I touched on the book's title in an earlier post, but I only really touched on the main title, Post, and not the second part, An Anthology of American Post-Hardcore/Whatever-You-Call-It-Core 1985-2005. Here's a breakdown of the second part:
An Anthology of
My book is not meant to be the only history of this genre, hence the 'an' and not a 'the' in the title. Maybe it's because of reading a lot of articles by this guy that I truly believe that there is no such thing as one historical account of things in the past. I'm not speaking for everyone involved; I'm seeing it through my own eyes, my own experiences and my research and relating them to what I feel is pertinent to talk about in the long run. Think of it as my view with a lot of other views but not law.
American Post-Hardcore/Whatever-You-Call-It-Core
This genre has many names: emo, spazz and math rock are just some of them. Since my book is more about the ideas of Do It Yourself that sprouted out of the '80s in the US and spread through the '90s, I feel it's best to leave out the dreaded 'e' word from the title. 'Post-hardcore' is a better and broader word to use. It doesn't sound cheesy and it's way more representative of where these bands and labels were coming from. The focus is on thinking for yourself, not crying your eyes out. 'Whatever-You-Call-It-Core' is thrown in there to show the open-ended interpretation of what the genre means. There are people that think Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie, Weezer, Braid and Rites of Spring should all belong in the same sentence together. I disagree. Singing about your frustrations with people (friends, family, lovers) and longing for simpler times is nothing new. The Four Tops sang about this stuff; so did Roy Orbison and so did Air Supply. The list is endless and it knows no one genre or time in history.
1985-2005
1985 is essentially the starting year due to the so-called Revolution Summer in Washington DC. Bands like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Dag Nasty had something different with their interpretation of punk and hardcore. They weren't the only bands doing this but their influence was monumental in the coming years. I think 2005 is a good stopping point at twenty years: a whole generation (or two) has passed.
I know a lot of books on rock music have titles inspired by song lyrics, song titles or album titles, but I choose to stay away from that. I don't feel like it's really my title if it's from another title. Believe you me, I had considered titles like History I Don't Believe (from Jawbox's "Mirrorful"), Forever Got Shorter (from the Braid song of the same name) and No Division (from the Hot Water Music album of the same name) but I felt Post was the best all-emcompassing title.
An Anthology of
My book is not meant to be the only history of this genre, hence the 'an' and not a 'the' in the title. Maybe it's because of reading a lot of articles by this guy that I truly believe that there is no such thing as one historical account of things in the past. I'm not speaking for everyone involved; I'm seeing it through my own eyes, my own experiences and my research and relating them to what I feel is pertinent to talk about in the long run. Think of it as my view with a lot of other views but not law.
American Post-Hardcore/Whatever-You-Call-It-Core
This genre has many names: emo, spazz and math rock are just some of them. Since my book is more about the ideas of Do It Yourself that sprouted out of the '80s in the US and spread through the '90s, I feel it's best to leave out the dreaded 'e' word from the title. 'Post-hardcore' is a better and broader word to use. It doesn't sound cheesy and it's way more representative of where these bands and labels were coming from. The focus is on thinking for yourself, not crying your eyes out. 'Whatever-You-Call-It-Core' is thrown in there to show the open-ended interpretation of what the genre means. There are people that think Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie, Weezer, Braid and Rites of Spring should all belong in the same sentence together. I disagree. Singing about your frustrations with people (friends, family, lovers) and longing for simpler times is nothing new. The Four Tops sang about this stuff; so did Roy Orbison and so did Air Supply. The list is endless and it knows no one genre or time in history.
1985-2005
1985 is essentially the starting year due to the so-called Revolution Summer in Washington DC. Bands like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Dag Nasty had something different with their interpretation of punk and hardcore. They weren't the only bands doing this but their influence was monumental in the coming years. I think 2005 is a good stopping point at twenty years: a whole generation (or two) has passed.
I know a lot of books on rock music have titles inspired by song lyrics, song titles or album titles, but I choose to stay away from that. I don't feel like it's really my title if it's from another title. Believe you me, I had considered titles like History I Don't Believe (from Jawbox's "Mirrorful"), Forever Got Shorter (from the Braid song of the same name) and No Division (from the Hot Water Music album of the same name) but I felt Post was the best all-emcompassing title.
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