Chicago hardcore

Chicago hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Chicago and its surrounding area. It began in the 1980s with post-hardcore bands Naked Raygun, Big Black and the Effigies. By the 1990s, the scene had developed two separate sizable scenes: a straight edge metalcore scene including Arma Angelus and Racetraitor; and a thrashcore scene based on the South Side, including Los Crudos and Charles Bronson. During this time, Victory Records was founded in the city. They would go on to be one of the most prominent record labels in hardcore, releasing albums by seminal metalcore bands Integrity, Hatebreed and All Out War, as well as emo and pop-punk groups including Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights and A Day to Remember. Chicago hardcore experienced a mainstream crossover in the 2000s, when bands originating from the scene, including Rise Against, Fall Out Boy and the Lawrence Arms, received international success.

During the 1980s, the majority of Chicago hardcore shows were held at Medusa's, at 3275 North Sheffield Avenue. Many of these events were organized by promoter Sean Duffy, who employed physically abusive security and inflated prices. At a Duffy organised event headlined by a number of Revelation Records in the Summer of 1989, the bands were paid insufficiently. After word spread of this, many touring bands refrained from playing the city. In reaction, Ben Weasel started booking shows at Durty Nelly's in Palatine which instead became the centre of the local scene. By the end of the decade, touring bands began playing the area again, instead playing Mcgregor's in Elmhurst.

By the mid-1990s, Chicago's hardcore scene had waned. The scene's most popular band at the time was Everlast, who would often only play to twenty people. Concerts became more infrequent, with as long as six months between shows. Because of this, Jim Grimes, vocalist for Extinction, and Carey Housen began booking. By the end of the decade, bands including Arma Angelus, Racetraitor, the Killing Tree and Extinction were fronting this scene and touring nationally.

Bands on the South Side of Chicago including Los Crudos, Charles Bronson, Mob Action and Insult to Injury continued the faster, punk-leaning style of hardcore outside the straight edge scene. One of the few crossovers between this scene and the straight edge metalcore scene was MK-Ultra, who were a prominent metalcore band in their own right and included multiple members of Silence. By mid-1990s, they had seen Los Crudos live, which led them to view the politics of the straight edge scene as shallow. Subsequently, MK-Ultra embraced the influence of the bands from the South Side and begun to play fast, punk-leaning hardcore.