The Formative Years - Italian Hardcore
Not claiming that Italian hardcore comes close to the US, UK, German and Scandinavian bands in terms of the impact it had on me, but when it comes to the formation of my first band, Italian punks from the middle and underclass and the expression of their dissatisfaction with the status quo was instrumental.
Take for example Negazione, founded in 1983 and disbanded nine years late, was one of the earliest Italian punk bands who not only became one of the most important bands for the European movement at large, but whose monumental and classic “Lo Spirito Continua” album from 1986 caused a wave the ripples of which were felt in the new world as well.
Raw Power is another early Italian band that remains active to this day. I vividly remember the first time I was exposed to the fulminant brilliance that is “Raw Power / Fuck authority” via the Maximum Rock’n Roll compilation “Welcome to 1984” and I could not believe the mind-blowingly sheer and desperate intensity. Their first two more refined long players remain classics in their own rights, with the “Screams from the gutter” album released on Toxic Shock Records following their tour in the US with Dead Kennedys selling close to 50k units. The influence of Raw Power’s US invasion could be heard for years to come in the sound of the second wave of US hardcore bands.
Another all-time favourite band of mine is CCM, an acronym standing for Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers. The name alone and the fact that they were a punk band from Pisa was enough to intrigue me. With their sound being on the dirtier and darker side of things, an intense frontman going by the name of Syd and their live incarnations being the stuff of legends, I invested quite a bit of my allowance money to track down the original versions of not only their first two 7”s, which are to this day some of my favourite slabs of vinyl from that era, but also their demos.
Enjoy –
