Misplaced Pages

Grindcore

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 200.163.2.88 (talk) at 19:24, 15 May 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 19:24, 15 May 2004 by 200.163.2.88 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Napalm Death - Scum

Grindcore is an extreme form of heavy metal related to death metal, but historically formed by combining elements of early thrash metal (which predated the advent of death metal) and the music and attitude of hardcore punk.

Historical Roots and Influences

The genre was pioneered in the 1980s by the proto-grindcore U.S. bands Siege (a hardcore punk band whom only released a demo entiled Drop Dead) and Repulsion (only later exposed to the world in 1989 through the album Horrified which was released in Europe by Necrosis Records, a label owned by members of Carcass). The first true grindcore band was the British band Napalm Death. The genre was given its name by Napalm Death's drummer Mick Harris. Since then, the grind sound has evolved but is still recognisable by its intense blast-beat drumming, grinding guitars (hence the name), and very short songs (the Napalm Death song "You Suffer" is listed as the shortest song ever by the Guinness Book of Records, clocking in at 0.75 seconds; however, others such as the Cripple Bastards on their demo 94 Flashback di Massacro, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed on their 3" cd/10" lp Altered States of America have taken this aesthetic to greater extremes).

Subgenres

Grindcore has proven somewhat difficult to categorize. Some fans and musicians have a firm concept of genre and subgenre, but others reject such categorization as limiting or useless. There is often significant crossover from one category to another, and often the influence of non-metal music is present.

  • Political grindcore: This subgenre is known for having politically aware lyrics, and is sometimes associated with the crust punk and peace punk movement. Of all the subgenres of grindcore, this one remains the most musically similar to the earliest grindcore bands.
  • Goregrind: This subgenre started with the band Carcass, and is most notable for having gore obsessed lyrics, more of a "groove", and pitchshifted vocals. Of all the subgenres this one currently has the most commercial success (which is a relative thing, of course).
  • Cybergrind: Cybergrind is a form of grindcore that, aside from the instruments used by ordinary grindcore, uses computer generated sounds and/or drum machines and other synthetic instruments.

Some notable Grindcore bands:

Heavy metal
Subgenres and
fusion genres
Musical elements
Notable scenes
and movements
Culture