Minor Threat was a band from Washington D.C. Though they only lasted for about three years, from 1980 to 83, they are widely considered to have been the first punk band to solidify the "hardcore punk" sound in songs such as "Filler."

They also started the Straight Edge movement (though few of the straight edge kids I know come close to being as cool as Ian MacKaye).

Enjoy!

Music: For those punk rockers out there.

One of the best Spanish punk songs and arguably one of the best punk songs in any language ever. For those of you non-Spanish speakers, this song is a bout a childhood friend that "sells out" and becomes a cop, proceeding to terrorize the neighborhood he and his friends grew up in

"You ain't hardcore cause you spike your hair, when a jock still lives inside your head"

--Dead Kennedys