Merrick Deneen
Staff Reporter
Genres of music can often be categorized by many specific events that affect the growth of the genre, and this is even more prevalent in punk rock.
Its inception with the Sex Pistols in 1975, the movement into the Americas with the Ramones and CBGB’s, and the growth into California with hardcore bands like Black Flag and The Descendents. But none of these music scenes had the same effect as the Revolution Summer of 1985. This movement was birthed in Washington D.C. and only lasted for one summer. It was an aggressive attack on the punk ideology that was becoming more and more prevalent in the industry. Multiple bands who had formed, traded players, recorded albums, and toured D.C., all broke up all in one summer. There had been a growing anger and distain for the drugged-up shows, constant violence, and the typical sexism that was spreading throughout the scene.
Members were beginning to practice and write songs silently until that summer in 1985 the scene exploded and was filled with aggressively regimented bands that expressed their anger towards the punk mentality as loud as possible. Bands like Minor Threat founded the straight edge movement, which removed all drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex from their life. Bands such as Fugazi would embrace communal living, animal rights, and veganism and used creative means to express their views. This summer also birthed the genres of hardcore emotional music/ emo.
Although many of these bands rejected the notion of “emo”, it grew in popularity with bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace releasing albums that set the blueprint for emo bands later on. This summer was one the most intense and densely packed revolutions, and this is why it was so short lived. It burned so brightly and made its statement so loudly that there was nowhere else for it to go. It was the punk rock Woodstock.
Image Credit: Immo Wegmann on Unsplash
Comments