With Gingrich’s devastating Floridian loss, once again I feel justified for naming this hardcore festival news roundup column Pit Romney. Here’s what’s new…

Don’t sell the Midwest short, as Chicago-based fest The Rumble has declared much of its 2012 lineup, with classic headline acts Negative Approach and Murphy’s Law topping a bill with scene favorites Cruel Hand, Wisdom In Chains, and Harms Way along with curveballs like Coliseum and Sweet Cobra. Other announced acts are 100 Demons, Agitator, Beware, Everything Went Black, No Regrets, The Mongoloids, Rotting Out, Empire Of Rats, FocusedXMinds, The Killer, Argonauts, Rock Bottom, Wrong Answer, and Withdrawal. 2011 included big names like 108, Madball and the reunited DYS, so the pressure was on to match or top that and raise the fest’s scene profile. Also, this year its been moved up to April 27-28, with ticket info yet to be announced.

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Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History is one of the great rock n’ roll history books. And now it’s bigger. Originally published in 2001, the Feral House book nails the golden age of old-school hardcore, from the movement’s inception to the watershed year 1986. The book inspired a documentary, the 2006 film American Hardcore. The movie is a must-see that has inspired as much griping and controversy as the book.

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To celebrate the release of Sick of it All’s awesome new album, Based on a True Story, we asked SOIA vocalist Lou Koller to compile the definitive list of quintessential hardcore albums. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running one entry a day from Lou’s list of the top-ten (+1) hardcore records of all time for the next couple of weeks. You can read his first installment here, his second installment here, and his third installment here, his fourth installment here, and his fifth installment here; the sixth one is after the jump…

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So what was your entre into the world where denim, leather n’ demonology reign supreme? Where you adore the goat and sway to the symphony of deee-struction? Every man (or woman) has a tale to tell. Here’s mine. You’re gonna hear a lot of names you might be unfamiliar with, especially if you’re a member of Attack Attack! (Or just plain anyone under 23!) You’re gonna be thinking, “Damn, this fucker is old!” Yeah, well just remember that I’ve seen seen stuff that would make you shit Perrier with jealousy. I’m definitely old enough to have seen Minor Threat, Cliff Burton-era Metallica… the list goes on… before most of you were a tadpole in yer pappy’s population paste.

Let’s start at Discharge. I could go back and trace the whole history of early 80’s hardcore for you, but neither of us have the time or attention span. Let’s just say, the minute I heard these Stroke-on-Trent monsters of the nuclear reactor riff on the monstrous Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing album, I nearly pissed my pants. It was the gateway to something far heavier than I had ever heard on a scratchy 7” from the new record store that had opened in Boston called Newbury Comics.

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