Subgenre Wars 5 – Crust Vs Anarcho Punk
Intro Jam – The Subhuman’s “Religious Wars” as covered by Dublin’s Coldwar. RIP Skinny.
I wish this song wasn’t still so painfully relevant.
Also, I messed up those Rudimentary Peni Lyrics. Woops.
#crustpunk #anarchopunk #grindcore
Inspired partially from Mike over at the @uncommonpallor , as well as a vague notion that it might be fun to resurrect an over half-decade series where I pit two Subgenres against each other – in this video we bear witness to the rebirth of SUBGENRE WARS. For this update, we’ll ironically discussing two of the least warlike genre’s under the umbrella of Punk, HC and Metal – Anarcho Punk and Crust.
Prior Subgenre Wars Episodes
Deviated Instinct
Misery SDS
The MOB
Nausea
Hellshock
Stormcrow
Unsanitary Napkin
https://unsanitarynapkin.bandcamp.com/album/all-billionaires-are-bastards
Rigorous Institution
https://rigorous-institution.bandcamp.com/album/cainsmarsh
Icons of Filth
Fatum
https://fatumhaarp.bandcamp.com/album/life-dungeons
Cress
https://cress.bandcamp.com/
Omega Tribe
Antisect
Iconoclast
Cry Out
https://lavidaesunmus.bandcamp.com/album/more-echoes-of-a-question-never-answered-why
Instigators
Hellbastard
#Subgenre #Wars #Crust #Anarcho #Punk
Originally posted by UCqBGomTDuRsBFDRswH0jM_g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2_QX09C7hc
This is a really great summary, you sure do know your onions ????fantastic selection, all killer and no filler.
Growing up with all this I know that the transition from Anarcho punk to Crust felt pretty seamless and it was just the way everyone and the scene was kind of evolving. We (Deviated Instinct) started off as a very basic straightforward Anarcho Punk by numbers band and then jumped into the slipstream of Amebix and Antisect who were absolutely massively inspirational. Similarly Hellbastard had their roots in the Anarcho scene with Scruff previously playing in the Apostles and Axegrinder, who came out of the ashes of Stone the Crowz.
I think there's been a real resurgence of bands taking more inspiration from the classic 80's Anarcho sound like Subdued from London and Flower from NYC who take heavily from both Anarcho and Crust in such crushing fashion.
Also, totally agree with your assesment of both Rigerous Institution and Unsanitary Napkin, both those albums blow me away.
Thanks a lot for the heads up in the vid, much appreciated ????Nice to hear Bait get a little namecheck, I think we kinda flew under the radar for a lot of people. Relevant to this discussion, here's a cover Bait recorded of Antisect's 'In Darkness' back in 2005 – https://youtu.be/p3V3SKV74KM?si=zfKjTzdIvxy8gGH6
We did also record a Crucifix cover for that same record, I should upload it at some point. Just throwing some props to our inspirations.
Great video and awesome records! Having grown up in the Swedish d beat/crust/hc whatever scene perhaps I can give my perspective on the terms – for some reason back when I got into it it was always of big importance separating crust and d-beat, which is called “kängpunk” (boot punk) or simply “käng” here. Not sure why that is since at the end of the day the scene(s) was comprised of basically the exact same people, but generally the attitude was that crusties were of the politically charged squatter/peace punk ilk whereas d-beat people were boozehound chaos punks who loved Motörhead. I was more part of the latter crowd at that time, but as stated earlier anyone from the outside couldn’t tell the two apart. Musically I don’t think “crust” caught on as a term here until the 90s, maybe because of death metal catching on instead of crust in the 80s. Many if not most of the first generation of death metal kids here were originally hardcore punks, guessing that wasn’t the case in the US (maybe more so in the UK). Anyway many bands coming out in the 90s like Warcollapse and Tolshock had a crustier sound, same with Skitsystem. At the same time the d beat bands started becoming more metallic as you can hear from the later Cimex records which is the wave Wolfpack were a part of as well. Btw for a great Swedish crust band check out G-Anx and their “Out of reach” EP if you haven’t already, I think of them as about as close to a Swedish Amebix as you could get (only duck themed, for some reason)
Cheers!
The "bridger" shoulda been Dystopia. Kudos for the Mob and Hellshock mentions. No Aus Rotten?! You held my attention though.
Great vid. Thanx man.
So for me and the others Spazz,ManIsTheBastard,CharlesBronson were rather crust than power violence.
The bit where you said people may have been cagey about admitting to like Metallica; back then, we were all equally delirious about the release of Master of Puppets as we were about DK's Bedtime for Democracy, which came out later the same year. I even remember this skinhead jumping up and down on my mate's bed to Hit the Lights. Everyone loved Metallica, who back then wore GBH and Discharge t shirts. The stuff they sang about was the same subject matter that punk bands were singing about. They weren't seen as corporate back then; they were emerging. I was in the anarcho crust scene as well as everything else at the time, in the UK, and I saw all those bands you mentioned. It truly was a horribly dark time to live, and punk/crust helped galvanize all the anarchists and punks at that time and created a very tight community that stretched the entire British Isles and Ireland and across the Atlantic to Europe. There was a huge squat scene at that time. I did the artwork for the Misery/Extinction of Mankind split btw, and was great mates with Ste their singer from when he moved down to Brighton in 86. Also, you mentioned Doom. When War Crimes came out and my mate had just bought it, he got me so excited about it that I literally left the pub with my mate to go to his bedsit in Brighton to listen to it. I first saw them that same year, 1988, with Concrete Sox and some other bands, and yes, they were hardcore -Crude SS meets Discharge, and I loved that album – I played it all the time. But they did have a crust look. The production was a bit quiet but I played the hell out of it! Great video btw!
speaking on the "crossover" revolution is a somewhat mainstream act that in my opinion got really brutal in their later years, growing from stripped down blatant punk and all of a sudden, emerged with a heavy something or other, which I'm curious of your opinion … when The Exploited released Death Before Dishonor, and then The Massacre record. When I was a kid these titles had given me something I had been thirsty for in my adolescence. Just curious .. not necessarily deep digs as much as most of this healthy dose of projects that you have brought forth here, but I found Wattie and his droogs satisfactory, beyond the overflow of patchwork lettering on denim and leather throughout the years, even outdoing Discharge with the gutter promotion work. Great analysis you have provided here I must say, thanks.
DESTROY! Is playing a few songs at a show here in Mpls this month for Mitch’s 50th birthday party. Be there if you can! At Mortimer’s on Lyndale Ave
I like Crass quiet a bit. The feeding of the 5,000 still holds up today. In the UK we get to see them a lot. And they are playing Rebellion Punk Festival in Blackpool in August. Im going for The Stranglers who i just followed round the UK for their whole 50th anniversary tour 13 dates. But on the day they play we get The Chisel and Steve Ignorant plays a full Crass set.
Great video man, loved that most of my fav bands are mentioned in here. Love crust and anarcho all my life, would love to hear your take on japanese crust/hardcore. Keep doing more videos cheers!!
Cool topic Pat. I don't know much about these genres so it's neat to find out more about them.
I never considered Anarchopunk a subgenre. I consider it a subSCENE.Musically it can be Punkrock, Post-punk, Hardcore… or CRUST! I was never an Anarchist, except maybe an "individual-anarchist", but i enjoyed a lot of Crust musically. I never liked Crass and most of that crowd…
Rudimentary Peni are great though!
"uhNarrco punk"
I loved this! Been into Punk since I was 14 (1976) and got into hardcore and Oi! in early '80's. To me the anarchic thread permeated it all. In years since I've fallen out and back in love with it, d-beat, and crust/anarcho really stck to me over the years. You pulled out a lot of stuff that was good to see: Sacrilige, "Peni, AntiSect, Icons' — Zounds — dude no one talks about them but they were fantastic! I never got into Crass or Conflict, I thought their stuff was basically pretentious and shitty-sounding but was totally into the sentiments they expressed. Glad you recognized Crucifix too. I think they were one of the first bands to bring in a "metal" aesthetic on purpose. I had the pleasure of hanging out and jamming with guitarist Jimmy who said about Crucifix, "We were just a bunch of metalheads that wanted to do punk". I heard Antisect before I heard Amebix, didn't like the mix Amebix did with "Rise" but I certainly appreciate what they brought to the whole thing. All that happened before punk and metal's cross polination really took hold. Tragedy is god-tier band IMHO. Love their whole discography but the latest one isn't hitting me as well. You showed and described some stuff that is unfamiliar but definately made me interested. I'll be pushing your views up by referencing this video. Thanks for all the links. Geek on punk scum :P.
To blah blah blah a bit. Crust was way more of a lifestyle than a music subculture. Today, when I remember all the people called Crust, I can't say I thought of Leggo or Mid. That came later. People who lived on the road, van dwellers, were the thought that sprang to mind. Dub, folk and other music styles where all played by so called 'crusties', wild planet scene could have been in this pocket too. The punk and metal sound came later. Living in rural Wales, you see many people escaping the city, escaping to an alternative life, and spreading their legs. Avoid the legs under the office desk, and grow your own food, build your own house, squats. Mal from Hellbastard/The Apostles is very well-versed and will talk at length about this. You can get him on for a chat sometime. He's a wild and exciting guy. Lots of ideas, and never a dead space filled with that talker. As always, fella, another good video in the bag.
I really enjoyed this video! You always do a great job, Pat!
Crust punks can be so freaking hypocritical and pretentious
one is just smellier than the other
I always have so many bands to go check out after watching GZS.
The limiting of Crust as a musical genre down to its initial interpretation was a tough pill to swallow, not sure that I will be able to adjust my perspective (I mean I don’t think I can imagine Doom and not classify as crust) but conversationally where would you put GISM-Military Affairs Neurotic? Based on the criteria it seems to clearly be a crust album, but I’ve never really considered them a crust band …just nebulously in the “Japanese hardcore” arena.
Hell yeah, thank you for schooling my degenerate kentuckian ass in the dark arts!!!!!!!
I feel like all these subgenres are just subjective and mostly opinions. I think it's fun but a little silly for us adults to have too much invested in whether something is crust or dbeat or whatever. But it is fun to debate. Anyway great video. Code 13, Disrupt even stuff like His Hero is Gone was all considered crust to us back when we heard it. It's all fluid really, things are always moving. I love these VS vids looking forward to more.
Amebix, Conflict, Deviated Instinct, Hellbastard etc. I always had Skitsystem and Disfear and Driller Killer were Crust, but I guess they're D-Beat? You mentioned Skitsystem and Wolfbrigade atvthe end as I was typing thais part! Great stuff man!
Thought you were going to miss Conflict for a minute, my absoloute favourite band of any genre. Everything they have ever done hits big for me. Seeing them live for the first time was amazing and will never be beaten by any gig. I love both genres. My love of crust started with Doom, the Bury the debt split with No Security is still a go to. Great chat Pat, keep them coming.
Just out of interest are you into Radical Dance Faction? They combine dub reggae with anarcho punk in an interesting way and put on a great live show. Frequently tour with Dick Lucas's band Culture Shock.
Well done! Both genres are a bottomless pit. I'm surprised you were able to keep it as concise as you did haha. Cheers my friend!
Pat, very cool video (as usual) even though I’m a philistine when it comes to punk. You always make it interesting. Amebix Arise sounds pretty sweet. I remember hearing that Winter drew its name from an Amebix song. That dirge-y delay sound on the snare gives the drums a cool depth and doom vibe. Funny anecdote about the Syracuse metalhead unknowingly rocking the “other” Anthrax back patch. Also cool that you’re a big Chris Colohan fan. I am too, mostly LFD stuff. Prophecy Of Doom does have a grindcore-ish tone- good call. Breathe-y, echo-y vocals aren’t so far from Privilege Of Evil Amorphis, which I love.
My favourite American Crust Band is easily Resistant Culture. Years later and their albums are still on regular rotation. I also dig Nausea L.A. featuring Oscar from Terrorizer on vocals.
Hey curious what do you think of the fusion between black metal and punk? Bone Awl, Ildjarn, Akitsa etc?
new to the channel I hope you haven't covered it yet.
cool vids! thx!
Crust has more metal to it with gutteral vocals. Still political af and has a good message. Hellbastard had the Ripper Crust demo (which I still have) that coined the term. Amebix, Deviated Instinct, AntiSect, Cancer Spreading, Instinct of Survival, ATU, Stormcrow, Hellshock are some great bands.
Team Morbisidad.
I am a fan of both anarcho punk and crust. Favorites on the anarcho punk side are The Mob, Zounds, Rudimentary Peni and D.I.R.T. On the crust side, I go for Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder, His Hero Is Gone and Amebix. I feel like crust evolved out of anarcho punk after punks got influenced by Venom, Celtic Frost and other thrash and death metal bands. I would say the proto band for both branches of the tree was Discharge. Their simple yet political lyrics became a huge influence and they upped the speed and aggression factor from previous UK bands. Great video , Pat!
I know these genres evolve and get retrofitted – my 2¢: when I first heard the term Crust, it was to describe Hardcore music played by real Crust Punks (i.e. kids who lived in the gutter and liked it), so, basically a way to distinguish 'true' street punk bands from 'posers'. This would have been sometime around 2000, give or take a couple years. It wasn't a definite sound, though the bands I heard describe as Crust at local shows were basically straight Hardcore, often with blown out vocals, light on talent (a good thing) and heavy on 'bringin' it'. I'm sure Crust means something different now.
Holy fuck this channel is the best
Talked about that Subhumans record last week on the show, and i brought up "Susan". Incredible song.
Glad to see this series back. Holy shit, it was six years ago?!?!? Well timed, I've been on a kick for Subhumans/Citizen Fish, Crass, and Rudimentary Peni lately. I'll have to finish watching tomorrow. Thank you.
Very cool video. Well done.
OH MAN THIS WAS AN AWESOME VIDEO. STOKED TO SEE SO MANY CLASSIC ALBUMS CALLED OUT HERE!!