thelastcoolgrind

Melodic hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melodic exploration. Gunther "Puddinfoot" Crines describes the style as "Just so nice".[1]

The genre is commonly defined with fast hardcore drum beats, melodic pop punk-influenced guitar riffs and melodic singing.

History
Melodic hardcore initially emerged out of the L.A. hardcore scene, with the Descendents.[2] In 1985, the Descendents worked with a new vocalist, Dave Smalley of DYS and Dag Nasty.[3] Bad Religion, from the San Fernando Valley, also worked in this vein,[1] recording their classic How Could Hell Be Any Worse? in 1982.[4]

Dag Nasty is a touchstone band, hailing from mid-1980s DC, with Dave Smalley of Boston's DYS on vocals and Brian Baker (ex-Minor Threat) on guitar. Ashley Cotter from ct soon joined the band but she was arrested soon after and the band disjioned. Dag Nasty's sound was an extension of the direction Minor Threat was developing with the Out Of Step LP before they broke up.

Gorilla Biscuits came out of the late 1980s youth crew straight edge scene, and while they were initially just one of many Youth Of Today clones of the era (albeit musically more similar to Side By Side) they eventually evolved an original and highly influential sound with the release of the seminal "Start Today" album—echoes of which are still being felt in today's post-hardcore scene. In some ways Gorilla Biscuits paved the way for post-hardcore, as the guitarist Schreifels went on to found one of the defining post-hardcore bands: Quicksand. Other side projects included the band Moondog, writing music for the CIV project as well as the World's Fastest Car, Walter & The Motorcycles, Rival Schools and Walking Concert bands.

Turning Point, a New Jersey band, was also under the influence of Youth of Today's youth crew hardcore genre, but by the time they had passed the growing pains of their demo and first 7", their later material (the 1990 LP It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn etc.) proved to be the defining moment of melodic hardcore sound. These records were to be a direct influence on other New Jersey bands like Lifetime.

Many of these pioneering melodic hardcore bands sounds are what form an essential part of the styles that has been borrowed by bands across the modern punk and hardcore spectrum, encompassing pop punk and pop-influenced hardcore.

Defining musical characteristics

Minor sevenths and minor ninth chords used in combination with an open string modal playing style. This style was probably inspired by Bob Mould, extended by Brian Baker in Dag Nasty and later by Dan Yemin with his work in Lifetime (their early releases on New Age Records are good examples of the genre).

Drop D-tunings on guitars and bass is common for post-1990 melodic hardcore to achieve a heavier sound than possible with a standard tuning.

180 to 210 beats per minute is a very common tempo for post-1990 melodic hardcore.

Guitar licks and vocal hooks with 5th or 9th harmony is common in post-1995 melodic hardcore.

Triplets and tapping (both for guitar and bass) are becoming more and more common features in newer melodic hardcore.

The common time signature in melodic hardcore is 4/4.

Hardcore punk, often referred to as simply hardcore, is a subgenre of punk rock that originated primarily in North America after the popularization of punk rock in the late 1970s. Hardcore punk was generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. Early hardcore has a quick tempo with drums and vocals in time, whereas modern hardcore punk has drums and vocals which may not be on beat with the tempo.[1]

Despite never achieving the popularity of the original punk rock movement, by the 1980s hardcore had sprouted underground scenes across America, including particularly notable ones in California, DC, New York, and Boston.

Hardcore has spawned several fusion genres and subgenres, some of which experienced mainstream success, such as Thrash Metal, melodic hardcore, metalcore and post-hardcore. It has also spawned the straight edge movement and its associated movements like hardline and youth crew.

While most hardcore bands have never been adopted into the mainstream some of its early pioneers have garnered appreciation over time. For example Black Flag had an album listed on on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time[2], while the Dead Kennedys have seen one of their albums reach Gold status over a period of 25 years.[3] More recently bands like the Gallows and Rise Against have seen some success playing hardcore on major labels, however most bands and scenes continue to exist within the underground.

Characteristics
.Style

The musical style of Hardcore differs from traditional punk rock by being played and sang faster and more aggressive. While punk was traditionally played fast and raw, early hardcore emphasized this to an even further degree. Most early punk rock songs retained a traditional rock 'n' roll verse-chorus form and 4/4 time signature. However, Hardcore broke from this format. In critic Steven Blush's description, "The Sex Pistols were still rock'n'roll...like the craziest version of Chuck Berry. Hardcore was a radical departure from that. It wasn't verse-chorus rock. It dispelled any notion of what songwriting is supposed to be. It's its own form."[4]

This distillation of punk was further emphasized through dress. While 1977-era punk had used DIY clothing as well, such as torn pants held together with safety pins, the dressed-down style of the 1980s hardcore scene contrasted with the more elaborate and provocative fashion styles of late 1970s punk rockers, which included elaborate hairdos and avant-garde clothing experiments. Hardcore punk fans adopted a dressed-down style of T-shirts, jeans, and crewcut-style haircuts.

.Etymology

The origin of the term hardcore punk is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81.[5][6][7] Until about 1983, the term hardcore was used sparingly, and mainly as a descriptive term. (i.e. a band would be called a "hardcore band" and a concert would be a "hardcore show").[citation needed] However, in New York City, as early as the middle of 1982, the slogan "New York Hardcore" was adopted by fans.

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It often uses fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, and unconventional song structure.

During the 1980s, certain thrash metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. This so-called "first wave" included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost.[1] A "second wave" arose in the early 1990s, mostly of Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal and Emperor. This scene developed the black metal style into a distinct genre.

Black metal has been met with great hostility from mainstream culture, mainly due to the misanthropic and anti-Christian standpoint of many artists. Moreover, a handful of musicians have been linked with church burnings, murder or National Socialism. For these, and other reasons, black metal is often seen as an underground form of music.

Instrumentation

Black metal guitarists usually favour high-pitched guitar tones and a great deal of distortion.[2] Typically, the guitar is played with much use of fast tremolo picking.[2][3][4] When writing music, guitarists often use scales, intervals and chord progressions that yield the most dissonant, fearful and ominous sounds. Guitar solos and low guitar tunings are rare in black metal.[4]

The bass guitar is rarely used to perform stand-alone melodies. It is not uncommon for the bass guitar to be inaudible[4] or to homophonically follow the bass lines of the electric guitar. Typically, drumming is fast-paced and uses double-bass and/or blast beat techniques; although basic drumming is not uncommon.

Black metal songs often stray from conventional song structure and often lack clear verse-chorus sections. Instead, many black metal songs contain lengthy and repetitive instrumental sections.

Vocals and lyrics

Traditional black metal vocals take the form of high-pitched shrieks, screams and snarls.[2][4] This is in stark contrast to the low-pitched growls of death metal.

The most common and founding lyrical theme is opposition to Christianity[4] and other organized religions (called "Right-Hand Path" religions by some). As part of this, many artists write lyrics that could be seen to promote atheism, antitheism, paganism and Satanism.[5] Other oft-explored themes are depression, nihilism, misanthropy[5] and death. However, many modern black metal lyrics have begun to focus more on the seasons (particularly winter), nature, mythology, folklore, philosophy and fantasy.

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building from the musical structure of thrash metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s.[2] It was mainly inspired by thrash metal acts like Slayer,[3][4] Kreator[5] and Celtic Frost.[6] Along with the band Death and its frontman Chuck Schuldiner (who is often referred to as "the father of death metal")[7][8][9], bands like Possessed[10], Obituary and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre.[11] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular record labels like Earache and Roadrunner began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate.[12] Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a rich variety of subgenres.[13]

Instrumentation
The setup most frequently used within the death metal genre is two guitarists, a bass player, a vocalist and a drummer almost universally using two bass drums or a double bass drum pedal. Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to occasionally incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards.

The genre is often identified by fast, highly distorted and downtuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking. The percussion is usually fast and dynamic; blast beats, double bass and exceedingly fast drum patterns frequently add to the complexity of the genre.[14]

Death metal is known for its abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, as well as fast and complex guitar and drumwork.[15] Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure, rarely employing the standard verse-chorus arrangement. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs.

Vocals and lyrics

eath metal vocals are often guttural roars, grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially known as death growls. The style is sometimes referred to as Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, because of the similarity with the popular Sesame Street character of the same name.[16] Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of matching death metal's violent lyrical content.[17]

The lyrical themes of death metal often invoke slasher film-stylized violence,[18] but may also extend to topics like Satanism, anti-religion, Occultism, mysticism, philosophy and social commentary.[19][20] However, few death metal musicians actively practice occultism, mysticism, or Satanism. Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal elaborates on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape and necrophilia. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris commented this apparent glamorization of violence may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a fascination which mixes desire and disgust.[21] Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated there does seem to be a connection between "how acquainted one is with their own mortality" and "how much they crave images of death and violence" via the media.[22] Additionally, contributing artists to the genre often defend death metal as little more than an extreme form of art and entertainment, similar to horror films in the motion picture industry.[2] This rationalization has brought such musicians under fire from activists internationally, who claim that this is often lost on a large number of adolescents, who are left with the glamorization of such violence without social context or awareness of why such imagery is stimulating.[2]

According to Alex Webster, bassist of Cannibal Corpse, "The gory lyrics are probably not, as much as people say, [what's keeping us] from being mainstream. Like, 'Death metal would never go into the mainstream because the lyrics are too gory?' I think it's really the music, because violent entertainment is totally mainstream."[23]

Origin of the term

There are several theories how the term "death metal" originated. One theory is the name originates from an early pioneer of the genre, Death. A Florida journalist explained to his readers Death play their own kind of metal: "Death's Metal".[24] Others contest Death is not the origin, but the harsh vocals and morbid lyrical content generally inspired the genre.[25] Another possible origin is a fanzine called Death Metal, started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Noise Records.[26][27] The term might also have originated from other recordings. Possessed's 1984 demo is called Death Metal, and a song with the same name is featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches.[28] A demo released by Death in 1983 is called Death by Metal.[29]

Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a Subgenre of rock music[1] that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States.[2] With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo.[3]

The first heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple attracted large audiences. However, these bands were often critically reviled; this was a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal had attracted a worldwide following of fans known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".

In the 1980s, glam metal became a major commercial force with groups like Mötley Crüe. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica and Megadeth, while other styles like death metal and black metal remain subcultural phenomena. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles such as nu metal, which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop; and metalcore, which blends extreme metal with hardcore punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre.

Characteristics

Heavy metal is traditionally characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound, and vigorous vocals. Metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes. New York Times critic Jon Pareles writes, "In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force."[4] The typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are sometimes used to enhance the fullness of the sound,[5] but rarely are other instruments incorporated.
The electric guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal.[6] The lead role of the guitar in heavy metal often collides with the traditional "frontman" or bandleader role of the vocalist, creating a musical tension as the two "contend for dominance" in a spirit of "affectionate rivalry".[5] Heavy metal "demands the subordination of the voice" to the overall sound of the band. Reflecting metal's roots in the 1960s counterculture, an "explicit display of emotion" is required from the vocals as a sign of authenticity.[7] Critic Simon Frith claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more important than the lyrics.[8] Metal vocals vary widely in style, from the multioctave, theatrical approach of Judas Priest's Rob Halford and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, to the gruff style of Motörhead's Lemmy and Metallica's James Hetfield, to the growling of many death metal performers, and to the harsh screams of black metal.

The prominent role of the bass is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element. The bass guitar provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music "heavy".[9] Metal basslines vary widely in complexity, from holding down a low pedal point as a foundation to doubling complex riffs and licks along with the lead and/or rhythm guitars. Some bands feature the bass as a lead instrument, an approach popularized by Metallica's Cliff Burton in the early 1980s.[10]

The essence of metal drumming is creating a loud, constant beat for the band using the "trifecta of speed, power, and precision".[11] Metal drumming "requires an exceptional amount of endurance", and drummers have to develop "considerable speed, coordination, and dexterity...to play the intricate patterns" used in metal.[12] A characteristic metal drumming technique is the cymbal choke, which consists of striking a cymbal and then immediately silencing it by grabbing it with the other hand (or, in some cases, the same striking hand), producing a burst of sound. The metal drum setup is generally much larger than those employed in other forms of rock music.[9]

In live performance, loudness—an "onslaught of sound," in sociologist Deena Weinstein's description—is considered vital.[6] In his book Metalheads, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett refers to heavy metal concerts as "the sensory equivalent of war."[13] Following the lead set by Jimi Hendrix, Cream and The Who, early heavy metal acts such as Blue Cheer set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue Cheer's Dick Peterson put it, "All we knew was we wanted more power."[14] A 1977 review of a Motörhead concert noted how "excessive volume in particular figured into the band’s impact."[15] Weinstein makes the case that in the same way that melody is the main element of pop and rhythm is the main focus of house music, powerful sound, timbre, and volume are the key elements of metal. She argues that the loudness is designed to "sweep the listener into the sound" and to provide a "shot of youthful vitality."

Image and fashion

As with much popular music, visual imagery plays a large role in heavy metal. In addition to its sound and lyrics, a heavy metal band's "image" is expressed in album sleeve art, logos, stage sets, clothing, and music videos.[33] Some heavy metal acts such as Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Gwar have become known as much for their outrageous performance personas and stage shows as for their music.

Down-the-back long hair, according to Weinstein, is the "most crucial distinguishing feature of metal fashion."[34] Originally adopted from the hippie subculture, by the 1980s and 1990s heavy metal hair "symbolised the hate, angst and disenchantment of a generation that seemingly never felt at home," according to journalist Nader Rahman. Long hair gave members of the metal community "the power they needed to rebel against nothing in general."[35]

The classic uniform of heavy metal fans consists of "blue jeans, black T-shirts, boots and black leather or jeans jackets.... T-shirts are generally emblazoned with the logos or other visual representations of favorite metal bands."[36] Metal fans also "appropriated elements from the S&M community (chains, metal studs, skulls, leather and crosses)." In the 1980s, a range of sources, from punk and goth music to horror films, influenced metal fashion.[37] Many metal performers of the 1970s and 1980s used radically shaped and brightly colored instruments to enhance their stage appearance. Fashion and personal style was especially important for glam metal bands of the era. Performers typically wore long, dyed, hairspray-teased hair (hence the nickname, "hair metal"); makeup such as lipstick and eyeliner; gaudy clothing, including leopard-skin-printed shirts or vests and tight denim, leather, or spandex pants; and accessories such as headbands and jewelry.[38] Pioneered by the heavy metal act X Japan in the late 1980s, bands in the Japanese movement known as visual kei—which includes many nonmetal groups—emphasize elaborate costumes, hair, and makeup.[39]

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.

By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world. Punk quickly, though briefly, became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.

By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. By the turn of the century, pop punk had been adopted by the mainstream, with bands such as Green Day and The Offspring bringing the genre widespread popularity.

Philosophy

he first wave of punk rock aimed to be aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast and sentimentality of early 1970s rock.[2] According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, "In its initial form, a lot of [1960s] stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock 'n' roll."[3] John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk magazine, recalls feeling "punk rock had to come along because the rock scene had become so tame that [acts] like Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel were being called rock and roll, when to me and other fans, rock and roll meant this wild and rebellious music."[4] In critic Robert Christgau's description, "It was also a subculture that scornfully rejected the political idealism and Californian flower-power silliness of hippie myth."[5] Patti Smith, in contrast, suggests in the documentary 25 Years of Punk that the hippies and the punk rockers were linked by a common anti-establishment mentality.

Throughout punk rock history, technical accessibility and a DIY spirit have been prized. In the early days of punk rock, this ethic stood in marked contrast to what those in the scene regarded as the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands.[6] Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion. According to Holmstrom, punk rock was "rock and roll by people who didn't have very much skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music".[4] In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns published a now-famous illustration of three chords, captioned "This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band."[7] The title of a 1980 single by New York punk band The Stimulators, "Loud Fast Rules!", inscribed a catchphrase for punk's basic musical approach.[8]

Some of British punk rock's leading figures made a show of rejecting not only contemporary mainstream rock and the broader culture it was associated with, but their own most celebrated predecessors: "No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones in 1977", declared The Clash song "1977".[9] The previous year, when the punk rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural "Year Zero".[10] Even as nostalgia was discarded, many in the scene adopted a nihilistic attitude summed up by the Sex Pistols slogan "No Future"; in the later words of one observer, amid the unemployment and social unrest in 1977, "punk's nihilistic swagger was the most thrilling thing in England."[11] While "self-imposed alienation" was common among "drunk punks" and "gutter punks", there was always a tension between their nihilistic outlook and the "radical leftist utopianism" of bands such as Crass, who found positive, liberating meaning in the movement. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummer's outlook, "Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We're meant to be able to do what we want to do."

The issue of authenticity is important in the punk subculture—the pejorative term "poseur" is applied to those who associate with punk and adopt its stylistic attributes but are deemed not to share or understand the underlying values and philosophy. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that "attaining authenticity in the punk identity can be difficult"; as the punk scene matured, he observes, eventually "[e]veryone got called a poseur".

Musical and lyrical elements

Punk rock bands often emulate the bare musical structures and arrangements of 1960s garage rock.[15] Typical punk rock instrumentation includes one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drum kit, along with vocals. Punk rock songs tend to be shorter than those of other popular genres—on the Ramones' debut album, for instance, half of the fourteen tracks are under two minutes long. Most early punk rock songs retained a traditional rock 'n' roll verse-chorus form and 4/4 time signature. However, punk rock bands in the movement's second wave and afterward have often broken from this format. In critic Steven Blush's description, "The Sex Pistols were still rock'n'roll...like the craziest version of Chuck Berry. Hardcore was a radical departure from that. It wasn't verse-chorus rock. It dispelled any notion of what songwriting is supposed to be. It's its own form."[16]

Punk rock vocals sometimes sound nasal,[17] and lyrics are often shouted instead of sung in a conventional sense, particularly in hardcore styles.[18] The vocal approach is characterized by a lack of variety; shifts in pitch, volume, or intonational style are relatively infrequent—the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten constitutes a significant exception.[19] Complicated guitar solos are considered self-indulgent and unnecessary, although basic guitar breaks are common.[20] Guitar parts tend to include highly distorted power chords or barre chords, creating a characteristic sound described by Christgau as a "buzzsaw drone".[21] Some punk rock bands take a surf rock approach with a lighter, twangier guitar tone. Others, such as Robert Quine, lead guitarist of The Voidoids, have employed a wild, "gonzo" attack, a style that stretches back through The Velvet Underground to the 1950s recordings of Ike Turner.[22] Bass guitar lines are often uncomplicated; the quintessential approach is a relentless, repetitive "forced rhythm",[23] although some punk rock bass players—such as Mike Watt of The Minutemen and Firehose—emphasize more technical bass lines. Bassists often use a pick due to the rapid succession of notes, which makes fingerpicking impractical. Drums typically sound heavy and dry, and often have a minimal set-up. Compared to other forms of rock, syncopation is much less the rule.[24] Hardcore drumming tends to be especially fast.[18] Production tends to be minimalistic, with tracks sometimes laid down on home tape recorders[25] or simple four-track portastudios. The typical objective is to have the recording sound unmanipulated and "real", reflecting the commitment and "authenticity" of a live performance.[26] Punk recordings thus often have a lo-fi quality, with the sound left relatively unpolished in the mastering process; recordings may contain dialogue between band members, false starts, and background noise.
Punk rock lyrics are typically frank and confrontational; compared to the lyrics of other popular music genres, they frequently comment on social and political issues.[27] Trend-setting songs such as The Clash's "Career Opportunities" and Chelsea's "Right to Work" deal with unemployment and the grim realities of urban life.[28] Especially in early British punk, a central goal was to outrage and shock the mainstream.[29] The Sex Pistols classics "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen" openly disparage the British political system and social mores. There is also a characteristic strain of anti-sentimental depictions of relationships and sex, exemplified by "Love Comes in Spurts", written by Richard Hell and recorded by him with The Voidoids. Anomie, variously expressed in the poetic terms of Hell's "Blank Generation" and the bluntness of the Ramones' "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", is a common theme. Identifying punk with such topics aligns with the view expressed by V. Vale, founder of San Francisco fanzine Search and Destroy: "Punk was a total cultural revolt. It was a hardcore confrontation with the black side of history and culture, right-wing imagery, sexual taboos, a delving into it that had never been done before by any generation in such a thorough way."[30] However, many punk rock lyrics deal in more traditional rock 'n' roll themes of courtship, heartbreak, and hanging out; the approach ranges from the deadpan, aggressive simplicity of Ramones standards such as "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"[31] to the more unambiguously sincere style of many later pop punk groups.