Known for its glamorous 1970s punk rock scene, New York City matched the grim urban reality of the 1980s with a rawer musical uprising: New York hardcore. As bands of misfits from across the region gravitated to the forgotten frontier of Manhattan's Lower East Side. With a a backdrop of despair, bands like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, and Youth of Today confronted their reality with relentlessly energetic gigs at CBGB, A7, and the numerous squats in the area. Tony Rettman's ambitious oral history captures ten years of struggling, including the scene's regional rivalries with D.C. and Boston, the birth of moshing, the clash and coming to terms of hardcore and heavy metal, the straightedge movement, and the unlikely influence of Krishna consciousness. With a foreword by Freddy Cricien of Madball, who made his stage debut with Agnostic Front at age seven,NYHC slams the sidewalk with savage tales of larger-than-life characters and unlikely feats of willpower. The gripping and sometimes hilarious narrative is woven together like the fabric of New York itself from over 100 original interviews with members of Absolution, Adrenalin O.D., Agnostic Front, Antidote, Bad Brains, Bloodclot, Bold, Born Against, Breakdown, Cause for Alarm, Citizen Arrest, Cro-Mags, Crumbsuckers, Death Before Dishonor, Even Worse, False Prophets, Don Fury, Gorilla Biscuits, H20, Heart Attack, Inhuman, Into Another, Irate, Judge, Kraut, Leeway, Life’s Blood, Major Conflict, Max’s Kansas City, Murphy’s Law, Nausea, Nihilistics, Nuclear Assault, Numskulls, Outburst, Pro-Pain, Quicksand, Rat Cage Records, Raw Deal, Reagan Youth, Rorschach, S.O.D., Sacrilege, Savage Circle, Sheer Terror, Shelter, Shok, Sick of it All, Side by Side, Skinhead Youth, Straight Ahead, the Abused, the Cryptcrashers, the Mad, the Misfits, the Misguided, the Mob, the Psychos, the Ritz, the Stimulators, the Undead, Token Entry, Underdog, Urban Waste, Virus, Warzone, Youth of Today, and many, many more. MOSH IT UP!

Shortly after the American Revolution, the newly created United States of America declared war on their former oppressors, the kingdom of His Majesty the King William IV. After the Battle of the Atlantic in 1837, during which the British monarch was slain, the US Navy set foot in England and Wales, forcing a total surrender on behalf of the British. The throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was now Queen Victoria’s. She established a new parliamentary government alongside the American representatives. The country was now clearly in the hands of the USA, Queen Victoria having become the indoctrinated face of British submission. Despite the incredible scientific advances born of the new American colony, social rights had gone back to a primitive state. Slavery was reinstated after being abolished by the late King in 1833. General Steam, a group leading the scientific advances of the world, were now using British slaves for all hard labour required to create their new technology. In all this, Scotland was deemed useless and barbaric. Hadrian’s Wall was being rebuilt, as General Steam had little interest in what lay beyond. A Scottish lieutenant is put in charge of assembling a squad and taking down the American invaders before resorting to the use of the anvil, a top secret weapon of mass destruction. Nothing can stop the squad from achieving their missions. The price of a few lives is nothing if it stops the total destruction of England.