Some days ago I asked to Francesco to write his personal top ten of metal albums... and ultimately I asked the same thing to myself but with my favourite hardcore punk albums. Yes, as every top ten worthy of this name, also this one is a bit restrictive. But I featured mainly the bands that have had a strong impact on me, for a reason or another.
But why did I write a hardcore punk top ten and not a metal one also since I was born as a metalhead? Because in these times infested by the Covid-19 terror, hardcore punk has been particularly important for me, as you'll see soon, and not only for the compilation about the LazioHC that I did some months ago with the same Francesco.
Now, I discovered this genre something like 12 years ago when I bought "American Hardcore", a book by Steven Blush released in 2001 but published in Italy only 6 years later. Thanks to it, I knew the existence of bands like Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Minor Threat and many many others. Only reading the book, I liked already a lot the energy of these people, their courage to face everything also simply by their moniker (never heard an act naming MDC, acronym for Millions of Dead Cops?), talking about in their songs not only of State and society often in an anarchist way but also about their local musical scene, in a creative way to discuss themselves. In fact, I thought already that you had to have some pair of very big balls to be into the '80s hardcore punk! And so, it started my journey into this music that, in a more conscious way, still continues.
But, actually, hardcore isn't only a music. For me, it's a lot of things: it's fun, it's energy, a place where the different is accepted, a violent but healthy way of dancing... but also a struggle. It can be a struggle against the world, a struggle against the society, a struggle to have a better life and even a struggle against yourself. Yes, it's also a struggle to liberate you from your demons, your negativity, the toxic elements, in order to feel good about yourself.
But this introduction is maybe becoming too a (scant!) philosophical treatise, so let's start to discover this new top ten and enjoy it!
