Hardcore wasn’t always for rich, popular Christian kids in skinny jeans and scene hair. Long ago, in a galaxy far away, it was a more extreme form of punk rock. This is old news to anybody around my age, but I don’t think kids these days fully grasp it because it was literally ten years before the kids in Attack Attack! or whatever were even born. I didn’t get into hardcore until 1989, when it had been in full swing for many years and Youth of Today brought in hordes of jock moshers, but even then it was a very different beast than today.
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A land before flat irons
At that time, hardcore certainly wasn’t for anybody who was remotely cool, popular, good-looking or otherwise healthy and happy to be alive. People like Scott Vogel understand this, which is why I like it so much when he says “We are not a rock and roll band. We are not cool. We are fucked up kids just like all of you.” Hardcore was for fucked up kids, and at least to me, it meant bands like SOA, Minor Threat, Black Flag, MDC, DRI, Poison Idea, and believe it or not, the Beastie Boys. Many people don’t know that they weren’t always a gay, uptight “rap” group for socially-conscious college students who go on to be shitbag yuppies that drive Volvos– they were actually one of the first hardcore bands, way back in 1981 or so.
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Not only that, but their song “Riot Fight” is the first example of a blast beat that I am aware of, predating NYC Mayhem, Infest, Napalm Death and all that Earache stuff by several years. So all you thrash dorks who worship Nine Shocks Terror or whatever should probably be jocking the Beasties for pioneering this shit. I really wish the Beasties would have stayed a hardcore band, because they were really good at it, and it was way cooler than when they lost my respect by taking back all the ignorant, misogynist, and homophobic stuff they said on “License to Ill.”
Later on, they did a few hardcore songs on “Ill Communication” the “Aglio e Olio” EP (featuring Suicidal Tendencies’ Amery Smith on drums), but basically moved away from it after “Pollywog Stew.” And it’s a shame, because they were a really fucking good hxc/thrash band.
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DFL = What if the Beasties kept playing thrash?
Enter DFL, or Dead Fucking Last. Originally featuring Adam Yauch on bass, DFL is basically what it would sound like if the Beasties hadn’t turned into boring, gay rap for oversexed, middle class college kids. They released a 7″ called “My Crazy Life,” a CDEP version of the 7″ and I think two LPs, but I think the 7″ is their best material.
It basically sounds like a band that would have played with JFA, MDC, Adolescents, or any of the other 80s hardcore bands I grew up on. Like those bands, they played raw, fast hardcore, but never lost their sense of humor- I still laugh at the intro to one of the songs where he introduces the band as “Crazy Monty, Crazy Adam, Crazy Tom, and Fucked Up Tony.”
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I feel like all the dorks who got into the whole “thrash” thing in the 90s totally overlooked this band because they were on Epitaph, despite that DFL did 80s hardcore better than any of the crappy bands putting out one generic, shitty 7″ after the next. Now that kids are into the whole Municipal Waste thing, maybe they’ll finally get their due?
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Either way, don’t sleep on DFL if you missed them in the 90s! This 7″ fucking rips, and I’m pretty sure this is long, long out of print (it was on Grand Royal), so I’m including a download link: Cop the DFL 7″ here
Dude, mad props for "Heart Attack Man". I actually wanted to cover that with my old punk band. "Tough Guy" was pretty sweet, but this is the first time I've heard of DFL, thanks for the link!
DFL was kind of a Minor Threat ripoff back in the day… But I used to like "proud to be"
I've heard some of the Beasties old Hardcore stuff but it doesn't really stick out to me compared to all the other stuff around that time. I prefer Rap beasties, and I think their aesthetic was very influential even if they as a music group are pretty much irrelevant to kids today.
Word to the first part though. Since hardcore music/fashion has pretty much been assimilated into the mainstream and is now the exclusive domain of popular, photogenic Christers, what do "Outsider" (READ: Ugly, fat, socially awkward, maladjusted, poor) kids do now? Become juggalos? I can't even conceive of "Hardcore" without fat dudes being involved.
I remember back in my thrash filled 80's thinking that ugly people made the best music because they have nothing to lose by being completely honest.
Self loathing + unrelenting hatred = fucking ripping tunes.
CallPastorBob
this is probly one of the more honest comments I’ve read on here.
Backed hard
Sweet post. Personally, I only overlooked this stuff because I think 80s HC and thrash belongs in the 80s, and these bands could never recapture the spontaneity and emotion of their original recordings, when being hardcore meant getting fucked with, even in places like LA, SF, and NYC. But, if they helped the new kids learn some history then mad props to them. (As you young'uns like to say.)
Because they put out some great HC songs, I've always had a soft spot for the Beastie Boys, even when they were putting out albumns that I didn't listen to. On some level, I admire there ability to move between a lot of different musical genres. They are a bit like Ween in that regaurd.
PROUD TO BE DFL! I still love this band to the day!
Chato
i always assumed dfl was some cracker ska band from california. epitaph in the 90s…
I saw DFL at the Showcase Theatre in Corona open for 7 Seconds in January of 1996. The place was packed and went nuts for them.
"Time For Livin'" from the Beastie Boys Check Your Head album is a note-for-note ripoff of a a song by an early 80s New York Hardcore band called Frontline. Beastie Boys just changed the words. The drummer of Frontline was Mackie, later of the Cro-Mags.
Great site. The credits for Time For Livin' lists Sly Stone (aka Sylvester Stewart) AND Frontline. Hardcore/funk, mash-up/cover? I'll have to check it out some more.
DFL – best snowboarding tunes.
Def have a DFL tattoo, haha. Got it in 97/98?? Best decision I’ve ever made.
WHat kind of an illiterate asshole uses the word “gay’” so many times in his post while at the same time accuses the Beasties as being “homophobic”. You fucking poser turd wannabe.