Top 10 Post-Hardcore Bands

Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups who emerged from the hardcore punk scene, or took inspiration from hardcore, while concerning themselves with a wider degree of expression. The genre took shape in the mid- to late-1980s with releases from the Midwestern United States. These included bands on SST Records. and bands from Washington, D.C. such as Fugazi. (see the era's releases on Dischord Records, for example), as well as slightly different sounding groups such as Big Black and Jawbox that stuck closer to the noise rock roots of post-hardcore.

1980s

Post-hardcore is an offspring coming from hardcore punk,^[2] which had typically featured very fast tempos, loud volume and heavy bass levels.^[5]

By the mid-1980s, groups classified as hardcore, or with strong roots in the genre, began to experiment with the basic template. The initial outcropping of these groups typically recorded for SST Records^[6] (the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr., and Gone), and emerged from the increasingly experimental tendencies of Black Flag and Greg Ginn's evolving musical tastes. Many of these groups also took inspiration from the '80s noise rock scene pioneered by Sonic Youth.^[4] Steve Albini's group Big Black, and subsequent projectsRapeman and Shellac are also associated with post-hardcore.^[4] Critic Steven Blush described Big Black as "an angst-ridden response to the rigid English post-punk of Gang of Four".^[7] Naked Raygun also made use of "oblique lyrics and stark post-punk melodies".^[7]

Later releases on Dischord Records also extended the post-hardcore style, most famously in the work of Fugazi,^[2][4] but also including bands such as Embrace, Rites of Spring, Nation of Ulysses, Jawbox, Shudder to Think, and Lungfish. Dischord groups also experimented with influences from soul, dub, post-punk, funk, jazz, and dance-punk. Math rock and to some degree, riot grrl were offshoots of this movement.

1990s

During the 90's a third iteration of post-hardcore took place with the work of musicians who had first come to prominence in the youth crewscene, most famously Fugazi, Unsane, Quicksand, On the Might of Princes,^[2][4] Drive Like Jehu, Unwound, Les Savy Fav, Refused, Hot Water Music, Cap'n Jazz, Texas Is the Reason and Helmet. The genre then experienced a stand by stage when most of the major bands in the scene disbanded.

It seemed that the post-hardcore style and its scene was gone for good. Nevertheless, some bands associated with art punk and alternative rock like Glassjaw, Idlewild and At the Drive-In^[4] who were influenced by many post-hardcore bands, took certain elements of the genre renewing it and avoiding what it seemed to be its imminent disappearance.

As a consequence of this, post-hardcore began to be listened by other groups of persons foreign to the underground scene. In other words, it passed to the mainstream or popular circuit.

 

2000s

In the late 1990s, new bands formed who popularized the style. These include Glassjaw, Thursday,^[8] Thrice,^[9]Finch,^[10] and Poison the Well.^[11] By 2003, post-hardcore had caught the attention of major labels includingIsland Records, who signed Thrice and Thursday, Atlantic Records, who signed Poison the Well, and Geffen Records, who had absorbed Finch from their former label Drive-Thru Records. Post-hardcore also began to do well in sales with Thrice's The Artist in the Ambulance and Thursday's War All the Time which charted #16^[12]and #7,^[13] respectively, on the Billboard 200 in 2003.

Around this time, a new wave of post-hardcore bands began to emerge onto the scene that incorporated morepop punk and alternative rock styles into their music. These bands include: The Used,^[14] Hawthorne Heights,^[15] Senses Fail,^[16] From First to Last^[17] and Emery^[18] in addition to Canadian post-hardcore bandsSilverstein^[19] and Alexisonfire.^[20] This group of post-hardcore bands gained mainstream recognition with the help of MTV and Warped Tour. The Used released some minor radio hits and later received gold certifications for their first two studio albums The Used and In Love and Death from the RIAA.^[21] Hawthorne Heights' debut album The Silence in Black and White was also certified gold.^[21]

Due to this wave's prominent use of screamed vocals, in addition to softer vocals, these bands are often described using the misnomer "screamo." According to Jim Farber of NY Daily News, the band Thursday used the term screamo, "as a goof to describe bands like [theirs], which play a louder version of what is known to music fans as 'emo'."^[22] Though it's derived from the same roots, screamo is an entirely different genre of music. Contrasting to post-hardcore, screamo is more aggressive and abrasive genre featuring songs that are almost entirely screamed over "deafeningly loud rocking noise" mixed with "suddenly quiet, melodic guitar lines."^[23] Jonathan Dee of The New York Times wrote that the term "tends to bring a scornful laugh from the bands themselves."^[24] Many bands of this era have defended that their music is not screamo including Silverstein,^[25] Thursday,^[22][26] The Hot Lies,^[27] The Used,^[28] and Alexisonfire.^[29]

This Top 10 Post-Hardcore Bands

10. All That Remains - This Calling
9. Enter Shikari - Sorry You're Not A Winner
8. A Static Lullaby - The Art Of Sharing Lovers
7. Aiden - Die Romantic
6. Chiodos - There's No Pinguins In Alaska
5. The Devil Wears Prada - Still Fly
4. Silverstein - Still Dreaming
3. Alesana - Seduction
2. A Day To Remember - Speak Of The Devil
1. Hawthrone Heights - Saying Sorry

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UtbJG3FLuKA