Positive hardcore

Positive hardcore is a branch of the hardcore punk music scene that is socially aware, or focuses on values such as being inclusive, community-oriented, and anti-violent. The genre was created as a backlash to the violence and negativity in the straight edge scene.

History

Since the term was coined in the 1980s, it has been applied to a divergent group of musical styles and bands including 7 Seconds, Youth of Today, Good Clean Fun, and The Wonder Years. Early positive hardcore bands in the 1980s and 1990s sang about social issues such as the treatment of the LGBT community by the hardcore punk scene as well as non-violence and scene unity. These were topics that the hardliners rejected. In the late 2000s through the 2010s there has been a renaissance in the genre. Instead of being a backlash against hardline, the renaissance comes from a backlash against the dominant metalcore bands in the scene during the 2010s.