Get Harder

"Punk is dead, long live hardcore"

Inkinen (photographer) / Etholén (writer, editor), 2009. You can see both of these names, for example, on the back cover of "Vitustakos näistä tietää".

What HC felt and looked like in the 80s. Poor bastards trying to make sense of it all.

I'm not sure if I will translate anything yet. Some of this is rather Finnish friendly, if you catch my drift.

Contains ponderings and stories from zine editors, writers, label and band people, punks, artists .....

Reading this I sometimes felt like I can't fully comprehend this hostility towards punk, because, you know, I'm 23 (arf arf and a tee hee). Then again I suppose I've never really listened or paid much attention to the kind of commercialised "punk" they're usually referring to. I think many of the Finnish punk bands in the 70s were quite artificial and unconvincing. No real natural power, just confusion. The unrelentingly alien nature of hardcore is mentioned repeatedly in the texts as a way to underline the difference, and I started to understand their point of view a bit better.

On the whole, there are interesting analyses of the phenomenon, and it's something different after "Parasta lapsille" which centered around bands.

Decadence, Dekadenz, Fuck
This clothes shop was important for the 'looking' part. I remember reading my aunt's old magazines from 83-84 when I was little, and seeing an ad. It felt funny imagining those kinds of lunatics in the countryside scenery.

Läjä Äijälä
Fell in love with the Canadian band Neos. The speed. The passion. At least TK and Rattus were inspired by the North American flannel boys.

Arto Nyberg
I have watched his no-nonsense talk show, but I had no idea. I'm dumbfounded. Who the fuck is he? Taking words right out of my mouth.
Apparently Decontrol blew his mind. Word.

He calls himself a TV clown, but at least he's still all there in the head, unlike those who completely turned coats.