NYHC is a subgenre of punk rock that took its roots in, you guessed it, New York City back in the mid-80s. As the name suggests, it was a style that heavily leaned into the aggressive sounds established by hardcore-punk pioneers like Black Flag and Bad Brains a few years earlier, but usually with a more pronounced emphasis on rhythm and groove that often yielded decidedly pummeling results. And while it also occasionally incorporated some elements of heavy metal/thrash, those genres were more about banging your head, while NYHC was, frankly, more about busting heads. Suffice to say the genre wasn’t exactly for everyone, but you could never argue it wasn’t authentic, as the bands were simply reflecting the harsh reality of living in the mean streets of New York City back in the 1980s (which was no picnic).
One of the perennial bands to rise out of that scene was The Cro-Mags, whose live shows were legendarily brutal but also, apparently, a hell of a lot of fun, as evidenced by this classic performance from L’Amour in Brooklyn back in 1987. Their opening number, the hardcore classic “We Gotta Know” sets the tone for what is a decidedly killer set that captures the essence of the NYHC scene and the Cro Mags at the height of their powers. Crank it:
