There was a surprisingly robust hardcore music scene in the extremely suburban county I grew up in. I was never fully in that world for a lot of reasons; however, I hung out on the periphery and have a fondness for it.
Recently I ran across the work by Dave Hofer to digitize the music and video from that time period. It’s amazing to me just how much of that exists! This was before the ubiquity of cell phones and digital cameras. Apparently a lot of people thought to record what was going on and I’m sure I rolled my eyes at this effort back then and now I’m very glad for it.
Hofer’s youtube channel is full of concert videos and it’s wild to watch these. The music is often unlistenable (a really “you had to be there” sort of sound), but seeing glimpses of people I knew back in the day having a lot of fun playing music or just jumping around is delightful.
Strength in Numbers
I quickly scanned through this video and while I don’t think I was at this concert I was definitely at similar show in that basement for Strength in Numbers. As a parent I have to admit I’m a little alarmed at all these kids throwing elbows in a finished basement. That said, I also not-so-secretly hope my kids do the same someday: