After doing much research, it is my humble opinion that years from now, the patrons of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should make room for an exhibit called Brocore:  The Lasting Legacy of Wearing Basketball Shorts and Nike Dunks to Shows.

But what is Brocore? 

The answers vary widely depending on who you ask.  In Webster’s English Dictionary, it is centered firmly between “broconomy” and “brocoski,” and the first definition given is “A form of hardcore punk, mostly made for males to engage in pseudo-homosexual activities.”  The picture next to the definition is of Vincent Bennett, the vocalist for the band The Acacia Strain.  He’s wearing a hat angled slightly to the left, wide ear gauges, and a shirt that says Johnny Cupcakes.  But, as with most words, Brocore seems to have amassed a great number of meanings in addition to the definition in the dictionary.  Like any intrepid journalist, I took to the streets to continue my research.  I needed to find out what definition the general public would give Brocore, and somewhat more importantly, their opinions on the genre. 

I went to my local Starbucks Coffee establishment, a well-known meeting place for bros.  As I approached the outside seating area, it became apparent which groups consisted of bros.  They occupied many of the numerous tables, looking like a Salvation Army clothes sale, buried as they were under layers of flannel and scarves.  At a glance, it makes them look fairly intimidating, but when I looked closer I could see skinny legs poking out from underneath the upper layers like spindly T-Rex limbs wrapped in obscenely skinny jeans.  Notebook in hand, I approached one of the tables, looking very out of place as I did so.  I excused myself and wasted no time asking the various bros assorted around the table their definition of Brocore.

“Brocore,” said one of them, “is a style of music and a style of dressing.  Originating in Northern California, the music is generally made up of breakdowns and is associated with hardcore.  Also dinocore.  The style of dressing consists of items of clothing such as camouflage shorts, basketball shorts, Levis, band shirts, baller caps, and Vans shoes.  Gauged ears also go with the look.”  The other occupants of the table seemed to agree with this assessment.

I was reminded instantly of the picture of The Acacia Strain’s Vincent Bennett that I saw in the dictionary.  It seemed like so long ago; I have gained so much knowledge since then merely by asking this young man with earlobes the size of tennis balls what Brocore is.  Then, someone from another table did the next part of my research for me.  I had planned to ask detractors of Brocore why they hate the genre so fiercely, but a male teenager close by had obviously been listening to the conversation going on at the table I was occupying. 

“Fuck that Brocore shit.  That’s faggot shit.  Yesterday I bought Stick to Your Guns, A Day to Remember, Beneath the Massacre, and Evergreen Terrace records and I fucking burned them in the barbeque pit in my backyard.”

One of the bros at my table stood to confront the outspoken teen, but his fellow bros calmed him down, and he returned to his seat.  While the boy’s outburst was a source of anger for my newfound friends the bros, it was eye-opening for me.  It is common knowledge for stalwart heavy metal fans that religious groups used to hold meetings for the purpose of setting fire to records by bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, two of the most widely regarded metal bands in the history of the genre.  It appears that Brocore is off to a good start; could it be that in twenty years, certain Brocore bands will be regarded as classic examples of music mastery?  These days, insulting Iron Maiden is considered blasphemy.  Could that be what bands like Suicide Silence have to look forward to in the future? 

While I certainly felt that my on-the-beat style of research had been effective, I wanted to find out if there were any major newspapers which had any information on Brocore.  As luck would have it, Los Angeles Times writer August Brown had written an article entitled “The Re-Ascent of Bro Core” on March 24 of last year.  In the article, he describes Pennywise as “the Socratic ideal of bro core,” and furthermore cites NOFX and Bad Religion as two more founding fathers of Brocore.  As someone who was under the assumption that Brocore is a fairly recent phenomenon, I was surprised to find him describing this as a reawakening of a somewhat dead genre rather than the 2000s-exclusive movement that I considered it to be.  He goes on to detail some of Brocore’s influences on mainstream bands, insisting that Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” has “a bit of D-Plan’s screwy odd-time math-core in it.”  This last point left me somewhat perturbed; I was excited because I thought I had found information on Brocore from a legitimate source, but it seems that August Brown is anything but that.

Dejected, I confided in Sputnikmusic’s own Tyler Munro.  I explained to him that I was at the end of my rope and in desperate need of something, anything that could sum up Brocore accurately and concisely.  His answer:

“Brocore is a necessary evil.  We need somebody to beat up wieners, and it gives everyone else someone to laugh at.  Sometimes guys just want to go to shows, take their shirts off, get sweaty, and wrestle.  And I respect that.”

That, I thought, was the key.  Respect.  I am reminded of the classic Aretha Franklin song of the same name.  “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” she wails, and somehow I can imagine thousands of bros chanting along with her, “Find out what it means to me.”  I returned briefly to Starbucks Coffee, where the same bro who previously defined Brocore for me was still sitting at the same table.  I asked him what Brocore meant to him in terms of respect.

“I’m not sure,” he hesitated.  “It’s definitely a good question.  I guess I just wish there wasn’t so much hate for the music and its fans, you know?  But it’s whatever.  I know that years from now, Brocore will still be around.  It’s a revolution…it deserves respect, and I know I speak for many other bros when I say that we’ll never stop loving the music, because in the end that’s what it’s all about, right?”

Amen, broheim.

Share: Facebook Stumble Digg Del.icio.us

Comments