Tough guy hardcore

Tough guy hardcore (also known as New York-style hardcore or new school hardcore) is a subgenre of hardcore punk with prominent influences from thrash metal. It makes use of groove-driven, palm muted guitar riffs, breakdowns, lyrics discussing hatred, personal struggles, unity, and a vocal style influenced by hip hop and oi!.

In the early to mid–1980s New York hardcore scene, bands including Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags began cultivating a tough, street-wise and groove-driven take on hardcore punk which embraced elements of heavy metal music, particularly its palm muted guitar riffs. By the late 1980s, this developed into the first wave of tough guy hardcore bands: Breakdown, Killing Time, Judge and Sick of It All. During the 1990s, the genre continued with Madball and Biohazard being forefront bands in New York, while Blood for Blood, Strife, Hoods and NJ Bloodline expanded the sound across the United States. The genre received a revived interest in the 2000s through acts including No Warning, Death Before Dishonor and Terror, and into the 2010s and 2020s with Trapped Under Ice, Backtrack, Speed and Pain of Truth.

"With these labels, it's almost like spreading the genre too far. Just because we talk about reality doesn't mean were trying to be 'tough'. We're just being truthful. This music was born on the streets. If you don't get it, then you don't get it. If it's not your thing, then it's not your thing."

Over time, many New York hardcore bands developed a unique style that was based more around rhythm and less around the influence of punk. The palm muting guitar technique was a key aspect of this sound, as well as gang vocals, heavy guitar riffs and heavy breakdowns. Punknews.org described tough guy as "heavy breakdowns, growly vocals" and "the occasional metal riff". The sound is particularly indebted to thrash metal.

Lyrics in the genre often discuss being macho, unity, vigilance and interpersonal relationships, particularly betrayal. According to writer Brian J. Kochan, the genre "embraces the mystique of the gritty and hard working class lives of those in America's big cities". NoEcho writer Chris Suffer defined the genre as "Lyrics fueled by hatred and personal struggles bred some of the most violent live shows in the world turning clubs... into battlegrounds for a few hours." One notable element of the genre is the use of shouted, "sing-along" choruses, an aspect originally influenced by English oi! bands.

Jake Tiernan of webzine Heavy Blog Is Heavy criticized tough guy hardcore for its perceived hypermasculinity, writing that it encourages a herd mentality and causes physical violence, which defies what punk, hardcore's roots, is about because punk is about individuality. Tiernan believed the genre hypermasculinity and socially mandatory mosh pits caused exclusion when the scene was initially intended to be about individuality and inclusion.

During hardcore punk's early years, many participants in the Washington, D.C., hardcore, Boston hardcore and New York hardcore scenes developed a "tough guy ethos" through use of aggression, criminal violence and gang mentalites. By 1984, the Washington, D.C. and Boston scenes had largely began to distance themselves from this way of thinking, leaving New York bands Agnostic Front, the Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law and Warzone to continue it unchallenged. For some bands, particularly the Cro-Mags there was an active effort to search out musicians who bore this ethos. This was prominent enough within the band's sound that AllMusic writer Patrick Kennedy called their 1986 debut album the Age of Quarrel the "finest hour... [of] tough-guy hardcore". As the New York hardcore scene progressed many of these bands began to take significant influence from heavy metal and hip hop.

The Big Takeover noted Detroit band Negative Approach as "building a template for... tough guy hardcore", cited them as creating "the loudest, meanest, nastiest, harshest noise in existence then". Invisible Oranges cited the influence of Henry Rollins, of Black Flag, and his vocal style on the genre's vocal style.