I always thought the music scene followed a similar pattern of *a small handful of bands come up with a unique and innovative sound, become popular off it, then a second generation of bands copy those first gen bands and become moderately popular off it but not as popular as the first gen bands, then an inordinate number of local bands do the same thing but no one ends up caring about them cuz they’re all the same (which is where I get the content from my “bands that never got anywhere then disappeared” posts)*.
But lately I am finding more and more examples of bands that were so ahead of the curve that they don’t fit into this mold at all and will probably go uncredited for unknowingly creating genres long before those genres became a thing. Here are my favorite examples of these types of advanced bands that have managed to slip under the SYWH radar until now.
Crabcore
Attack Attack invented the trancecore breakdown, right? No? Perhaps its origin can be traced back a bit further to those British fraggles in Enter Shikari? WRONG! Apparently it was actually this crappy Eulogy records band. This is probably the most clear-cut example of “it’s not about who did it first, it’s about who did it best” because this band is almost unlistenable to me. Regardless, they do deserve their credit. Shout-outs to Andrew for making me aware of this band.
Srscore
Bands like The Ghost Inside and Counterparts have gotten big in the scene within the last few years but metalcore-tinged melodic hardcore (or melodic hardcore-tinged metalcore for all you elitists) has been a thing since the 90′s. Shai Hulud would be a good example of this but I think lots of people already know that band because Chad from New Found Glory was in it, so I am using this lesser-known Christcore band to display a prehistoric version of this style.
Neon Pop
Forever The Sickest Kids are widely thought of as the Kings Of Neon within the SYWH community, but they definitely weren’t the first band to play synth-ridden powerpop that’s heavy on the autotune and marketed towards girls who wear colorful Osiris high-tops and training bras. The lyrics to this song are soooo cheesy. I don’t know if he was thinking of all the potential poon he would get while writing this or if it’s actually indicative of his personalty, but either way it fits the music perfectly. The music video version of this song isn’t as good but peep dat OG neon aesthetic.
Hollistercore
Hollistercore, for all those unfamiliar, is late 2000′s pop rock for lack of a better term. This song was a big hit on Canadian TV and radio back in 2001, but it easily could’ve blended in with Fearless records’ roster circa 2008. I think it is catchy enough to contend with any of the best songs on The Maine’s first and only good album (Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop).
Easycore
I always know how to spot a poser when they tell me that Lifetime was the first easycore band. Lifetime had NOTHING to do with easycore. But around the same time that Lifetime was first getting popular, Strung Out was releasing classic EpiFat skate punk albums that had some surprisingly EZ moments. Check out the moshy riff at 1:28, it totally sounds like a sped-up version of something from “Rise or Die Trying”.
Tr00 Pop Punk
Although Saves The Day are largely regarded as the original tr00 pop punk band by leading pop punk scholars, that’s not to say there weren’t other bands playing this brand of feelsy (ugh, I hate that word) pop punk before the obvious TSSF, post-ez TWY, etc. This song totally sounds like it could’ve been a Man Overboard single or something.
Deathcore
I always thought the roots of deathcore could be traced as far back as All Shall Perish’s forgettable first album and shoddy Suicide Silence demos from when they were mostly known for their Family Guy samples, but apparently not! This band was playing music in 1998 that is so similar to deathcore, that I think it would be unfair to not mention them while discussing the genre’s roots. I have no idea what this band’s influences were or what genre they were considered at the time, but I am befuddled and partially disturbed at how advanced they were. Big thanks to Aleksander Abdulov for showing me them.
AtTheGatescore
I got a few complaints for not including these guys in my ATTHEGATESCORE post and the reason why I didn’t is because I don’t think they’re very good. I prefer talking about bands I like. All things aside, this band was innovative and definitely one of the first (if not, the first) band to play this style of metalcore.
R&Bcore
If R&Bcore catches on (fingers crossed that it will), Issues are undoubtedly going to be seen as the sole pioneers of the genre, as we are just now seeing bands attempt to jock their sound (Palisades I see you). Although this song only came out 4 years ago, it is from before Issues was even a band, so I would consider it pretty advanced. That part at 0:54 sounds like it could’ve been sung by da gawd Tyler Carter himself.
#ezcrab
I didn’t want to include too many crappy bands in this post but #ezcrab is one of my favorite genres and I have to credit these guys for playing it (albeit, very poorly) 3+ years before it became a thing. This band actually evolved into a far superior crabcore band called “We Are Danger” and after that band fell through, the drummer became a part of the notorious AskingAlexandriacore band “Capture The Crown” and then eventually quit that band to become a solo Country artist (srs).
Which of these bands do you think was the most advanced? What are some other examples you can come up with of bands playing music that sort of resembles faux-genres that were created soon after and are mostly only relevant in the wébsite Stüff Yoû Will Hàté?
