Artist You Should Know: What is Queercore?

AYSK: What is Queercore?

By: Brian Cotnoir

    I’ve been a huge fan of Hardcore Punk since I was in high school.  I liked the brutal pounding instruments, I related to the anti-social, nihilistic lyrics, and I smiled as I crashed into dozens of likeminded people in mosh pits at shows.  Punk rock has many different subgenres such as Hardcore, Straight Edge, Oi!, Punk-Pop, Riot Grrrrl, and Celtic punk, but one subgenre of Punk rock that I did know existed until I was in college is queercore.  What is queercore?  Well Queercore is basically, Punk Rock music with lyrical contact that typically relates to sexual/gender identity.  A lot of queercore bands have songs about the struggles of gay and lesbian community or songs that are empowering to members of the gay and lesbian community.  Many members of queercore bands are gay and lesbian, but (to my knowledge) it’s not a requirement to be either gay or lesbian to be in a queercore band.  Some people claim queercore is music for gay men, and that Riot Grrrrl is the “lesbian equivalent”, but that’s not true.  Many Riot Grrrrl Bands are not lesbians, and to say that Queercore and Riot Grrrrlll are two sides to the same coin is a false statement, they are two different and respectable subgenres of Punk.                         

"Youth of ToGay"  This is Queercore...

"L-7".  This is Riot Grrrlll...Know the difference

Yes, He was Gay!  So What?!

     The Queercore movement began in the mid 1980’s.  Some queercore bands that emerged from the timeframe were Pansy Division, from San Francisco, and Limp Wrist from Chicago.  Now, I’ve heard from some people who are avid listeners of hardcore music that “gays don’t belong in the hardcore music scene”, but I couldn’t disagree with that statement enough.  To me Hardcore and Punk rock was music for the angry and alienated youth.  If there’s any group that knows what it’s like to be alienated it’s definitely the Gay & Lesbian community.  Darby Crash—founding member and lead singer of the punk legends “The Germs”—was a homosexual, and he is still highly regarded as one of the godfathers of early punk rock and is still respected a legend of the scene.  Just because he was gay didn’t mean that he couldn’t be “brutal” or put on a hard show.  A lot of people still listen to Darby Crash and The Germs and admire their contribution to the Punk rock scene of the late 1970’s.              
    Queercore is proof that there is a place for Gays & Lesbians in Punk rock, and that not all musicians who are gay have to sound or play like a Elton John, Freddie Mercury, George Michael, or Melissa Ethridge, and I’m actually surprised that there aren’t more fans of this style of music today.

Pansy Division's Gay-Friendly version of Nirvana's "Smell's Like Teen Spirit"