Punk glossary

38 punk, hardcore and terrace terms, defined in a sentence or two. Where we have written more, the definition links to the full guide.

All ages: A show open to people of any age, usually without a bar. All-ages shows were central to hardcore scenes because most of the audience was too young for licensed venues.
Anarcho-punk: Punk built around explicitly anarchist politics — anti-war, anti-state, often vegetarian and feminist — that emerged in England around 1977–78 with Crass and their label. The music ranges from raw punk to experimental noise; the ethics matter as much as the sound. Read more →
Backpatch: A large patch sewn onto the back of a jacket or vest, usually a band logo or album cover. The centrepiece of a battle jacket. Read more →
Battle jacket · also: Battle vest, kutte: A denim or leather jacket (or sleeveless vest) customised with patches, studs, paint and pins. Each one is handmade and tells you what its owner listens to. Read more →
Blast beat: A very fast drum pattern alternating or combining kick, snare and cymbal on every subdivision. Associated with grindcore and powerviolence.
Circle pit: A crowd running in a circle in front of the stage during fast songs. Common at hardcore and thrash shows.
Circle-A: The letter A inside a circle, the best-known symbol of anarchism. Punk adopted it in the late 1970s and spread it on jackets, walls and record sleeves. Read more →
Crust (crust punk): A heavier, darker offshoot of anarcho-punk and d-beat that appeared in England in the mid-1980s with bands like Amebix, Antisect and Doom, mixing punk with metal influences. Also describes the look: patched black clothes, dreadlocks, studs. Read more →
D-beat · also: Discharge beat: A drum beat and a genre named after Discharge, the Stoke-on-Trent band whose early-1980s records used a fast, galloping kick-snare pattern. Bands that copy the sound closely are called d-beat bands. Read more →
Demo: A band's first recording, traditionally a cassette sold at shows or traded by post. Today often a free download or a Bandcamp release. Read more →
Distro: Short for distribution: a person or small collective selling records, tapes and zines from other bands and labels, at shows or by mail. The backbone of DIY trade.
DIY (do it yourself): The ethic of making things happen without the music industry: booking your own shows, running your own label, printing your own zines and shirts. The defining value of punk and hardcore.
Fanzine (zine): A small, self-published magazine, usually photocopied and stapled. Punk zines documented scenes, reviewed records and spread politics before the internet. "Zine" is the short form. Read more →
Folk punk: Punk played with acoustic instruments or folk forms, from The Pogues to the American basement folk-punk scene of bands like Against Me! and Defiance, Ohio.
Grindcore: An extreme style that grew out of hardcore and crust in mid-1980s England and the US: extremely short songs, blast beats, growled vocals. Napalm Death's Scum is the classic example.
Hardcore (hardcore punk): A faster, harder and usually shorter-songed form of punk that took shape around 1980–81 in the US (Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains) and in Britain and Scandinavia at the same time.
House show: A concert in someone's home, basement or garage. Cheap, all-ages and outside the venue circuit. Read more →
Käng · also: Kängpunk: Swedish name for the Swedish style of d-beat punk. From "kängor", boots — the scene was known for its heavy boots. Anti Cimex, Mob 47 and Totalitär are classic käng bands. Read more →
Liberty spikes: Hair set into separate stiff spikes radiating from the head, like the crown of the Statue of Liberty. A UK82-era look. Read more →
Mohawk (mohican): A haircut with the sides shaved and a central strip of hair, often stiffened upright. In Britain usually called a mohican. Read more →
Oi!: Working-class British street punk from around 1980, named after the shout used by Cockney Rejects. Bands like Sham 69, Cock Sparrer and the Business are linked with it; the scene had to fight off far-right infiltration. Read more →
Pit (mosh pit): The area in front of the stage where people dance roughly: pushing, skanking, stage-diving. Pit etiquette means picking up anyone who falls.
Pop-punk: Punk with strong melodies and catchy choruses, from Buzzcocks in the 1970s through Descendents to the 1990s boom of Green Day.
Post-punk: Music from roughly 1978–84 that kept punk's independence but experimented with dub, funk, electronics and art: Joy Division, Wire, Gang of Four, The Slits.
Powerviolence: A 1990s US style of extremely fast, abrupt hardcore with slow sludgy sections, played by bands like Infest, Man Is the Bastard and Spazz.
Riot grrrl: A feminist punk movement from early-1990s Olympia, Washington and Washington, DC, centred on bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile and on zines.
Risograph (riso): A stencil-based duplicating machine used by zine makers and small presses for cheap, colourful prints, one ink colour per pass.
Scene report: A zine column describing what is happening in a city's or country's scene: bands, venues, labels, problems. Maximum Rocknroll made them a standard format. Read more →
Skank (skank beat): Two meanings: a fast two-step dance at punk and ska shows, and the fast "skank" drum beat with snare on the offbeat used in hardcore.
Skate punk: Fast melodic punk associated with skateboarding culture, especially the 1990s wave of Epitaph and Fat Wreck bands — and in Sweden, Millencolin and Burning Heart Records.
Squat: An occupied empty building used for housing or as a social centre. Squats have hosted many of Europe's DIY venues, from Copenhagen to Berlin. Read more →
Stenchcore: A slower, metal-heavy branch of crust in the style of Amebix and Antisect, named after Deviated Instinct's use of the term.
Straight edge (sXe): A hardcore subculture rejecting alcohol, tobacco and drugs, named after Minor Threat's 1981 song "Straight Edge". The X on the back of the hand is its symbol.
Street punk: Second-wave punk with a working-class, streetwise image — studs, spikes, mohawks — exemplified by UK82 bands and, later, The Casualties. Read more →
Tape trading: Swapping cassette copies of demos, live sets and rare records by post. In the 1980s it connected punk scenes worldwide.
Tifo: A large coordinated display by football supporters — flags, banners, cards — usually before kick-off. From Italian ultras culture.
UK82: Second-wave British punk of around 1980–84: faster and rougher than 1977, with bands like The Exploited, GBH and Discharge. Named after an Exploited song. Read more →
Ultras: Organised groups of hardcore football supporters known for choreographies, chanting and flares, originating in 1960s Italy. Read more →