Why Today is Better than Yesterday

(written by stuff you will hate)

(note: HXC = hardcore)

Reading my posts, especially the HXC History/Do U Remember ones, you could def. get the impression that I’m some kind of oldfag that sits around nostalgic about the past – but nothing could be further from the truth! (well, the old part is pretty right on…)

I actually really hate those kinds of people that clamor for the ‘old days’ – and I’m gonna tell you why *right now* is so much better than the old days ever were. This list below is completely irony free BTW.

Getting Into Music – it was actually fuckin’ hard back then! You usually needed a scumbag friend (someone’s older brother) that was a total pain in the ass to deal with (mine used to non-ironically steal my mom’s car), but usually had plenty of entry level punk and hardcore. If you didn’t have a scumbag, chances are you would have just listened to mainstream music. We also used to track down tunes we heard on skate vids/tape comps etc. Hard work!

Finding Music – we really used to have to travel to find punk/hxc music. For us it was to Boston (Newbury Comics specifically), which was a good hour away. There used to be complex tape trading/selling going on in fanzines – this sucked!

Finding Shows – sure, newspapers usually had ads for the bigger clubs, but the smaller shows were usually flyer only – so you had to go to shows all the time to get news of the next ones – fuckin’ exhausting!

Finding Info On Bands – I still remember ’87, standing in front of a wall of Black Flag tapes at Newbury Comics and having no idea what kind of order these things go in – sure I loved ‘Who’s Got The 10 1/2′ but what should I pick up next – nightmare! I just picked the one that had some songs I knew on it (Slip It In). Ugh – awful way to get music! You would honestly know nothing about bands unless you searched out hard-to-find fanzines and the like.

 

Transporting Music – we used to have to lug around these things called tapes back then, and man did they blow! Leave ‘em in a hot car and they warped. Step on ‘em and they cracked. The players would eat them. Fuckin’ awful format! Plus, you could honestly only have so many tapes on hand… I still have a few boxes of ‘em in the basement.

Chicks Not Into It – chicks at shows back then?!? No thanks! Not even ‘edgy’ chicks were into HXC back then – those that were were either scumbag’s girlfriends or just plain sour. I took an ‘alternative’ girl to a show once – she didn’t speak to me for a month after.

Overly optimistic artist rendition of typical '80s hxc chick

Scene Not So Great – There was no more ‘unity’ or ‘brotherhood’ back then than there is now – scene politics/who-knows-who ruled the day back then too – don’t let anyone tell you different.

Production Quality – most hardcore from ‘back then’ was recorded so shitty… I mean, that ‘Destroy the Ghost’ jam everyone was making fun of the other day sounded better than 90% of the revered NYHC stuff! I personally think it’s very cool that kids today can put out well recorded tunes on a small budget. Great stuff!

So srs – shit is so much better now! You can download a band’s complete discography in minutes and find out their complete history. You can quickly look up complete tour dates and get in touch with band members if you want to! You can carry thousands of songs around in a little device! Chicks are into bands like Winds of Plague/Asking Alexandria/We Came As Romans/etc! Who gives a shit if it’s not ‘tr00 hxc’ – close enough in my book! Honestly – I love all the stuff I just listed!! This makes *now* so awesome!

So please just keep these things in mind the next time some oldfag goes on about the ‘old days’ – and don’t end up like one of those people! Remember – the kids tomorrow will have it even better than you & you should be happy about it! Don’t start bitching in 15 years to kids that are streaming retro-dubcore from the cloud through their winter hats how “we had it tough back in the day… only 10,000 songs on a device!” I warn you ’cause I love you guys!