“Now you just turn your back. You said, ‘I don’t want it anymore.’” Gorilla Biscuits, “New Direction”.
From old school to new school, Hardcore music is more than music for the ears. It’s music for the heart- it will force an emotion on you. It’s music for the mind- it will promote a band’s beliefs and opinions and have you ponder on those ideas. It’s music for the soul- idealistic in the sense that it’s first priority is making fans not money.
Hardcore, and it’s emotion, beliefs, ideas and ideals, is important music. Why, then, do so many grow out of Hardcore once into adulthood?
If Hardcore advertised on billboards, the sign would say, “If you don’t fit in with your family or your school or society, come to a Hardcore show.” What they don’t tell you is once you get through the doors of the club, now you have to find a clique to fit in with- a group of peers that tells you how to dress, who you are allowed to associate with and how to think. To many, Hardcore is less about the music and dancing and more about their crew and their scene (their clique).
Maybe that is why people outgrow the music. People mature past and grow beyond needing to fit in with a high-school-like in-group. If a person sees Hardcore music as synonymous with a scene or a crew, they will grow out of both the clique and the music.
But, more importantly, when a person reaches the point in their life where they no longer need the acceptance and support of a pack, which most adults will, and that person associates Hardcore with a scene-crew-clique, they will not only, in turn, desert the music, they may abandon the ideals and beliefs Hardcore is the impetus and fuel for. People, often enough, turn their back on more than just the music. They may deny all the music is- music for the heart, mind and soul; the emotion, the points of view and beliefs, the idealism. For many, idealistically speaking, growing up is to give up.
Hardcore always, from it’s birth, has had scenes and crews. The cliquines is a big part of the music- in my opinion, a negative part. Nearly everyone grows out of needing to fit in with a childish circle. If you eliminate Hardcore’s clique-mentality, which people eventually and inevitably outgrow, maybe people do not grow out of listening to the music. And maybe they don’t lose the best parts of Hardcore- the emotion, the beliefs, the ideas, the ideals and the idealism. If a person doesn’t withdraw from, give up on, and turn their back on the music, maybe growing up, as idealism goes, doesn’t equate with giving up.
“Always trying to make things better. Make things better with fantasy. Open your eyes and you’ll see better. See it’s up to you and me. To fight for all the things we believe in.” Sick Of It All, “Stick Together”.