Ten Outsider Hardcore Bands to Know from 1980s America

In the annals of American hardcore during the 1980s, for every scorching Dischord, SST, or Touch & Go platter, there was a multitude of weird, self-released, esoteric records made by bands that marched to their own unique (off) beat. This list focuses on releases that, apart from record collectors, are a bit more obscure to the general hardcore connoisseur. The outsider term refers to the fact that a lot of these groups played music that was far removed from the margins of what was considered “popular” in hardcore circles back then. For the most part, they released their own records, sometimes with individualized layouts in ridiculously low pressings. Being against the grain within a subculture that’s already singling itself off from the norm is a Herculean task that brings scant recognition from your peers, not to mention society at large.

It’s the nature of these types of lists that a good of number of worthy candidates will be left out, there’s no particular rhyme or reason for my picks. I just chose some old favorites that still resonate with me. I welcome others to come up with their own lists, anything to help spotlight some long forgotten diamonds in the rough lest they languish in obscurity.

Spike In Vain – Disease Is Relative LP (1984)

No Hope

Power Of The Spoken Word – The Language Of A Dying Breed LP (1984)

Hailing from the hinterlands of Lincoln, Nebraska, this is one wonderfully strange LP that at first glance seems like some kind of art school avant garde project gone wrong. Repeated listening tips you off to the fact that this bunch were on their own (strange) trip all together. My old friend Erich Keller (from the great Good/Bad Music blog) once described this LP as Pagan Hardcore and that is an apt metaphor. The alchemical and at times surreal sounds makes you think that hardcore kids out in the nation’s heartland in the 80s had tons of downtime to sit around, do lots of drugs, and create twisted sounds that referenced highbrow subjects such as opera/mythology/sorcery all the while staying within the perimeters of hardcore/punk, albeit one that’s definitely unconventional in style and substance.

There’s also a heavy 60s psychedelic vibe to it all, not in the music per se, more on the overall feel that listening to this can somehow expand your consciousness and take you to different planes of reality. Trippy stuff, especially coming from such a minimalist-minded movement as hardcore. I read somewhere that both the singer and guitarist sadly passed away a few years ago. Here’s a tribute to them and the unconventional creative genius that provided the impetus for this esoteric masterpiece.

Chemotherapy – seven-inch (1983)

Chemotherapy’s seven-inch from Indianapolis in 1983 (only 300 copies made) is the quintessential Charles Record: sloppy, out of tune songs that reach Shaggs-like level of incompetent brilliance. Lack of proficiency in playing instruments would be a deterrent in just about any musical genre but it is exactly this “weakness” that elevates the seven-inch to Dadaist improvisational levels, something I’m pretty sure Chemotherapy wasn’t consciously aware of at the time.

They were merely content with putting their stamp on this new underground sound, with little or no musical skills notwithstanding. I couldn’t find their classic outsider seven-inch anywhere up on YouTube so you’ll have to settle for this live clip in all their ragged glory, recorded at the high school they attended in 1983.

Psycho Sin – You Axed For It EP (1987)

Forward To The Caves Psychotic Sin

Sewer Zombies – Reach Out And… LP (1985)

Rumor has it that a middle-aged Canadian was the mastermind of the band, hiring local punk/hardcore musicians to do his bidding, blissfully unaware of current (at the time) hardcore trends. Their second LP, from 1987, entitled Conquer The Galaxy, goes for a lo-fi KrautRock meets hardcore with synthesizers vibe that defies easy categorization. Thank the heavens for these life-affirming sounds, conjured up yesteryear in that tropical hell known as Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Cyanamid – Stop The World I Want To Get Off EP (1984)

I would venture that Flipper’s slow-is-the-new core agenda was a big influence on this song coupled with the funny yet despairing vocals that appear to be wholly improvised at times. I would see multiple copies of this record for sale at fairs and nobody cared, opting instead to look for the most obscure KBD/Japanese hardcore and what have you. Interest in this has grown throughout the years, probably a good time for some enterprising collector buff to make an “Outsider Hardcore” series, in which this distorted (in a good way) record would have to be included.

Horror Planet – Cowpies From Outer Space EP (1985)

This release came in individually hand painted covers gathered from old sheets, slipcovers, mattress covers, burlap bags, and random fabric. Arguments among band members over painting these covers led to them breaking up, according to backup singer Weaselworm Crumboy. Guitarist Glen Cummins went on to Ludichrist/Scatterbrain, Singer “Party” Paul later did a band called GOD, more on the Big Black/Killdozer tip and Weaselworm can be found playing in NYC bars these days w/the Pepper Kings.

You can still purchase the original objects that led to their demise.

Screaming Mailboxes of Destiny (SMD) – 12-inch (1985)

I met SMD’s singer Jim Hayes in the 90s and by that point he had moved on to whatever post-hardcore scene was going on at the time but he had fond memories of pissing off the local Pittsburgh hardcore scene police by refusing to play what was in vogue back then. He went on to do more experimental and noise oriented bands, like a lot of people on this list.

Deathrage – Split 7″ (Recorded in ’84, released in ’93)

Only demos exist of these atavistic tunes but a live on WFMU radio rendition of their regional “hit” named “Murdering the Brady Bunch” was released in 1993 on a split ep with The Burnt on Headache records.

Boom & The Legion Of Doom – Hate To Love, Love To Hate EP (1986)

Not exactly the type of antics that would endear themselves to anyone. They also refused to use their real names or what they called their “slave names,” going by alter-egos like Smelly Mustafa, Tony Fish, Pork Butt, and the aforementioned Boom. Their fast-at-any-speed sound was a huge influence on the 90s’ power violence movement, with their inclusion on the seminal document of that subgenre: The Bllleeeaaauuurgh compilation from 1991.

Blood, animal parts, drugs, violence, and audience apathy were all par the course for this demented bunch that went against the grain within a supposedly nonconformist subculture.

Endnote:
People that have been following these types of bands for years will probably say what about Born Without A Face, United Mutation, Suburban Death Trip, Blood Farmers, Appliances SFB, Stiff Legged Sheep, E13, Like A Horse, Premature Babies, No Trend etc… No, I didn’t forget about any of them. That’s the great thing about American hardcore in the 80s: It’s the equivalent of garage rock in the 60s as far as the sheer volume of bands that were produced so these are just the tip of the iceberg, there’s a whole world of underrated oddball hardcore out there.

Freddy Alva is a NYC by-way-of-Peru native and a diehard fan of the willfully obscure. Follow him on Twitter.