Stoke-on-Trent, UK · d-beat · hardcore punk

Discharge

1 upcoming festival

Invented an entire drumbeat and a genre named after it — nuclear-dread hardcore stripped to pure noise, and still the loudest warning siren in punk.

Discharge formed in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 1977, initially as a fairly conventional punk band before arriving at the stripped-down, relentless style they became known for. Their approach — short songs, shouted slogans about war and nuclear annihilation, and a pounding, galloping drum pattern — was so distinctive that the beat itself became known as the d-beat, and an entire subgenre took the band's name as its label.

The 1982 album Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing is their best-known record, and their early EPs remain widely cited. Their influence extends well beyond hardcore punk into thrash and extreme metal, with numerous bands citing them directly. The group has continued in various lineups since, with founding guitarist Bones a long-standing presence.

d-beathardcore punk