Legacy and Influence on other genres

The San Francisco-based thrash metal bands Metallica and Slayer incorporated the compositional structure and technical proficiency of heavy metal with the speed and aggression of hardcore. The new fusion genre became known as thrash metal. Other early bands in this genre include Megadeth, Sepultura and Anthrax. Slayer are also known for their hardcore punk roots, and have released an album of hardcore cover versions called Undisputed Attitude. Sepultura's members were in hardcore bands in Brazil and have recorded with hardcore musicians such as Agnostic Front.

In 1985, New York's Stormtroopers of Death, an Anthrax side project, released the album Speak English or Die. Although it bore similarities to thrash metal – with a bass-heavy guitar, fast tempos and quick chord changes – the album was distinguished from thrash metal by its lack of guitar solos and heavy use of crunchy chord breakdowns (a New York hardcore technique) known as mosh parts. Other bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI]), switched from hardcore to a similar metallic style, which came to be known as crossover thrash.

Some hardcore bands began experimenting with other styles as their careers progressed in the 1980s, becoming known as alternative rock.[31] Bands such as Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, and The Replacements drew from hardcore but broke away from its loud and fast formula. Critic Joe S. Harrington suggested that the latter two "paraded as Hardcore until it was deemed permissible to do otherwise".[32]

In the mid-1980s, Washington State bands such as Melvins and Green River developed a sludgy, "aggressive sound that melded the slower tempos of heavy metal with the intensity of hardcore", creating what became known as grunge music.[33] The early grunge sound was largely influenced by Black Sabbath and Black Flag (especially their My War album). The popularity of grunge resulted in renewed interest in American hardcore in the 1990s.

Melvins, aside from their influence on grunge, helped create what would be known as sludge metal, which is also a combination between Black Sabbath-style music and hardcore punk.[34] This genre developed during the early 1990s, in the Southern United States (particularly in the New Orleans metal scene).[35][36][37] Some of the pioneering bands of sludge metal were: Eyehategod,[34] Crowbar,[38] Down,[39] Buzzov*en,[36] Acid Bath[40] and Corrosion of Conformity.[37] Later, bands such as Isis and Neurosis,[41] with similar influences, created a style that relies mostly on ambience and atmosphere[42] that would eventually be named atmospheric sludge metal or post-metal.[43]

The later 1980s and early 1990s saw the development of post-hardcore, which took the hardcore style in a more artistic and complex direction, much as the bands of the post-punk era did for classic punk rock. Washington DC, in particular the community surrounding Dischord Records, became a hotbed for post-hardcore, producing bands such as Hoover, Nation of Ulysses, Jawbox and Fugazi, who helped define the scene and included Dischord founder and former Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye. Other notable post-hardcore bands from the United States include Chicago's Big Black, New York's Quicksand and Orange 9mm, Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves, Atlanta's Light Pupil Dilate and El Paso, Texas' At The Drive-In.

Post-hardcore included and influenced other styles, such as emo and math rock. Early emo bands were influenced by hardcore bands like Rites of Spring, Minor Threat, and Black Flag. Emo bands are heavily influenced by hardcore punk's powerful lyrics, song structure and emotion. Sunny Day Real Estate are sometimes called the "first true emo band."[44]

The hardcore punk scene had an influence that spread beyond music. The straight edge philosophy of no smoking, drinking or doing drugs was rooted in a faction of hardcore particularly popular on the east coast of the United States. Hare Krishna bands like 108 and Shelter typified this movement, taking it even a step further. Hardcore also put a great emphasis on the DIY punk ethic, which inspired other types of bands to make their own records, flyers and other items, and to book their own tours through an informal network of like-minded people.