Horror punk (sometimes called horror rock) is a music genre that mixes Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid or violent imagery and lyrics, which are often influenced by horror films or science fiction B-movies. The genre is similar to and sometimes overlaps with deathrock, although deathrock leans more towards an atmospheric Gothic rock sound while horror punk leans towards a 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sound. Horrorpunk music is typically more aggressive and melodic than deathrock.
The Misfits are recognized as the progenitors of horror punk, releasing a series of singles and EPs beginning in 1977 before releasing their first full-length album Walk Among Us in 1982.
Horror punk is generally apolitical in comparison to other punk rock subgenres, although some songs do refer to political events (e.g. the Misfits' "Bullet", which discusses the assassination of John F. Kennedy), and some artists like Jack Grisham (on the left) and Michale Graves (on the right) have espoused their own political views.
Horror hardcore, a term coined by Dwid Hellion, refers to a hybrid of horror punk and hardcore punk. The Misfits' 1983 album Earth A.D. inaugurated this style and the bands Septic Death, The Banner, and Integrity have also been categorized into this subgenre.
Read more about Horror Rock: Notable Horror Punk Musicians
Famous quotes containing the words horror and/or rock:
“When Sir Robert Walpole was dying, he told Ranby his surgeon that he desired his body might be opened. Ranby acting great horror cried, “Good God, my Lord, don’t talk of that!” “Nay,” said Sir Robert, “it will not be till I am dead, and that I shall not feel it—nor you neither.””
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)