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Post-hardcore, as the name might suggest, is a musical offshoot of the hardcore punk movement. The earliest appearances of the genre were in Washington, D.C. in the mid- to late-1980s (see the era's releases on Dischord Records, for example), though it was not widely known until the early 1990s. Post-hardcore, as a musical genre, is marked by its precise rhythms and loud guitar-based instrumentation accompanied by vocal performances that are as often sung as whispered or shouted. The genre has developed a unique balance of dissonance and melody, in part channeling the loud and fast hardcore ethos into more measured, subtle forms of tension and release. It shares with its hardcore roots an intensity and social awareness as well as a DIY punk ethic, yet eschews much of the unfocused rage and loose, sometimes amatuerish musicianship of punk rock.

One of the earliest and most prolific post-hardcore bands was D.C.'s Fugazi. The genre also includes bands with decidedly art rock leanings such as Drive Like Jehu, Jawbox, Shudder to Think, and Slint, as well as some with strong industrial influences such as Lard and Big Black. At the Drive-In and the two bands that formed after it split up, The Mars Volta and Sparta, are examples of post-hardcore outfits that have both perfected the post-hardcore sound and pushed it into many other musical genres, while modern D.C. band Q and Not U have uncovered much more delicate, percussive interpretations of the original Fugazi insight.

The original post-hardcore sound became more and more difficult to find throughout the 1990s and has nearly vanished from the public eye, though the genre still thrives in more underground circles as well as in new, more radical forms. Related genres include both emo and math rock, which share a common heritage with post-hardcore, though these two genres have since diverged and developed uniquely unto themselves.

List of post-hardcore bands

A list of bands involved in the post-hardcore genre: many of these bands are primarily hardcore punk and post-hardcore outfits, while some draw on post-hardcore elements for only certain aspects of their sound.

• Hardcore punk genres
• Punk genres