“Decisions with Precisions”: New Directions for Hardcore in Washington, DC

Abstract

The music made in Washington DC in the late 1970s and early 1980s fundamentally changed punk. Washington DC was a different environment than the other cities where punk was based in that it was majority Black during this period, with a significant Black presence in the suburbs. The emergence of Bad Brains, an all-Black quartet, at the center of the scene established punk as an authentic form of expression for African Americans and other people of color. Bad Brains and Minor Threat also raised the stakes for musicality in hardcore punk, with complex songs played with virtuosic technique, and they reintroduced elements such as blues-based riffs and rhythmic variations. This chapter also describes the ways in which the punk scene in Washington DC solidified punk’s status as music by and for teenagers and Generation X.