Axe To Grind is one of the best and the most consistent hardcore podcasts out there. Every week without fail (and even more if you sign up for their Patreon), they release a new 60+ minute episode filled with hardcore knowledge, news, opinions, gossip, show reports, and more. Hosts Tom Sheehan (of Indecision & Most Precious Blood), industry vet Bob Shedd (ex-Revelation Records, Sound and Fury co-founder), and Patrick Kindlon (of Drug Church and Self Defense Family) are all hardcore lifers with years of experience and current knowledge that they bring to the table on each episode, switching up the format from week to week.
One week might be just an hour talking about current happenings, while another may be completely dedicated to discussing and debating specific classic records. Last week’s episode — titled “Eras Tour” (shoutout Taylor Swift) — was a long and super interesting one where they collectively chose five records that define each five years of hardcore, starting at 1981 and ending at 2020. This wasn’t a list they prepared in advance. They made it live on air while recording, and there was much debate about what essential records would take the very few spots available. Great and important records had to be cut for the list, which they say they’d give somebody who was trying to best learn what each five years of hardcore sounded like.
Those good at math already know that means this is a list of 40 records, but the accompanying Spotify playlist they made actually contains 42 because two of the eras just needed to be stretched to six. That includes 1981-1985, where they spent a bunch of time trying to figure out how they could possibly narrow Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Negative Approach, Agnostic Front, and 7Seconds down to just five (and that already left out Dead Kennedys, Hüsker Dü, Discharge, Misfits, and more, not to mention essential second records by some that did make the list). SSD, Embrace, Judge, Burn, Sick of It All, Strife, Merauder, Cave In, Lifetime, Blacklisted, Bane, Poison the Well, Mental, Modern Life is War, Trash Talk, and Gulch were also among the many bands who came very close to getting a spot on the episode.
They seemed to be petering out towards the end (it was a long episode!) and the last five came together a little more quickly, so maybe some of the more recent omissions are a little more glaring (Knocked Loose?), but even with the hosts’ admitted East Coast/New York bias, the list covers so much ground within hardcore and it’s really hard to argue with, especially given the parameters of just five albums per every five years.
You can check out the playlist of albums and the playlist below, and we strongly encourage you to listen to the episode and hear all the debate that went into making the list.
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1981-1985
Minor Threat- First Two Seven Inches
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
Black Flag – Damaged
7Seconds – The Crew
Agnostic Front – Victim In Pain
Negative Approach – Negative Approach
1986 – 1990
Youth of Today – Break Down the Walls
Cro-Mags – The Age of Quarrel
Rites of Spring – Rites of Spring
Gorilla Biscuits – Start Today
Inside Out – No Spiritual Surrender
1991-1995
Integrity – Those Who Fear Tomorrow
Unbroken – Life. Love. Regret.
Earth Crisis – Firestorm
Shelter – Mantra
Quicksand – Slip
1996-2000
Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire
Blood For Blood – Revenge On Society
Floorpunch – Twin Killing
Converge – When Forever Comes Crashing
Orchid – Chaos Is Me
2001-2005
Converge – Jane Doe
American Nightmare – Background Music
Terror – Lowest of the Low
Tragedy – Tragedy
No Warning – Ill Blood
2006-2010
Have Heart – The Things We Carry
Ceremony – Violence Violence
The Rival Mob – Hardcore for Hardcore
Fucked Up – Hidden World
Iron Age – Constant Struggle
Trapped Under Ice – Stay Cold
2011-2015
Nails – Abandon All Life
Turnstile – Nonstop Feeling
Touché Amoré – Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
Title Fight – Shed
Code Orange – I Am King
2016-2020
Power Trip – Nightmare Logic
Incendiary – Thousand Mile Stare
Mindforce – Excalibur
Drain – California Cursed
Turnstile – Time & Space
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