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Tear It Down: How crossover bridged metal and hardcore punk
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781916864962
Publisher: Earth Island Books
Published: Mar 13 2026
Pages: 646
Weight: 2.65
Height: 1.76 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
What happens when hardcore punk collides with metal-and refuses to choose sides?
Tear It Down: How Crossover Bridged Metal and Hardcore Punk captures the violence, creativity, and friction that defined one of the most misunderstood movements in underground music. From widely recognised names such as Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, The Accused, and D.R.I., to overlooked but essential bands like Beyond Possession, Sacrilege B.C., Lobotomia, and Lethal Aggression, and further into the deepest underground with Ugly But Proud, Whoppers Taste Good, Dresden, and Capitalist Alienation, the book dismantles the idea of a single crossover narrative.
Based on more than 180 interviews with bands worldwide, ranging from original 1980s participants to post-2000 and current bands, Tear It Down centres on the formative years 1980-1990, while tracing crossover's long-term impact and mutations. The book also broadens the conversation through interviews with record labels, visual artists, fanzine creators, and even a blogger, recognising crossover as a culture rather than a style. Alongside, more than 1300 bands are namedropped or reviewed from all over the world.
At 220,000 words and featuring a foreword by Parris Mayhew (founding member of Cro-Mags, White Devil, Aggros), Tear It Down stands as the most extensive document ever produced on the crossover phenomenon.
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