Sick of It All

Sick of It All is still hardcore after all these years.

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• Joe Strummer
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The frenetic pace of hardcore, the combination of outrage and adrenaline, isn't conducive to longevity. Fact is, most punkers mellow as they age. They take "real" jobs, get married, have kids — in other words, they become the people they hated when they were young and raging. This didn't happen to the members of Sick of It All, who arrived at the tail end of the first wave of hardcore when they formed in New York City in 1986. Shortly before he died, Joe Strummer gave a short list of the punk bands he felt were still relevant. With special fervor, he named Sick of It All and described how fiery and crazy the group still was more than a decade after starting out. From the beginning, Sick of It All was known for its political stridency and steely-eyed view of the world, and if its most recent release, Death to Tyrants, is any indication, the guys haven't softened their abrasively aggressive clamor.