Sam Black Church
Biohazard
Agnostic Front
Tree
Comin' Correct
The Business
Madball
S.O.D.
Full Blown Chaos

All of these groups sound nothing like each other, yet all are labeled as hardcore (with the exception of S.O.D. who actually used to label themselves hardcore but fans label as thrash)
For instance, if Sam Black Church were a brand new band today, I would bet money that people would call them a metal band. 10 Years ago metal bands were for the most part shunned. So most of the bands at the time would label themselves hardcore in order to fit in. Also, many 80's metal bands at that time (Sepultura, Slayer, Nuclear Assault, Napalm Death, amongst many others) converted to a slower, chunkier, more "hardcore" sound to stay in the game, and now that hardcore has been on the fall and metal on the rise, these bands seem to be changing back to their original syles.
That being said, my point is, what's the deal with all this label shit? You are either underground or you're not. My group (Distrust) has had more labels slapped on us than I can count. We've been called Thrash-metal, Death-metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Thrashcore, Speed-metal, and Black-metal (well one guy called us black metal). One mans opinion of what is or is not such and such style of metal will more often than not differ from the next.
I have a friend here in Haverhill named Jason who will argue for hours with anyone and he INSISTS that MESUGGAH is a hardcore group. Do you call Mesuggah "hardcore"??? no? well this guy does. no shit. And he will come up with every reason in the book why they are indeed hardcore and not metal. Are you getting bored reading this yet? or confused? Well that's how I get when I see all this metal-core sucks or death-metal sucks or hardcore sucks etc. because like the example above, one "genre of music" can have many different sounds. Does Bolt Thrower(death-metal) sound anything like Deicide(death-metal)? I dont think they do.

As much as I want to say 'they are just subganres and can sound different under the same banner of hardcore' It pissed me off that when I mention a hardcore band that I like people assoctiate it with bands completely gay and different all the way from blood for blood to FATA.

Zegota is labelled as hardcore, as are Catharsis and Tear It Up.

Hardcore died in the 80's.

personally, i try not to be so picky with genre-labeling. hardcore and metal, to me, they're both so interchangeable these days, there's not much difference; hardcore bands have metal influences, metal bands have hardcore influence....the boundaries are so rediculously small nowadays, it's pretty much impossible to label a group accurately.

as far as death/black/speed/thrash is concerened....they're all one and the same to me. death metal is dark music, so why not call it black metal too? black metal bands sing about death, why aren't they death metal? both styles are fast, but are not labeled speed metal, and kids thrash in death and black metal mosh pits but both are not labeled thrash.....its all very confusing, to me, either name would apply.

concerning the wide variety of "core" genres(grindcore, death core, speed core, rap core, thrash core, mall core, metal core, etc..) to me, if the suffix "core" is in it, it's a hardcore band. there's more than one way to play hardcore music.

all these stupid genre names are dumb. to me, you're either metal or you're hardcore, pick one, they're the same. it's like that Anal Cunt song "face it, you're a metal band": if you play heavy, extreme music, you're metal; all that matters is whether or not you suck(and chances are pretty good that you suck, so don't even worry about it)

Hardcore may have "died" in the 80's but then the "nu-hardcore" (or whatever you want to call it) bands like Pantera(who were also labeled hardcore at the time), Biohazard and Sam Black Church came into play in the 90's and the scene exploded and spawned thousands of those watered down "rap-core" bands. Now its down again.

metalcore seems to be the big divider between hardcore and metal nowadays. and of course not all hardcore bands are going to sound alike, and not all metal bands are going to sound alike...that'd be stupid. just call the next band you hear 'metalcore' and you have a 95% chance of being right.

This thread is going to suck.

I've never heard anyone with functioning ears call PANTERA a Hardcore band.

Just cause it's Metal doesn't mean it's gonna be good haha...

I just always called PANTERA horrible, and I am always right.