ian mackaye

What does emo really mean? The story of the genre in 11 songs

Has any word been more misappropriated than emo? It’s been used to describe everything from people to events to films to clothing, but when it comes to encapsulating the specific music that inspired the name, no one can agree what actually constitutes it. So what actually is emo?  Read more: Are the 2000s back? How […]

20 songs that transformed punk, from "Raw Power" to "Rebel Girl"

There are a lot of people out there who know what punk rock is but have no idea how to explain it to a novice or an outsider. It would seem simple enough to define it as “three-chord teenage rebel music,” but what about all those songs that have four or more chords? Or all […]

10 times different artists collaborated to make inspiring music

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had one problem: […]

Frank Iero on early bands and the years before My Chemical Romance

We all know that no one is born “cool.” And Frank Iero—along with so many of the musicians and people he encountered, befriended and forged creative relationships with—followed his dreams, muses and instincts to create his musical worldview. Before he was part of the juggernaut that is My Chemical Romance and embarking on his solo […]

AltPress Weekly: Oasis, WILLOW, boyish, JAWNY, Softcult and more

We’re back with another AltPress Weekly. Each week, we highlight the things we want you to check out. We shout out new discoveries and longtime favorites, the best new, old and everything in between. We’ll also always keep you up to date with the latest coverage over at Alternative Press, along with the stories we […]

11 singers who helped define the vocal style of punk rock in the ‘90s

The ‘90s: the decade punk went mainstream. First, SoundScan made radio safe for Nirvana and the grunge-ified hordes. Then Green Day and other pop-punk acts moved in and squatted at the top of the Billboard charts. True, it seemed to be finished two years later, only to be reinvigorated at the turn of the century. […]

9 bands we wish would come back to make another full-length album

In the past decade, everyone from Misfits and Jawbreaker to My Chemical Romance and Rage Against The Machine has thrilled us with the announcement of a reunion show or tour. And while we’re ecstatic to see these artists hit the road again, that doesn’t stop us from wishing that they’d make a pitstop or two […]

These 11 singers steered the course of punk and hardcore in the ’80s

The idea of compiling a list of the greatest punk singers of the ‘80s might seem a bit odd. After all, this was when hardcore rose and quickly dominated all things punk. And let’s face it: Hardcore vocalists are more noted for bellowing than actual singing, per se. Not that late ‘70s punk harbored many […]

These 15 classic albums made 1996 a crucial year in punk history

1996: President Bill Clinton was squaring off against Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in a successful bid for a second term in the White House. On April 3, former math professor Ted Kaczynski was arrested in his remote Montana cabin, suspected (correctly, it turns out) to be American domestic terrorist the Unabomber. Conservative public policy bulwark […]

11 LGBTQIA+ punk musicians who changed the genre forever

It stands to reason LGBTQIA+ culture informed, inspired and enmeshed with punk, down to the crossover with the ’70s glam scene that helped spawn it. After all, both worlds were essentially the Island of Misfit Toys, from the Rankin/Bass 1964 holiday special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: a rebel culture for those whose ideas don’t fit […]

10 records and artists you need to listen to according to Frank Iero

2020 held monumental plans for Frank Iero alongside My Chemical Romance on their return tour, but he spent the year much like the rest of us—discovering new music and reconnecting with some former loves. After more than a year spent at home, there’s only so much Netflix or Hulu to binge on, recipes to mimic […]

10 Joan Jett-inspired artists who are breaking boundaries just like her

“Joan Jett doesn’t play rock ’n’ roll,” I wrote two years back, reviewing her SXSW showcase for The Austin Chronicle. “She is rock ’n’ roll.” It’s true. The individual born Joan Marie Larkin in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, embodies the music and spirit better than anyone this side of Keith Richards. As Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong […]

7 artists who were banned from ‘SNL’ for their badass performances

Getting booked as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live is the perfect way for any artist to become a household name. But with the national spotlight comes the show’s strict standards for guests, leaving some outspoken artists to feel restrained. As punk and alternative became more mainstream in the ’80s, the show began to […]

25 most influential albums that define what it means to be emo

The genre affectionately known as emo started out as a wave of internalized rage bubbling under the surface of Washington, D.C.’s Revolution Summer in the mid-’80s. Within three decades, it had permeated the mainstream and changed beyond all recognition. Like it or not, the bands inspired by that initial breakthrough, including Rites Of Spring and […]

These 15 albums from 1991 laid the foundation for punk as we know it

Welcome to Alternative Press’ pick of the 15 best punk albums of 1991. It was a momentous year, one in which underground culture burst into the mainstream, taking punk and all its offshoots with it. Blame it on one album: Nirvana’s Nevermind.  Many punkier-than-thou types will moan when seeing this album’s inclusion. They’d be denying […]

These 15 punk albums from 1989 ended the ’80s loudly

Welcome to Alternative Press’ 15 best punk albums of 1989. It’s easy to look at the final year of the decade and see it as transitional. But there are portents of the future all over this list. Yet, truth be told, haven’t we seen that with all these lists? As we’ve worked on this series, […]

Here are 10 punk-rock icons whose work continues to inspire generations

It does seem positively quaint. But there was a time when it looked like the world completely hated everything regarding punk rock. Popular culture reflected that back at us. Somehow punk was going to destroy the values Americans held so sacred back then. Many thought punk was a mere fad that was the equivalent of […]

Here are the 10 most influential bands of hardcore

Hardcore has gone through countless stylistic changes since its inception and has inspired a variety of movements within music. Whether it’s the early veterans of the genre such as Black Flag or later acts who spawned metalcore and heavier subgenres by branching off hardcore such as Converge, these pioneers have been repeatedly used as an […]

These black artists built the foundation of rock music as we know it

It cannot be denied that some of the most enduring and exciting music and culture created in the punk and alternative-rock scenes were made by people of color. From the early days of Rock Against Racism in the U.K. to the game-changing awareness of the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, these black artists were there all […]

9 musicians who have been in multiple successful bands

While celebrating Corey Taylor’s birthday this week, we compiled a list of some musicians who are so talented, they’ve been a large part of multiple successful bands. Taylor, being the vocalist of both Stone Sour and Slipknot, shows this to be true. This list is in no particular order and transcends genres and boundaries. We […]
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