In the 1980s, the San Diego punk scene was known for gangs with such menacing monikers as The Friends Of No One and the San Diego Bootboys – not the ideal testing ground for any band seeking to stretch out from the slam danceable musical format craved from such a fickle and ominous audience. Despite such a violent beginning, the city’s hardcore punk scene flourished in the next decade due to the enterprise of Matt Anderson and Ron Johnson who formed the band Heroin and the label Gravity to break open a new era in the city’s underground by inadvertently coming up with a method to experiment within hardcore’s parameters while still keeping it loud, fast and uncompromising.

This playlist starts out with the brave local precursor bands from the 1980s that inspired Anderson and Johnson, including Forced Down, Amenity, Blood Lake (containing future members of industrial troupe Crash Worship) and Pitchfork, who begat discordant 90s indie rockers Drive Like Jehu. The bulk of it represents the San Diego scene of the 90s including Gravity artists like Antioch Arrow, Second Story Window, Clikitat Ikatowi and the aforementioned Heroin as well as some not on their roster like Neighborhood Watch, Struggle, Crossed Out and Swing Kids. Also included are tracks by two out of town Gravity signees, Colorado’s Angel Hair and Northern California’s Mohinder, to highlight the impact the Gravity label and the wild sound connected to it spread outside of the city.

Blood Lake
“There’s A Draft”
From Sink Or Swim, Baby (demo)
(self-released, 1985)

Neighborhood Watch
“Want To Be Lied To”
From Now Hiring Smiling Faces
(Vinyl Communications, 1989)

Pitchfork
“Burn Pigs Burn”
From Eucalyptus
(Nemesis, 1990)

Forced Down
“A Cry For Truth”
From Stifle
(Down Side, 1990)

Amenity
“Repercussion”
From This Is Our Struggle
(Down Side, 1990)

Tit Wrench
“Go Back To Europe”
From Go Back To Europe
(Vinyl Communications, 1990)

Drive Like Jehu
“Bullet Train To Vegas”
From Bullet Train To Vegas b/w Hand Over Fist
(Merge, 1992)

End Of The Line
“Burning Down”
From End Of The Line
(Three One G, 1993)

Heroin
“Blind”
From Heroin
(Gravity, 1992)

Struggle
“Death Of A Friend”
From Struggle
(Three One G, 1992)

Crossed Out
“Practiced Hatred”
From Crossed Out/Man Is The Bastard
(Slap-A-Ham, 1992)

Antioch Arrow
“Teenage Debutante And The Debutante Ball”
From The Lady Is A Cat
(Gravity, 1993)

Drive Like Jehu
“If It Kills You”
From Drive Like Jehu
(Headhunter, 1991)

Heroin
“In General”
From Heroin
(Gravity/Vermiform, 1993)

Antioch Arrow
“Chaos Vs Cosmos”
From In Love With Jetts
(Gravity, 1994)

Mohinder
“Beautiful”
From Mohinder
(Gravity, 1994/Numero Group, 2020)

Angel Hair
“Origin Of Species”
From Insect Mortality
(Gravity, 1995)

Second Story Window
“Justified”
From Second Story Window
(Gravity, 1993)

Swing Kids
“Disease”
From Swing Kids
(Three One G, 1994)

Clikitat Ikatowi
“Desert Oasis”
From Orchestrated And Conducted By
(Gravity, 1994)

Read Tony Rettman’s eight page feature on San Diego hardcore in The Wire 471. Wire subscribers can also read the magazine online via the digital library.