Boston hardcore
Beginning in the early 1980s, bands such as SSD, DYS, Jerry's Kids and Negative FX formed a nascent hardcore scene in the city that was notably captured on the compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. (1982).
However, a reaction against this metal influence quickly took place, which led to the mid-1990s youth crew revival of In My Eyes, Bane and Ten Yard Fight.
[3] The Proletariat, although a part of this scene were set apart significantly due to their jangle pop guitars, influence from Gang of Four and Wire and communist lyrics.
Their tracks on Cleanse the Bacteria exposed them to wide audiences, including Lars Ulrich of Metallica, who described them as the fastest band he had ever heard.
Allin, a solo singer who contrary to straight edge used large amounts of drugs and alcohol, eventually dying of a heroin overdose.
[18][19] In the early 1990s, Only Living Witness and Sam Black Church gained national attention during a time when New York hardcore dominated the scene.
As a reaction against the homogeneity and simplicity that scene had developed, Ten Yard Fight guitarist Tim Cossar and the band's roadie Wesley Eisold formed American Nightmare.
[30] Although still musically rooted in the youth crew revival, the band's negative, poetic lyrics of self-loathing were inspired by groups like the Smiths.
[26][31] American Nightmare's influence was apparent promptly in their home of Boston,[30] then expanded nationally with the release of their 2001 debut album Background Music,[26] being followed by a wave bands including Ceremony, Ruiner, Modern Life Is War and Killing the Dream.
Metal Hammer writer Stephen Hill called Jane Doe by Converge "the high watermark of the Boston scene [in this era]".
Around this time, many of these acts gained international mainstream attention, with Cave In signing to the major label Capitol Records and touring with the Foo Fighters.
The album influenced the development of the sound of other U.S. bands like Norma Jean and Misery Signals as well as international acts like Eden Maine, Johnny Truant and Beecher.
[42] Blake Butler of Allmusic stated that Converge "put the final sealing blow on their status as a legend in the world of metallic hardcore" with the album, calling it "an experience -- an encyclopedic envelopment of so much at once.
[70] During the 1990s, Boston hardcore show attracted increased violence, with a 2014 article by Vice Media recalling that "It was not uncommon to see pool balls in handkerchiefs, chains, and even cinderblocks in the hands of fans as they kicked the crap out of each other".
This came following a performance by Flogging Molly at Boston's House of Blues on February 21 of the same year where sixty concertgoers moshed,[71] during which one person was knocked to the ground and received a concussion.
[72] In reference to the event, Boston police spokeswoman Officer Nicole Grant stated "Dancing is a First Amendment right, but the behavior itself is a violation, especially when it becomes dangerous and a public safety hazard".
On March 13, an article was published in the Boston Herald, where members of the Red Chord, Shadows Fall, Dropkick Murphys and Unearth criticised this decision.
[71] On 2 April, the person who was concussed was interviewed by the blog Punk Rock Pravada, in which he stated he didn't agree with the police department's decision, and that he believed "Boston is just asking people to stop pumping money into their clubs".
[74] In the late 1990s, Elgin James, a musician involved in the militant faction of the Boston straight edge scene, helped revive FSU.
[75] By the early 2000s, there were FSU chapters in Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona, Los Angeles, Seattle, upstate New York and New Jersey, and they were considered to have about 200 members.
