Music of Detroit - Hardcore

Hardcore

The Detroit suburbs were the location of one of the first important hardcore punk scenes that swept underground America in the early 1980s. By the end of 1981 the new style sometimes known as "Midwest Hardcore" had exploded across North America and Detroit was one of several important regional centers fostering its spread.

Hardcore punk was a perfect fit in Metro Detroit. Rock music there had always been louder, harder and more aggressive than in the rest of the country. In the 1960s while other rock music scenes were consumed by countless acts riding the "flower children" zeitgeist, Detroit musicians such as the MC5 and the Stooges were playing to huge crowds at the Grande Ballroom and inventing punk rock in the process. While once epitomizing the prosperity of the working class "American dream," Detroit had seen its massive base of high paid manufacturing jobs decimated. Thousands of applicants would line up for a dozen job openings. By the time the 1980s rolled around there wasn't a kid in Southeastern Michigan who didn't know quite well that the days affording a comfortable life through a factory job were long gone. The rage and anger which permeated the hardcore punk of the era was something the Detroit area had in seemingly unlimited supplies.

One key event in the birth of the Detroit scene was the screening of the documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization at the Punch & Judy theater in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. Hundreds of Detroit kids saw in its portrayal of the west coast punk scene something that suited their own situation perfectly and quickly dedicated themselves to bringing this new subculture to bloom in Detroit. Two of the earliest Suburban Detroit hardcore punk bands were the Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan band The Holes and Grosse Pointe Park band Degenerates.

The Detroit scene was not an isolated phenomenon but also the focus for a number of sister scenes throughout Michigan and northern Ohio. The major hardcore bands of this early regional scene included Lansing, Michigan's The Meatmen,Springfield Michigans Latin Dogs Kalamazoo, Michigan's Violent Apathy, Spite, and The Crucifucks, Toledo, Ohio's Necros, and Detroit's Negative Approach.