Turnstile, This is Hardcore

If these guys weren’t from Maryland, and this video wasn’t from a show in Philadelphia, I’m not sure I’d be posting it, but some small part of the fun was trying to find our buddy Steve in the crowd at this show.

It’s quite a show. I love the hurtling, twisting, spastic bodies of the stage divers, the oculus of mosh out in the middle of the floor, the way the bass player puts down his guitar and dives into the crowd, then returns to stage and joins back in with the band.

I love the vocalist saying he’s not much with words, and the way he shares the mic at every opportunity.

I love that there are straight edge kids.

I compare this stuff to the Bad Brains clip Steve posted last week and I have to say that it surprises me that this is a style that endures. But the vocalist loves hardcore, it gives him a voice, and you can see it in every angular strut by the stage divers that it means a whole lot to all of them.  That’s a great feeling, one I’m happy to share.

Melodies? Who cares?

2 thoughts on “Turnstile, This is Hardcore

  1. Argh.

    Honestly, the folks who were into hardcore back in the day were surprised this style still endured in 1990.

    Everything about this video reeks of what you’re supposed to do and how you’re supposed to do it. I think my big aha moment on this came when a dad of a girl my daughter played softball with maybe 10 years ago was telling me about some commercial alternative band show he went to and bragging how he went in the mosh pit. It’s like when housewives start talking about the stock market.

    Saying Turnstile is like the Bad Brains is like saying Green Day is like The Angry Samoans.

    Only worse.

  2. I obviously didn’t make it clear, but in no way was I enamored of Turnstile’s music, which is mostly one note and doesn’t blister, but I am in awe of the feelings and ritual all these young folks seem so heartedly committed to at this show (and that Turnstile itself seems committed to, too). Maybe they should like better stuff, maybe they like better stuff but were revved up about being at this live show, I don’t know, but that isn’t what I was getting at in my post above. (Yeah, I get that mosh pits are old, but so are hot tubs, and there is a reason people keep getting into them.)

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