Music Sound

Post-hardcore, as the name might suggest, is a musical offshoot of the hardcore punk movement. The earliest appearances of the genre were in Washington, D.C. in the mid- to late-1980s (see the era's releases on Dischord Records, for example), though it was not widely known until the early 1990s. Post-hardcore, as a musical genre, is marked by its precise rhythms and loud guitar-based instrumentation accompanied by vocal performances that are as often sung as whispered or shouted. The genre has developed a unique balance of dissonance and melody, in part channeling the loud and fast hardcore ethos into more measured, subtle forms of tension and release. It shares with its hardcore roots an intensity and social awareness as well as a DIY punk ethic, yet eschews much of the unfocused rage and loose, sometimes amatuerish musicianship of punk rock.

One of the most influential and prolific post-hardcore bands was El Paso's At the Drive-In. The genre also includes bands with decidedly art rock leanings such as Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, Quicksand, and Hoover.

The original post-hardcore sound became more and more difficult to find throughout the 1990s and has nearly vanished from the public eye, though the genre still thrives in more underground circles as well as in new, more radical forms. Related genres include both emo and math rock, which share a common heritage with post-hardcore, though these two genres have since diverged and developed uniquely unto themselves.

Post-hardcore bands

Hardcore punk | Hardcore punk genres
Christian hardcore - Crust punk - D-beat - Funkcore - Grindcore - Mathcore - Melodic hardcore - Power violence - Ska punk - Skate punk - Straight edge - Thrashcore - Youth crew
Derivative forms: Emo - Math rock - Post-hardcore
Regional scenes: Australia

Punk rock
Anarcho-punk - Anti-folk - Crust punk - Garage punk - Hardcore - Post-hardcore - Horror punk - New Wave - No Wave - Noise rock - Oi! - Pop punk - Post-punk - Psychobilly - Riot grrrl - Ska punk - Streetpunk - Two Tone