When you think of Boston music, you may think of mainstream dad-rock like “Sweet Emotion” or “More Than A Feeling.” And it turns out that’s pretty much all Beantown has to offer. It’s not much of a music town. We compiled a list of every band that ever existed in Boston since the Revolutionary War, and it’s pretty sparse.
Converge
Metalcore godfathers Converge have been pummeling audiences with their frenzied cacophony for over 30 years. If you haven’t lost a tooth in a Converge pit, can you even call yourself a Boston hardcore fan?
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
One of the early third-wave ska bands to crossover to mainstream success, the Bosstones would likely still be playing sold out shows to huge crowds if Dicky hadn’t broken up the band by being an anti-vax meatball.
Mission of Burma
Who knew that post punk needed live tape manipulation? No one, at the time—but the loops and delays added an integral layer of surreality to Mission of Burma’s innovative, baroque songwriting.
The FU’s / Jerry’s Kids / Gang Green / SSD
Apologies for lumping these guys together, but we’re tight on space, and these crucial OG Boston hardcore knuckleheads are peas in a pod.
Slapshot
Are there any two things that Boston loves more than hardcore and hockey? Slapshot got their hardcore chocolate in your hockey fan peanut butter and became legends in the process.
Cave In
Cave In helped define metalcore, and then defied expectation by going all weird and proggy—and most surprisingly, they stayed good.
American Nightmare
These guys came out of the womb pissed off, and their dark themes were a refreshing antidote to the Youth Crew-inspired positivity that was on the rise at the time. Even the most posi kid would find it hard to deny the catharsis of lines like “Fuck everyone I’ve ever known” when shit goes south.
Pixies
We’re pretty sure Frank Black bought a private island based on “Where Is My Mind?” licensing alone. The reunited lineup has been chugging along for far longer now than their first run as a band, Deal or no Deal.
Siege
Siege’s global influence on grindcore is pretty astounding considering the original lineup only produced 20 minutes of recorded material. Four more songs were recorded in 1991 with Anal Cunt’s Seth Putnam on vocals (just mentioning this because we wanted to include Anal Cunt somewhere).
Isis
We were abducted by the NSA for discussing Isis shows at the Middle East nightclub online. It was worth the enhanced interrogations because these post-rock metal titans ruled. Now we’re pretty good friends with our kidnappers—though that might just be Stockholm Syndrome.
Have Heart
Despite only putting out two full-lengths, these straight edge heavy hitters had a huge impact on hardcore. They broke up too soon, but thankfully, a couple of the guys went on to form the awesome Fiddlehead.
Lemonheads
If you’re of a certain age, you’ve probably sobbed while holding a photo of your ex with “Into Your Arms” on repeat. While you may associate Lemonheads with fuzzy twee pop, their debut “Hate Your Friends” has serious Hüsker Dü energy.
Bane
We may be confused, but these are the guys that broke Batman’s back, right? Bane seems to be in an informal contest with The Who to see who can have more farewells and comebacks.
Dropkick Murphys
If there’s another Voyager mission, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” will certainly be on the golden record they send into space to represent humanity. The song is so ubiquitous that Biden used it for walkout music, for Christ’s sake.
Negative FX
How’s this for influence? A young Fat Mike and his nascent band were such fans of Negative FX that they named their group NOFX in tribute.
The Freeze (honorable mention)
The Freeze might be from Cape Cod, but their massively influential title track on 1982’s “This Is Boston, Not L.A.” comp cements their place on the Mount Rushmore of Boston punk. Singer Clif Hanger’s extralegal antics embody punk’s disregard for authority and personal safety possibly more than anyone else on this list.